Meze Strada: Spacious Sound, Deep Bass and All-Day Comfort

I was given the opportunity to listen to the Meze Strada as part of the Australian tour. I’ve since purchased the Strada so while I thought it worth calling out how I first heard the Strada you can take this review as completely my own thoughts as someone who is a long time Meze fan. These impressions are entirely my own (for better or worse, I’ll let you be the judge).

The Strada is a beautiful looking closed back headphone from Meze and shares the same shape as the Liric and POET headphones, rather than the 105/109 style. I am a big fan of this style and find them extremely comfortable for long sessions, which was a big reason as to why I picked up a pair. The included cables are nicely braided, with balanced and single ended options. The pads on the cups are attached magnetically and extremely easy to swap should you ever need to.

You also get a nice case to keep the headphones in, I’ve liked this design for a number of years and am glad that Meze have kept it here.

I’ve listened to the Strada from my portable and desktop setups, it’s relatively easy to drive and while it does scale a little with a full desktop setup you’ll get most of the experience from a portable setup. For the most part I use the SP4k to listen to these, driven directly from the balanced output.

On to the sound!

Bass:
The Strada has an emphasis on sub-bass, and it works extremely well for music with a strong sub-bass focus. Listening to The Weeknd demonstrates what the Strada does exceptionally well: lovely, strong, deep sub-bass, supported by decent mid-bass, but with the upper bass feeling more pulled back. On many other headphones, the upper bass and lower mids can easily blur together. This can be desirable in some cases, but in others you lose clarity in both the mids and bass.

Listening to blink-182 reveals the other side of that balance, and the Strada can leave the music sounding a little thin overall. It’s very much track dependent. Nothing struck me as outright unpleasant, but some tracks suffer a little from the less cohesive transition, particularly when they rely on bass weight and warmth.

The texture, speed, and overall feel of the bass are commendable, and for the majority of my music I love how it’s presented. There are just times when a track comes on and it sounds a little thin or lacking in body. This can extend into vocals, which I’ll talk about next.

Mids:
The mids on the Strada are what I would describe as clear and precise. I generally like a warmer presentation but I appreciate what the Strada delivers as it’s somewhat unique in my collection. Using ‘The Weeknd’ example from the bass his vocals come across extremely articulate, but lacking a little weight that you have on other tracks (assumedly due to the bass/mids transition). Using Green Day as another example, on Redundant Billie’s vocals sit back in the mix and can sound a little thin compared to what it sounds like on other headphones, however at the same time they’re more articulated so it’s a different experience.

Female vocals have generally worked much better for me, sounding fuller while retaining that articulation that you get with the male vocals. Halsey is a standout, I love her voice and the Strada allows her vocals to stand alone in the mix, revealing all of the texture and emotion that her voice conveys.

Instruments sit somewhere between the two and very much track dependent, sometimes it works really well, other times it can sound like something is missing. It hits more times than it misses for me, and when it hits I love what it delivers (hence why I bought a pair)!

Treble:
The treble stands out on the Strada, delivering energy and airiness. I think it’ll be the most divisive part when it comes to this headphone, my older ears aren’t that sensitive so nothing here bothers me, but based on how they come across to me I think if you’re treble sensitive it could be a problem. I don’t get any fatigue from them whatsoever, just an energetic, detailed presentation.

Listening to my treble test tracks was an amazing time with the Strada and really solidified why I needed to have a pair of my own. The tuning here, and the decisions made around the bass and mid presentation, allows the treble to really come out in tracks. Listening to Daft Punk where you often have sub-bass and treble both competing for your attention, they’re presented amazingly here, ‘The Game Has Changed’ being a standout for me.

Technicalities:
Very strong, particularly for a closed back. The stage is spacious and well defined, it is wider than it is deep, however you still get a decent holographic representation of the music. This extends into the imaging, with pretty much pin-point accuracy and each instrument/voice occupying its own space. Even throwing multilayered tracks at the Strada it maintained its ability to accurately convey each individual instrument’s position.

Subjective thoughts:
The Strada won’t be for everyone, I think it would be a safe blind buy if you’ve read enough reviews and understand what it is and isn’t, otherwise I’d recommend a listen first. For me I truly love how it presents some tracks, and even where it may not be my favourite presentation of a track I still take something new away from what it presents to me.

My fresh pair initially sounded different from the well-used tour set. After roughly 40 hours, they sounded closer to what I remembered. I don’t think this was brain burn-in so would recommend that you give them a little time if you’re buying a fresh set before making your final judgement on them.

While it can lack a little body in the vocals, it still conveys enough emotion at all times which is important to me, I can’t stand vocals that have all of their emotion removed.

Overall:
The Strada is an interesting closed back headphone from Meze. It’s a very enjoyable listen, and will suit people who want a headphone that allows you to hear all of the detail within a track without being too clinical. It won’t suit everyone, and I probably wouldn’t recommend it as a one and done, but pairing this with something warmer will give you two very distinct sound profiles. It gets a recommendation from me.

Scorecard at $799:

Category	Score	Comments
Bass	4.25/5	Deep, textured sub-bass with commendable speed. Pulled-back upper bass can leave some tracks wanting more weight and warmth.
Mids	4/5	Clear, articulate and spacious. Female vocals are a highlight, though some voices and instruments can sound a little thin.
Treble	4.5/5	A standout for me: energetic, airy and detailed without causing me fatigue. May be too prominent for treble-sensitive listeners.
Technicalities	4.5/5	Spacious staging for a closed-back, with precise imaging and strong separation even on layered tracks. More width than depth.
Build/Design	4.75/5	Beautiful design and excellent comfort for long sessions. Magnetic pads and included balanced and single-ended cables add practicality.
Value	4/5	A compelling package if its tuning suits your preferences. Less versatile as an only headphone, but a great complement to something warmer.
Overall	4.25/5	A spacious, engaging closed-back with excellent comfort and a presentation I enjoyed enough to buy. Occasional thinness keeps it from being an all-round recommendation.