Gold Audio Products · 2022
Elite Headphones
by Antonio Meze
- Golden A' Design Award 2022 in Audio Products
- CLIENT: Meze Audio
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 817,544
- Verification code 6FC69ADBA2 · Verify this award
Colors
About Elite Headphones
Elite delivers accurate, authentic sound for music lovers, embodied into a lightweight, highly comfortable chassis. On closer look, the frame reveals a complex geometrical imprint accentuated through the silver finish of the CNC aluminum frame. A deep black grill with intricate carvings and a carbon fiber headband with real leather headrest were added, turning Elite into a futuristic take on personal audio design.
About the Golden A' Design Award
Elite Headphones is a Golden A' Design Award winner, an immensely prestigious recognition granted to first-rate, marvelous, and outstanding designs. Golden winners are exceedingly innovative, visionary, and glamorously dazzling creations that reflect the prodigy, wisdom, and prowess of their designers. Elite Headphones is expected to be a highly praised, trendsetting, and monumental invention that delivers unprecedented value. This Golden A' Design Award-winning design is a spectacular, respected project that highly benefits and advances the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology. Elite Headphones creates intense feelings of desire, evokes passion, encourages creativity, and fascinates us.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Elite is one of the most advanced planar magnetic headphones, delivering an authentic listening experience embodied into a unique frame that provides utmost comfort.
Elite features:
High-precision CNC sculpted chassis
Isodynamic Hybrid Array Driver
Lightweight materials
Patent-pending pressure distribution wings
Anatomical ovate earcups
Designed for life. Elite is made to surpass all short-living trends and industry changes, bringing long-lasting value to the customer. - Dimensions & Packaging
- Width: 255 mm
Height: 230 mm
Depth: 89 mm - Tags
- headphones, aluminum, CNC, industrial, product design, audio, technology, electronics
- Production Technology
- Elite features a CNC aluminum chassis, milled from a single piece of aluminum. The process of shaping a single frame takes about 20 hours. The ovoid shape of the earcup was designed to fit the ear more closely, for increased wearing comfort. A carbon fiber headband with a real leather headrest were added to the frame, for an ultra-light feel and maximum durability. The patent-pending suspension wings distribute the weight evenly, providing a comfortable listening experience.
From the replaceable earpads to the high-performance materials used, every part on the headphone chassis is available to be easily disassembled and serviced. - Design Challenge
- With Elite, the goal was to create a high-end product meant for those who know what they want and expect to be treated accordingly. The biggest challenge for the designer and the engineering team was to find the perfect balance between technology, design, materials and ergonomics. Finding the right material for each component took a lot of experimentation, as did getting a precise and durable assembly that allows each part of the headphone to be easily disassembled and serviced.
- Research
- Meze aimed for perfection in every component, so producing Elite just the way the designer intended and without any compromises was a real challenge. An in-depth research process into material sciences was conducted, which opened the door for new technological advances, in terms of sound and comfort. It took 3 years of developing and testing new technologies, different combinations of materials and various sound tuning options, in order to achieve this final result.
- Inspiration
- At Meze Audio, products are created from pure passion for great aesthetics, good craftsmanship and breakthrough engineering. It is the love for art and design and not a business mindset that drives innovation. With Elite, our goal was to make a headphone without any compromises.
With few exceptions, audio gear is rarely considered a work of art, and design often comes second to performance. Born out of love of sound and artistry, we believe Elite breaks that barrier. - Project Duration
- Meze Audio started working on Elite in 2018, and it took 3 years of research and development in order to create a powerful, lifelike and immersive experience with a multisensory character.
- Operation Flow
- The unique design of the frame is definitely the first thing that stands out, but then you are completely captured by how lightweight and comfortable they actually are, thanks to the patent pending suspension wings. When paired with your favorite audio device, Elite delivers a natural sound transparency and a wide, articulate soundstage, which creates an immersive listening experience that compliments most music genres.
- Patents
- Meze Audio
- Image Credits
- Meze Audio
