Today we will take a look at the Meze Alba In-ear monitors. I have heard many interesting things about this pair and I’m excited to have it on my desk today. A sincere thank you to the Meze Audio team for making this possible!
Meze Alba actually comes in two boxes. In the medium sized box there is a product booklet, quick-start guide, Meze Alba in-ear monitors, a carrying case, 4 pairs of ear tips and a de-attachable 2-pin cable that terminates with a 3.5mm connector. In the second small box there is a USB-C dongle DAC so if your device doesn’t have a 3.5mm socket, Meze got you covered! By the way, if you are wondering, Alba means “the first light” in Romanian.
Design & build
The shells of Meze Alba are quite interesting and aesthetically pleasing. They are made out of zinc alloy and the shape of the housing resembles a conch. The shells are painted in a glossy pearl color, and while they look great, the finish is slippery. On the face plate there is a round metal part on which the company name is printed along with the information that IEMs have been designed in Romania. In the middle of this round part there is a vent hole.
On the side of each shell there is a company logo. The 2-pin connector is located on top of the shell. The top of the connectors are transparent and the red channel has a red part inside for easier navigation.
The shells are well built and it’s great that Meze decided to go with metal shells at this price point. The shell size is small, it’s hefty but will suit the majority of ears, small ears included. The nozzle diameter is 5.5mm and the nozzles are made out of the zinc alloy too but are unfortunately on a shorter side.
Cable
The cable that comes with Meze Alba is 1.2 meters long. It has plastic 2-pin connectors, a metal splitter with Meze logo, a plastic metal chinch slider and it terminates with a straight 3.5mm metal connector. The cable is thin, light, doesn’t tangle easily and does its job just fine. In case you need a balanced connection you can also buy the 4.4mm cable from Meze, which is the same cable, but with a 4.4mm termination.
Fit & comfort
Fit & comfort wise Alba is a mixed bag in my case, but as fit is very subjective your mileage may vary.
Handling this IEM for me is hard – the shells are glossy and slippery so I always struggle to find a grip when I pick them up. Due to the unusual shell shape it always takes me an additional second or two to place it in my ear, but I got used to it over time. In addition the stock ear tips are hard to put on for some reason and as I was unable to secure a good seal with them anyway I had to do some rolling tips.
The good thing is that the shell is quite low-profile and in my case I paired it with Final E type ear tips which instantly resulted in an excellent fit & seal so all my tests have been performed using these tips. What I also liked is how this IEM literally disappears when placed in my ears, and I just can’t stress enough how important this factor is during long listening sessions.
🛒Meze Alba on the official MEZE store
🛒Meze Alba on Amazon
Meze Alba sound impressions
Before we talk about the sound, please note that all sound impressions in my reviews are completely subjective so please take them with a grain of salt.
The Alba is based on one 10.8mm single dynamic driver. The impedance of Alba is 32 Ohms and the sensitivity is 109 db so you can power it with the majority of portable sources, and in case your device doesn’t have 3.5mm output, you can use the Meze USB-C dongle that comes with Alba.
There is no information or specs about this dongle, but it provides enough power for Meze Alba. When you connect it to your smartphone, the transparent ring on the cable lights up and this is a nice touch. I also compared it to the Apple USB-C dongle and to me Alba sounded more interesting paired with the Apple dongle.
Other sources I used for my tests were my MOTU M2 audio interface, iBasso DX170 DAP, SMSL RAW-MDA1 desktop DAC/AMP and for wireless scenarios I tested Alba with iFi Go Blu.
The Meze Alba is a mild V-shaped tuned IEM, it’s not neutral by any means, it’s colored to a degree, but in a way that will please a lot of ears. The IEM sounds dynamic, coherent and lively and maintains a great balance between a good presentation and in-your face sound and I was pleasantly surprised by Alba’s performance and sound presentation.
Bass
The bass is well controlled, has a great extension, the sub bass is more prominent here while mid bass impact might be lacking a bit for some. Bass details totally correspond to the price bracket, the bass is fast and not bloated which is a good thing. I personally like such bass profiles as for my music library, the sub-bass extension in many cases is way more important than mid-bass punch.
Midrange
The midrange is well-defined, despite the Meze Alba being mildly V-shaped and it has a lot of clarity and detail. Vocals and instruments sound correct, yet slightly colored, but the overall midrange timbre is good. The upper midrange is not as hot as on some other IEMs in this price bracket, but there is a lot of energy in the midrange still which results in a great and lively presentation. The guitars have excellent bite, the vocals sound lush, pianos sound full and deep, while violins for example have never been harsh or intrusive in my case.
Treble
The treble lacks a bit of air and refinement for my personal liking, but it’s energetic and the detail level is also good. The tracks from my collection that have a lot of treble energy never sounded piercing or overly analytical on Alba, which contributes to the overall smooth listening experience.
The soundstage width is slightly below average, but it’s deep so complex recordings with well-designed sound landscapes sound engaging and full. The details and micro details totally correspond to the pricing bracket, the instrument separation is good as well, but there is nothing to write home about.
Comparisons
I have compared Meze Alba with Moondrop Kato, Thieaudio Elixir, Sennheiser IE200 and Simgot EA1000, all of which by the way are more expensive than Alba, except IE200 which is priced about the same, so here are my impressions.
Design & build wise Meze Alba is my favorite out of these 5 IEMs, with Simgot EA1000 coming second and I would say they are equally well built, but aesthetically Alba is just more pleasing.
Fit & comfort wise the winner out of these five IEMs for me is Meze Alba. To be completely transparent I must also say that based on my personal fit preferences none of these IEMs are champions in ergonomics, but Alba was still better than the other 4 in my case, as they despite the fit still tend to disappear in my ears so long listening sessions were a breeze.
In terms of bass response I would place Meze Alba and Simgot EA1000 on different sides of the spectrum, with Alba having a better sub bass extension and EA1000 having a better mid bass impact. The other 3 IEM bass responses fall in between these two.
In terms of midrange I need to say that all of these 5 IEMs behave relatively well in the lower midrange, the upper midrange is what makes a difference and emerges Meze Alba as a winner in my tests.
In the treble department for me it’s a tie between Meze Alba and Simgot EA1000. I think the presence region and extension is better on Alba, but EA1000 has more energy and detail retrieval which I like more.
In terms of overall sound presentation and coherency I would again go with either Alba or EA1000, both of which leave the other 3 IEM behind.
But when you factor in the things like design, build, sound coherency and value for the money, the Meze Alba is a clear winner.
Conclusions
I think that at the current price the Meze Alba slightly punches above its weight. It’s not perfect by any means, but the strong point with Alba is their design, tuning, coherency and full-bodied presentation and I honestly didn’t expect the $159 single dynamic driver IEM to sound that good.
Pros:
- Excellent design & build
- Lively and energetic sound presentation
- Good sub-bass response
- Open and lush midrange
- And a surprisingly deep sound stage
Cons:
- Ergonomics are questionable
- For not treble-heads
- Not the most technical pair in its price range
- And the supplied case hardly fits the IEM with the cable
All-in-all Meze Alba shines with well recorded music, thanks to its driver implementation and acoustic chamber design and I can recommend it if mild V-shaped tuning and visual aesthetics are your thing.
And that concludes my review for today. If you want to see more content like this, consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. Thank you for joining me, and until next time, goodbye!
🛒Meze Alba on the official MEZE store
🛒Meze Alba on Amazon
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