Meze Audio ARTA – Open-back planar, speaker-like stage

The Meze Audio ARTA is the Romanian maker's summit-fi open-back, built around an all-new high-impedance planar driver and a sculptural chassis that comes apart for service rather than ending up in a drawer. It is voiced warm-neutral for a speaker-like sense of space instead of clinical dissection, and at 225 Ω it asks for a capable headphone amp before it gives its best.

Key Features

• MZ5 HΩ planar driver: Meze's highest-impedance planar yet, running high-voltage and low-current for steadier signal and lower distortion.
• Acoustic blade grille: Angled blades break up internal reflections, tightening transients instead of smearing them.
• Warm-neutral tuning: Instruments hold distinct positions across a wide, room-like stage rather than collapsing to the centre.
• Open-back, over-ear build: Carbon fibre, precision metals and leather, hand-assembled in Baia Mare, Romania.
• Fully serviceable: Earpads, headband, drivers and earcups disassemble and replace, so the ARTA is built to outlast a single owner.

Customer Benefits

The ARTA is made for the listener who has the amplifier and the chair, and wants the recording to open out the way it would through good speakers. The 225 Ω planar driver stays composed when fed from a serious desktop amp, holding low-end weight without thickening the midrange. Because every wear part is replaceable, the pads flattening or a cable fraying is a service job, not a write-off — this is a headphone you keep, not one you cycle out in two years.

Quick Specs

• Driver: Rinaro Isodynamic Hybrid Array MZ5 HΩ, planar magnetic
• Design: Open-back, over-ear
• Impedance: 225 Ω average
• Sensitivity: 98 dB SPL/mW at 1 kHz
• Frequency response: 3 – 115,000 Hz
• THD: <0.05%
• Weight: 495 g

What’s in the Box

• Meze Audio ARTA headphones
• 2 m mini-XLR to 6.3 mm cable
• 2 m mini-XLR to 4-pin XLR balanced cable
• Two sets of ear pads (Slim Alcantara® and Duo Angled)
• Hard carrying case and cable pouch

Ideal For

Critical audiophile listening on a high-end desktop amp, and long reference sessions where soundstage matters.

Pros & Cons

✅ Pros:

• Speaker-like soundstage with natural instrument placement
• High-impedance design stays stable and low-distortion on a good amp
• Every wear part is user-serviceable for long-term ownership

⚠️ Cons:

• 225 Ω needs a capable headphone amp — not for phones or portable use
• Open-back leaks sound both ways, so it is a quiet-room headphone

If you are building around a reference desktop chain and want an open-back you will still own in a decade, the ARTA is Meze at full reach.