The Meze 99 Classics is 32Ω at 103.0 dB/mW; the ZMF Verite Closed is 300Ω at 99.0 dB/mW. This page is only about what they ask of an amplifier — not how they sound, which no specification on either sheet can tell you.
The ZMF Verite Closed needs 4.0 dB more than the Meze 99 Classics to reach the same loudness — 1.3 mW against 0.50 mW.
| Specification | Meze 99 Classics | ZMF Verite Closed |
|---|---|---|
| Impedance | 32 Ω | 300 Ω |
| Sensitivity | 103.0 dB/mW | 99.0 dB/mW |
| Sensitivity (voltage) | 117.9 dB/V | 104.2 dB/V |
| Power for 100 dB | 0.50 mW | 1.3 mW |
| Voltage for 100 dB | 0.13 V | 0.61 V |
| Current for 100 dB | 4.0 mA | 2.0 mA |
| Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule) | 4.00 Ω | 37.50 Ω |
| Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280 | 280 | 280 |
Every source in the database that drives one of them drives the other. On power, the choice between these two changes nothing about what amplifier you need.
20 sources are low enough in output impedance for the ZMF Verite Closed under the one-eighth rule but not for the Meze 99 Classics (Zoom AMS-22, Arturia MiniFuse 2, Arturia MiniFuse 1, 17 more).
1 source stays below the audible-hiss threshold with the ZMF Verite Closed but crosses it with the Meze 99 Classics (Schiit Mjolnir 3).
280 of the 280 sources here reach 100 dB on both. That count is about power only — the output-impedance and hiss lines above are separate questions, and a source can pass this one and fail those.
The gap between these two in decibels does not change with volume — it is a property of the two headphones. What changes is the size of the numbers, and it changes fast: every 10 dB costs ten times the power. The row that matters is the one nearest the level you listen at, and for most people that is nearer the top of this table than the bottom.
The ZMF Verite Closed is more demanding than 91% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Meze 99 Classics than 41%. Both figures use the same measure as the rest of the site: whichever runs out first against a 2 V, 100 mW dongle, voltage or power.
| dB SPL | Meze 99 Classics power | Meze 99 Classics voltage | ZMF Verite Closed power | ZMF Verite Closed voltage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80 | 5.0 µW | 13 mV | 0.01 mW | 61 mV |
| 85 | 0.02 mW | 23 mV | 0.04 mW | 0.11 V |
| 90 | 0.05 mW | 40 mV | 0.13 mW | 0.19 V |
| 95 | 0.16 mW | 71 mV | 0.40 mW | 0.35 V |
| 100 | 0.50 mW | 0.13 V | 1.3 mW | 0.61 V |
| 105 | 1.6 mW | 0.23 V | 4.0 mW | 1.09 V |
105 dB is included because forum power figures are usually quoted there or higher. It is also a level that damages hearing in minutes — how many minutes is its own calculator.
| Source | Price | Headroom, Meze 99 Classics | Headroom, ZMF Verite Closed | Output impedance | Noise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JadeAudio JA11 | $20 | 17.8 dB | 4.1 dB | 0.5 Ω | 1.7 µV |
| FiiO KA11 | $29 | 26.0 dB | 12.4 dB | 0.7 Ω | 1.7 µV |
| FiiO BTR11 | $36 | 17.8 dB | 3.8 dB | 0.5 Ω | 8.0 µV |
Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. That is the easy axis. 69 of them also publish an output impedance low enough for both under the one-eighth rule and a noise figure that stays below the audible-hiss threshold with both — the rest either fail one of those or never printed the number at all, and 208 of them are in the second group.
The cheapest of the 69 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 17.8 dB of headroom on the Meze 99 Classics and 4.1 dB on the ZMF Verite Closed, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 4.00 Ω and 37.50 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 17 dB and 31 dB below the 20 dB SPL this site treats as the point where a quiet room stops hiding it.
Cheapest that satisfies three published numbers is not the same as best, and none of it is about how either headphone sounds. To put either model against a source this page does not mention, or to change the target loudness, use the amplifier matcher.
| Model | As printed | Tolerance | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meze 99 Classics | 15 Hz - 25 kHz | not printed | not printed |
| ZMF Verite Closed | nothing printed | — | — |
Meze prints 15 Hz - 25 kHz for the 99 Classics. ZMF prints nothing at all for the Verite Closed.
So one side of this comparison has a frequency-response number and the other does not — which changes less than it looks. The range printed for the Meze 99 Classics comes with no tolerance beside it, and a range without a ±dB figure says nothing about how loud the headphone is at either end of it: thirty decibels down at the bottom and the sentence would still be true. On the only reading that would have made it a specification, the two sheets say the same amount: nothing.
None of this is a measurement. What each maker publishes, and what it is worth, is set out in the frequency response audit.
Each model has a page of its own with the full source list, the hiss estimate and the provenance of every figure above: Meze 99 Classics and ZMF Verite Closed. Every figure on this page comes from what Meze and ZMF published, or is derived from it — what Meze publishes and what ZMF publishes, both counted.