Meze Audio
ARTA – Reference Planar Over-Ear Headphones
$6,000.00 USDFeatures
Speaker-like, three-dimensional soundstage with natural, room-filling spaciousness
Sculptural design fusing precision metals, carbon fiber, and premium leather with Art Nouveau-inspired styling
Angled acoustic blade grille that diffuses rear-wave energy for cleaner, more open transients
High-voltage, low-current operation for exceptional electrical linearity and ultra-low distortion
Choice of two earpad styles — Duo Angled or Slim Alcantara — for tailored comfort and tonal balance
Fully serviceable, generational build designed to be disassembled, repaired, or upgraded
Two included 2 m cables (6.3 mm single-ended and 4-pin XLR balanced) with silver-plated LC-OFC conductors
Handcrafted and quality-controlled at Meze's Baia Mare, Romania headquarters
What's in the Box?
Warranty
THE SUMMIT OF ARTISTIC HEADPHONE CREATION
Meze Audio transformed cold metal into a living, sculptural object that feels like a work of art in motion. ARTA’s design transcends conventional headphone aesthetics, blending futuristic, bionic fluidity with refined Art Nouveau elegance. The materials tell the same story: precision metals, carbon fiber, and leather, each one premium, each one purposeful. ARTA delivers a rich, speaker-like presentation with lifelike detail, offering the most immersive sonic experience we have ever created. The soundstage expands naturally beyond the confines of the ear, projecting music around you with the organic spaciousness of an acoustically treated listening room. Bass carries physical weight, and instruments occupy real positions within a vivid, three-dimensional stage. The result is not just something you hear; it is something you inhabit.
The planar magnetic trace is 2.5 times longer, with a cross-sectional surface area 2.8 times smaller, achieving a higher-density trace geometry that spreads electromagnetic drive more evenly across the membrane. This results in incredibly consistent on-axis and off-axis response without localised stress points, and the membrane moves as a unified whole, preserving transient integrity and keeping distortion vanishingly low even at demanding listening levels.
Synergy with sources – ARTA’s high-impedance design minimises sensitivity to amplifier output impedance variations, ensuring the headphone's own acoustic character remains consistent regardless of amplification. Whether driven by tube or solid-state amplifiers, the tuning you hear is the tuning we designed, not an artifact of the electrical interface.
That said, these headphones are a pure window into your entire signal chain: the subtle warmth of a tube amplifier, the precision of a high-end solid- state design, all faithfully reflected. For the discerning listener, this is an invitation to explore, experiment, and make the sound truly their own.
ARTA’s open-back grille is composed of angled acoustic blades that help preserve the headphones’ sound quality while providing physical protection to the driver.
The grille geometry is carefully designed to work in concert with the Rinaro MZ5 HΩ driver’s precision, ensuring that enclosure acoustics do not constrain the transducer’s performance.
Through their precision-engineered angled design, the blades diffuse rear- wave energy and minimise internal reflections, supporting cleaner transients and a more natural, open presentation.
This level of technical performance is made possible through the use of an advanced new High Impedance Isodynamic® Hybrid Array driver developed by Rinaro Isodynamics: the MZ5 HΩ. It is the single highest impedance planar magnetic headphone transducer to date, delivering exceptional linearity, stability, and signal purity.
Rinaro Isodynamics has been at the forefront of planar magnetic technology for over 40 years. With a state-of-the-art R&D and manufacturing facility in Ukraine, Rinaro developed the Isodynamic® Hybrid Array technology, featured in the Empyrean, Elite, LIRIC, POET, and ARTA headphones.
Unlike conventional planar magnetic designs, which operate in a low-voltage, high-current mode, the MZ5 HΩ’s high impedance design allows it to operate in a high-voltage, low-current mode. This translates into unprecedented electrical linearity across the audible spectrum. Moreover, less current means less heat and stress on the diaphragm, allowing ARTA to deliver ultra-low distortion and dynamic compression at any listening volume.
ADJUST YOUR SOUND SEAMLESSLY
Experience the sound of ARTA in two distinct and refined flavours.
• Duo Angled - Crafted from a complementary blend of perforated lambskin leather and Alcantara®, and precisely angled for a richer, more impactful presentation.
• Slim Alcantara - Crafted from two types of Alcantara® with perforations on the inner chamber, designed for more neutrality and a smoother, rounder upper region.
"ARTA came into existence from asking the same question over and over: what is there still between the listener and the music? Through our collaboration with Rinaro Isodynamics, we’ve arrived at something that doesn't quite sound like headphones anymore, but simply music occupying real space."
Alex Grigoras, Acoustic Engineer
TWO HIGH-QUALITY CABLES INCLUDED
Two 2 m (6.6 ft) cables are included, each featuring silver-plated Linear Crystal Oxygen-
Free Copper (LC-OFC) conductors arranged in a dual-strand configuration, with 161 individual conductors per strand. Insulated in SoftFlex PVC for enhanced comfort and flexibility, both cables incorporate CNC-anodized aluminum housings. One is terminated in a 6.3 mm single-ended jack, the other in a 4-pin XLR balanced connector, covering both single- ended and balanced listening.
This is not a promise we make lightly. The ARTA has been designed to endure - every component, from the earpads and headband to the drivers and earcups, can be fully disassembled, serviced, or replaced. Because an artistic headphone made to this standard should never become waste, but rather appreciate with the passing of time. Time is our most valuable resource. Every headphone we make passes through countless iterations, refined until there is nothing left to improve.
We engineer for generations, designing each one to be durable, fully serviceable, and timeless in its aesthetics. We don't release our headphones on a deadline, but only when they have fully matured.
Everything from acoustic tuning and mechanical design to quality control and assembly happens at our headquarters in Baia Mare, Romania. Our team brings both a trained ear for sonic detail and a meticulous eye for build precision, ensuring each pair of ARTA headphones delivers the sound clarity, comfort, and ergonomic refinement Meze is known for.
CORE AUDIENCE
Advanced to expert audiophiles who possess a deep understanding of audio technology and terminology. They are research-driven, discerning consumers who appreciate both acoustic innovation and industrial design. Collectors, music lovers, technology enthusiasts, and craftsmanship-lovers, they seek authenticity over convenience and excellence over mass appeal. They do not simply buy audio equipment; they invest in a personal ritual centered on music appreciation.
Goals
• Achieve the most faithful, emotionally resonant reproduction of recorded music possible.
• Build a system (and collection) that reflects personal taste and expertise, not trends.
• Experience listening as a deliberate, almost meditative ritual.
• Be recognised within a community of fellow enthusiasts for discernment and knowledge.
| Parameter | Specification |
|---|---|
| Physical Specifications | |
| Headphone Weight | 495 g |
| Frame Material | Fiberglass-infused ABS |
| Ear Coupling | Circumaural |
| Input Connector | Dual 4-pin mini-XLR |
| Driver Geometrical Shape | Ovoid |
| Driver Size | 102 mm x 73 mm |
| Driver Weight | 84 g |
| Driver Casing | Fiberglass reinforced polymer |
| Technical Specifications | |
| Driver Type | Rinaro High Impedance Isodynamic® Hybrid Array MZ5 HΩ |
| Operating Principle | Open-back |
| Frequency Range | 3 Hz - 115 kHz |
| Impedance | 225 Ω |
| Sensitivity | 98 dB SPL/mW at 1 kHz |
| Maximum SPL | >130 dB SPL |
| Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) | <0.05% |
| Diaphragm Type | Rinaro Parus ARTA® [MZ5 HΩ] |
| Diaphragm Active Area | 4,650 mm² |
| Diaphragm Weight | 0.10 g |
| Acoustic Mass | 4.7 kg/m⁴ |
| Lower Frequency Limit | 3 Hz |
| Upper Frequency Limit | 115,000 Hz |
| Magnet Array | Hybrid Array delivering a uniform Isodynamic magnetic field for precise, efficient diaphragm activation |
| Power Specifications | |
| Output Power (225Ω) | Minimum: 200 mW Recommended: 500 mW+ |
| Voltage Swing | Minimum: ±12V peak Recommended: ±15–18V peak |
| Output Impedance | Minimum: <22Ω Recommended: <5Ω |
| Current Output | Minimum: >75 mA Recommended: >150 mA |
| Additional Information | |
| MSRP | €/$6.000 |
| Sound Profile | Warm-neutral, smooth, rich |
| Build | Precision metals, carbon fiber and premium leather, futuristic design, bionic fluidity with Art Nouveau elegance |
| Comfort | Excellent, optimised weight distribution with enhanced padded leather headband |
| Soundstage | Expanded soundstage, spaciousness of an acoustically treated room, three-dimensional stage |
| Genre Fit | All, but especially classical, acoustic, jazz, live recordings, vocal, progressive rock and metal, electronic atmospheric |
| Amplification Note | Designed for desktop amplification; optimized for high-voltage sources and performs best with capable desktop DAC/amp setups |
| Country of Origin | Made In Romania |