Meze Audio introduces ASTRU, an elegantly engineered dynamic driver in-ear monitor
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Meze Audio is a far cry from its boutique disruptor roots. Since 2015, when it first launched the enthusiastically adopted audiophile gateway drug that is the 99 Classics closed-back headphones, the Romanian audio brand has increasingly solidified its positioning as a pillar of reference and romance. Although it’s primarily known for its steady stream of beautifully designed earbuds (we highlighted one back in January), Meze regularly offers wired earbuds in its lineup. Since 2024, that model has been the $159 ALBA, which proved that Meze could evolve its philosophy of rich response and detailed design into an accessible form. Today, ASTRU emerges as a new single dynamic driver in-ear monitor that delivers elegance and consistency.
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ASTRU is built around a meticulously designed 10mm dynamic driver. Its multi-layer composite diaphragm begins with a dome coated with more than 80 ultra-thin layers of gold, applied during a 48-hour physical vacuum DC magnetron sputtering process. This dome is bonded to a layer of titanium and mounted on a PEEK base, balancing rigidity and responsiveness. The result is snappy transients, extended highs without hiss, rich but not syrupy mids, and the kind of full-bodied bass that dynamic speakers are known for. Equal parts emotional and physical impact, with composed imagery.
The curvaceous, comfort-conscious case is equally obsessive, with each chassis CNC machined from a single block of pure titanium and refined through a multi-step electroplating process for a satin finish… a process that would take up to seven days per pair. The IEMs are then packaged with a premium two-pin balanced cable with CNC-machined aluminum hardware and gold-plated 4.4mm termination, a 4.4mm to 3.5mm adapter, five ear tip sizes, as well as a protective pouch and soft PU leather wrap. At 32
Ω impedance with 111 dB SPL/mW at 1 kHz sensitivity, it is suitable for both portable equipment and dedicated platforms.
The Meze Audio ASTRU will be available for $899 at mezeaudio.com and select retailers starting March 20. The ASTRU is being touted as serious sound without cutting-edge pricing, and we’ll share our first-hand impressions that day.
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Need a USB-C dongle that you can slide into the ASTRU case to use with a smartphone, tablet or laptop? Meze’s UK friends iFi recently announced the GO Link 2 for $59. [shown below]the company’s most compact plug-and-play solution to date. Inside a 7.8g aluminum-magnesium alloy body, an ESS Saber chipset supports up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD256 for music streaming and hi-res libraries, with selectable filters to shape the response. There’s Dynamic Range Enhancement (DRE), adding 6dB of extra dynamic range between the loudest and quietest moments, while the S-Balanced output halves crosstalk between headphone channels and the THD+N is ≤ 0.0015% (1.27V at 32Ω).
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