Cambridge AudioMelomania M100 Earbuds - In Ear True Wireless Headphones with Active Noise Cancelling, Hi-Fi Sound, Bluetooth, Featuring Combined 52 Hour Battery Life with Charging Case - Black

After a disappointment with Soundpeats ‘Dual dynamic drivers’ earbuds I decided to up the budget threefold and bought some Cambridge Audio Melomania 1's. Skip to my verdict: They’re terrific!The clarity that the Melomania’s deliver is a revelation. Until you hear music from a clearer source than you are used to, you don’t realise what you have been missing.The Melomania’s are billed as an audiophile’s earbuds with a relatively natural flat sound response, meaning not for bass heads. However, I found they had too much bass. That’s right, too much bass!After an hour’s charging I went straight for the foam ear tips because foam tips have served me well in the past with other true wireless earbuds like the Enacfire Future Plus or the now redundant Soundpeats active noise reduction wireless earbuds. However, the foam tips have a greater mass than the silicone ones and this seals my ear canal more efficiently creating more bass. I had to use a sound equaliser to cut the bass (a 6db cut at 60Hz – ie. cut by half) to stop the bass overpowering the mid and high tones. Putting in the lighter silicone tips reduced the bass naturally to an acceptable level without needing to use the equaliser. For me this was the solution. Bass heads stick with the foam.With the right size silicone tips giving a snug and comfortable fit I found I wanted to listen to my music for hours. I say “wanted” because many earbuds I have tried were so unremarkable and underwhelming I was glad to put them back in their box. But with the Melomania’s I couldn’t get enough of my playlists and hid myself away so I could listen some more. When was the last time you wore headphones or earbuds that had you enjoying your music all over again? For me this was a refreshing change.I mentioned that I achieved a ‘snug and comfortable fit’. Before buying them I spent several weeks watching YouTube videos and reading countless reviews here on Amazon and the question of ‘fit’ was a recurring topic. People even knocked off stars for a ‘poor fit’ and praised for a ‘good fit’.There is no question that achieving a snug fit is absolutely essential if you are to hear any bass and avoid the ‘tinny’ sound reported by some. So let’s try and clear up this tricky subject? Fit is purely subjective. It varies from person to person, ear canal to ear canal, it’s a lottery. Some fit you, whilst others fit me. It isn’t rocket science yet folk complain the earbuds ‘were a poor fit’. What were they expecting? “One size fits all” perhaps? Don’t be silly!Let’s face it, Cambridge Audio buy-in silicone tips just like Sony, Sennheiser, Soundpeats, etc. It’s daft to think that one manufacturer’s tips are so different to another’s! So my encouragement is to approach the question of tips as a Second Task. You might get lucky and the ones supplied fit perfectly, or (more likely) you will need to experiment with others off Fleebay before you get success. But it’s well worth investing the time to get a decent sound, and also a comfortable fit. So please, enough of “the fit was poor”, because no two ear canals are the same. (even left and right may need different size tips). Lecture over!Incidentally, I own a pair of Shure 535’s with custom silicone inserts (hot silicone poured into your ears for a totally custom and super perfect fit), and some Grado RS1’s over ears. I used both for comparison purposes and I can say with total confidence that either of the above knock the spots off the Melomania’s, but they are wired and cost many times more, so it’s not a fair fight. Bluetooth it seems, has not evolved sufficiently to compete with wired headphones quite yet. However, if you must go wireless then the Melomania’s musicality, clarity, and faithful fidelity will have you thinking about what to listen to next, rather than what’s stuck in your ears. I found myself jumping from song to song in my music library like a kid in a sweet shop, completely forgetting about the Melomania’s. After all, enjoying my music is why I bought them!I have not had any connection problems although I use them indoors, and I find the push switches on the ends of the buds to need only a gentle push. They are also a tad smaller than I expected. Curiously their unique round design makes it easy to insert them properly, because you can simply rotate them slightly as you push them in. Simples! I attach a photo of them, and the case, on a standard CD case to give a sense of scale.At around £119.95 they are not cheap, yet I think they represent excellent value for money given the superior sound they produce. If you are in to your music then ignore the glut of £35 earbuds on Amazon and treat yourself to some Melomania’s. I’m SO glad I did.

I'll be honest, this was a reluctant purchase-I love listening to music and have invested heavily in hifi for my office. Roksan amplifier, Dali speakers etc, but headphones? Earbuds? I was never sure I could tell the difference between cheap buds and something like these and whether something that goes in your ear could feel and sound like hifi audio. Hence my reluctance. Well, compared to my daily Anker buds,these have been a revelation. The sound stage is huge, lows, mids and highs all where they should be, the app is great, anc near perfect and to top it off an amazing battery life. They are comfortable, easy to control and don't (so far) fall out. Build quality is excellent. Well worth the original asking price and a no brainer when on offer.

I bought these to replace a cheap set of oriental ones I had bought to see if I was comfortable with them. My intention was to at least partially replace a set of quality over ear headphones I use, but as I work from the kitchen table they took up lots of table top space for just occasional use. The first set I bought convinced me I was happy with ear buds so I took the plunge (£18 Vs £100)Initially I wasn't too impressed. They didn't seem to fit in the ear as well as the others which are a different shape, with the usual right angle fitting, whereas these are straight. Noise cancellation seemed almost nil and the buttons were easily activated when putting them in my ears.So not a great start.However, after a few days of use it became apparent they are more secure in the ears than the other ones,which is almost counter intuitive when you consider the shape.Then I realised there was one set of memory foam tips which I tried and, presto, noise cancellation solved. It's not really noise cancellation, just blocking, but not too bad.Connecting them to my laptop was a doddle, but it became apparent, disconnecting the right hand speaker was equally a doddle, albeit unintentionally. A bit frustrating to begin with, but I just got into the routine of reinstalling them every few days.Accidental button activation largely goes away once you get used to putting them in your ears carefully.I'll only mention the range because people will be curious. I don't get a good range but I'm certain that's my laptop's fault, with a wimpy Bluetooth - in a £2,500 Porsche Design item!!! Both sets of earbuds are the same, despite others achieving 5m or more distance through wall. So, no stars knocked off for that.The case is smaller than the other set as well, and if you're active, it would slip in your pocket unnoticed.The redeeming feature that will make you stick with them is the sound. I'm no audio freak, but if I could put a scale of comparison between the cheap earbuds and theses, it would be something like 10% compared to 90%. The noise from these things rival my conventional headphones, it's glorious. Whilst others might describe it as bassy (which it is compared to the others) I find it a very natural sound you can listen to either music or movies with comfortably.Unexpectedly, after a few weeks of getting used to them, they have replaced my conventional headphones completely. They are connected by the time you get them from the box to your ears, take up no tabletop space whatsoever, and the case holds a great charge. Nor have I run out of power in the ear buds themselves.All in all, I have awarded then 4 stars to reflect the occasional disconnection problem and the fact they are describes as noise cancelling, which isn't really true in the conventional understanding of active noise cancellation.