The new Melomania P100 is Cambridge Audio’s first over-ear headphone with true wireless ANC, … [+]
Less than a month ago I reviewed the latest and greatest pair of true wireless earbuds from classic British brand Cambridge Audio. The Melomania M100 is the third pair of true wireless earbuds to be released under the watchful eye of Cambridge Audio’s chairman, James Johnson Flint. Producing great earbuds is a personal passion and mission for Johnson Flint, and the man is on a roll.
Now, Cambridge Audio has announced its very first pair of true wireless ANC headphones in the form of the Melomania P100. The engineers at Cambridge Audio have learned a lot about earbuds over the past few years and the results have been incorporated into this new pair of headphones and it shows.
The Melomania P100 headphones build on over 50 years of audio expertise that Cambridge Audio has built, driven by a passion to deliver truly emotional sound, produced by some stunning premium drivers and Class AB amplification.
The new Melomania P100 headphones are super stylish and extremely comfortable.
The new headphones boast an impressive 60 hours of playtime on a single charge. With the active noise cancelling feature turned off, that figure rises to an astonishing 100 hours. The huge battery capacity means the headphones will need to be charged less often and will last longer, which is good for the environment and your bank balance. With 60 hours of battery life, you can easily squeeze a full working week out of the P100, or a long holiday somewhere fun.
Johnson Flint is delighted with what his engineers have managed to produce. “Melomania P100 is the closest you can get to a personal, portable Cambridge Audio hi-fi system. Our award-winning true wireless models have given our listeners mobile access to the Cambridge sound, but we also wanted to give music lovers a flagship over-ear option,” he claims.
Like all Cambridge products, the P100 was designed, tuned and engineered at the company’s London music venue and headquarters, Melomania, by the same team that designs the company’s award-winning hi-fi equipment.
Melomania’s P100 headphones use 40mm drivers and neodymium magnets.
At the heart of the P100 are 40mm custom drivers and neodymium magnets. The drivers are powered by Class AB amplification rather than Class D, the same analogue technology used on Cambridge’s acclaimed CX Series amplifiers. The result is a warm sound with deep yet controlled bass, forward vocals and a treble that adds definition to the soundstage.
To ensure that the combination of high-quality drivers and great amplification works to its full potential, the P100 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound platform. This platform supports aptX Lossless wireless technology, enabling CD-quality wireless playback without lossy compression.
Like most wireless headphones on the market today, the Melomania P100 offer active noise cancellation. The ANC function offers three user-selectable settings, namely No ANC, Transparency Mode and ANC On. The modes can be switched using the ANC button located on the left ear cup, next to the power switch and Bluetooth pairing controls.
The Cambridge Audio Melomnia P100 headphones can be connected via both Bluetooth and analogue … [+]
On the right ear cup are two volume buttons and a dedicated function button with a play/pause function. The headphones can also automatically pause the music when you take them off, although that function can be disabled using the excellent Melomania Connect smartphone app, which is available for iOS and Android devices.
The cluster of three control buttons also offers many other functions that can be accessed with a double or triple click. These functions include skipping or repeating tracks, calling voice assistants and accepting or rejecting phone calls.
The P100 headphones are tuned out of the box to deliver that classic Cambridge sound. It’s a transparent and natural signal that sounds great without any adjustment. There’s beautifully deep bass, but it never becomes mushy or overpowering.
I gave my favorite test track — Diana Krall’s “Sway” — a spin and I wasn’t disappointed. Unlike some wireless headphones, there was plenty of headroom at the volume levels offered, along with a total absence of the background noise you sometimes hear with Class D headphones.
The Melomania P100 has a fixed design and cannot be folded like some travel headphones.
The P100 sounds like a disciplined orchestra, always following the conductor’s timing and never wavering. The sound has to be heard to be appreciated. The tuning is exquisite and can hold its own with the best wireless headphones on the market and is very similar to the fantastic Melomania M100 true wireless earbuds.
The Melomania Connect app lets you tailor your audio to your taste. There’s a seven-band EQ that can shape your sound down to the last detail, plus six presets to suit different music genres.
The P100 headphones have a Gaming Mode, which ensures near-perfect synchronization with the sounds coming from the TV or console while playing games or watching movies. Latency is reduced to just 80ms.
The ANC feature uses the latest technology available and it shows. This is comparable to the technology from Sony and Bose, the best in the industry. ANC has become so good nowadays that traveling without ANC headphones is unthinkable.
The Cambridge Audio Melomnia P100 true wireless ANC headphones look great in white.
Perhaps the most important aspect of headphones, after audio quality, is comfort. Once again, Sony and Bose lead the way with headphones that are light and easy to wear, even for hours on a long flight to an exotic destination. I’m happy to report that the memory foam and leatherette ear cushions on the P100 have all the same buttery-soft suppleness you’ll find on Sony’s WH-1000XM5 or Bose’s QuietComfort models.
In addition to the soft ear pads, the relatively light P100 has a fabric-lined headband to reduce pressure on the wearer’s head. Despite its 330g weight, the P100 feels light to wear. I think a notch for the fontanel, that high ridge on the human skull, would have made the P100 even lighter to wear. It’s a minor quibble for an otherwise super-comfortable headphone
James Johnson Flint tells me that a tremendous amount of time and testing went into selecting the ideal clamping force for the widest range of head sizes. He’s right. The P100 has just the right clamping force to keep them in place, even during exercise, without making your head feel like it’s in a vice.
The Melomnia P100 headphones are solidly built and the battery and ear cushions are user-replaceable.
The P100 headphones offer 60 to 100 hours of playback on a single charge of the built-in rechargeable battery. Fast charging means that a quick burst charge of five minutes can deliver up to two hours of ANC-enabled playback, or four hours with ANC turned off.
Like many companies in the consumer electronics industry, Cambridge Audio has upped its game when it comes to sustainability. The new Melomania P100 is made from sustainable materials wherever possible. The headphones are made from 50% recycled plastic and come in 100% recyclable plastic-free packaging. Both the battery and ear cushions are user-replaceable to ensure the P100 will last for years to come.
The drive to create a more sustainable product builds on Cambridge Audio’s support as a founding member of the environmental music organisation EarthPercent, co-founded by Brian Eno of Roxy Music fame.
Pronunciation: The Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 set a new benchmark for wireless ANC headphones. Not only do they sound fantastic thanks to those custom drivers and Class AB amplification, but the ANC functionality is top notch, and you get incredible comfort and near-endless battery life in a design that will last you for years to come. Considering the P100 is Cambridge Audio’s first pair of true wireless ANC headphones, the company has hit the mark with a product that offers incredible value for money and probably should cost a lot more. If you’re considering Sony or Bose ANC headphones, do yourself a favor and give the Melomania P100 a listen. You won’t regret it. Highly recommended.
Prices and availability: Cambridge Audio’s Melomania P100 true wireless ANC headphones will be available from July 2024 at cambridgeaudio.com and Amazon, priced at €279 / £229 in white or black. The headphones come with a hard-shell zip-up carry case.
Technical specifications:
- Drivers: 40mm, 3-layer.
- Magnets: Neodymium.
- Reinforcement: Class AB.
- Audio codecs: aptX Lossless, SBC, AAC and aptX Adaptive up to 24-bit/96kHz.
- Battery life: up to 60 hours (100 hours with ANC off).
- Fast charging: two hours after a five-minute charge.
- ANC modes: On, Transparent, Off.
- EQ: 7-band adjustment, plus 6 EQ presets.
- Bluetooth: version 5.3.
- Gaming mode: 80ms latency.
- Battery and ear cushions are user replaceable.
- Connectivity: Choice of wired operation via USB-C to 3.5mm jack or USB-C to USB-C (both cables included).
- Multipoint connectivity: Yes.
- Ear cushions: Vegan leather with memory foam.
- Headband: Textile covered memory foam.
- Weight: 330g.