Review Cambridge Audio Melomania A100

[John Duncan]

Alright folks. I don't post here very much any more because I don't get much opportunity to listen or watch so much, but I wanted to mention the one thing that I've bought recently that I really liked. As most of you know I've owned a lot of reasonable hifi in the past (eg Arcam, Creek, KEF, Musical Fidelity, Naim, PMC, Primare, Tannoy, Cambridge Audio themselves) but life moves on and now most of what listening I do manage is via wired Sennheiser headphones. I had been thinking about noise cancelling earbuds for a while just for convenience' sake, but balked at the cost of Apple AirPod Pros so never did.

However, I saw a review of these elsewhere from Simon Lucas (late of this Parish) which heaped praise on them for quality and value so I thought now was maybe the time, and off I went to Amazon (they're also available via cambridgeaudio.com directly).

They arrived well packed and well built, and they claim about 30h battery life, but I haven’t got to the point of testing those limits. I’m no connoisseur of Noise Cancelling, and - after finding the right size of earbuds - these don’t shut out the very loudest of noise but on a trip to the pub with some pesky kids they do seem to do what you need them to do, which is reduce outside noise to a respectable minimum. Pairing is easy and the free Melomania app allows you to set up and control them, including different touch gestures for both ears - eg to engage transparency mode, which is great for hearing everything around you if you need to, and skip forward and back etc.

As for size and comfort, they do have that sort of tendency that genuine good quality earbuds like, say, a Shure 535 display, which is to feel like you might have a badger in your ear, but I've managed to wear them for a few hours at a time and not got weary of them.

All so far so good, but to the important bit: the sound quality, fired up from an iPhone 13 Mini, is exemplary. Amazing frequency response from the large (for earbuds) drivers, and terrific cohesion across the entire range, from the sub bass of Jennifer Warnes Rock You Gently and a lot of weird sub-synth on Diamond Mine, to gorgeous vocal albums like Costello and von Otter and Gregory Porter, to hi-hatty 80s pop like So. Like I say, I’m no connoisseur, and they’re not 400 quid over-ear Sennheisers, but they’re unquestionably the best bit of kit, and provide the best value for money, that I’ve bought in years.

You can’t spend a better £120 on sound right now.

Selected works used for testing:

Anne Sofie von Otter and Elvis Costello - For The Stars
Gregory Porter - Take Me To The Alley
Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
Rush - Moving Pictures, Signals
Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker - Overnight
Karine Polwart - Traces
Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat, The Hunter
Peter Gabriel - IV, So
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
King Creosote and Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine
Del Amitri - Twisted
Test Match Special and the Today Programme 🙂

JD xx

PS oh, phone call quality is fine.

 

[R2D2]

Alright folks. I don't post here very much any more because I don't get much opportunity to listen or watch so much, but I wanted to mention the one thing that I've bought recently that I really liked. As most of you know I've owned a lot of reasonable hifi in the past (eg Arcam, Creek, KEF, Musical Fidelity, Naim, PMC, Primare, Tannoy, Cambridge Audio themselves) but life moves on and now most of what listening I do manage is via wired Sennheiser headphones. I had been thinking about noise cancelling earbuds for a while just for convenience' sake, but balked at the cost of Apple AirPod Pros so never did.

However, I saw a review of these elsewhere from Simon Lucas (late of this Parish) which heaped praise on them for quality and value so I thought now was maybe the time, and off I went to Amazon (they're also available via cambridgeaudio.com directly).

They arrived well packed and well built, and they claim about 30h battery life, but I haven’t got to the point of testing those limits. I’m no connoisseur of Noise Cancelling, and - after finding the right size of earbuds - these don’t shut out the very loudest of noise but on a trip to the pub with some pesky kids they do seem to do what you need them to do, which is reduce outside noise to a respectable minimum. Pairing is easy and the free Melomania app allows you to set up and control them, including different touch gestures for both ears - eg to engage transparency mode, which is great for hearing everything around you if you need to, and skip forward and back etc.

As for size and comfort, they do have that sort of tendency that genuine good quality earbuds like, say, a Shure 535 display, which is to feel like you might have a badger in your ear, but I've managed to wear them for a few hours at a time and not got weary of them.

All so far so good, but to the important bit: the sound quality, fired up from an iPhone 13 Mini, is exemplary. Amazing frequency response from the large (for earbuds) drivers, and terrific cohesion across the entire range, from the sub bass of Jennifer Warnes Rock You Gently and a lot of weird sub-synth on Diamond Mine, to gorgeous vocal albums like Costello and von Otter and Gregory Porter, to hi-hatty 80s pop like So. Like I say, I’m no connoisseur, and they’re not 400 quid over-ear Sennheisers, but they’re unquestionably the best bit of kit, and provide the best value for money, that I’ve bought in years.

You can’t spend a better £120 on sound right now.

Selected works used for testing:

Anne Sofie von Otter and Elvis Costello - For The Stars
Gregory Porter - Take Me To The Alley
Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
Rush - Moving Pictures, Signals
Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker - Overnight
Karine Polwart - Traces
Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat, The Hunter
Peter Gabriel - IV, So
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
King Creosote and Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine
Del Amitri - Twisted
Test Match Special and the Today Programme 🙂

JD xx

PS oh, phone call quality is fine.

Good to see you, JD. Thanks for the heads up.