Cambridge Audio’s New Melomania P100 Wireless Headphones Sound Sublime

Barely a month ago I reviewed the latest and best-ever pair of true wireless earbuds from classic British brand Cambridge Audio. The Melomania M100 are the third pair of true wireless earbuds released under the watchful eye of Cambridge Audio’s chairman, James Johnson Flint. Producing great earbuds has been a personal passion and mission of Johnson Flint’s and the man is on a roll.

Now Cambridge Audio has announced its first-ever 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 distilled into this new pair of headphones and it shows.

The Melomania P100 headphones build on more than 50 years of audio expertise that Cambridge Audio has honed, driven by a passion to an unashamed passion to deliver truly emotive sound produced by some superb premium drivers and Class AB amplification.

The new headphones have an impressive 60 hours of playtime from a single charge. With the active noise canceling function turned off, that figure climbs to an astonishing 100 hours. The huge capacity of the battery means the headphones will need charging less often and will provide a longer service life, which is good for the environment and your bank balance. With a 60-hour battery life, you could easily squeeze a full working week from the P100 or a long holiday somewhere nice.

Johnson Flint is elated 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 gave our listeners an on-the-go entry to the Cambridge sound, but we wanted to offer music lovers a flagship over-ear option as well,” he claims.

As with all Cambridge products, P100 was designed, tuned and engineered at the company’s London music venue and HQ, Melomania, by the same team that designs the company’s award-winning hi-fi equipment.

At the heart of the P100 are 40mm custom drivers and neodymium magnets. The drivers are fed by Class AB amplification rather than Class D. This is the same analog technology used on Cambridge’s acclaimed CX Series amplifiers. The result is a warm sound with a deep but controlled bass, forward vocals and a treble that brings definition to the soundstage.

To ensure the combination of premium drivers and great amplification can reach its full potential, the P100 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound platform which offers support for aptX Lossless wireless technology, providing wireless playback with CD quality and no lossy compression.

Like most wireless headphones on the market these days, the Melomania P100 offer active noise cancellation. The ANC function offers three user-selectable settings which are No ANC, Transparency Mode and ANC On. The modes can be toggled using the ANC button which is on the left-hand earcup next to the power switch and Bluetooth pairing control.

On the right earcup are two volume buttons and a special function button with a play/pause function. The headphones can also automatically pause the music when you take them off, although that feature 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 provide many other functions that are accessed with double or triple clicks. These functions include skipping or repeating tracks, invoking voice assistants and picking up or refusing phone calls.

Out of the box, the P100 headphones have been tuned to deliver that classic Cambridge sound. It’s a transparent and natural signal that sounds awesome without any tweaking. There’s a gorgeously deep bass but it never becomes flabby or overbearing.

I gave my favorite test track—Diana Krall’s “Sway”— a spin and was not disappointed. Unlike some wireless headphones, there was plenty of headroom in the volume on offer along with a total absence of background his that you sometimes hear with Class D headphones.

The P100 sound like a disciplined orchestra that always takes its timing from the conductor and never wavers. The sound must be heard to be appreciated. The tuning is exquisite and up there with the best wireless headphones on the market and very similar to the superb Melomania M100 true wireless earbuds.

Using the Melomania Connect app, the audio can be tweaked to suit your tastes. There is a seven-band EQ that can sculpt the sound to a precise degree, plus six presets are available to suit a variety of musical genres.

The P100 headphones have a Gaming Mode, which ensures near-perfect sync with the sounds appearing on the TV or console when playing games or watching movies. The latency has been reduced to just 80ms.

The ANC function uses the latest technology available and it shows. This is up there with Sony and Bose technology, the best in the business. ANC has got so good these days that traveling without a pair of ANC headphones is unthinkable.

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-haul flight to somewhere exotic. I am happy to say that the memory foam and faux leather earpads on the P100 have all the buttery suppleness that you’ll find on Sony’s WH-1000XM5 or Bose’s QuietComfort models.

As well as the soft earpads, the relatively lightweight P100 have a textile-padded headband to reduce pressure on the wearer’s head. Despite weighing in at 330g, the P100 feel light when worn. I fancy that a notch for the fontanelle, that high ridge on the human skull, might have made the P100 feel even lighter to wear. It’s a small criticism of an otherwise superbly comfortable pair of headphones

James Johnson Flint tells me that enormous amounts of time and testing have been put into selecting the ideal clamping force to suit the largest variety of head sizes. He’s not wrong. The P100 have just the right level of clamping pressure to keep them in place, even when exercising, without making your head feel as if it’s been put in a vise.

The P100 headphones offer anywhere from 60 to 100 hours of playtime on a single charge of the built-in rechargeable battery. Fast charging means that a quick five-minute burst charge can deliver up to two hours of ANC-enabled playback or four hours with ANC turned off.

Like many companies in the consumer electronics business, Cambridge Audio has been raising its game when it comes to sustainability. The new Melomania P100 are made with sustainable materials wherever possible. The headphones feature 50% recycled plastic and ship in 100% recyclable plastic-free packaging. Both the battery and earpads are user-replaceable to ensure the P100 provides years of use.

The drive to create a more sustainable product builds on Cambridge Audio’s support as a founding donor of the eco-music charity EarthPercent, which was co-founded by Brian Eno of Roxy Music fame.

Verdict: The Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 set a new benchmark in wireless ANC headphones. Not only do they sound superb thanks to those custom drivers and the Class AB amplification, but the ANC function is in the major league and you also get great comfort and almost endless battery life in a design that’s sustainable for years to come. Considering the P100 are Cambridge Audio’s first pair of true wireless ANC headphones, the company has scored a bullseye with a product that offers incredible value for money and probably ought to cost a lot more. If you are thinking of buying Sony or Bose ANC headphones, do yourself a favor and listen to the Melomania P100. You won’t regret it. Highly recommended.

Pricing & Availability: Cambridge Audio’s Melomania P100 true wireless ANC headphones are available from July 2024 at cambridgeaudio.com and Amazon, priced at $279 / £229 / €279 in a choice of white or black colorways and ships with a hard zippered case.

Tech Specs:

• Drivers: 40mm, 3-layer.
• Magnets: Neodymium.
• Amplification: 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 from a five-minute burst.
• ANC modes: On, Transparent, Off.
• EQ: 7-band adjustment, plus 6 EQ presets.
• Bluetooth: Version 5.3.
• Gaming mode: 80ms latency.
• User-replaceable battery and earpads.
• Connectivity: Choice of wired operation via USB-C to 3.5mm jack or USB-C to USB-C (both cables supplied).
• Multipoint connectivity: Yes.
• Earpads: Vegan leather with memory foam.
• Headband: Textile-covered memory foam.
• Weight: 330g.