Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch: True Wireless In-Ear Buds Review

After reviewing and testing Cambridge Audio Melomania 1 True Wireless In-Ear Buds exactly 2 years ago I was curious to find out what might be different with new Melomania Touch

• Is battery life going to be so strong and long lasting, like with their first offering, Melomania 1?
• Are they are going to fix their issue with left-and right paring of ear buds?
• Is ANC (Active Noise Canceling) going to be added?
• Will there be a significant price increase with their current model? Melmonia 1 are now available for 99 EUR (Amazon Affiliate)

What`s included in their package?

• 1 x Case which can be also used for charging
• 2 x Earbuds
• 1 x USB-A to USB-C charging cable
• 4 x Small Silicone tips
• 4 x Medium Silicone tips (2 pre-fitted)
• 4 x Large Silicone tips
• 2 x Small Silicone selectable fins
• 2 x Medium Silicone selectable fins (pre-fitted)
• 2 x Large Silicone selectable fins

Battery Life

Battery Life of Earbuds is about 9 hours (same like Melomania 1) and charging cases offers additional 41 hours. I am not aware of any True Wireless In-Ear Buds on the market with a battery life of 50h – that is Best in Class. Chapeau, Cambridge Audio!

I want to mention that power consumption is approx. 20% higher in High Performance Audio mode, you can easily switch to energy-saving mode in the mobile App

Mobile App for iOS and Android: Your best friend for pairing

Free Mobile App is very important because you need to check if there is a firmware update available. You shouldn\’t skip this step because you might run into pairing issues. Sometimes left ear bud can be paired but not right one at same time. This whole pairing experience is still painful and hasn\’t improved significantly since Melomania 1. Have never seen other In-Ear Buds with separate left-and right pairing approach. Anyway, please update to latest firmware and issues should be solved. If not, reset the In-Ear Buds by clicking and holding right ear bud for 10 seconds until it flashes white. Cambridge Audio Support is very responsive and super helpful – also on Twitter. Updated pairing guide should be part of your package and stick on the box.

As you can see in my mobile App, the 7mm Graphene-enhanced drivers with high Performance Audio Mode also support for aptX and AAC codecs and connect with Bluetooth 5.0 class 2

Now let`s look closer to the Equalizer: You can custom your experience but also choose from presets like \”immersive\”, \”Rock\”, \”R&B\”, \”Voice\” and \”Electronic\”. I am currently using \”Rock\” which sounds excellent. Sometimes I choose \”neutral\” for other In-Ear Buds but here they sound too flat.

In the settings, you can change these configurations:

• High Performance vs Energy Saving Mode
• Touch controls (pause, play, next song, last song, increase/decrease volume), accept/decline call, finish call, Voice Assistant on/off, transparency mode on/off)
• Codecs on/off (aptX and AAC)
• languages
• firmware update
• account login/logoff

Microphone Quality for Calls and Meetings

Now you are surprising me, Cambridge Audio, with one of the most important feature for me personally: Microphone and Calling Quality. If you review the microphone quality of Melomania 1 here in my collection of voice sample, you might understand why I never used them for Calls. It\’s not a convincing experience to wear In-Ear Buds for music and then take them off, unpair and call people using your smartphone – without a headset.

You have listened and improved, Melomania, and I am thankful for it: Never heard a better call quality, so jump from my \”bottom list to No 1\” – but please create your own opinion, here is my voice sample:

Sound Quality (enjoying Music, Podcasts, Video)

If you have chosen the right size of gels and wings, the In-Ear Buds sit perfectly in the ears. Works also very well for me when doing sports (running, gym), Sound is harmonious and powerful, contains a natural subtlety, impressive clarity and offers an enormous amount of detail. Bass is neither too heavy nor too lax. Voices are excellently separated from instruments. Compared to my last review with Nura NuraTrue, Distortion rarely occurs at maximum volume and volume is much louder. Nice! Sound stage is wide, and I can\’t believe which excellent stereo HiFi quality you get for only 119 EUR . I don\’t miss ANC (Active Noise Canceling) here, but would pick other headsets when flying or waiting at very noisy train station for a longer time. Punchy bass also reaches deep down into the frequency basement. The bass range tends to be somewhat accentuated but not boomy, just pleasant (tested with \”Monsters\” by The Midnight). Melomania Touch plays safely in the trebles. The generally good detail resolution leads to a well-resolved, stable stereo panorama and the necessary fine nuances in voices (tested with The Corrs: \”Everybody hurts\” MTV unplugged and Yaron Herman Trio-\”No surprises\”).

Touch Controls

Music is controlled via the touch surfaces on both buds, a button-less experience. Tapping once pauses the music, tapping twice skips a song. Tap and hold to increase (right) or decrease (left) the volume. Tap three times and you enter transparency mode. Calls can also be accepted and ended with a tap. Individual commands can be configured in the Melomania app according to your personal needs

Summary

Pro

• Excellent fit and comfortable to wear
• Great equalizer
• Best in Class Battery life
• Clean and harmonious sound with rich details
• Beautiful design (white in-ear buds with artificial leather case in white)
• Very attractive price
• Very friendly and responsive Support

Contra

• Painful Bluetooth pairing process (before firmware upgrade)
• Case could be smaller

Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch are available for 119 EUR e.g. at Amazon

(This is an unpaid and not sponsored review, I have received Melomanias through Cambridge Audio\’s Press Agency rtfm in Germany)