Cambridge Audio Reveals Its New Melomania M100 Wireless Earbuds With Lossless Audio

Classic British music and audio brand Cambridge Audio has had a busy couple of months and the latest launch from the company is the long-awaited update to the award-winning Melomania earphones. The Melomania M100 brings support for Lossless Audio as well as Active Noise Cancelling.

Melomania M100 builds on the design of the company’s award-winning Melomania 1+ with new premium drivers and hi-fi-grade Class AB amplification. Cambridge Audio designs and prototypes all its products at its London HQ, where it’s been turning out audio products for more than 50 years. The company’s engineers have managed to push the battery life of the Melomania M100 to an impressive 10 hours, which extends to an incredible 16 hours with the noise canceling function turned off.

Cambridge Audio prides itself on not just making great audio but the staff are all bona fide music lovers. The company’s founder James Johnson Flint is a huge music fan and the company encourages colleagues to jam with each other in the company bar called Melomania after work. The love of music drives a lot of the product development at Cambridge Audio, producing a classic British sound that is neither flabby nor overblown. It’s all about the soundstage and details.

Each earpiece of the Melomania M100 uses a custom 10mm premium driver with neodymium magnets. The drivers have been matched with Class AB amplification, a technology that’s only used on Cambridge Audio’s acclaimed CX Series hi-fi amplifiers. Class AB amplification typically offers a deep, controlled bass, realistic vocals and exceptional treble clarity.

To ensure the drivers and amplifiers used in the M100 have enough detail to work with, the Melomania M100 use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound platform which includes the aptX Lossless codec when used with compatible Android smartphones. This technology enables wireless playback in CD quality with no lossy compression.

To block out any unwanted sound, the Melomania M100 have Active Noise Cancellation which uses a hybrid combination of Feed-Back and Feed-Forward canceling technology, with external microphones for monitoring the outside ambient noise, plus microphones inside the ear canal for taking a second swipe at any other sound that reaches the ear. This combination blocks exterior noises that would otherwise spoil the immersive listening experience. Cutting-edge Qualcomm Adaptive ANC tech means that the noise-canceling experience is also optimized regardless of how precisely the earbuds are fitted in the listener’s ears.

Out of the box, M100 earphones are tuned to deliver the Cambridge Audio signature sound, but there’s also an array of options for fine-tuning the sound to suit the listener best. The all-new Melomania Connect smartphone app can personalize the sound using a seven-band EQ. There are also six EQ presets tailored to different musical genres.

The M100 offers up to 10 hours of playback from a single charge with the ANC function turned on. With it deactivated you can expect around 16 hours. There are two full charges in the M100’s carrying case, taking the total possible playtime to around 52 hours. Fast charging means a 10-minute burst charge can deliver two hours of ANC-enabled playback.

For maximum comfort and fit over extended listening sessions, the M100 have been designed using data sources from thousands of ears. The company claims this has resulted in an earbud that is well-balanced and light enough for the listener to barely notice they are wearing them. There are three sizes of silicone tips and two sizes of memory foam tips available for maximum comfort and an effective noise-isolating seal.

Thanks to both Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair, connecting M100 to an Android phone, tablet or Windows PC in seconds. The earphones broadcast their availability and the Android or Microsoft devices can prompt pairing; with a single click, the connection is made. A physical button on the charging case can also put the earphones into Bluetooth pairing mode with a single press.

Each earphone has touch controls which can be fully customized using the Melomania Connect app. The M100 also has a low-latency Gaming Mode to ensure what appears on the screen syncs with the sound sync. This feature is ideal for gaming or watching movies thanks to a latency of 80ms.

The M100 uses the latest Bluetooth 5.3 with LE Audio which offers future compatibility with technology like AuraCast Broadcast Audio and the high-quality, battery-saving LC3 audio codec. The M100 drivers are made using recycled Neodymium magnets and 50% recycled plastic. The M100 is also shipped in plastic-free packaging.

Pricing & Availability: Cambridge Audio Melomania M100 is available now from cambridgeaudio.com and Amazon, priced at $219 / £169 / €199.

More info: cambridgeaudio.com

Tech Specs:

• Drivers: 10mm dynamic drivers with neodymium magnets.
• Amplification: Class AB.
• Audio codecs: SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive Lossless up to 24-bit/96kHZ
• Battery life: 10 hours (16 hours with ANC off) additional 23 hours from the charging case (36 with ANC off) for a possible maximum of 52 hours of playback.
• Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation: Hybrid with Transparency Mode.
• EQ: 7-band EQ adjustment, plus 6 EQ presets.
• Bluetooth: Version 5.3 LE Audio.
• Charging: USB-C or Qi wireless.
• Fast charging: 10 mins of Fast Charge gives 2 hours of playback with ANC on, and 4 hours ANC off.
• Charging time: Approx. 120mins (0% to 100%)
• Gaming Mode: 80ms.
• Google Fast Pair & Microsoft Swift Pair: Yes.
• Water-resistance rating: IPX4.
• Ear tips: 3x silicone and 2x memory foam.
• Controls: Touch (fully customizable).
• Voice prompts: In 8 languages and with a surprise in store.