Cambridge Audio definitely lives up to our expectations when it comes to the Melomania Touch wireless headphones.
The developer borrowed the main design cues of the Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch from the earlier successful Melomania 1 , which many rightfully consider one of the best in the 2019 list of wireless headphones. Melomania 1 delivers “intuitive touch controls, amazing sound quality and long battery life.”
More than a year after their release, we still admire the original Melomania 1 earbuds – so can the audio brand make their wireless earbuds even better?
Well, we need to spend a little more time exploring Melomania Touch to draw our conclusions on this, but judging by 10 minutes of testing, it looks like Cambridge Audio has worked out the shortcomings of the earlier model.
Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch price and release date
Cambridge Audio Melomania is available for purchase now as it was officially released on January 1, 2021.
This pair of wireless earbuds will set you back $ 150 . As you may have noticed, the updated version turned out to be slightly more expensive than its predecessor, which was released in 2019 and sold for $ 130. It is worth noting that if you are hoping to save a little, then you will be interested to know that the cost of the Cambridge Audio Melomania 1 has dropped quite a bit since launch.
We focus on the cost of Melomania Touch – the new headphones are not too expensive, they can be considered the “golden mean” of the price range of wireless earbuds. They’re significantly less expensive than Apple AirPods Pro , but not nearly as economical as super-budget models like the JLab Go Air .
Designed by Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch
Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch has a completely new design that does not echo the design of their predecessors. Here, the company ditched the bullet-shaped housing design, which makes the earbud not completely fit in the ear, in favor of silicone wings that will help keep the plugs in place.
This is a welcome change and made us feel comfortable and confident while using Melomania Touch. The earplugs themselves are incredibly light, weighing only 6 g, and a set of silicone wings and ear tips (3 sizes each) provides you with the best fit for the earbud.
The devices come with a sleek, pebble-shaped charging case that you can recharge with a USB-C cable through the corresponding port. The Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch also has an IPX4 waterproof rating, which means it can withstand a small amount of sweat and splash water, so you can use it for sports.
Another handy workout feature is the new Clear Sound Mode. Unlike active noise cancellation, transparent sound technology allows loud ambient noise to pass through so you can hear subway announcements or traffic signals while enjoying your music. The clarity on the Melomania Touch worked very well in our walk tests, although these earbuds aren’t nearly as functional when it comes to conveying your surroundings as the Apple AirPods Pro.
If you are concerned about the quality of your calls, then you will be happy to deal with the Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch: its small body includes two microphones and Qualcomm Clear Voice Capture noise canceling technology, thanks to which your voice will sound clear and clear to your interlocutor.
Overall, the Melomania Touch looks quite attractive and we love the glossy finish that the developer decided to use on the outside of the earbuds. As the name of the new model suggests, this part of the body is supposed to function as a touch control element, which allows you to control playback and basic functions using touches and long presses.
While touchpads and buttons are risky business, using them during our Cambridge Audio Melomania testing was easy and effortless. They recorded our touches very well, although there was a very short delay between touch input and subsequent action, but we hardly noticed it. We were pleased with how well they work.
Melomania Touch sound quality
The original Melomania 1s offered great sound quality for their price, but the Melomania Touch should sound even better thanks to the innovative High Performance Audio Mode, which uses Hi-Fi amplification technology. You may also have seen this technology in the award-winning CX Hi-Fi amplifier series.
According to Cambridge Audio, with Melomania Touch you can enjoy “an even larger soundstage, lower noise levels and wider dynamic range than ever before.”
Inside the earbuds are 7mm drivers that have been reinforced with graphene (monolayer of graphite), a material that is tough and tough, which the manufacturer says results in deeper, controlled bass, lifelike vocals and sharper treble.
After testing the Melomania Touch briefly, we were impressed with the sound quality on offer, and in this regard they seem to represent a step up from the 2019 headphones.
For example, in the song “Collar Of Your Shirt” by Matt Berninger, the guitar sounded smooth while retaining its detail, and the vocals were very clear and loud. The pulsating bass, smoothly transitioning to the middle frequencies, has a smooth and soft shape, and the cello part sounded especially magnificent and colorful.
Although you need to spend more time with headphones to properly assess the sound quality, we think that those who love good sound and ordinary listeners should be interested in these earplugs.
Melomania Touch: Battery life and connectivity
The Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch delivers a whopping 50 hours of battery life, nine hours of playtime from the earbuds themselves, with 41 more hours of play provided by the charging case (over four charge cycles).
Bluetooth 5 connectivity assumes a stable connection between the earbuds and your devices, and support for AAC and aptX codecs means they should have no problem streaming high-quality audio wirelessly.
During our testing, we did not notice any connection issues, and the first pairing of the devices turned out to be very quick and easy.
Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch also comes with a new companion app, Melomania By Cambridge Audio , which allows you to adjust equalizer settings, locate headphones using your phone’s location data when you last connected, check earbuds’ charge levels and download firmware updates.
Although we have yet to test the Melomania app, we are always happy to be able to adjust the equalizer and see how it affects the sound quality of the headphones, given their specifications.
Conclusion
So far, we are very impressed with the Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch. Our first test results show that these earplugs represent a noticeable improvement in sound quality and battery life, and we absolutely love the redesigned design. The touch buttons on the housings also work very well, which is a relief after testing many wireless headphones with non-functional touch controls.
There is no noise canceling feature here, although we dare to say that these headphones were created with an emphasis on accuracy and detail in sound reproduction, rather than trying to live up to all the modern specs we’ve come to expect from wireless earbuds.