Cambridge Audio Melomania 1 True Wireless Earphones - Black

For reasons known to themselves most reviews seem to bang on about what a set of buds looks like, or if it has wireless charging, noise cancellation or an app or whatever. I read one really odd review who said the buds came loose when she wiggled her ears. So just don't wiggle your ears then!Seriously, if you buy your sound equipment for the sound, these are just stunning. Exceptionally clear and well balanced, just perfect for what they were designed for, listening to music. I'm just amazed at how good they are.I was concerned about the fit because most buds I've tried, including wired, seem to easily fall out of my ears but these have never come loose once, and I haven't even tried the memory foam tips. Granted, at my age "working out" isn't on my daily list ... MoreFor reasons known to themselves most reviews seem to bang on about what a set of buds looks like, or if it has wireless charging, noise cancellation or an app or whatever. I read one really odd review who said the buds came loose when she wiggled her ears. So just don't wiggle your ears then!Seriously, if you buy your sound equipment for the sound, these are just stunning. Exceptionally clear and well balanced, just perfect for what they were designed for, listening to music. I'm just amazed at how good they are.I was concerned about the fit because most buds I've tried, including wired, seem to easily fall out of my ears but these have never come loose once, and I haven't even tried the memory foam tips. Granted, at my age "working out" isn't on my daily list of activities (most reviewers seem to think this is how we all spend our days) but they fit me just fine, which also means good sound insulation without the need for any technical gimmickry, which will no doubt eat into battery life.The tiny case is just brilliant for slipping into your pocket - my other headphones are the neckband type and are OK, but the carry case won't even fit in a large coat pocket. Not so with these, the only problem is they're so small you'll have to get into the routine of keeping them in the same place because it would be easy to misplace them. But don't worry about any of that, just buy these brilliant earbuds, you will not be disappointed. An absolute joy, cannot fault in any way..

I cannot get over the quality of these earphones. I listened to a variety of high end phones (in ear and over ear) in my time and (imho) these easily match or even exceed the best of them.The clarity is astonishing. So often in modern phones the bass dominates the sound to the point where the mids and highs become muddy and you lose detail. Not in these: the bass rumbles as it should but the mids and highs are wonderfully balanced with it.I genuinely have heard detail with these that I have never heard before. What is so wonderful is that you can focus in on one part of the mix and concentrate on that without losing the rest.They come with a neat case, about the size of a dental floss box, which charges the phones when they are not being used. When fully ... MoreI cannot get over the quality of these earphones. I listened to a variety of high end phones (in ear and over ear) in my time and (imho) these easily match or even exceed the best of them.The clarity is astonishing. So often in modern phones the bass dominates the sound to the point where the mids and highs become muddy and you lose detail. Not in these: the bass rumbles as it should but the mids and highs are wonderfully balanced with it.I genuinely have heard detail with these that I have never heard before. What is so wonderful is that you can focus in on one part of the mix and concentrate on that without losing the rest.They come with a neat case, about the size of a dental floss box, which charges the phones when they are not being used. When fully charged you can get about 6 or 7 hours continuous use (the manufacturers claim 9 hours) and the case carries enough charge to recharge them at least 4 times over. I have used them on and off for a fortnight now and there is still 40% charge in the case. In effect, you can forget about charging the case until it is absolutely needed: I estimate about once every 3-4 weeks of average use.They are comfortable to the point I forget they are in but you do need to experiment with the earbuds. When I first used them I couldn't get a seal and the sound was a little tinny and bass light. When I changed the buds for a larger size everything fell into place: the sound was transformed and they felt secure enough to take them to the gym or on a run.I genuinely cannot recommend these highly enough.

I bought these recently as my first pair of true wireless earphones, as I was intrigued to try out something with no wires and loved the idea of the charging case. They are more expensive than other bluetooth earphones I have tried, but the Cambridge Audio brand and the reviews convinced me to buy.You get a good first impression, as the packaging is nice and the charging case and headphones themselves look great quality and seem very well made. They are both nice and compact too, especially given the battery life. The case was already around 80% charged going by the LED indicators, but I put the earphones in and plugged in the case to charge. The manual seemed to suggest the lights on the earphones would be off when fully charged, but this doesn't seem to be the ... MoreI bought these recently as my first pair of true wireless earphones, as I was intrigued to try out something with no wires and loved the idea of the charging case. They are more expensive than other bluetooth earphones I have tried, but the Cambridge Audio brand and the reviews convinced me to buy.You get a good first impression, as the packaging is nice and the charging case and headphones themselves look great quality and seem very well made. They are both nice and compact too, especially given the battery life. The case was already around 80% charged going by the LED indicators, but I put the earphones in and plugged in the case to charge. The manual seemed to suggest the lights on the earphones would be off when fully charged, but this doesn't seem to be the case, as I left them in for several hours.I bought the Melomanias mainly to use on my PC at night and pairing was fairly straightforward with my USB bluetooth dongle. I also tried them with a separate bluetooth transmitter that plugs in to my PC speakers with a headphone jack and this also worked fine. I was able to get a nice, snug fit in my ears, but I found that you need to follow the instructions by pulling your earlobe down with one hand to slightly open your ear canal, while pushing in the earphone with the other hand.I was now ready to start listening, but here is where I found my main issue with the Melomanias - I realised right away that there was far more latency than I was expecting. The earphones use the APTX codec, meaning this shouldn't be too much of an issue and the Cambridge Audio website mentions a latency of 70 milliseconds. However, it seemed to me that the lantecy was more like 150-200ms. My previous bluetooth headphones were less than a third of the price, only bluetooth version 4 and had almost unnoticeable latency even when connected to my cheap USB bluetooth dongle, which is also bluetooth version 4. So I was expecting the Melomanias to perform at least as well in this regard. Most media players will allow you to resynchronise the audio and video, but you can't do this when viewing on other platforms, such as Netflix or Prime video.I decided to try buying a new bluetooth transmitter, one with Bluetooth 5 and APTX specifically mentioned. Unfortunately this provided no improvement - my old earphones still outperformed the Melomanias in terms of latency. If you are only going to be using these to listen to music, or you aren't susceptible to noticing latency, then it won't really be a problem for you. But for me, it makes viewing video almost unwatchable. The lag/delay of the audio behind the video means that lip synching is well off and things like sports are also affected - for example, there will be a clear delay between seeing a tennis racket striking the ball and the associated sound that comes with it. This is an unfortunate limitation of the bluetooth technology, but when an older, inferiorly specced product outperforms a much more expensive product, it isn't really acceptable to me.It's not all doom and gloom, as these are still a nicely made product. The sound quality is great and the battery life is excellent. The bluetooth connection also seemed good with my PC, though I did get very occasional short dropouts when out and about and connected to my phone - but this was only when I had my hand in the same pocket as the phone, which must have blocked the signal somewhat.The one other issue I'm finding is with comfort when wearing for long periods, but this is subjective and I'm probably still just getting used to the earphones.I really wanted to like these, but sadly I can't recommend them if you're going to be using them in a similar way to me, with lots of video viewing, as the latency is just too much. If you are more interested in battery life and sound quality though, they could still be a good option for you.I would have tried to return them, but the Richer Sounds site says refunds can't be given on headphones for hygiene reasons, so I'll have to work round the latency as best I can.