Cambridge Audio has been carving out a nice niche for itself in the audio market for years now, thanks to reasonably-priced audio products and some of the best earbuds that punch above their weight. However, the British audio brand has been lacking a key product for ages – a pair of over-ear headphones.
Now it's putting that right in the form of the Melomania P100 – the company's first pair of noise-cancelling over-ears. Beyond our initial first impressions, we've now been using these for a few weeks to see how they fare in a market that's absolutely packed with other best headphones options. So can Cambridge Audio compete?
Melomania P100: Price & Availability
The Melomania P100 is available now, so there's no worrying about a pre-order period or the product being sold out. Its price, in fact, is really quite key to the entire narrative here.
Despite some impressive features and design touches, as we'll get to, the P100 costs £229 in the UK and $279 in the US – a price that feels impressively reasonable compared to some of the alternatives out there.
Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 review: Design
The P100 are really attractive headphones that are also slightly less generic than some other recent flagships from the likes of Sony and Sennheiser – they've got a little bit of personality about their design.
The headphones are mostly made from plastic, but some welcome metal notes mean that solidity is still the word of the day. They're available in black or white, with both bearing the telltale offset circle of Cambridge Audio's logo on the outside of each earcup – although our fears that these would be needless touch-control points were wrong, thankfully.
Instead, there are a series of well-chosen physical controls – one to toggle between active noise-cancelling (ANC) and transparency modes, along with an actual switch to power them on or off (and activate Bluetooth pairing). There are also volume keys, which means you won't have too much fumbling for your phone taking place.
Another impressive inclusion comes in the form of a sturdy carrying case – one that fits the headphones, while including a magnetised compartment for a charging cable (much like the one in the Sonos Ace's case). This sort of package marks another box ticked compared to more expensive headphones that also come with included carry-cases. Not all do, either: the Sennheiser Accentum, for example, lack a case (which is why the company created the 'Plus' model, which does include one).
Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 review: Features
Cambridge Audio has clearly worked very hard to make the Melomania P100 represent real value for money, and that's pretty much shouted out by its most obvious flagship feature – some super-impressive battery life.
If you have the headphones' ANC turned on, you'll get a massive 60 hours of battery life from a single charge. Turn it off and things can go for even longer, stretching to a huge 120 hours. That's the sort of battery life that some more expensive options like the Sony WH-1000XM5 can only dream of – and makes these a great option if you want a long-life device for trips and travel.
Of course, that also tips a hat to the other big flagship feature in the P100 – the ANC itself, which is present and correct, and easily toggled on or off with a dedicated button on one of the earcups. The good news continues, too, because this is a very solid example of ANC implementation.
We tested the cancellation out in a range of circumstances, including on a series of crowded train journeys, and found it to really effectively dampen background noise – in fact, it errs on the side of brutal sound suppression, which can occasionally make for audio glitches if there's a sudden spike in noise (like a train rushing by in the opposite direction outside your window). That kind of glitching isn't isolated to this product, though, you'll get the same with the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones too if you stress them enough.
For most people, though, that sort of powerful ANC will be something without much of a downside – when you want to quieten your environment, you're unlikely to quibble about the margins of that quiet.
The P100 feature Bluetooth 5.3, which might not be the very newest version of the standard (meaning they won't get access to Auracast or other advanced features), but they still had rock-solid connectivity in our testing. And for those who take advantage of them both aptX Adaptive Audio and aptX Lossless will work, too. Some just-as-recent headphones launches, such as the Dyson OnTrac, feature even older Bluetooth that (annoyingly) doesn't even allow for multi-point connectivity.
If that wasn't enough, as part of Cambridge Audio's impressive commitment to reducing its ecological footprint, the P100 features lovely plastic-free packaging, plus the batteries can be user-replaced at home. That sort of repairability is vanishingly rare in the world of premium headphones and deserves relevant praise.
Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 review: Performance
Of course, all of that is preamble in some ways. The P100 has one big job to nail, in the form of actual audio quality. Cambridge Audio has made a big show of talking about the Class AB amplification that should beef up that quality, along with 40mm drivers.
Well, the good news is that for the price there's basically no quibbling with the audio on offer here. There's great balance, nice precision and enough control to let you customise things how you want.
We tried a range of genres to back up that impression, from the pulsing soundtrack of recent cinema hit Challengers, full of synths and bassy punch, finding its driving energies brought across vibrantly. Moving over to some older material, acoustic loveliness from Ultimate Painting had all the warmth and depth that we were looking for. The many podcasts we went through also sounded naturalistic.
We also found the P100 comfortable to wear for hours at a time, although they're not in the very top-tier bracket here. It's hard to put a finger on exactly why not, but the earcups aren't quite as cloud-like in their cushioning as some others we've worn, nor are they're the biggest out there either (eyes on you, again, Dyson).
Those battery life figures were also backed up by our testing, and while it might be a niche concern we also really enjoyed the lack of "auto-wake" pretences from the P100. To turn it on and off, you need to do so with its switch, and we therefore never found it drained of battery without our realising after an accidental activation in our bag.
Finally, the Melomania Connect app is solid enough and gives you access to EQ controls that can make a tangible and immediate difference when activated. You don't need it, though, and can connect just fine without it, which will please purists.
Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 review: Verdict
If the world were fair, then Cambridge Audio would have a real influence in the headphones market over the next few years thanks to the Melomania P100. By putting out a pair of headphones that compete directly with more expensive mainstream options, premium in build quality and great in sound, but pricing them at a way more reasonable level, it's caught our attention in a big way.
We can't necessarily say that they're the best over-ears out there – as the likes of the Bose QC Ultra Headphones are ideal as the best travel headphones, while the Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S2e are luxury winners. For value, though, Cambridge Audio's first go marks them down as an absolutely major new contender – perfectly pitched for those who want to get a great set of headphones without paying the very top dollar.
Also consider
Another option is to be canny with your shopping and to watch out for sales on the Sony WH-1000XM4, a superb option that might not be new anymore, but therefore often falls to way more reasonable prices.
If you're looking with interest at the Melomania P100, then we'd assume you don't want to shell out several hundred on some headphones, so we won't bother recommending the options at the very top of our best headphones guide. Instead, another great mid-range ANC-toting option is the Sennheiser's Accentum Plus, which feels a little less premium than the P100, but matches in terms of sound.
