Melomania P100 vs the BEST! (AirPods Max, Sony, Bose, Sonos, Sennheiser) 🤔
What's Special About The P100?
The Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 offers up to 60 hours of battery life with noise cancelling, which is double the battery life of most premium headphones like the Sony WH-1000XM5 and AirPods Max, and comparable to the Sennheiser Momentum 4. This means you won’t have to charge them as often. Unlike these headphones, you can change the battery of the P100 yourself. The battery is user replaceable, costs $30, and there are instructions on how to replace it. After its lifespan, you can replace the batteries for even longer life.
They’re also not too expensive. I would classify them as affordable premium, since they’re about $100 cheaper than top noise cancellers. But how is its sound, noise cancelling, mic pickup and transparency? And is there any way it could be better? Spoiler alert: Yes. I’ll discuss that after we check out its performance compared to the top noise cancelling headphones in the market.
Mic Test — AirPods, Bose, Sony, Sonos and Sennheiser
In quiet conditions my voice sounded great on the P100’s mics, comparable to the Sonos Ace. However, in extremely noisy conditions, it doesn’t noise gate as aggressively as the others, especially when wind is involved, making it less clear. That being said, it performed quite well in a typical noisy environment like a crowded mall, so I believe it will perform well in most noisy scenarios, just not in the noisiest ones. You catch my drift?
👉 Have a listen to the mic pickup samples.
(Tested microphone quality in both quiet and noisy conditions with loud cafe noise and wind noise from a fan.)
Active Noise Cancelling Comparison
In terms of active noise cancelling, these are very effective. There are 3 levels: low, medium and high. Interestingly, the medium level is just as powerful as the high level at cutting low frequency rumbles, but the high level adds a layer of white noise masking that improves perceived noise cancelling. Compared to the Sonos Ace and the Bose QC Ultra, they don’t cut as much noise in the mids range frequencies, but they are comparable to the Sony WH-1000XM5. Against the AirPods Max, they are better at cutting rumbling LF noises, but not in the vocal range. Compared to the Sennheisers, these actually fare quite well.
Transparency Mode Comparison
In terms of transparency, it’s good enough for quick awareness, and to a certain extent, voice passthrough is usable, but it still sounds pretty occluded compared to the Bose, AirPods, Sonos and Sony headphones. Even my own voice doesn’t get amplified much, so when I’m talking, I sound a bit muffled. I got much better results using Voice Focus mode, but it also cuts ambient noises and adds a bit of hiss. It does sound more transparent than the Sennheisers, though.
Voice Focus mode
Sound Quality Comparison
The P100 has 40mm drivers and is Snapdragon Sound certified, meaning it streams over aptX Lossless, Adaptive, and regular aptX. After testing them, I have to say, these headphones sound very rich detail retrieval and texture, all in a smooth sounding package. The brightness in the mids is well controlled. While I wouldn’t describe the soundstaging as ‘expansive’, it’s airy and revealing.
Compared to other headphones, frequency sweeps reveal that the P100s are actually more tame in the bass frequencies. This means you don’t get as much bloat from the bass registers, so vocals take a more prominent role in the soundstage. The sound signature is more comparable to the Sennheisers, as it’s hard to tell them apart, except that the Sennheisers have a bit more body in the bass and more bite in the mids. The P100s sound radically different from the AirPods Max because they are fuller and richer, while the AirPods focus more on crispness and clarity.
Compared to the Bose, the P100 sounds less dark in the mids, while the Bose sounds fuller bass in certain passages. Both headphones are quite comparable in terms of clarity and background detail.
Compared to the Bose
When compared to the Sonos Ace, the P100 sounds thinner, and the Sonos has a brighter presence in the soundstage. If compared to the Sonys, the Sonys sound fuller and more bass heavy, but also flatter. Although I can make the Sonys sound crisper and brighter in EQ adjustments, but they cannot beat the P100s at track separation. The P100s simply sound cleaner and crisper.
The P100s sound better over USB. The soundstage is wider and airier, track separation is cleaner, instruments have more texture, and there’s even a bit more volume than wireless mode. Much of this is due to its class AB amplifier which focuses on lower distortion and better power efficiency compared to standard Class D amps.
👉 Let’s listen to the sound samples.
If you want to compare their sound to other headphones, visit loudnwireless.com/soundsamples.
Melomania P100 Pros and Cons
Now let’s discuss the pros and cons of the P100. The biggest selling point for me isn’t just that you can swap the battery yourself, although it’s fantastic. It is really the sound signature. That fullness, smoothness and vibrance are pretty addictive, and it’s not often you get that straight out of the box. It supports direct USB-C connection for truly lossless sound. The controls are well spaced and easy to find with your thumb, and its build quality is premium. It’s also quite stretchable. The app is clean and intuitive, with settings for its noise cancelling, transparency and sound.
However, this is where the user experience starts to unravel. Even though you can customise its sound quality, there’s very little range in the gain you can adjust for each frequency, so all the EQ presets sound more or less similar, and there’s limited flexibility to bend its sound to your liking. Not that it’s necessary, as it already sounds great out of the box, just needs a bit more bass boost. But if you’re expecting more control over the sound, you won’t find it on the P100.
The software also has some bugs. For example, the voice prompt repeatedly saying ‘device 1 disconnected ‘ every minute, even though it isn’t, so I turned off voice prompts altogether. For multipoint pairing, I can’t put it into pairing mode unless I disconnect from the first device, but it will auto-reconnect to device 1 if Bluetooth is still on. So I actually have to turn off Bluetooth on device 1 entirely, just to pair to a second device, which isn’t necessary with other headphones that support multipoint. It’s also problematic when connecting to my Windows 11 PC.
While it can connect, the P100 shows up with a placeholder name instead of Melomania P100, and audio playback’s intermittent. Sometimes there’s audio, sometimes there’s no sound until I turn the headphones off and on again. Even the regular Bluetooth connection on my phone seems unstable, occasionally disconnecting and requiring re-pairing. Lastly, while walking, the ANC produces popping sounds with every step.
These software related issues can likely be fixed in future updates, and I’ll be happy to revisit it when it does get sorted out.
At the moment, it’s not a smooth, fuss free experience yet. But in terms of sound quality, these are easily one of the best sounding wireless headphones with a clear, balanced sound. This is their most impressive feature, and you should definitely listen to it in person when you can.
So that’s how the P100 compares to the most popular noise cancelling headphones. What are your thoughts? Tell me in the comments.
If you’d like to check the latest prices of the earbuds, click on the Amazon links below.
Check Latest Price:
Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 - Link TBA
Sonos Ace - https://amzn.to/3xhgg9t
Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones - https://amzn.to/3UecNzS
AirPods Max - https://amzn.to/3AoiHX3
Sony WH-1000XM5 - https://amzn.to/4bIqJtZ
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