Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 SE Review

Introduction

A few years ago, you wouldn’t have thought headphones and Cambridge Audio were words that went together, but as the quality of Cambridge’s headphones has shown, they go together quite well.

There’s an argument that ‘traditional’ hi-fi brands haven’t quite reached the ‘young folk’ and so headphones exist as a bridge between the two. Rope them in with headphones, and you might just corral them into the world of hi-fi too.

The Cambridge Melomania P100 over-ears packed a lot of value for the money. Noise-cancellation, solid sound, good comfort, long battery life, good call quality – a checklist of things you’d want from a pair of over-ears that exist in the Goldilocks zone of mid-range priced cans.

The Melomania P100 SE land looking to offer some nips and tucks in a manner not too dissimilar to Bowers & Wilkins’ approach to headphone updates: new colour, design tweaks and adjustments to the sound. Have the changes resulted in an even better pair of headphones?

Design

• Black, white and blue
• Removable battery
• Tweaked headband design

The Melomania P100 SE (the ‘SE’ stands for Special Edition) come in black, white, and thank the maker, a blue finish. I can’t tell you how jaded I am about headphones that come in black or white. Add some colour, and you might get more people excited

There’s no change to the overall design, which still carries a gangly, awkward look – especially with the jangly earcups – but the build quality is solid.

Cambridge says there’s a new headband, but I can’t say there’s much of a difference visually, though if you happen to have both models, the structure in the underside of the headband does feel notably softer.

Is there any real change once the headphones are on your noggin’? I’d say it depends on how pointy your head is. Those with a healthy amount of hair probably won’t need to worry.

Clamping force might be an issue though. It might be a touch tight for some but I imagine that over time (like with the older model), you and the headphones will get used to one another.

Sustainability? That’s an area Cambridge Audio is taking seriously ahead of the laws changing in the next few years, and both the earpads and the internal battery can be replaced – the battery kit costs £30 from Cambridge Audio if you want to do it yourself.

From a visual perspective, there’s no real difference aside from the new blue colourway. The buttons are in the same place and all within easy reach (no touch controls here), and the stepless slider allows for adjustment when on your head.

These headphones aren’t designed to be folded and collapsed. More awkward is the size of the carry case, which is not especially accommodating for travel.

Features

• Melomania app
• Snapdragon Sound support
• Adaptive Noise-Cancellation

There’s a Bluetooth 5.3 connection with support for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound. There’s aptX Lossless audio with compatible Android devices, but there’s no support for Sony’s LDAC.

The Bluetooth performance has been resolutely solid – aptX Adaptive ensures a strong tether between the headphones and my smartphone, and I can’t recall any dropouts as far as streaming music. Google Fast Pair makes attachment to an Android device quick and simple, though there’s no Apple equivalent.

There’s the Melomania app, where you’ll find most of the P100 SE’s functions tucked away in an app that’s perfectly easy to get on with.

Personalisation is possible through switching on the wear detect function (which works almost too well). There’s a seven-band EQ for customising the sound as well as presets such as flat, natural, etc, if you can’t be bothered to fiddle about. There’s also the Dynamic EQ, but more on that in the Sound Quality section.

You can customise the noise-cancelling strength from low to medium and onto high, though like with the P100, those modes don’t make of a difference. More on that later.

If you game on your mobile, there’s a mode that brings latency down to less 80ms. You can now view which codec the headphone is playing in, and see a list of your connected devices with the latest firmware update.

Dart to the Audible Feedback feature and you can change the voice language – switch to Southwark and you’ll be well met with the tones of Matt Berry from Toast of London speaking into your ears. More people should be making more noise about this feature.

Noise Cancellation

• Hybrid ANC
• Solid call quality

I wasn’t altogether too convinced by the P100’s Hybrid ANC system. It seemed fine, it got rid of some noise and also let in more than expected. It wasn’t the best noise-canceller among its price range and nothing has led me to think that’s changed with the Melomania P100 SE. The noise-cancelling seems exactly the same. If anything needed a tweak – in my opinion – it would have been the noise-cancelling system.

The difference between having ANC on and the Transparency mode is not the big gap I was hoping it’d be. There were times when I thought I might still be in Transparency mode (I wasn’t; the headphones were in ANC). These are headphones that need some assistance with the volume to block out sounds.

It’s certainly not the strongest when using them at Clapham Junction train station, and even on the train, I could hear the hum of the air conditioning; a (persistent) sound that I’d expect would be food and drink for a pair of ANC headphones.

The Transparency mode sounds slightly more open when engaged but it’s not particularly clear or detailed with the sounds that filter through – those sounds carry a hazy sense of clarity.

The problem I alluded to in the ‘Introduction’ is the competition. New flagship models such as the Sony WH-1000XM6 have driven down the price of the WH-1000XM5. The Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless are less expensive, as are the Beats Studio Pro. There’s more choice around this price point and better ANC to be had.

Call quality remains solid, though noise does get through when taking a call in loud environments. Voice pick up does sound slightly robotic in tone as well.

Battery Life

• 60 hours with ANC
• Fast-charging

The Melomania P100 carried a mammoth battery life, and Cambridge hasn’t seen fit to change things with the P100 SE. 100 hours without ANC, 60 hours with it – that looks like plenty of time before you need a recharge.

Carrying out a battery drain with a Spotify playlist over the course of four hours (50% volume) and the P100 SE fell from 95% to 86%, which is just over 2% per hour. If my maths is correct, that would work out to 50 hours, with 60 within reach.

If you’re running out, fast charging provides two more hours from a five-minute charge. Charging the headphones back to full takes less than 160 minutes.

Sound Quality

• Dynamic EQ addition
• Stronger bass
• Slightly warmer sound than P100

It’s the same Class AB amplification that powers the sound as the Melomania P100 SE, and the same 40mm 3-layer Mylar drivers through which audio is funnelled through, but Cambridge has made a few adjustments in this area.

I moaned about the lack of loudness with the original pair. The default volume levels were too quiet, and the headphones came into their own when volume was pushed up.

You no longer need to give the headphones a punch up in terms of volume and I believe that’s down to the Dynamic EQ tuning. They sound louder at default volume levels, giving tracks a little more energy in the process.

The tuning of the headphones’ sound has also been changed with more bass presence, weight and punch. With Kingdom’s Bank Head, there’s more presence to the low frequencies where the original came across as lighter, and the same is the case with Doja Cat’s Attention.

The consequence of providing more artillery to the lows does seem to have affected the overall balance. I’d say that the older model sounded slightly clearer and sharper in the midrange, and it’s most noticeable with vocals. Labi Siffre’s voice in I Got The… sounds slightly clearer and defined on the P100 than it does on the P100 SE. Treble also sounds a tad coarser and less detailed with a play of GoGo Penguin’s Atomised.

The way the soundstage is organised in a track such as Air’s Alone in Kyoto makes me think changes were made in that area, too. The soundstage isn’t wider, but the spread and placement of vocals and instruments seems… different.

The clarity the P100 offered granted a little more insight with vocals and treble, which don’t come across quite as clearly on the new model. But I like the energy and pep of the P100 SE.

Some tracks sound better on the P100, others on the P100 SE, though the difference is admittedly not massive. And if you’re coming the P100 SE without having listened to the P100, I wouldn’t say there’s any cause for concern.

In a perfect world the P100 SE would fuse the good parts of the P100 with what these latest over ears have added. Alas, it doesn’t quite do that but these remain an enjoyable listen, and in some ways they’re better – but not in every way.

Should you buy it?

FAQs