Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch Review

The Cambridge Audio true wireless in-ear monitoring headphones, Melomania Touch, are the successor to the first-generation Melomania One, named after the music halls within their London headquarters.

These new headphones feature a 7mm graphene dynamic driver unit and a dedicated app, allowing EQ adjustments and other advanced customization options to tailor the sound to your preferences. These enhancements truly set this pair of British brand earbuds apart.

Design

Regarding technology, the Melomania Touch headphones have significantly advanced their key driver unit. They utilize a 7mm graphene diaphragm unit and a highly efficient amplification circuit—a rarity in the wireless earphone market. This combination fully unleashes the advantages of the 7mm full-range dynamic driver unit in terms of dynamic range and detail.

In the “central brain” of the Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch, a new generation Qualcomm chip architecture and Kalimba DSP digital signal processor are employed. This supports low-latency decoding, effectively addressing the common audio-visual sync discrepancies often encountered when streaming online video content with wireless headphones.

The Melomania Touch boasts Bluetooth 5.0 technology, supporting AAC and aptX decoding while incorporating Qualcomm and Kalimba DSP low-latency technology. This ensures a seamless experience for video calls, streaming, or watching TV shows without lip-sync issues.

Additionally, with Qualcomm’s high-end QCC3020 chip technology, the Melomania Touch supports individual earbud connection and stereo pairing. They can automatically connect and pair as soon as they are removed from the charging case, eliminating the need for waiting to connect and offering a wireless transmission range of up to 9 meters.

In terms of battery life, the Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch provides up to 9 hours of continuous usage on a single full charge, and the charging case can provide at least four full recharges, resulting in a total usage time of up to 50 hours. The charging case is also newly designed, featuring high-quality synthetic leather and supporting USB-C fast charging.

For a pair of truly wireless earphones, a user-friendly design is crucial. If they can offer comfortable wearing, sufficient standby time, basic water resistance, and built-in noise-cancellation pass-through features, even excellent sound quality may need help to stand out in today’s highly competitive true wireless earphone market.

The Melomania Touch incorporates over 50 years of Cambridge Audio’s expertise in high-fidelity audio design and features a user-friendly custom design that combines hardware and software. It provides separate adjustable features for Apple and Android smartphones through the Melomania APP application software.

Users can monitor the battery levels of each earbud separately, customize the degree of ambient sound pass-through mode, and adjust various EQ balance styles, including balanced, blues, electronic, bass boost, rock, vocals, and three different custom modes. Furthermore, it can enable the higher-quality AAC codec and high-performance mode for better audio detail performance.

On the other hand, the Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch strongly emphasizes wearing comfort during the design process, using data from over 3000 earlobe models for shape analysis. In my experience wearing them, with the right silicone earbud tips and fin cores, they offer excellent comfort and stability.

The impressive 9-hour continuous playback capability and astonishing 50-hour battery life (with the charging case) make the Melomania Touch more than capable of meeting the demands of a full day of use. Additionally, with two advanced microphones, the latest Qualcomm echo and cVc noise-cancellation technology, and IPX4 splash resistance, the Melomania Touch excels in high-quality calls and all-day comfort.

Sound Performance

One of the standout features of the Melomania Touch is its compatibility with the official “Melomania” app. Users can utilize this app to customize EQ settings, check battery levels, and perform software updates. What’s particularly heartwarming is that, for the first time, the app supports Cantonese voice prompts. When users pair or perform other advanced operations, the Melomania Touch will respond with corresponding voice prompts, making the user experience even more user-friendly.

Regarding audio quality, during testing with the track “My Only One” from Tidal, it becomes apparent that the Melomania Touch offers vibrant sound in its default state. It reproduces vocals and mid-low frequencies, providing a distinctive musical experience.

The Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch maintains a remarkable balance when handling male or female vocals. Furthermore, the app provides six preset EQ profiles tailored to different music genres. The “R&B Preset” enhances vocals and instrument layering with a well-balanced tri-band ratio. This preset is a top choice for music enthusiasts who appreciate nuanced sound.

Regarding operation and call quality, adding touch controls makes the Melomania Touch more flexible and responsive. Users can tap the earphones to play/pause, skip tracks, answer calls, and activate voice assistants like Siri or Google. The earphones come with two high-quality microphones and utilize Qualcomm’s cVc (Clear Voice Capture) noise reduction technology.

In practical tests, the Melomania Touch exhibits improved connection stability compared to the original Melomania model. While occasional signal interruptions may occur when passing pedestrians or streetlights and during subway rides, the earphones quickly reconnect.

Regarding call quality, the Melomania Touch performs similarly to the Melomania, offering good environmental noise reduction and clear speech. The new “Transparency Mode” allows the microphones to pick up ambient sounds, ensuring user safety while on the road and enabling easy conversations without removing the earphones, enhancing convenience and user-friendliness.

Conclusion

After several weeks of companionship, the Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch has become my primary choice for true wireless earphones. It has almost made me forget about the AirPods Pro and the other two similarly priced true wireless earphones. The Melomania Touch seamlessly carries forward the classic British sound style Cambridge Audio has accumulated over fifty years.

It offers rich detail, a well-balanced three-frequency range, and the right amount of low-frequency energy. Moreover, it allows users to customize their sound profile through the dedicated Melomania app’s EQ function. Undoubtedly, it is currently one of the most competitive true wireless earphones in the price range.