These wire-free earbuds are all about the audio
The reasonably priced Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch true wireless earphones keep the focus on audio, with the ability to adjust EQ to your liking and choose which Bluetooth codec you want to use.
The Melomania Touch true wireless earphones from Cambridge Audio manage to feel both dated and refreshing at the same time. They lack many of the whiz-bang features we're seeing in a number of new earbuds these days, but they make up for it with a focus on strong audio performance for a reasonable $119.95. Audiophiles on a budget will appreciate the inclusion of adjustable EQ, as well as the ability to switch between battery-saving or higher-fidelity Bluetooth codecs in the app. So even without noise cancellation or any fancy pairing features, we can recommend the Melomania Touch to anyone seeking strong wire-free audio in this price range.
Available in black or white models, the Melomania Touch earpieces themselves are fairly nondescript, with glossy exterior panels. The in-ear fit is snug and exceptionally secure—this is made possible by not only the six pairs of silicone eartips, but also the included earfin bands that snap onto the earpiece separately from the eartips. The bands thoughtfully include a hole in them so that the mic isn’t muffled, though a better design might have been to place the mic somewhere it couldn’t be blocked by the bands (so if your mic audio is faint, check the alignment of the earfin band). Internally, 7mm dynamic drivers with graphene-enhanced diaphragms deliver a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz.
As the name implies, the Melomania Touch’s on-ear controls are sensitive to touch. A tap on the left or right earpiece controls playback and handles call management. A double tap handles track navigation (backward on the left earpiece, forward on the right), while a tap and hold adjusts volumes (lower on the left, higher on the right). Three taps on either ear enables or disables transparency mode. The volume can be a little jumpy, but many true wireless pairs we test don’t have on-ear volume controls, so we can't complain too much. That said, it’s easy to accidentally play or pause music while adjusting the earpieces.
The secure fit is ideal for the gym, and the earpieces have a modest IPX4 water-resistance rating. There should be no issue wearing them in light rain or getting them sweaty, but the earpieces can’t withstand real water pressure (like from a faucet) or being submerged. The case has no water-resistance rating, so the earpieces must be thoroughly dried before being placed in the charging case.
The earphones are compatible with Bluetooth 5.0 and support AAC, AptX, and SBC codecs. Despite connecting easily, the pairing experience feels a little dated, in that you have to connect each earpiece individually.
Cambridge Audio's Melomania app for Android and iOS is generally well designed, and has a five-band EQ that features multiple presets, including user-adjustable, savable presets. The settings can be adjusted to change on-ear controls and even choose which Bluetooth codecs you want to use. That said, the app can be a little casually invasive—it offers an extended warranty in exchange for your email, and if you choose to keep location services off, it’ll remind you of that decision each time you open it. (Location services need to be enabled for the Find My Earphones feature to work.)
Battery life is estimated to be roughly 9 hours, with an 40 extra hours in the charging case. For true wireless earphones, this is excellent, but the fine print tells you these results are in “low power mode.” If you opt for higher-fidelity codec playback or higher volume levels, your results will vary.
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the earphones deliver powerful bass depth, and at top, unwise volume levels, the drivers don’t distort. At more moderate levels, the lows still feel powerful, and reasonably matched with the highs.
Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Melomania Touch’s general sound signature. The drums get an extra helping of bass depth—things aren’t pushed to unnaturally thunderous territory, but the lows are brought forward notably. Callahan’s baritone vocals receive a rich low-mid presence that’s well balanced with some high-mid treble edge. The guitar strums are bright, and generally speaking, the sound signature is sculpted, with boosting on both ends. But this is in neutral mode—you can go into the EQ and adjust the lows and highs to taste, and the EQ actually seems to make a real difference, which isn't always the case.
See How We Test Headphones
On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives enough high-mid presence for its attack to retain some of its punch, but it's the vinyl crackle and hiss, usually relegated to background status, that steps forward a bit more, so there’s plenty of sculpting in the high-mids and highs. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with subwoofer-like rumble, yet manage not to overwhelm the mix. The vocals, which are delivered clearly and without added sibilance, don’t sound like they’re battling with the boosted lows.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, get a little more low-frequency boosting than they probably need, but it’ll only upset those seeking real accuracy. The higher-register brass, strings, and vocals maintain their bright place in the spotlight, but the lows step forward a bit.
The mic offers solid intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone, we could understand every word we recorded relatively clearly. If there’s an issue, it’s that the mic signal seems a bit faint, but this is common in the true wireless realm. On a clear cell signal or strong wireless connection, callers should have no issue understanding you.
The Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch earphones offer few frills, and are priced accordingly. Luckily, their audio quality is better than most in-ears we test in this price range, especially when you factor in the EQ in the app, making these earphones easy to recommend if you care about audio performance more than any other feature. In the sub-$150 price range, we’re also fans of the $130 Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro earphones, which feature solid noise cancellation for the price, as well as the $130 Sennheiser CX True Wireless earphones, which offer a strong, audio-focused experience similar to the Melomania Touch. If you're looking to spend less, meanwhile, Jabra's $80 Elite 3 earphones offer a high-quality audio experience for a reasonable price.
The reasonably priced Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch true wireless earphones keep the focus on audio, with the ability to adjust EQ to your liking and choose which Bluetooth codec you want to use.
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I've been a contributing editor for PCMag since 2011. Before that, I was PCMag's lead audio analyst from 2006 to 2011. Even though I'm a freelancer now, PCMag has been my home for well over a decade, and audio gear reviews are still my primary focus. Prior to my career in reviewing tech, I worked as an audio engineer—my love of recording audio eventually led me to writing about audio gear.
Probably because of their prevalence in the recording studios I worked in a long time ago, I am most comfortable on Macs—I'm writing this on the 2019 iMac I use for testing. I also have a MacBook Pro that gets plenty of similar use.
My workspace has a mini recording studio setup, and the the gear I work with there is a mix of items I've used forever (Paradigm Mini Monitors and a McIntosh stereo receiver) and newer gear I use for recording and review testing (such as the Universal Audio Apollo x16).
I'm obsessed with modern boutique analog synths—some of my favorites instruments in this realm are the Landscape Audio Stereo Field and HC-TT, the Soma Enner, the Koma Field Kit, and the Lorre Mill Keyed Mosstone.
From my studio days, I'm comfortable using Pro Tools, and in recent years have branched out to other realms of creative software, like Adobe Premiere and After Effects.
I stream music, but I also still buy albums, digitally or on vinyl, and encourage anyone who wants fair compensation for musicians and engineers to do the same.
I also play lots of Wordle.
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