Melomania Touch

Edit to my review below. I did eventually have to send these back to CA after they identified that one of the buds was broken. Customer service was great and the return process slick. The new set of buds alongside the software updates has gone a long way to resolving many of the problems. However, after a few months I'm beginning to see similar problems with the new set, including having to leave the buds to run out of charge overnight because they wouldn't connect and wouldn't reset. I'm still of the view that these sound great but they're not for people who aren't happy with putting some effort in to keeping them running smoothly.Original review - I really do want to like these Melomania Touch but it is still clearly very early days for these earbuds.First of all these sound great. There is little to be gained in comparing their sound to other pairs of headphones and in-ear monitors that I own other than to say that they can hold their own against all of them. These aren't for critical listening but for having music with me when I'm out and about and getting on with other stuff. For this there is plenty to like about the way they deliver up your music and sonically nothing to complain about. They deliver across the spectrum for my particular tastes: enough bass, enough treble, plenty of detail and clarity. More than anything they seem to serve up the music with an awful lot more enjoyment than others I own - to the point that for the few days I owned them I've chosen to listen to these even though I didn't need the flexibility or portability of wireless earbuds. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything in the music when I have these on. The equaliser settings in the app make a noticeable difference to the sound, so if you need more treble, mids or bass it's all there, although personally I find the standard balanced settings suit me best.Ergonomically they suit my (small) ear well and, despite approximately half of the main body protruding (rather than sitting in) my ear, the rubber tips and wings keep them securely in place while I move about. I've worn these continuously for five hours with no discomfort. The touch controls are useful and, after taking some getting used to, work most of the time and certainly consistently enough for me to use this as the main form of control without having to reach for my phone. Sometimes they do seem to struggle to get the timing right (was that one, two or three taps?) but this could be my inability to hit the side of my head accurately enough - a skill I never though would be useful so I've never practised. Build quality is good and they feel like a quality product although the shiny surface does need a clean now and then. The passive sound isolation is good and the transparency mode is great - although it does annoy my family that I won't take them out to talk to them.But then...getting these connected can be tricky proposition. I've owned these about five days now and for the first few days of casual listening I had the odd glitch with getting connected. The app in particular seems reluctant to do it's job and I've had to revert to connecting manually via the Bluetooth settings on my phone. Sometimes they will initially only play through one ear, so start again and reconnect...app not recognising them...back to the bluetooth settings and so on. Eventually when they are set up they tend to keep their connection fine (for example while my phone is next to me typing this). However I have experienced some disconnections, particularly in the left bud, when my phone is in my right rear pocket. Change to left rear pocket and the problem disappears. The sound quality once connected has made this nuisance worthwhile - I'm used to some inconvenience if it gets me exactly what I want and all of this seemed like a fair trade off.However, on the day of writing this getting connected has been a major problem. App says no and so does the phone's bluetooth settings. Reset earbuds, once, twice, three times. Phone can see the buds, connects, disconnects, connect again etc etc. while I sit doing nothing just watching the status change every few seconds. App does nothing. One ear bud connects and I get music. The other one can't be bother turning up to the party so they both get put back into the charging case and we start all over again. All in all, of the two hours I had to listen to music (a rare opportunity in my house and a credit to the sound quality that I chose these over more expensive kit) and I have spent 1.5 hours trying to connect them. That's a fail in my book - if I can't listen to music through headphones when I have the time too then what's the point?I can't quite bring myself to send these back but any more of this and I'm afraid I will have too. I want to like these so much and when they are connected I really do - enough to bore people about it! But at the moment I couldn't recommend these to anybody who just needs a product to work and only wants a single set of earphones. The connection issues remind me of the woes of trying to play mp3s though one of those radio transmitters that I used to plug into the cigarette lighter of the car 15 years ago. Eventually I fear the frustration will get the better of me and I'll stop using them altogether.I know it's early doors for these earbuds (they were released 11 days ago) and if Cambridge can get this together I will happily change this review (and I really want to). I just hope they do it before I have a temper tantrum, put them back in their Jiffy bag and back off with the post man again as not fit for purpose. Come on Cambridge Audio - get it together, this is a great sounding product that just doesn't work well enough for most people.

Caveat - I bought these as I wanted some true wireless headphones for when I’m doing exercise and that’s probably where it all went wrong. I wanted to connect them to my Apple Watch which took numerous attempts and two years later is still is hugely temperamental despite doing every update - paired today, tomorrow they’ll forget my watch ever existed. Then randomly during a run they’d shut down or just one would work. Try to re-pair and they just wouldn’t recognise the watch. And then the next day they’d pair fist time!The sound is great when they work but you’ll want to turn off the touch controls - just taking them out the case and putting them into your ears would result in them going into a random mode that you’ll struggle to revert. And even when you do turn off the touch functions, do an update and they’ll revert back.On a plus, when they do work, they sound amazing which makes them all the more frustrating. A huge missed opportunity.

I previously owned a pair of Melomania 1, the original version of the bullet-shaped earphone that Cambridge Audio made, and more recently I purchased a pair of Sony WF-1000XM4. As much as the Sony earphones are extremely robust and well-made, and the audio quality is very good, I simply can't get a good fit in my right ear, regardless of what tip I use. I've tried Sony's official tips, plus some Comply tips, and neither provide what I'd describe as an adequate seal. Walking along the street I can hear the noise of passing cars leaking in through the right earphone, which is not great considering they have ANC.For that reason when the Melomania Touch went down to £79.99 I decided to give them a try. I really liked the Melomania 1, so I had high hopes for the Touch, and so far I have not been disappointed. The pill shaped case is covered in leather and feels really high quality. There's no hinge wobble and the earphones slot easily into the case. If I'm being really picky the only complaints about the case are that it's a bit on the large side compared to the case on my XM4s, plus there's no wireless charging. It does, however, come with USB-C charging, which is much better than the micro-USB on the original Melomania 1.The earphones themselves are plastic. The whole outer edge is a large touch surface, with a glossy finish. You can press on any part of the surface to activate the touch controls, which are standard fare (single press on either earphone plays or pauses, double press goes forward or back a track, holding down turns the volume up or down, etc). It is very easy to activate the touch controls, which is both a pro and con. Sometimes when readjusting or inserting the earphones I accidentally activate the controls, but it also means when trying to use the controls you don't have to find a specific spot on the earphone. The only other complaint here is that there is a slight delay in registering the touch inputs. It's only about one second, but it is noticeable compared to the instant response of the touch controls on the XM4.The fit of the earphones is excellent. The earphones come with silicone eartips, with a medium pair attached as standard, plus a further pair of medium and two pairs of small and large eartips in the box. I've found that the large eartips provide the best seal for my ears. You also get three different sizes of ear fins (small, medium, large). I found that the medium set fit well, so I haven't tried messing about with these too much. The earphones are comfortable; in the past I've found that earphones can get uncomfortable after protracted use, but that's not the case here. The fins are made of a soft rubber, which means they don't provide any discomfort but also help to really secure the earphones in your ear. I haven't worn the Touch earphones to the gym yet, but I'm confident they'll stay in my ears well when I do.I would advise downloading the Melomania app on your phone, because the earphones default to the 'immersive' EQ setting, with increased bass and treble. I would say that these earphones are a little V-shaped even in their 'neutral' EQ setting, so I found the 'immersive' setting far too V-shaped. However, once adjusted, the sound quality is really good. Bass is punchy and responsive, treble is present without being overly bright (something that can really lead to listening fatigue for me), and although the mids are a bit recessed, I wouldn't say they are excessively so. I mostly listen to rock, metal, hip-hop and rap, and for these music genres the Touch shine. Lil Nas X's album 'Montero' sounds excellent, with punchy bass and an immersive soundstage. Glass Animals' 'Dreamland' sounds equally good. Switching things up, I also listened to Bach's 'Orchestral Suite No.3 in D Major, BWV 1068: II. Air' and the instrument separation separation and soundstage are impressive.The only negatives to the Touch that I can think of so far are that they don't have any sort of ANC, and as previously mentioned the touch controls are a bit too sensitive, plus the case is a tad large and lacking in wireless charging. However, at this price point I can easily forgive those minor problems. Overall, I am very impressed with the Melomania Touch. They don't sound as good as the XM4, nor are they as well built or well presented, but then those are earphones with an RRP of £250, currently for sale at £197 on Amazon, and for my ears the Melomania Touch seal and fit better. For the money, these are well worth a purchase.