Where to buy?
Case
Battery
Key Notes
36 hours of battery juice Can recharge the earbuds 4 times Micro USB charging connector Doesn’t support wireless charging
UX
Key Notes
The charging case can be easily open with one hand Strong magnetic hold keep the earbuds intact 5 LED light indicator (20% increment) Design of the sensor position limits the choice of ear tips
Simple to use and intuitive. Manufacturers tend to be too fancy with their charging case and neglected usability. With a slight indent on the top of the case, you can easily push open the cover with your thumb. Although the cover doesn’t stay in place, it has some resistance which prevents it from closing down immediately. Like all proper TWS should, the earbuds disconnect from the audio source when it is back in the charging case. The Melomania 1’s charging case has two sensor pins that will be in contact directly with the front of the earbuds. However, this presents an issue – your choices of ear tips will be limited.
Design
I must say, the understated Melomania 1 design slowly grew on me. The rounded matchbox style, combined with the smooth matte grey material, gives it a retro vibe that I dig. However, when I show it to a younger crowd, the reaction was a tad different. Words like “monotonous” and “boring” were involved. Sigh…
Portability
Key Notes
Total Weight: 46.2g [Case + Earbuds (4.2g each)] Total Volume: 5.952.2 = 64.9 cu cm or 3.96 cu in
Despite packing 36 hours of juice, the overall weight of the case and earbuds is only at an impressive 46.2g. The slim design of the charging case slots in easily into my jeans pocket and is great for portability.
Earbuds
Battery
Key Notes
9 hours of battery juice 15 mins of charging give around 100 mins of playback time
UX
Key Notes
Control Mechanism: Mechanical Controls Supported: Play/Pause, Prev/Next Song, Volume, Calls, Activate Voice Assistant Mono-use: Both Master: Both You cannot manually power off the earbuds
Cambridge Audio uses the Qualcomm QCC3026 chipset as its Bluetooth driver. What makes the QCC3026 special is this it allows both earbuds to be either the master or the slave. This enables mono-usage for any sides of the earbuds since both earbuds can be the master. Cambridge Audio made the weird decision of not allowing users to power off the earbuds manually outside the case. It has an Auto Power Down (APD) mode that activates after 10 mins of inactivity. But that comes with a catch. If you are still connected to the audio source, the APD doesn’t work and your earbuds will continue to be switched on until it drains completely. This is a major design flaw to me, especially when I don’t carry the charging case with me all the time.
Design
Key Notes
Cool Halo ring effect Not cool when you wear it
The gray tone of the charging cover continues with the earbuds itself. The earbuds have a ring around the body that lights up when it is charging or in pairing mode. The slow glowing animation of the ring pushes up the cool factor. However, when I put on the earbuds, I don’t look as cool as I imagine it to be. The bullet-style form factor causes the earbuds to obnoxiously stick out of the ear.
Mic
The mic is pretty bad. You can hear the static that mic picks up in a quiet environment. When it comes to a noisy environment, a significant amount of background noise unsurprisingly gets into the mic too. Jabra Elite 65t is still the clear winner in terms of mic quality. Hear it for yourself.
Sound
Overall, I like the musicality of the Melomania 1 but it is far from perfect. The mids and treble are tuned perfectly to my ears but the occasional lapse in bass consistency dampens the overall dynamism of the earbuds.
Bass
The lows of the Melomania 1 is a tricky one to judge. There are songs where the attack of the bass can be felt and you have your head nodding in no time, but there are cases where the bass is so flat that it turns you off. But after countless listens to different songs, I have a hypothesis. Before I dive into that, let me touch briefly on the sub-bass: It is weak but present. If the song has the sub-bass portion isolated, you can hear it. Listen to the 03.30 min mark of the Why so Serious? By Hans Zimmer. Or Limit To Your Love by James Blake. It is no sub-woofer quality but it’s there. However, in songs with complex layers, the sub-bass becomes hard to find. Now back to the hypothesis. Melomania 1 bass works in songs that have a heavy bass line such as Billie Eilish – bad guy and Dead Prez – Hip Hop. But songs with vocals and instruments layered in, the bass starts to fade quickly. You can try Limitless by Adventure Club. Don’t be mistaken though. When we say it works, we meant that the bass rhythm is more pronounced and has more drive. But in terms of other bass qualities like extension and quantity, it still doesn’t hit the sweet spot for me.
Mids
Fortunately, the mid-range of the Melomania 1 turns the table for us. Both male and female vocals sound velvety with no coloration. The mids are just slightly behind the treble but overall, it is able to bring out the musical energy of the instruments in the mids. I quickly lose myself when I’m listening to Lost in Translation by Moira and Nieman. That’s my reference song for testing mids. If I can forget that I’m critically listening to a song, that’s where it hits the mark for.
Treble
The Melomania 1 is blessed with a killer combo – having the right amount and control of the treble response. The presentation is plenty enough to bring the music to life without sounding harsh nor overly-bright. It managed to smooth the tricky electronics violin distortion in Daniel Jang – Rude brilliantly without abruptly dulling the song. Classical music sounds big and open with the Melomania 1. The treble works best in electronics songs where there are creative synth and riff arrangements. Try Titanium by David Guetta.
Connectivity
Key Notes:
Supported Proprietary Codec: AAC, aptX Multi-point Connection: No Bluetooth Version: 5.0 Bluetooth Audio SoC: Qualcomm QCC3026
Despite having the support of a more powerful Bluetooth audio SoC, my experience with the Melomania 1’s Bluetooth connectivity wasn’t great. I experienced drop-out now and then, especially so when I’m at crowded settings, like a co-working space, where there’s plenty of other interfering Bluetooth devices. Although Melomania 1 is supposed to automatically connect to the paired audio source when it is out of the case, that is not the case. I will say the success rate is around 60%. Other 30% of the time, I had to manually connect to the Melomania from my phone’s Bluetooth menu and it will work. It is the last 10% that is the most frustrating. Only one of the earbuds will connect, leaving the other earbuds with no sound. You have no choice but to place both earbuds back to the case and take them out again. Rinse and repeat a few times before it starts working.
Waterproof
Key Notes:
IPX Rating: IPX5
I have brought my Melomania 1 out for multiple sweaty runs and I have no issues so far.
