Cambridge Audio introduces its first ever over-ear headphones with some seriously good specs

New headphones offer ANC with transparency, long battery life and a welcome celebrity guest

Cambridge Audio Melomania P100
(Image credit: Cambridge Audio)
Quick Summary

Cambridge Audio's first ever over-ear headphones offer up to 100 hours of listening time, ANC with transparency mode and customisable EQ.

They'll be available from 15 July for £229 / $279 / €279.

I'm a big fan of Cambridge Audio's headphones: its various Melomania earbuds are fantastic-sounding earbuds that won't break the bank.

But until now the firm didn't offer wireless over-ears. That's changed with the launch of the Melomania P100 wireless headphones, which promise to deliver great sound without costing too much money.

The headphones deliver ANC with optional transparency mode, very long battery life and, what Cambridge says is, "the acclaimed Cambridge sound. This means an audio signature that's fairly neutral without being arid.

There's a seven-band EQ, too, so you can adapt it yourself, plus six listening presets. And there's even a gaming mode with low latency of just 80ms. 

Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 headphones

(Image credit: Cambridge Audio)

Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 headphones: key specs and price

In each ear you get a custom 40mm three-layer Mylar driver with neodymium magnets and the same Class AB amplification used in Cambridge's excellent CX series hi-fi amps. The supported Bluetooth codecs include aptX Lossless, which delivers wireless CD quality without losing any of the audio information.

There are three levels of active noise cancellation and with it switched on you can expect 60 hours of listening time, rising to a whopping 100 hours with ANC switched off.

Fast charging from a flat battery will give you two hours of ANC or four hours without after just five minutes.

The faux leather ear cups are filled with memory foam and can be replaced if you wear them out, and there's IPX4 splash resistance so you don't need to worry about the weather.

As with most headphones of this kind you can use them wired as well as wireless courtesy of the supplied USB-C to 3.5mm and USB-C to USB-C cables.

I've left my favourite feature till last: the English language audio feedback in these headphones is voiced by none other than Toast of London and What We Do In The Shadows' finest, Matt Berry.

The new Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 headphones will be available from 15 July 2024 at a price of £229 / $279 / €279. You can have any colour you like as long as it's black or white.

Carrie Marshall

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).