Cambridge Audio’s earbuds have nearly twice AirPods’ juice for $40 less

By Parker Hall Updated June 11, 2019

Image used with permission by copyright holder

British hi-fi brand Cambridge Audio is now throwing its hat in the ring with Apple, Samsung, Jabra, and other major audio manufacturers, aiming to become one of the top contenders in the world of tiny, true wireless earbuds.

On Tuesday, June 11, the company announced its first cordless in-ears, the Melomania 1. Named after the live music venue the company has on the ground floor of its London research and development center, the headphones are designed to bring superb build quality and great sound, all for $130.

At least on paper, the Melomania 1 distinguish themselves from competitors like Apple’s AirPods and Samsung’s Galaxy Buds, among others, due largely to their exceptional battery life. The new Cambridge Audio in-ears will feature nine hours of listening time between trips to the included charging case, which itself offers four full recharges of the headphones before you’ll need to pull out the charging cable.

That’s a heck of a lot of juice for headphones this size — nearly double the five hours offered by the industry-leading AirPods, and a full three hours longer than the Galaxy Buds — and the addition of four full recharges in the case brings it up to a total of 45 hours of battery on the go, which is also much higher than nearly all rivals. The headphones also feature an IPX5 rating, meaning they could be awesome on a workout.

The headphones are now on sale on the company’s website, and we look forward to spending some time with a review pair in the near future. After all, Cambridge Audio has been making fantastic audio products for over five decades, and the company has waited until what is essentially the third generation of true wireless models to leap into the space. Perhaps now that companies like Qualcomm and others are finally developing ultra-low power (and better sounding) chips to power new true wireless models, the company finally thought it could make a meaningful impact with its own pair. After all, it can be tough for companies with this much heritage to put out a product that the company itself wouldn’t be proud of.

For more information about the new headphones, check out Cambridge Audio’s website.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Parker Hall is a writer and musician from Portland, OR. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin…

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