What do Lazlo from What We Do In The Shadows and Mancunian music legend Tim Burgess have in common? They're both connected to Cambridge Audio's brand new active noise cancellation (ANC) true wireless earbuds, the Melomania M100.
The new buds come in two versions: the regular Melomania M100 and the limited edition Melomania M100 How High Edition. The latter comes in a bright yellow and black colour scheme that's a nod to the music video for The Charlatans' hit How High, in which singer Tim Burgess wore a very distinctive bright yellow jacket.
If you go for the How High Edition, you'll be sharing a colour with the Charlatans' singer's famous yellow jacket as well as donating to a charity close to his heart. If you change your M100's notification preferences to 'Southwark', you'll also hear the velvety tones of comedian and actor Matt Berry (who plays the fictional character Laszlo in the FX show).
I'm a big fan of Cambridge Audio kit. Their Melomania 1 buds were my go-to headphones for ages and I really rated their Melomania Touch earbuds too. The Melomania 1 in particular were big winners for me because they punched way above their price tag, delivering really impressive sound for a super low price. When they were succeeded in 2021 by the Melomania 1 Plus, the team at TechRadar absolutely loved these, rating them as the best budget wireless earbuds for a long time before they were discontinued.
The new Cambridge Audio M100 aren't quite so cheap as the Melomania 1 Plus earbuds that had a launch price of $139.95 / £119.95 / about AU$185 – although at £169 (about $219 / AU$326) they're still considerably more affordable than AirPods Pro 2 – but they offer some big improvements, which we'll outline below.
What's new in the Cambridge Audio M100 ANC true wireless earbuds?
While the new Melomania M100 are now readily available to buy, there are only 300 of the How High edition – 50 of which will be available with an exclusive Hikerdelic vs Tim Burgess How High Bag. All the How High editions will donate money to Help Us Help Bands, a charity close to Burgess's heart that helps up and coming musicians.
Whichever version you buy you're getting Bluetooth 5.3 with LE Audio, aptX Lossless for CD-quality streaming on supported devices and an impressive 16 hours of battery with ANC off and 10 with ANC on. You can also charge them wirelessly via Qi.
The 10mm drivers inside the buds themselves have Class AB amplification similar to that of Cambridge Audio's CX series of hi-fi amps, which TechRadar's Becky Scarrott got a sneak preview of when she heard Cambridge Audio's new network player at the firm's HQ in London, albeit made a lot smaller.
If these earbuds don't sound great I'll be amazed. Cambridge Audio are serious about sound – it's not uncommon for the brand's headphones to feature among the best wireless earbuds – and I've yet to hear something they've made that doesn't sound superb. And the ANC, which is a very welcome addition, is both feed-back and feed-forward for better accuracy and isolation. There's a new app too, which includes a seven-band EQ and six listening presets to tweak the sound.
Both the standard and the How High editions of the Cambridge Audio M100 are priced at £169 (about $219 / AU$326) and available now in the UK, but you'll need to move fast if you want the yellow ones. There are only 300 of those and 50 are already allocated to the Hikerdelic limited edition. So if you're the kind of person who, ahem, Can't Get Out Of Bed then you might need to make an exception and get up before they sell out.
