Melomania P100 vs the BEST! (AirPods Max, Sony, Bose, Sonos, Sennheiser) 🤔

[@YalokIy]

P100's sound the best, but the call quality of Sonos is outstanding!

[@JorisKeijser]

I got them a couple of days ago. After doing some EQing (upward slope towards the treble) they sound pretty damn good to me. Sounds nice and detailed, with an incredibly powerful and controlled bass. Some downsides I found are: -Huge difference in bass volume between noise cancelling off and on (way more when off, which is my preferred setting for quiet environments like at home). -Increasing the bass in the EQ (made a profile to mitigate the loss of bass with NC), will cause HEAVY clipping/distortion on bass heavy songs, no matter the volume (it becomes baked into the signal), so that entire feature is entirely useless. -When NC is on, low volumes will cause audible artifacts/noise around dialog (and probably other things?). When watching videos of people speaking on below 20% volume, the voice gets a sort of harsh static enveloping every word. Very weird and distracting. NC off doesn't have this. -Stupid design choice for skipping tracks. It's done by double pressing the volume up or down buttons, so when you try to adjust volume a LITTLE too quickly, it will reset or skip your song, just when you might be trying to quickly increase volume for a good part of a song for example. This should IMO have been a long press action, as the long press is actually used on other buttons as well. You really have to be very slow with clicking the volume buttons. (Just found out long pressing will keep changing volume, but slowly, and doesn't feel as good as clicking at your own pace IMO) -A little tight on the head, though not a very big deal. -Black matte color gets greasy stains easily, and can only be really wiped off with a cloth. -Noise cancelling button is placed where I logically grab them to put them on or off, so accidental presses occur often when starting a session or a taking a short break, after which you need to slowly cycle through the 3 modes back to where you wanted it to be. -Some issues with windows bluetooth. Connects fine but with a weird name (Bluetooth LE device xxxxxxxxxx

[@JorisKeijser]

A little follow up. My opinion has changed somewhat on some of those points, mainly the little annoyances in general use and concerns about the headband have lessened a bit after a while. They're still problems but you learn to keep them in mind and use it in a way so they're less likely to interfere. The main problems I have now are -The bass getting messed up when using noise cancelling. -The bass EQ causing distortion (Doesn't happen with USB connection, and somehow doesn't happen on my old Galaxy S8 with BT, but does happen on my S24 Ultra and my PC. Thought it might be te BT codec but I tried every codec on my S24 Ultra and all of them have the distortion). Another thing I noticed is that the specs say the ANC has wind noise reduction, but when using them on my bike the noise is very present. My old 2017 Sony completely eliminated that. But I don't use ANC anyways, cause of the bass issue, and ANC off is more than enough for outside use honestly (I'm not in a big city though). The following comments are a conversation I had with people on another video, in case you're interested in more details: ​ *@kamil950 said:* "Do you have a comparison with some other ANC headphones for example in terms of ANC artifacts, comfort, headband etc.?" *I replied to @kamil950:* ​"Hey, sorry for the late reply. I did in fact order a Bose QuietComfort Ultra to compare against, and sound wise and ease of use wise (general operation like turning it on and pairing etc) the P100's were superior. The bose felt a little better comfort wise during longer sessions (after 1-2 hours). The P100's can unfortunately give me a bit of a headache from the pressure around the ears after a while, but that could be a subjective thing. I have not had much experience using the ANC with the P100's as I never turn it on due to the detrimental effects it has on audio (and haven't really used them in environments where it's needed yet), namely the noise artifacs it created around voices (at least when only a voice is playing like YT videos or podcasts), but mostly how on the current software version it messes with the bass. It reduces the volume of bass but also completely changes the texture of it. When playing a clean sine wave of bass, using a frequency generator, it goes from a smooth and full sounding bass to a wierdly textured and thin sound, so the ANC Off version of the bass is what it should sound like. I really hope this will get fixed along the way. If they do I will probably enable ANC by default cause as far as I've tested it is otherwise pretty good. The walking pops and stuff people talked about has supposedly gotten fixed with the latest software update. I returned the Bose and kept the Cambridge in the end, due to superior sound (more spatious, clean, accurate, controlled and powerful sound)." *@Comintern said:* "Thanks, I also bought the P100's last week and I'm finding the same issue with the ANC audio artifacts on human voices. It's deeply frustrating as I often wear ANC headphones to help sleep at night with audiobooks playing. I've just now tried emailing the CEO who puts his email on the box requesting feedback so I'll update if there's any response. I've still got 40+ days left on the return policy so I may end up having to return the headphones if there's no sign of a firmware fix for this problem. Such a shame as they are such a great sounding pair of headphones otherwise and I love that you can replace the pads & batteries easily compared to every other ANC headphone out there. kamii950, I've owned Sony's XM3's & 4's for years & tested Bose QC45's for several weeks previously and there's never been any problems with ANC artifacts in the way the P100's currently have. The P100's did recently have a firmware update at the end of August that massively improved the ANC when walking about so I'm hopeful there might be future firmware updates to fix this current issue." *I replied to @Comintern:* "Hey! Good (or not lol) to see someone else confirm the issue I noticed with the voice artifacts when using ANC. Kinda sucks that it has this, and makes me wonder how the hell they did not notice this during development. Please let me know if you get a response to the email you sent them! Very curious if they will actively work with the feedback they get. The replacable earpads and battery is honestly not that much of a unique feature, as with the Bose QC Ultra for example this can be done (battery) in the same way, just unofficially. With these you get sent a kit containing a screwdriver and battery, to take it apart and connect a new battery to the internals. It's not necessarily a very consumer friendly way of replacing it, and replacing it in the Bose would be the same process. No matter though, it's really nice that it's at least offered as an option officially. I would also like to ask if you have the same problems with bass I described when using ANC, where the amount/volume gets heavily reduced, and changes its sound/texture as well (I noticed this when using a sine wave frequency generator, so try that to confirm). I really hope this can be fixed with a software update, so if they respond to your email I'd love for you to adress this issue to them as well. Something else I've been really bummed about, is how the EQ distorts the bass on bass heavy songs when adjusted for more bass. A song that really shows this very well is Demons by Doja Cat. Anything more than a very slight increase in the lowest 2 EQ bands will make the bass completely distorted and garbled. Weirdly, this is the case when using my S24 Ultra and my PC, but when using my old Galaxy S8, it somehow does not distort, even though the EQ is not done by the phone, but by the headphones themselves, so that's really weird. When using USB this also does not happen, even when maxing the bass sliders (same as using BT on my S8). Somewhere in the chain something goes wrong, even though it is apparently capable of doing it without any distortion. Hope you can kinda respond to all these questions and points I made! I'd love to have some external input and maybe try to get these issues ironed out together as it would make this thing near perfect!"

[@LokiDWolf]

@@JorisKeijser All of this was VERY helpful. I just got my Bose and well, they just sound muddy. It's not that they're bad by any means. I think they're pretty good. But, I've heard better. Even watching this video I can hear the distinct differences. I got the Bose mainly for the ANC. My gf and I have a very small place. And the tele is in the same room where I work/play on my pc. We've had discussions and tension because the cheapo headphones I was using just didn't cut it. These Bose though - WOW!!! But, that's where my excitement stops. I love music and though I love bass where it's needed I also leave treble, strings and such. Clear everything is the best for me. The Bluetooth and other problems you've mentioned with Bluetooth was very disappointing considering the P100 has a very updated version. I do hope that IF I get them things are worked out. I see I'm responding 4 months after you posted so hopefully it has been worked on. I have noticed with the Bose I get random "hiccups" of the connection being interrupted. It's pretty annoying. I mean I have very updated hardware. And the cheapos I was using prior to the Bose NEVER had this issue. Plus, I think Bose application is horrible. It's very limited on fine tuning. As well as, who still uses a 3 band EQ?! That was so surprising to see. So, there's my dilemma. Do I switch the P100 for the best sound in music but not as good ANC or do I keep the Bose for the best ANC but with muddy overall sounds for everything. I'm leaning towards the P100. Heh

[@atomicsasch]

Bought and pleasantly surprised. Quality seems very good and valuable.

[@aaronloudnwireless]

Nice!

[@_sunfish]

@@aaronloudnwireless Hi, weirdly enough, the p100 audio sample is not available in the website. Is this on purpose ?

[@aaronloudnwireless]

@@_sunfish Ah, yes. It's been updated now. Thanks.

[@cuerex8580]

i bought the melomania p100 too and i found the soundquality to be overall balanced but.. my equalized Anker Soundcore LifeTune still sound better for a fraction of the price. i experienced a boxy mid-hump that you can't get rid with EQ.

[@jeremythornton2464]

Been waiting for quality review on the p100 ‘s thanks

[@aaronloudnwireless]

No problem

[@jeremythornton2464]

I will hold back until software issues are resolved

[@ariesaries91]

Based on your sound samples, surprisingly to me P100 sounds the best.

[@aaronloudnwireless]

Clean sound!

[@ariesaries91]

@@aaronloudnwireless Exactly! Forgot to give a context of my taste for sound profile on headphones. Wondering if your videos in the near future could bring the latest AKG's products N5 Hybrid and N9 Hybrid to the table as well. Thanks so much for your reviews.

[@seefeel2043]

@@ariesaries91 Also interested in AKG ones :)

[@ariesaries91]

@@seefeel2043 Yes, we're on the same boat! 🙌🙌🙌

[@cuerex8580]

the p100 actually has a boxy midhump that you can't EQ with the App.. huge let down for me.

[@rrrr3666]

Where's Sennheiser in test?

[@seefeel2043]

Thanks for great review. I really hope software issues will be fixed soon.

[@aaronloudnwireless]

I hope so too

[@seefeel2043]

@@aaronloudnwireless would you like to compare them with Bose QC Ultra in comfort department, please 🙏

[@Honky.DigiTaL]

The QC ultra and P100 sounded the best to me , in the sound demo , and only slightly different from one another, all the other cans sounded pretty bad to me in comparison to both those

[@kennykhoo1689]

M4 still sounds the best among all these. The P100 sounds quite the same as the M4 but please let me know if I'm wrong, the sound stage is airier in the M4 than the P100. P100 vocal sounded like been pressed compared with the M4. Edit: Would love to try it physically in the shop and see how the sound really is.

[@aaronloudnwireless]

Vocal tonality is a bit different, and yes the Sennheisers are brighter. Best to listen and compare in person

[@jeremymorrison3494]

I must admit, I am very impressed with the sound quality.

[@MadLadsAnonymous]

P100 sounds clean with good separation, but I'm comparing them now to the Audeze Maxwell-yes, a headphone with no ANC-and wow, the Maxwell's sound huge! So much more fun! The P100 sounds thin by comparison.

[@magdad.72]

Thank you very much, that is exactly what I have been looking for lately :)

[@pablowaxa]

Exciting video! Looking forward to try it when it’s available!

[@LiahPJones]

Awesome review!

[@Icecold_Art]

THANK YOU for the melomania Aaron! I also apreciate the updated comparison methodology, setting P100 against every other contestant headphone, one after another, plus the frequency response next to the image when the sound test was on. Ypu're channel evolved and you became more proefessional. And I follow You for many years now. Great Job! The melomania is indeed quite Linear, defenitely more on the audiophile type of sound tan the bloated XM5 and terribly thin and shouty BOSE, the Sennheiser M4 had a bit more heft and to my ears a bit more desireable texture in the vocals tho, more fun signature for sure. The p100 are a great headphone though, well done Cambridge Audio. Listened on Sennheiser HD 660s and Bang&Olufsen EX Although, being totally honest with You, the "I'll get over You" track is faaaar from a good choice to test all these earphones and headphones, it is poorly mastered/recorder with a very prominent "honky/nasal" character, which is innitialy thought was headphones fault, until I've listened to the FLAC Recording on TIDAL... P.S Can we hope for EDIFIER Stax S5 test as well? :) And maybe an older one, Final Audio UX 3000 - from an Audiophile Japanese Company

[@lixxnlt]

can you suggest what songs thst good for testing headphones?

[@Icecold_Art]

@@lixxnlt there is a playlist on spotify named „ songs to test headphones with „ a very good collection. But I strongly recommend just testing it with most music You are listening to. Sennheiser HD 650 for example won’t be good for EDM but it’s fantastic for vocals etc. But that playlist I gave You have a wide variety of genres.

[@nivinhanna]

Keen to understand whether the firmware issues mentioned have been ironed out. Other reviewers have mentioned nothing about BT drop outs or popping during walks etc. Maybe a faulty pair? Thank you.

[@aaronloudnwireless]

These issues have not been resolved via firnware. Can’t comment on other reviewers. I do hope it’s a faulty pair and not the norm.

[@magiccouponsREAL]

@@aaronloudnwireless same experience here. Latest firmware and got the "device 1 disconnected" issue (and "device 2 disconnected"!) and other issues such as music play/pausing by itself after phone calls, turning the headphones off, buggy multipoint. A shame cos great sounding headphones but too uncomfortable for my ears for long sessions and quite big and bulky design.

[@nhajas1]

Thank you for a well-thought review - you've earned my subscribe. Could you tell me if for the wireless test and comparison you used a device capable of Snapdragon Sound or Snapdradon Sound with Aptx Lossless? Also could you advise if there was any firmware update since you reviewed the phones that improved the weird sound artefacts while walking or any of the other pesky issues? Thanks again for a very well-thought review and comparison, happy to have found your channel.

[@madisonross1128]

Finally, the video i been looking for

[@aaronloudnwireless]

Nice :)

[@blascovallejo3246]

It is the first KZbin channel that makes this type of comparison between Bluetooth headphones, thank you very much, this helps you make a better decision when buying one of these. Rather, I would like you to help me know which one gives the lowest latency to play CODM on my cell phone and not regret my purchase.

[@bealterd4051]

I am kinda in a pickle. The momentum and p100 sounds almost the same. Which one do you think i should pick?

[@viazniki2]

Be interesting to add Earfun to big league since last update they make so good on anc and transparency version 0.4 and little eq tuning all to 10 only 1khz to 5 be interesting your opinion yesterday i try and shocked how good make all

[@davidpasquale822]

Thank you for the review! I have a question related to the use in passive mode. Is it possible to use it with an analog DAC when it is completely out of battery? Can you charge and listen at the same time? I assume it is possible when you use out the usbC-usbC cable, right? In analog mode it would be also possible?

[@Wanderlust_Sights_Bites]

Any comments/comparison VS the maxwells?

[@geertd3244]

These or the B&W P7s2e's ?

[@Dotatlast2448]

Make a review on oneplus buds pro 2

[@anthonytittonis6913]

Do they leak much sound for people sat next to you, a test I think all headphone reviews should add especially if upsetting work colleagues is an issue.

[@BobJJ9999]

Or The Mrs !

[@2andforty]

I tried them and liked the sound, however, something in the bass made my ears hurt. There are some measurements online that show them as having a subbass spike, so maybe that was that. Interestingly, this was more pronounced with anc off. Speaking of ANC, the white noise that's applied was too much for me and distracted me from my audiobooks. I really wanted to like them as I like what they do with the battery, but unfortunately had to send them back.

[@shashwatchandradahal3000]

Thanks for the great video. Could you do a comparison between the P10p and the Bowers and Wilkins P7 S2E?

[@Gadgetibles]

Is it comfortable for long listening sessions

[@monstermunch2682]

The battery is user replaceable. If you can actually find them in stock! I love the concept of the replaceable battery and it’s only £30 which is great. Also the ear pads are £20 which is great. However both ear pads and battery kit are pointless if the company doesn’t make enough for demand. I returned a pair of B&W Px7 S2e recently because replacement ear pads cost £75! for a pair and not many other companies made cheaper options. Any company needs to make so many products that scalpers won’t buy all of them and genuine customers can’t get hold of them at rrp 😂

[@johnbradshaw5900]

I think these are excellent. Sound quality is good enough, that may sound like damming with mild praise but I didn't buy them for ultimate sound quality as wireless ANC headphones, they're enjoyable and don't get between me and music. ANC is very good, I think Bose and Sony do noise cancelling better but these are more than good enough. Build quality is excellent, plastic but solid feeling and feel like they should last. Their ace over rivals is the battery, it lasts for so long and is user replaceable, it makes me wonder why others don't have such batteries. The main criticism I have is form factor for travelling, a fold mechanism to collapse into a smaller case would be useful. For the price I am very happy, I fly and travel a lot, the rather bulky case is not great but in every other way they're ideal. Good sound, good ANC and a battery that feels like it lasts forever. They can also go pretty loud if you want them to.

[@gtaseed]

How's the comfort and earpad dimensions including depth? Big ear safe?

[@magiccouponsREAL]

imo no, not big ear safe. XM5s I found to have the best comfort due to their larger cups and the Bose QCs to be the least actually cos their cups are so restrictive

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

No headphone is perfect. These appeal to me for the user replaceable battery and earpads, which means it can last a long time, and the extremely good sound quality. I hear no popping sounds. They are very comfortable, much more so than my Bose QC25. I bought a pair, and I like them. My only issue is that the headband is covered in thin fake leather, which may rip, and the underside has padding that is not replaceable as and when it gets very dirty. I listen to French podcasts, and clarity is essential. These have excellent clarity and neutrality. I still prefer my Sennheissr HD600, but those leak sound, they are huge, and the thick cable is six foot long and heavy.

[@tseivan3624]

Can the USB connection mode and ANC be turned on at the same time?

[@laststarman1366]

yes it can

[@raizel29]

Hey I was wondering in terms of sound quality and ANC which earbuds are better the Sony LinkBuds S or the Soundcore liberty 4 (not NC)

[@deykno87]

Link buds by far

[@YouTu-k2h]

?What is the name of the song in the clip

[@billymadyson]

Why wouldn't you test the soundcore q45s?

[@viazniki2]

Q45 is worst him ANC and Transparency is worst than earfuns wave Pro is so good I have own both pairs for comfort I prefer Wave Pro and for sound with tuning in EQ is so good my Q45 is not fit well and when move ANC is awfully to not speak Transparency is not so good with this noise recommendation is try get Earfun like always Earfun so good since have him Air Pro 3 I love how they do all now new Air Pro 4 come earbuds be buy him

[@erenacun3479]

is the software issue fixed?

[@magiccouponsREAL]

doesn't seem like it. same experience as @aaronloudnwireless . Latest firmware and got the "device 1 disconnected" issue (and "device 2 disconnected"!) and other issues such as music play/pausing by itself after phone calls, turning the headphones off, buggy multipoint. A shame cos great sounding headphones but too uncomfortable for my ears for long sessions and quite big and bulky design.

[@Comintern]

I've had my P100s for 4 months now and I've not noticed any issues with the software, they connect pretty seamlessly with my Pixel 8, I'm very happy with the headphones overall.

[@Salty_Biscuitz88]

Momentum 4 sounds the best to me.

[@user-nh5ip4tf6l]

Make buds 3 pro vs wfxm5

[@jwolfewinz]

You didn’t touch on comfort , which is the most important thing about headphones in my opinion.

[@rakshithofficial4851]

I'm delighted with my XM5s.

[@serrael-182]

First time i heard the rest of the song. :D

[@aaronloudnwireless]

Hah, decided to use a different part this time 😁

[@SilentHoly]

sonos ace 가 통화에는 가장 좋은건가? 검색해보니 가격이 p100에 비해 1.7배는 더 비싸군

[@aldenthomas5317]

"turning on the tap when your wife is trying to talk to you"

[@ALTRON3]

i was really interested in these to replace my great sony WH-1000XM3 but with all those annoying (windows 11) issues, ill pass .

[@SaschaRobitzki]

At that price, it should have multi-point pairing.

[@gtaseed]

It does lol

[@enjoi44]

sonos ace and sony xm5 win on the wind test phone call for me

[@GadZookz]

These are sill very hard to get.

[@aaronloudnwireless]

In the US?

[@GadZookz]

@@aaronloudnwireless In Canada but it is not easy to get them from another country either.

[@aaronloudnwireless]

@@GadZookz i see 🤔

[@GadZookz]

@@aaronloudnwireless I’ve pre-ordered one but the retailer is facing delay in fulfilling the order.

[@aaronloudnwireless]

@@GadZookz could it be due to high demand from Prime day

[@gandit]

You're amazing

[@WhatTheFragrance]

P100 sounded the best on the samples

[@sauicaen]

i dont really understand how then sony xm5 is the best overall headset by many of the authorities? even the nc is inferior to the others in this test.

[@TheGamingAudiophile]

These headphones look absolutely ridiculous on the head.

[@aaronloudnwireless]

Very wide arms indeed

[@seefeel2043]

Look at Edifier Stax Spirit S5 🤣

[@deba8967]

​@@aaronloudnwirelesssir which one I should prefer for online classes

[@AA-ws3vd]

It's a good thing they are MADE FOR Sound! Unlike Bose for the ladies who could care less.🎉

[@Torain7]

Completely disagree. Might just not fit your head mate.

[@deykno87]

Your crazy the p100 were worse anc wise than all of them except the sennheisers 😂

[@Torain7]

Yes. But anc is not the main selling point for the P100. P100 has among the best sound quality compared to these top models, up there with sennheiser.

[@combatantezoteric2965]

Better the ANC = worse the soundstage and overall sound qualiyy

[@anselspear8108]

Christ, everybody's an influencer/expert these days.

[@michaelsmitherian2484]

Welcome to the internet boomer.

[@-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-...]

wow the p100 sound so good....!