The industry for years have always been dominated by the unholy trinity of the Sennehiser, Sony, Boss of the world when it comes to bluetooth sound. If it wasn’t the in house sound quality of Sennehiser leading the way, or the innovation of Sony, or the ANC domination of Bose, it was a brand related product like the airpods that lead their charge. When brand like Soundcore, Bang Olfsen, Bower’s and Wilkins tried to remind everyone that they were there too, no other brand really consistently made enough difference between what they could do vs the big 3 or 4 did. They either looked like a carbon copy of them or tried to beat them in their own specialized direction like Bose’s ANC.
But every now and again, a brand like Cambridge comes out to attack the earphone ecosystem and disrupt its peaceful existence and succeed in carving their own path by focusing on key areas that the others either lost focus on or never made a priority like they should have.
Cambridge decided to first simplify their delivery first with eco-friendly packaging to minimize cost and overhead. And from the moment you open the box, you know you have something bold because you not only have the president’s letter to you but his direct email address with a request to reach out to him. Now, at first, I thought this was going to be some kind of auto response, and if, at best, if it was true, I would get some kind of generic message of thanks. I mean, what kind of president would actually do this with any real thought or true follow up. So after listening to the product I did just that. And to my surprise, I got my answer as to what kind of president. Well, a president that cared because not only did I get a response, but it was thorough a completely transparent one. He even asked me to go into more details on my experience so he could pass these things over to them. He even sent me another email to talk more in detail about the things I felt on the brand. No company or president ever did such a thing in all of tech in my whole life, and I was very impressed. He took both the praise about the product and the constructive feedback on what should be better.
The M100 focused on 52 hours of battery life with 10-16 hours per charge, depending on ANC. Outstanding! They did this while maintaining absolute top-level audiophile sound quality with possibly the highest detail and open air soundstage ever in bluetooth thanks to the use of it’s Class AB amplification,( at the very minimal tied or bettered any earphone out to day), great fit, amazing touch controls that didn’t limit to basic controls, gave good ANC, good Hear-thru, multiple point, and decent Phone quality. All this for $159!!!
No sacrifice was needed like removing the ability to turn up volume or forward or rewind tracks without picking up your phone or putting in weak battery life tech that only lasts 5 hours or less. They didn’t present an ANC tie to goos sound that is required just to sound good, being limited to one device connection, or many other issues some of the top brand have. Oh…and did I mention no dropouts, battery draining without using it, crashing out, or app connection problems like o so many known brands that cost way more have. The only thing I would say could have been better focused on that all brands seem to forget is the advancement of phone call quality. Everyone seems to be too focused on ANC and Hear thru and have just settled on OK phone quality.
Overall, I’m very much impressed by this earphone and company. They are doing things no other before them have done. And if they can continue.. they could find themselves in the mix with all others with the midshare of the consumers. When I put them on, I don’t have to wonder about battery life, and the world disappears. Everything from Asmr, podcast, audio books, music from Future-Enya-Metallica-Boris Brejcha, all absolute masterpieces on these earphones.
It’s a rare find of earphones that give 52 hours of battery life that still delivers lossless audio and audiophile results that fit great and cost under $200. It really makes all other choices a joke. Nothing matches these even with the top known brands. Most lower cost earphones companies give you only “decent” sound quality when they deliver battery life like this or some other kind of needed features sacrificed. They deliver on cost while being superior in sound, fit, and amazing battery life without skips, crashes, or other frustrating failure. There is only one more bluetooth earphone on the market that might equal this, and that’s the Status ANC. Head to head coming
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