We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-20 · 8 min read · Independent comparison
If you want a wireless, noise-cancelling, 100-hour workhorse you can keep alive for years with a replaceable battery, choose Cambridge Audio Melomania P100; if you need a wired, wood-cupped, fully serviceable audiophile headphone with a USB-C DAC in the box, choose MEZE AUDIO. These two aren't really rivals so much as two different philosophies of listening — one built for the commute and the long flight, the other for the armchair and the desktop. Below I break down what each actually does well, where each falls short, and who should hand over their money.
• Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 — biggest strength: wireless freedom plus serious endurance. Bluetooth 5, adaptive active noise cancelling, multipoint, aptX Lossless and a claimed 100-hour battery life, with a user-replaceable battery and earcups so the headphone doesn't die with its cell.
• Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 — biggest trade-off: it's a plastic, app-driven Bluetooth headphone. If you want a wired, analogue, no-battery signal path, this isn't it.
• MEZE AUDIO 99 Classics Second Gen — biggest strength: a premium, repairable wired design. Solid walnut earcups, a self-adjusting spring-steel headband, snap-fit earpads, a screw-together (not glued) build, and a USB-C DAC/amp included for phones without a headphone jack.
• MEZE AUDIO 99 Classics Second Gen — biggest trade-off: no wireless, no noise cancelling, no app, no battery. You're tethered to a cable, and it needs a source good enough to justify it.
• Who each is for: Melomania P100 for travellers, commuters and anyone who wants one headphone to do everything untethered. MEZE 99 Classics Second Gen for wired listeners, gamers at a desk, and audiophiles who value materials and repairability over convenience.
The Melomania P100 is Cambridge Audio's attempt to build a modern wireless over-ear that you don't have to throw away. The headline feature is the user-replaceable battery and earcups — a genuinely rare thing in a Bluetooth headphone, where the battery is usually the first component to fail and the last one you can fix. Combine that with a claimed 100-hour playback figure and a five-minute charge quoted at up to four hours of playtime, and you get a headphone designed around the idea that you'll keep it. If you've ever binned a perfectly good pair of cans because the cell gave out, this spec list is aimed squarely at you.
Feature-wise, it's dense. Adaptive active noise cancelling adjusts to your surroundings rather than sitting at one fixed level. Multipoint connection lets it hold two devices at once, so a laptop call doesn't require unpairing your phone. There's a gaming mode for lower-latency use, wear detect to pause when you lift a cup off, and a 7-band adjustable EQ plus DynamEQ dynamic adaptive equalisation, all controlled through the Melomania Connect app. On the codec side, aptX Lossless and aptX Adaptive target high-resolution 24-bit/96kHz transmission with intelligent management of connection quality when the airwaves get crowded. Class AB amplification sits behind a dynamic driver covering 20Hz–20,000Hz at 10 ohm impedance, and you get both a USB-C charging cable and a USB-C to 3.5mm cable in the box, so wired listening is possible when you want it.
Who should buy it: commuters, frequent flyers, remote workers on endless video calls, and anyone who wants one pair of over-ears to cover music, calls, gaming and travel without cables. Who should skip it: purists who want a purely analogue signal path, listeners who dislike app-dependent tuning, and anyone who wants the look and feel of natural wood and metal rather than a black plastic enclosure. The P100 SE is a tool — a very capable, long-lived one — but it's not a heritage object.
The MEZE AUDIO 99 Classics Second Gen is a different animal entirely. This is a wired, closed-back, over-ear headphone with solid walnut earcups that are CNC-machined and then hand-finished, stained and polished, so every pair has its own grain, colour and texture. MEZE is explicit that age and grain make each set visually unique — you're buying a piece of wood as much as a transducer. The frame uses a self-adjusting headband on a manganese spring-steel band that spreads pressure evenly, and the redesigned earpads are snap-fit, so you can swap them in seconds rather than wrestling with glue or stretch skirts.
Sonically, the Second Gen keeps the original's silhouette but retunes toward a more balanced, neutral target, with bass reined in slightly so midrange and treble detail come through more clearly. MEZE also includes acoustic absorbers that shift the tuning warmer if you prefer the older 99 Classics flavour — effectively two voicings in one headphone. The engineering notes mention an enlarged internal cup volume to push cavity resonances down, precision sealing at key junctions to enable a dedicated bass vent, a re-engineered baffle for acoustic transparency, and a refined driver-matching process to reduce variance between the left and right units. On paper the specs read 32 ohm impedance, a dynamic driver, and a 15Hz–25kHz frequency range — wider at both ends than the Cambridge.
The practical side matters too. The Second Gen ships with a dual-twisted, Kevlar-sheathed OFC cable in 1.2m and 3m lengths, an enlarged 7mm input socket that accepts a wider range of 3.5mm plugs, and a compact USB-C DAC/amp so you can plug into a phone with no headphone jack. And the whole thing is assembled with screws instead of glue: earcups, earpads, cables and headband can all be replaced. That's a sustainability story with real teeth.
Who should buy it: desk-bound listeners, gamers and podcasters who don't mind a cable, audiophiles who want wood-and-metal materials and a repairable build, and anyone whose phone lacks a headphone jack but who still wants wired sound. Who should skip it: anyone who needs noise cancelling on a plane, anyone who refuses to be tethered, and anyone who wants app-based EQ. There's no noise control here at all, and the connection is wired only — USB-C or 3.5mm.
• Best for battery life and travel → Cambridge Audio Melomania P100. A claimed 100 hours per charge, five-minute top-ups, and no cable required.
• Best for noise cancelling → Cambridge Audio Melomania P100. Adaptive ANC versus none at all on the MEZE.
• Best for calls and multitasking → Cambridge Audio Melomania P100. Multipoint, wear detect, voice-assistant support and app control.
• Best for wired sound quality and materials → MEZE AUDIO 99 Classics Second Gen. Solid walnut cups, metal frame, OFC Kevlar-sheathed cable, wider 15Hz–25kHz range.
• Best for repairability and longevity → a tie, with a caveat. The P100 wins on the parts that usually fail first (battery, earcups); the MEZE wins on total serviceability, since every component is screwed together and replaceable.
• Best for gaming at a desk → MEZE AUDIO 99 Classics Second Gen. Wired means no latency at all, and the 3m cable gives you room to move; the P100 counters with a dedicated gaming mode for wireless play.
• Best for high-resolution wireless codecs → Cambridge Audio Melomania P100. aptX Lossless and aptX Adaptive at up to 24-bit/96kHz.
• Best for phone-only listeners → MEZE AUDIO 99 Classics Second Gen, because the included USB-C DAC/amp solves the missing-jack problem out of the box.
In my opinion, most people should buy the Cambridge Audio Melomania P100. It does more of what a modern headphone is actually asked to do — travel, calls, gaming, long sessions — and the replaceable battery and earcups mean it won't become e-waste the moment the cell degrades. I'd only steer you to the MEZE AUDIO 99 Classics Second Gen if you already know you want a wired, wood-and-metal headphone for a desk or a quiet room, and you value materials, tuning options and total repairability over convenience. Two excellent headphones, two completely different jobs. Pick the job first.
The Melomania P100, clearly. It has adaptive active noise cancelling to cut engine drone, and it's wireless with a claimed 100-hour battery. The MEZE 99 Classics Second Gen has no noise cancelling and needs a cable, so it's a poor travel companion.
Yes. MEZE includes a compact USB-C DAC/amp in the box, and the headphone connects via USB-C or 3.5mm. The enlarged 7mm input socket also accepts a wider range of 3.5mm plugs, which helps if you want to use your own cable.
Both are built to be kept. The Melomania P100 targets the two parts that typically fail first, the battery and the earcups, both user-replaceable. The MEZE 99 Classics Second Gen goes further: it's assembled with screws rather than glue, so earcups, earpads, cables and the headband can all be serviced or replaced. On pure longevity, the MEZE design has the edge.
No, but it's where the 7-band EQ, DynamEQ and other controls live, so you'll want it if you care about tuning. The MEZE 99 Classics Second Gen has no app at all — its two voicings are selected physically via the included acoustic absorbers.
The MEZE AUDIO 99 Classics Second Gen, in my opinion. Wired means zero latency for gaming, the 3m cable gives you freedom to move, and the walnut-and-steel build plus user-swappable tuning suit long, stationary sessions. Before deciding, check the current price on Amazon for both, since that's the one variable that can flip the call.
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