Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 - EQ possibilities?

[Johnny2R]

Having read a bunch of very favourable reviews of the recently released Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 headphones, I suggested them to my wife as a possible Christmas present for me, and she was generous enough to oblige. Unfortunately, I'm finding that they are not quite ticking the box for me in terms of sound quality, and I think it's possibly because they are closed back headphones, and I maybe just don't get on with closed back headphones, however good. Most of the time I listen to classical music, often orchestral, and what I'm looking for primarily, I suppose, is accurate timbre, and a sense of airiness, openness, spaciousness, to replicate as closely as possible the feeling of sitting in a concert hall. I have open back headphones which do pretty well in this respect (AKG K702 and another recent purchase, Hifiman HE400SE), but the P100s sound to me a little coloured, and closed in, constricted.

As I say, this may be just a characteristic of closed back headphones (I bought and quickly resold a pair of Sony WH-1000XM3's a couple of years ago, as I really wasn't keen on the sound). It's not a characteristic of ANC headphones per se, as I have a pair of remarkably cheap ANC IEMs, Earfun AirPro 4, which I really like and which sound pretty open and accurate to me.

So my question is whether this is something I might be able to improve with some judicious EQ, in which case what should I be looking at?

 

[Doodski]

Having read a bunch of very favourable reviews of the recently released Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 headphones, I suggested them to my wife as a possible Christmas present for me, and she was generous enough to oblige. Unfortunately, I'm finding that they are not quite ticking the box for me in terms of sound quality, and I think it's possibly because they are closed back headphones, and I maybe just don't get on with closed back headphones, however good. Most of the time I listen to classical music, often orchestral, and what I'm looking for primarily, I suppose, is accurate timbre, and a sense of airiness, openness, spaciousness, to replicate as closely as possible the feeling of sitting in a concert hall. I have open back headphones which do pretty well in this respect (AKG K702 and another recent purchase, Hifiman HE400SE), but the P100s sound to me a little coloured, and closed in, constricted.

As I say, this may be just a characteristic of closed back headphones (I bought and quickly resold a pair of Sony WH-1000XM3's a couple of years ago, as I really wasn't keen on the sound). It's not a characteristic of ANC headphones per se, as I have a pair of remarkably cheap ANC IEMs, Earfun AirPro 4, which I really like and which sound pretty open and accurate to me.

So my question is whether this is something I might be able to improve with some judicious EQ, in which case what should I be looking at?

Are you using a PC for a source?

 

[Johnny2R]

No, an Android phone. Mainly Spotify Premium, sometimes Amazon Music HD. I use Poweramp Equalizer for EQ.

 

[Johnny2R]

Not a solution as such, but I have found, using the graphic equalizer in the Melomania app, that if I put the rightmost slider to the max while keeping all the others flat, the headphones definitely sound a little more airy, less boxed in, to my ears. Effectively that's giving a boost to frequencies over 10Khz. I may try and fine-tune this using parametric equalization with PowerAmp Equalizer.

 

[ZolaIII]

Unfortunately I didn't manage to find any measurements of Cambridge Audio P100, only for Melomania IEM's from rings. So next time when searching for headaphones try with suffix "audio measurements" after the brand and product name. Learn to read and interpret them. Plenty of educational videos including from houst about such things. Finally try always to really try them or get them from place that accepts returns for a small fee so that you can do that. As measurements aren't all regarding; fit, comfort, use case, personal taste and hearing state. Then you will be able to EQ them rather successful.

 

[Limopard]

A new P 100 SE was released recently. Comfort has improved greatly - at least for me. I couldn't wear the old one for more than 5 minutes before the top of my head started hurting. The new headband is a lot softer, I can wear the SE for quite a while without any irritation.

Unfortunately the sound is more bassy than before, even further enhanced by the DynaEQ. I'm still tinkering with the in-app-EQ - the sound improves but still isn't quite there.

The app sometimes struggles to connect with the (otherwise successfully paired) headphone.

 

[staticV3]

Here are measurements, as well as two suggested EQ presets:

Preamp: 0.0 dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 24 Hz Gain -9.1 dB Q 0.500

Preamp: -1.8 dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 31 Hz Gain -12.0 dB Q 0.500
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 240 Hz Gain 2.7 dB Q 1.200
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 1700 Hz Gain 1.7 dB Q 2.000

Here's the link, where you can try out other parameters: https://kuulokenurkka.squig.link/?s...s_Target,Melomania_P100_(ANC_ON)_FW:1.0.48_**

 

[Limopard]

Was anybody able to figure out, which frequencies the seven bands of the in-app-EQ have?

 

[Leif]

Was anybody able to figure out, which frequencies the seven bands of the in-app-EQ have?

The above came from CA customer support. It is for the M100 but the P100 is the same. My preferred EQ is a straight line slope boosting higher frequencies, reducing lower frequencies. I am 62 so I have normal age related hearing loss, meaning I am less sensitive to higher frequencies. The P100 has a very neutral sound to my ears, which will not appeal to WhatHiFi reviewers, and anyone else who likes a more coloured presentation as favoured by Bose, Sony etc.

 

[Kuulokenurkka]

The EQ tool is a bit weird, as the first two bands are almost the same and don't allow you to make anything super useful.

This was the situation for P100 a year ago, so I wonder if they have made any fine tuning.

Band 1:

Band 2:

Band 3:

Band 4:

Band 5:

Band 6:

Band 7: