In just a few short years, wireless earbuds have moved from a luxury accessory to a regular one that you can even find cheaper than a few wired buttons. Much has changed in the three years since Master & Dynamic released its excellent version MW07 wireless earbuds. The company’s long-awaited follow-up, the new MW08, is simply the most compelling reason to use wireless earbuds.
I’ve been checking many sets of wireless earbuds over the last few years, and it turns out that most companies do try to find the perfect balance of functions. But the approach means that there are always compromises between sound quality, size, call quality, how well the active noise cancellation works, the battery life and the price. Once I put the MW08 wireless earbuds in my ears and played, it was immediately clear that Master & Dynamic had rather focused their efforts on making the whole experience as good as possible and delivering almost every feature. user wants – if they accept that they do not have a limited budget.
Is $ 300 expensive for a pair of wireless earbuds? Yes of course. These are not the most expensive buttons you can find – for example, if you want diamonds, you can drop thousands on a few buttons, but compared to the $ 249 Apple AirPods Pro, the MW08s really deliver a better $ 300-worthy wireless earphone experience.
G / O Media can get a commission
The experience begins with a stainless steel chest of drawers (I tested a version with a matte black finish) that feels substantial and weighty in the hand. It’s slightly larger than the AirPods Pro drawer, which is the gold standard for pocket-size, but while Apple promises ‘more than 24 hours of listening time’ and five hours with the buttons alone, Master & Dynamic promises a staggering 42 hours of playtime. with the boot and 12 hours only with the MW08 earbuds. That is more than enough justification for the greater cause.
The drawer of the MW08 also contains a very useful set of three LEDs on the outside that indicate the drawer level of the suitcase itself and each knob, an enclosed carrying case of cloth, because all that is painted is matte with black fingerprints and drawer it via a USB. -C gate on the side. Unfortunately, as great as using stainless steel, metal and wireless charging do not feel like you can stick the MW08s on a wireless charger to fill it, which feels like it’s one of the most handy features missing. this upgrade.
Until recently, I was never the biggest fan of designing the Master & Dynamics MW07’s, which has been transferred to the new MW08s, but I will admit that I really liked it over the last few weeks. The use of polished ceramics with a minimal logo treatment is beautiful and muted.
I also like that the MW08s use physical buttons instead of touch controls that require users to tap on their earbuds to gain access to playlists and other controls. I often find that tapping on an earplug can remove it from my ear, but with the MW08s you can use a push-to-push approach that keeps everything securely in place. It is also easier to distinguish what the buttons do, because they have different sizes on each earplug, which saves you from having to remember a pattern of taps. To summarize: Buttons good, bad type.
Earplugs that deliver great sound are always dependent on large drives and even larger batteries, and this is often a challenge for portability. The extra weight makes it easier for tabs to fall out occasionally, and long periods of time can lead to discomfort. But even after a few weeks of use, I’m still amazed at how comfortable the MW08s are and how well they stay in my ears. It contains five sets of silicone ear tips to help you get the best fit, but the earplugs are also designed to hide in the ears of the ears to keep them safe.
Despite being larger, I find the MW08s just as comfortable as the Apple AirPods Pro, and I had no problem holding it in my ears, even during a light exercise. Master & Dynamic has also boosted the waterproofness of these wireless earbuds from IPX4 to IPX5, so it should be good for use in the rain or during a very sweaty workout, but it probably will not survive.
Before I got my hands on the Master & Dynamic MW08s, the Klipsch T5 II True wireless earbuds were my leading buttons when I really wanted to enjoy my music – but not anymore. It was a very close call, and while I think the Klipsch T5 II True Wireless might hit a little harder than the new MW08s do, the overall sound quality of Master & Dynamics’ latest is just unmatched, thanks to a bump in the size of its Beryllium drivers from 10 to 11 millimeters.
My go-to track for testing wireless earbuds was too late Tropic Remix of Surf Mesa’s “ily” and if the measure drops by about 30 seconds, the bass performance of the MW08 is incredibly satisfactory, and it’s possibly even better than on some wireless headphones I’ve tested. But the bass does not cost sharp and bright highlights, this is where many bass-heavy headphones and earbuds underperform. The MW08s deliver fantastic sounds across the board, which is good, because even though it works with a free Android and iOS app, there is no adjustable EQ to adjust the sound balance, but it’s doubtful if you ever would want to.
The Master & Dynamic MW08 wireless earbuds finally also have an active noise cancellation, and this is probably one of the best implementations of ANC available to consumers. The ANC tested on the MW08s against the AirPods Pro with simulated sounds of busy subways and the inside of a passenger plane, using six microphones spread over both earbuds. as I have noticed in the past, do not expect them to drop you into a world of perfect silence. The amplification of the ambient sound was also stronger and crystal clear, with two modes including ‘Ambient’ which increases all frequencies so you can better hear what’s going on around you and ‘Voice’ which instead focuses on amplifying the midrange to higher frequencies. voices of people speaking speak more clearly.
Aside from the lack of wireless charging, my only other complaint with the MW08s is the same for almost every non-Apple wireless earplug. They are still Bluetooth dependent and occasionally I have experienced strange connection issues with the MW08s, where sound would fall on one side or appear to be knocking back and forth between each button. These were issues that could be easily resolved by disconnecting and reconnecting the buttons, and issues that could presumably be improved by future firmware updates, but these were also connectivity issues that nearly eliminated Apple with its W1 Bluetooth drive.
Is the new Master & Dynamic MW08 $ 50 better than the AirPods Pro? Even with the occasional Bluetooth hiccup, these are absolutely the best wireless earbuds you can spend $ 300 on. They sound amazing, they fit incredibly well, they can take up to 42 hours before the boot needs a refill, and they deliver about as sound-suppressing an experience as you might hope. If you are going to expand wireless buttons, this is what you need to flush for.