Master & Dynamic MW08 Review – Gleam

Usability –

Connectivity

The MW08 operates in exactly the same manner as the MW07 earphones with the same control scheme and gestures. Holding the MFB upon power on for 5s enables pairing and is denoted by a flashing indicator LED on the earbud itself. Once paired, the earphones quickly auto-reconnect to the previously paired device and also can be used independently – simply remove one earphone from the case while leaving the other. As both earpieces have 3 Mics, both can be used as headsets and support ANC and Aware in mono. Range was strong too, on the high-end of the TWS earphones I’ve tested if not the absolute best performer.

I experienced no cut-outs or artefacts during daily use between the earphones or the earphones and my Xperia 5 II, even on a crowded train, connection was rock solid. They connect to my devices over apt-X but also support AAC and SBC for Apple devices. Latency was low with minimal lip sync issue making these a great choice for media consumption and non-competitive gaming. I feel we are at the point where TWS earphones offer a reliable experience and the MW08 builds upon the already strong foundation laid out by the MW07 PLUS with just a little more range and a newer BT standard.

M&D Connect

Master & Dynamic have also introduced a new app that offers extended functionality and firmware update support if still no ability to tweak the sound. Once paired, the app detects the MW08 and connects to the earphones. Inside, users have the ability to choose between two ANC and two Aware mode settings in addition to toggling in-ear detection. Within the ANC menu is a less aggressive all-day ANC mode and a max ANC mode. Within the awareness mode menu, the user can choose to highlight voices whilst attenuating other noises or simply maximise awareness of the user’s surroundings by letting all sound in.

Both represent a large jump up in effectiveness over the MW07 PLUS whose performance was roughly similar to the less potent of the two options, the MW08 taking it one step further. If I had to critique the app, I would wish for a setting to disable the audio cues to speed up toggling between settings. I would also wish to customise the controls and sound to some degree. Firmware updates are automatically detected and take around 15 minutes to complete – through which the user can continue to use the earphones. However, no changelog is provided. Still, the app support is good to have and opens the opportunity to further extend functionality in future as we’ve seen from competitors like Jabra and Sennheiser who have continually addressed and upgraded their older models.

Battery Life

M&D promise 12 hours of runtime and 10 hours with ANC on. With the new BT5.2 standard, you also receive percent accurate battery level on playback devices also supporting the standard. With ANC on max, I found this figure to be spot on. Albeit, I do prefer lower listening volumes, about 3-5 notches of 30 on my Xperia 5 II. After around 5hrs of listening at this volume, my phone reported just over 50% battery remaining. As promised, the case quick charges to 50% in 15 minutes and can quick charge the earphones to 50% in 15 minutes too. Do note that this isn’t from 50% to full, as it becomes exponentially more difficult to charge lithium batteries as they approach capacity.

Do note as well that runtimes will suffer at high volume settings, so the extra headroom here helps greatly if you like to crank the volume. For instance, listening to the Airpods Pro at 100% volume and suddenly their quoted 4.5hr runtime becomes 2.5hrs. Even if we were to account for a 50% drop in runtime, the MW08 would still offer greater runtime than the Airpod’s absolute maximum capacity. Suffice to say, this is an exemplary, essentially class-leading performance from the MW08 and highly impressive given the efficacy and sophistication of its ANC system. This makes it a very strong choice for frequent flyers especially who would benefit from the full runtime of the earphone that very few, if any, match at present.

ANC Performance 

I will talk more about this as ANC is now such an integral feature of TWS earphones yet so many offer half-baked implementations that don’t justify the added complexity over a simpler yet more passively isolating design. The addition of a third microphone here is quite a rare feat and genuinely contributes to a better noise cancelling experience. The ANC performance makes the results of M&D’s hard work very apparent; this is a highly mature and effective noise cancelling implementation that almost matches class leaders but does so with less fatigue and artefacts.

It was not immediately apparent to me just how effective the ANC was as there is essentially no pressure, even on the max ANC setting. ANC gently fades in and out, easing the listener into a calm and comfortable space. There is absolutely zero colouration of the sound and no obnoxious beeps, only mellow voice feedback denoting the setting in use. Similarly, the ANC introduces no hiss or other noises. It offers a reasonably wide range of cancellation though the Apple and Sony competitors do attenuate voices slightly better, the MW08 is not far off. In return, the MW08’s is able to cancel low-frequencies exceptionally well, better than the aforementioned models. Drones, hums and distant chatters are all effectively silenced, leaving a clear and rich listening experience even in noisy environments. Though voices do remain reasonably audible, I didn’t find this too distracting either.

Furthermore, the MW08 has very good filtration of artefacts and sudden noises, something earlier ANC implementations, even effective ones, struggled with. For instance, the pressure change from doors closing on the train could cause pops on old Bose earphone, there was no issue here. Similarly, the jingling of keys or chains in the gym incurred no sudden noises. Most impressively, wind noise is heavily reduced when wearing these earphones. Where many earphones clip in the wind, the Airpods included, the MW08 experienced no issues during outdoor use. Again, the Sony and Apple earphones are a little more potent with regards to ANC, but the MW08 is more versatile to my ears and almost as effective. 

Aware Mode

With the updated microphone setup, the awareness mode has also received some upgrades. The MW07 PLUS provided a rather muted image, even with awareness mode on, voices could be difficult to discern. The MW08 it a marked improvement here, delivering a very natural and transparent experience. It doesn’t highlight external noise like the Airpods and Sennheiser MTW2 do, however, much like their ANC, they also don’t clip or artefact at all. If I have one major gripe with the MW08, it’s that, like the MW07 PLUS, the combination of a long press plus voice feedback means it takes quite a few seconds for the ANC and Awareness modes to activate. Given the new app, I would like the ability to turn this off as I found myself missing conversations and announcements waiting for the awareness mode to activate. Otherwise, the MW08 provides a very refined and comfortable user experience. To me, these are one of the first ANC earphones that provide real benefits over a proper isolating design without the usual fallbacks of ANC; though, of course, you do pay for that sophistication.

Call Quality

The MW07 Plus offered a large jump in call quality over the outgoing MW07 and the MW08 makes some improvements too, albeit, not quite to the same extent. In general, call quality is similar to its predecessor, meaning recipients hear you get clear and relatively immediately if not quite as clear as class-leaders such as the Apple Airpods Pro whose stem-mounted mic aids vocal clarity. A main stride has been with regards to ambient noise cancellation with the updated mic setup. Recipients noted substantially less background noise in loud environments on the MW08 as opposed to the MW07 Plus. Though my voice was not as clean as a dedicated headset, the MW08 did a fine job in basically all environments for phone calls, leaving me clearly distinguishable. This makes it a good choice for those wanting combined headset and audio use, especially in tandem with the long battery life. However, unlike some competitors, there is no pass-through during calls (so the user is unable to hear their own voice) and ANC also cannot be used during calls. This is a feature that I would like to see implemented in future via the accompanying app as it does contribute to more natural conversation.

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