In just a few years, wireless earbuds have grown from a luxury accessory to a mainstream accessory that you can even enjoy cheaper than a pair of wired earplugsMuch has changed in the three years since Master & Dynamic released its excellent MW07 wireless earbudsThe long-awaited follow-up to the company, the new MW08, are simply the most compelling reason to splurge on wireless earbuds.
I have reviewed many sets of wireless earbuds over the years and it has become clear that most companies are trying to find the perfect balance of functions. But that approach means there always has to be a compromise between sound quality, size, call quality, how well the active noise cancellation works, battery life and the price tag. But as soon as I put the MW08 wireless earbuds in my ears and hit play, it was immediately clear that Master & Dynamic has instead focused its efforts on making the whole experience the best it can be, delivering almost every feature that a the user might want to – assuming they’re not on a tight budget.
Is $ 300 expensive for a pair of wireless earbuds? Yes definitely. They aren’t the most obscenely priced buds you can find – if you like diamond enchantment, for example, you could drop thousands on a few buds – but compared to the $ 249 Apple AirPods Pro, the MW08s really deliver a better $ 300 worthy wireless earbud experience.
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That experience starts with a stainless steel charging case (I tested a version with a matte black finish) that feels sturdy and heavy in the hand. It’s a bit bigger than the AirPods Pro charging case, the gold standard for pocket size, but while Apple promises “over 24 hours of listening time” and five hours with just the buttons, Master & Dynamic promises a whopping 42 hours of playtime with the charging case and 12 hours with the MW08 earbuds only. That’s more than enough justification for the bigger case.
The MW08’s charging case also has a very handy set of three LEDs on the outside that indicate the charging level of the case itself and each button, an included canvas carrying case as anything painted matte black excels at collecting greasy fingerprints and charging via a USB-C port on the side. Unfortunately, as great as the use of stainless steel is, metal and wireless charging don’t mix, so you can’t lay the MW08s down on a wireless charger to finish them off, which feels like one of the most useful features missing from this upgrade .
Until recently, I have never been the biggest fan of the design of the Master & Dynamics MW07s, which has been carried over to the new MW08s, but I have to admit that I’ve really started to like them in recent weeks. The use of polished ceramic with a minimal logo treatment is nice and understated.
I also like that instead of touch controls where users have to tap their earbuds to access playback and other controls, use the MW08s physical buttons. More often than not, I find that tapping an earbud serves to get it out of my ear, but with the MW08s you can take a ‘squeeze-to-press’ approach that keeps everything securely in place. It’s also easier to distinguish what the buttons are doing, as they are different sizes on each earbud, so you don’t have to remember a tapping pattern. To summarize: buttons good, bad tap.
Earbuds that deliver big sound always rely on large drivers and even larger batteries, which often presents a challenge to wearing comfort. The extra weight makes it easier for earbuds to fall out occasionally, and extended use can lead to discomfort. But even after a few weeks of use, I am still amazed at how comfortable the MW08s are and how well they stay in my ears. They include five sets of silicone eartips to help you find the best fit, but the eartips are also designed to nestle in the creases of your ears so they stay securely in place.
Despite being larger, I find the MW08s just as comfortable as the Apple AirPods Pro, and I have no problem keeping them in my ears, even during light exercise. Master & Dynamic has also upped the water resistance rating of these wireless earbuds from IPX4 to IPX5, so they should be fine for use in the rain or during a particularly sweaty workout, but they probably won’t survive a dunking.
Before I got my hands on the Master & Dynamic MW08s, the Klipsch T5 II true wireless earbuds were my go-to buds when I really wanted to enjoy my music – but no longer. It was very close, and while I think the Klipsch T5 II True Wireless might be banging a bit louder than the new MW08s, the overall sound quality of the latest Master & Dynamics is simply unmatched, thanks to a bump in the size of its Beryllium drivers from 10 to 11 millimeters.
My go-to track for wireless earbud testing has recently been the Tropic Remix of Surf Mesa’s “ily” and when the beat drops to around 30 seconds, the MW08s’ bass performance is incredibly satisfying, and it may be even better than some wireless headphones I’ve tested. But the bass doesn’t come at the expense of crisp and clear highs, which is what many bass-heavy headphones and earbuds undercut. The MW08s deliver fantastic sound across the board, which is good because while it works with a free companion Android and iOS app, there’s no adjustable EQ to adjust sound balance – but it’s doubtful you ever would. want.
The Master & Dynamic MW08 wireless earbuds finally come with active noise canceling and it is probably one of the best implementations of ANC available to consumers. By testing them against the AirPods Pro with simulated sounds of crowded subways and the interior of a passenger plane, using six microphones spread across both earbuds, the ANC on the MW08s managed to eliminate a wider frequency range, though, as I have noted in the past, don’t expect them to drop you into a world of perfect silence. Ambient sound enhancement was also fantastic and crystal clear, with two modes including ‘Ambient’ which boosts all frequencies so you can better hear everything around you and ‘Voice’ which instead focuses on amplifying only the midrange to higher frequencies so that the voices of talking people come across more clearly.
Aside from the lack of wireless charging, my only other complaint with the MW08s is the same one I have for almost every non-Apple pair of wireless earbuds I’ve tested. They still rely on Bluetooth and from time to time I experienced weird connection issues with the MW08s, where the sound was cut off on one side, or it seemed like it was ping pong back and forth between each button. They were issues that could be easily resolved by unplugging and reconnecting the earbuds, and issues that can presumably be improved with future firmware updates, but they were also connectivity issues that Apple nearly eliminated with its W1 Bluetooth chip.
Are the new Master & Dynamic MW08s $ 50 better than the AirPods Pro? Even with the occasional Bluetooth glitch, they are the absolute best wireless earbuds you can spend $ 300 on. They sound great, they fit incredibly well, they can run for up to 42 hours before the charging case needs to be refilled, and they deliver about as good a noise canceling experience as you could hope for. If you’re going to splurge on wireless earbuds, here’s what to splurge on.