Is the Cambridge Audio Melomania A100 worth the upgrade from the Xiaomi Redmi Buds 4 Pro?

Verdict

Clear upgrade

Going from the Xiaomi Redmi Buds 4 Pro to the Cambridge Audio Melomania A100 buys you 16.1 points of HearWiki score - a clear step up that reviewers agree on rather than a marketing refresh. The gains are concentrated in noise cancelling (6.0 to 7.8), value (8.0 to 9.6) and sound (7.5 to 9.0). On paper: battery life 9 h to 11 h, codecs LDAC to SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, LDAC and bluetooth 5.3 to 5.4. Worth checking: drivers per side goes 2 to 1 and wear detection goes Yes to No. One caution: this steps down a line tier (Redmi Buds 4 Pro to Melomania A100), and base models usually trade away tier features - check the codec and ANC rows above before trusting the score gap alone. That costs $42 more, or about $3 per point of score - reasonable value for the jump. If your current pair is worn out or the gains line up with how you listen, this one is worth the money.