Master & Dynamic MW08 review: An expensive but excellent AirPods Pro rival

Our Verdict

Nicely designed, rich-sounding and packing effective ANC, the MW08 is Primary & Dynamic's best pair of true wireless earbuds still.

For

Great sound
Premium, comfy pattern
Decent bombardment life with ANC

Confronting

Very expensive
Few avant-garde features

Tom's Guide Verdict

Nicely designed, rich-sounding and packing effective ANC, the MW08 is Primary & Dynamic's best pair of true wireless earbuds yet.

Pros

+
Great sound
+
Premium, comfortable blueprint
+
Decent battery life with ANC

Cons

-
Very expensive
-
Few avant-garde features

When the Primary & Dynamic MW08 first revealed itself, it was difficult non to go drawn in by the artful. Fifty-fifty some of the all-time wireless earbuds are merely good at hiding the fact that they're mostly plastic, only here was a genuinely middle-catching alternative, clad in polished ceramic and crisp steel.

Master & Dynamic MW08 specs

Colors: White, black, brown, blue

Battery life (rated): 10 hours with ANC, 12 hours without (plus 30 without ANC in charging case)

Connectivity: Bluetooth v.2

Processor: Unspecified Qualcomm flake

Size: 0.8 x 0.8 ten i inches (per bud); two.5 10 1.9 x one inches (charging case)

Weight: 0.2 ounces (per bud); two.9 ounces (charging case)

At present, having had the chance to spend some time with the MW08 in the flesh, I have more good news: it's non merely a looker. In fact, information technology's a serious contender for the podium places in our best noise-cancelling earbuds rankings; keep reading this Master & Dynamic MW08 review to find out why.

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Master & Dynamic MW08 review: Price and competition

The MW08 is no set of budget buds: it costs $299, and is currently only available from Master & Dynamic itself.

Yet, you lot do have a few unlike colors to choose from, with the earbuds coming in white, black and brown and blue. The white and brown models come with a shiny stainless steel case, while the black buds get a matching matte black case. The blue variant has a "polished graphite" case, though this is only a slightly darker have on the "stainless steel" version — they're all fabricated from identical materials.

Master & Dynamic MW08 review: Design

The previous MW07, MW07 Go and MW07 Plus earbuds all had adept genes when it came to looks, and the MW08 is Master & Dynamic's most overtly premium design yet. The only plastic on these buds is hidden behind the signature D-shape outer housing, which this time is congenital from a suitably expensive-feeling combination of polished ceramic, stainless steel and aluminum.

To my eyes, the white and blue models wait best; the black version I received is more than understated, but for once this is a pair of headphones you'll want to show off. That said, the blackness model's matching matte-finish charging case looks the all-time of the bunch. This instance, which charges via USB-C and includes a trio of helpful status LEDs on the front, is prone to attracting fingerprints, simply that's the but bad thing I can say near it.

There are more practical considerations, too. But like the MW07 Plus, the MW08 is water-resistant to the IPX5 standard. While not total waterproofing, that'south plenty for sweat-proofing and splash resistance, and makes the MW08 a petty tougher than the AirPods Pro.

Principal & Dynamic MW08 review: Condolement and fit

In addition to beingness one of the most handsome pairs of true wireless buds, the MW08 is among the near comfy. With v pairs of silicone tip sizes to choose from, it'southward easy to observe one that fits, and the inner housing's contours evenly distribute the weight in each ear, so I could easily wear them for well over two hours without a hint of discomfort.

The take hold of is that while the fit is secure enough for simple strolling, it is possible to shake the MW08 earbuds loose with strenuous movement. As such, it'due south unlikely to problem the best running headphones every bit a fitness aid.

Principal & Dynamic MW08 review: Controls and digital assistant

Chief & Dynamic'south true wireless buds have been unusual in providing concrete buttons on each earpiece instead of relying on bear upon controls. In the MW08'due south example, it uses the aforementioned command scheme every bit its firsthand predecessors, with a volume rocker on the left bud and a single multifunction button on the right. The latter can intermission or play music, or summon your telephone's digital assistant (Google Assistant on Android, Siri on iOS).

I personally prefer the more tactile experience of a push button press, and the MW08's book rocker in particular felt more responsive than a lot of tap-based systems I've used – particularly those that make you wait for the volume to heighten or lower one level before y'all can tap to arrange information technology further. Y'all practice need to brace the underside of the earbud when pressing downward on a push, lest you push the whole thing loose, but it's even so a ane-handed gesture.

I didn't have any trouble with Google Assistant either. Property down the multifunctional brought it up dutifully on my phone, and the microphones accurately parsed my voice commands.

Principal & Dynamic MW08 review: Sound quality

You can and should expect top-quality audio for $299, and the MW08 delivers. It'due south been freshly updated with 11mm beryllium drivers, bigger than the 10mm drivers of the MW07, and they comfortably evangelize deep, punchy bass and a wide soundstage.

The MW08 also produces a loftier level of detail, near noticeably in complicated arrangements. The space-opera drama of Muse's "Knights of Cydonia," for instance, came through in total strength, thanks to clean separation of the many instrumental and vocal tracks.

The powerful low-end never threatens to overpower the rest of the mix, either. Kero Kero Bonito's "Flamingo," which combines prominent bass synth with soft, relaxed vocals, floated along beautifully — the 2 elements were never at odds.

The MW08's audio quality is easily a match for that of the AirPods Pro, and even rivals the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2, another high-end pair of true wireless buds. If anything, the MW08 sounds fifty-fifty amend: the more than prevalent bottom-end gives rock and electronic music a bigger kick, while jazz and classical recordings have more of a soulful warmth.

Information technology tin get boomy at maximum book, but if you care about your hearing you wouldn't go out information technology at such a loftier level anyway.

Main & Dynamic MW08 review: Active noise cancellation

ANC on the MW08 comes in ii levels: Max ANC and All Twenty-four hours ANC. Max ANC is the more intensive, at the price of sucking upward more than of the battery life.

To use the standard ANC earbud yardstick, the MW08's noise cancellation — even in Max ANC way — is not every bit effective as that of the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds. Information technology withal works well plenty, though. The milder All 24-hour interval ANC made a spirited effort at quieting the audio of nearby traffic, and with some music playing I couldn't hear my washing machine spinning just a few feet from my desk. Max ANC silences low-frequency droning sounds even more finer, though the difference is merely noticeable in very loud areas.

By contrast, the two Ambience way variants – Vocalism and Awareness – sound very singled-out. The Voice profile is, unsurprisingly, mainly geared towards letting spoken communication through the headphones while leaving other kinds of background dissonance unaffected. Awareness way is more of an all-round Ambient mode, and then is much ameliorate for listening out for approaching cars, and it actually seems better at picking up speech from farther abroad too.

When shopping, I definitely preferred the general-purpose arroyo of Awareness mode. Unlike the laissez passer-through implementation on some cheaper ANC headphones, the microphones also refrain from amplifying outside noise more than they need to, so walking through the fresh nutrient aisles at the supermarket didn't deafen me with refrigerator sounds.

Master & Dynamic MW08 review: App and special features

The MW08'due south launch is accompanied past the new 1000&D Connect app. It's missing EQ adjustment, which is a shame, merely I was always happy with how the buds sound as-is.

The app also makes switching betwixt ANC and Ambient modes like shooting fish in a barrel, and I similar how it lets you prepare how long the buds should wait before inbound sleep manner due to inactivity. You can as well toggle in-ear detection on or off, though since it worked reliably enough – pausing music when I took out an earbud and resuming when it was dorsum in – I left it on.

There's nothing similar Apple's spatial sound or Samsung 360 Audio here, which similar the lack of EQ adjustment will disappoint those who like their headphones to come with some extra toys.

Master & Dynamic MW08 review: Battery life

Officially, the MW08 lasts for up to 10 hours with ANC or 12 hours without. If that sounds besides practiced to be true, you're right: with All Mean solar day ANC switched on and volume ready to l%, my pair lasted for almost expressionless-on 7 hours.

Notwithstanding, that'due south not one-half bad by ANC earbud standards. The AirPods Pro lasts a paltry 4.5 hours with noise cancellation enabled, and the Momentum True Wireless 2 manages even less than that. You should be able to comfortably get several days of normal employ out of the MW08.

The charging instance also provides a little under three total recharges' worth of juice, so depending on volume you could go nigh 24 hours of ANC uptime in total. The AirPods Pro charging case helps Apple's buds close the gap here, though the MW08 again hammers the Sennheiser buds on total battery life.

The only real downside here is that the buds' remaining charge reporting seems wildly off. One on occasion I'd been listening for about two.5 hours, most of that with Max ANC on, and both Android and M&D Connect reported I had 92% charge remaining. That would accept been nice, but was clearly an error.

Master & Dynamic MW08 review: Phone call quality and connectivity

The MW08 connects over Bluetooth v.two, and improves on previous Master & Dynamic earbuds by offering support for both the aptX and AAC codecs. Our freelance headphones skilful Alex Bracetti reported that his pair suffered poor connectivity when more than than 15 feet away from the source device, merely my pair performed fine at several times this altitude — even with several walls in the way.

Call quality is good too. My friend reported some nearby car engines bleeding through when I spoke to him outside, and I apparently sounded quieter than when I used my Google Pixel 4a microphone, only I was yet clear and comprehensible both indoors and out.

Principal & Dynamic MW08 review: Verdict

Come for the looks, stay for the sound. The Chief & Dynamic MW08 excels at the fundamentals: this is a pair of wireless earbuds that'due south not simply fashionable and comfortable, but powerful and refined in its audio output. Battery life and telephone call quality are good as well, and its noise cancellation is constructive and flexible even if it's not the absolute best in the business.

It might exist fair to argue that for $299, you lot should be getting even more; ane reason the MW08 doesn't entirely surpass the cheaper AirPods Pro is the latter'south much wider assortment of features, like spatial audio and adaptive EQ. Comparatively the MW08 is brusk on tricks, beyond ANC and the minor tweaks offered in the app.

All the same, it can be worth paying more but for simply superior sound, and that's something the MW08 delivers with fashion.

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James is currently Hardware Editor at Rock Paper Shotgun, only before that was Audio Editor at Tom'due south Guide, where he covered headphones, speakers, soundbars and anything else that intentionally makes noise. A PC enthusiast, he also wrote computing and gaming news for TG, unremarkably relating to how hard it is to find graphics menu stock.