So Master and Dynamic is still a relatively young company, but they are really trying to
make a name for themselves by creating ultra high quality luxury headphones and earbuds.
And thats definitely the case with their latest truly wireless earbuds the MW08’s.
Out of all of the truly wireless earbuds I’ve ever used… this case has got to be my favorite.
Now when it comes to pricing, the MW08’s retail for $300 which in general is pretty expensive
for a pair of truly wireless earbuds if you ask me… and personally for me it is a little
hard to justify spending that kind of money on these earbuds cause personally I am not a fan of
their bass heavy sound signature that you still can’t adjust even though these earbuds
now have a companion app. The MW08’s do have some upgrades over the MW07 Plus…
but I still can’t help that they’re still a little bit behind the rest of the market.
Now first lets talk about the carrying case cause like ive mentioned in the past, case size
is super important to take into consideration when looking into getting a pair of every day
carry truly wireless earbuds. If the case is too big I don’t want it, case and point… the Bose
quiet comfort earbuds. Now the MW08’s case isn’t as small as lets say AirPods, Galaxy Buds Plus,
Galaxy Buds Live, or Sennheiser CX 400BT’s case… but its definitely acceptable. However,
this isn’t your average plastic case… the MW08’s is rocking a stainless steel case that just feels
awesome in your hands, the lid is super easy to open with a tactile lock and a satisfying snap
when you close it. However where you really notice a difference about this case is just
its shear weight. This thing weighs in at 81 grams which is way more than your normal case that you
would get with a standard pair of earbuds. Overall the MW08’s case just screams quality,
is just a joy to handle, and its is decently small… but you’re still going to be acutely
aware of this case when its in your pocket just case its so dang heavy. But I still love it.
However, one very important thing to point out here is that this case doesn’t have wireless
charging. Now personally I don’t really care about wireless charging on my earbuds unless
I have a phone that supports power sharing or if ive invested in multiple wireless chargers…
But I do gotta point it out cause wireless charging is pretty standard feature now on
premium ANC wireless earbuds and its also a pretty standard feature now on your main staples like
AirPods, Galaxy buds, or Pixel buds. So even though I absolutely love this stainless
steel case, one tradeoff to keep in mind is that you do got charge it using a wired connection.
But at least this case is using USB C as it should. Now when it comes to battery life,
the case can supply an additional 2 and a half charges. So the earbuds themselves can go for
12 straight hours with their ANC turned off, plus 2 and half charges from the case we’re
looking at a combined battery life of 42 hours which is above average for earbuds in 2021…
And with their ANC turned on, the earbuds can go for up to 10 hours, plus 2 and a half charges
we’re looking at a combined battery life of 35 hours. Which is still pretty impressive.
But now lets talk about the earbuds themselves… fit wise these earbuds
fit okay and they are different from previous Master And Dynamic earbuds. Most notably they
no longer have ear fins. Now the MW08’s don’t fit like your standard pair of in ear earbuds
like the Sennheiser CX 400BT’s or Galaxy Bus Plus which go into your ear canals a decent amount…
But they also aren’t shallowing fitting like the AirPods Pro or
Jabra Elite 85T’s. The MW08’s kinda fit like the Galaxy Buds Pro where they’re in-between
shallowing fitting and standard fitting… but the Key thing here is that the MW08’s
are still using round eartips… so they don’t feel as natural as the AirPods Pro, Jabra’s, or
Galaxy Buds Pro which are all using oval ear tips. Now these earbuds do have a good sculpt to them
that does help with lock down… but nonetheless these earbuds do like to wiggle out on the
regular. So overall these earbuds fit okay, but I wouldn’t recommend them for working out.
Regarding connectivity, these earbuds are using bluetooth 5.2 but more importantly,
each earbud establishes a connection with your phone. So if you just want to use one earbud at
a time you can use either one it doesn’t matter. Where as with the MW07 GO’s, those are master and
dynamic’s entry level earbuds geared more towards working out… those are still using a hero and side
kick set up. Meaning that if you want to use one earbud at time you gotta use the correct earbud.
But when it comes to performance these earbuds have zero latency across the board when watching
movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device… but when it
comes to audio codecs, the MW08’s now have support for SBC, AAC and APTX which is nice especially for
iPhone users cause master and dynamics’s previous earbuds don’t have support for AAC.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these earbuds… personally im not the biggest fan
of how these earbuds sound because they have a very bass heavy sound signature that for me
makes it very hard to hear the mids and vocals. For me these earbuds are just too warm… cause
even though I like and look for bass on my earbuds and headphones… I still want the vocals to be on
top. Now even though these earbuds have a lot of bass to them and the bass stays tight… it doesn’t
really resonate all that often. And quite frankly these are the same criticisms that I had about the
MW07 Plus and MW07 GO. Now this time around the MW08’s have a companion app… but unfortunately
this app doesn’t allow you change the EQ on these earbuds. So unless Master and Dynamic has
a planned update that will bring an adjustable EQ to these earbuds… for now you're stuck with
the MW08’s stock bass heavy EQ. Which I feel is a shame cause I really wanna try these earbuds out
with a reduced bass and raised mids EQ. So with all that being said, if you’re someone thats
looking for a pair of great sounding earbuds then I would recommend that you either go with
the Galaxy Buds Pro or Sennheiser CX 400BT’s. Not only do both of these earbuds allow you to adjust
their EQ to your liking… they also sound more open and their bass resonates a decent amount.
Alright, so since Master and Dynamic’s new app doesn’t allow you to change the EQ on
your earbuds then what does it do. Well most notably through this app you can toggle through
your Active noise cancellation and ambient mode.
Now you can also toggle through your ANC and ambient modes directly from the earbuds themselves
by either pressing and holding the volume up or volume down button found on the left earbud. But
you do want to use this app so that you can adjust the level of your ANC or Ambient mode.
Now I will admit that there is a slight performance difference between All Day ANC and Max
ANC but its nothing thats going to blow you away. And in general the ANC on these earbuds doesn’t
block out all that much noise. And certainly the ANC on these earbuds does not block out nearly as
much noise as the Bose QC earbuds, Jabra Elite 85T’s, Momentum 2’s or AirPods Max which I feel
are neck and neck, or Galaxy Buds Pro. I will say however the ANC on the MW08’s is on par of
the Sony WF-1000XM3’s… but due to recent leaks we know the WF-1000XM4’s are right around the corner.
So if active noise cancelation is very important to you then I do recommend that
you go with the Jabra Elite 85T’s cause these things block out an impressive amount of noise.
Now yes the Bose QC earbuds block out more noise than the Jabra’s…
but the Bose do have more cabin pressure and due to their large case its just a tough sell for me.
Now even though im not impressed by the ANC on the MW08’s I actually really like their ambient
mode. Now there’s two levels to this ambient mode. You can either let in everything or you
can have them only let in people’s voices. And I will admit its pretty effective. And
in general this ambient mode sounds very natural with zero hissing in the background.
And I also found that their microphone array does a spectacular job of blocking
out wind noise when walking out doors just like the AirPods Pro… even gusts from the
Hudson have a hard time getting through on these earbuds which is awesome. In
part cause the microphones are located on the rear of these earbuds
and there’s a decent amount of meshing covering the microphones… very similar to the AirPods Pro.
And finally here’s the microphone test… and over all I think this microphone sounds great.
It defeneitly puts a lot of emphasis on you voice very similar to AirPods.
However, you do wanna try to take phones with these earbuds in a quiet room cause
this microphone really doesn’t do all that much to block out ambient noise.
So with all that being said… the MW08’s defneitly continue to deliver on the promise of high quality
luxury earbuds. The earbuds themselves feel and look premium and their stainless steel case
is a statement all by themselves. And from a tech spec standpoint
I really like their ambient mode and they have an impressive above average battery life. But
personally when it comes to sound I am not a fan of their bass heavy sound signature
that unfortunately you’re still stuck with even though these earbuds now have a companion app.
And when it comes to their active noise cancelation… they struggle to compete.