Master & Dynamic MW07 Plus review: Improved, but still pricey

As I briefly mentioned, Master & Dynamic also added active noise cancellation to the MW07 Plus. It’s not the type of “kill all noise” ANC you get from the likes of Sony, Bose and others. But it does offer better insulation from your surroundings than passive noise isolation earbuds can muster just by being stuck in your ears. Ambient sound mode in a standard feature on most wireless earbuds these days, but it’s handy, and worth calling out. On the MW07 Plus, voice prompts let you know when you’ve turned ambient sound and ANC on/off.

Master & Dynamic has been consistent with sound quality over the years. The company opts for a more “natural” profile, rather than tuning its headphones to accentuate low-end tone or any other frequencies. It doesn’t provide a companion app where you can tweak the EQ or employ a collection of audio presets, so you have to really like that “natural” tone the company champions. As a person who tests a lot of headphones, M&D’s tuning is a welcome respite. And because the sound is well-rounded, it handles all genres with ease. Plus, there’s good clarity, so even subtle instrumentation that’s easily lost on a lot of earbuds — grungy textures of distortion, for example — comes through clearly.

Sure, I’d like a little more depth to the bass when I’m blasting Gojira’s chugging metal riffs or Sylvan Esso’s dancy electronic beats. But I’ll trade overpowering and boomy and muddy low-end or painful treble for this any day. The even-handed approach means that you get consistently good sound whether you’re listening to hip-hop or bluegrass. And trust me, Punch Brothers is much more enjoyable when the upright bass doesn’t overpower the other virtuosos in the band.

At $299, the MW07 Plus are firmly in the “premium” price range for true wireless earbuds. There are plenty of other flagship models there, but there are better all-around options available for significantly less. Sony’s WF-1000XM3 are still my top pick at $230, and it’s already been on sale for under $200 this holiday season. The mix of stellar sound, powerful adaptive ANC and customization makes these easy to recommend. The battery life on the earbuds themselves is average, and the touch controls are limited, but the good certainly outweighs those caveats. The AirPods Pro are also a solid alternative at $249 that also packs noise cancellation, if you can live with the polarizing design. Master & Dynamic is still selling the MW07, with a $50 price cut. But honestly, saving $50 is not worth the compromises you’ll have to make.

Kudos to Master & Dynamic for realizing the shortcomings of the original MW07 and working quickly to fix those issues in the next model. The MW07 Plus are a much improved product thanks to longer battery life and the addition of active noise cancellation. The sound profile won’t appease those who crave lots of low end, but it isn’t overly tuned, which makes it versatile enough for all genres. M&D’s earbuds lack the customization in controls, EQ and noise cancellation that much of the competition offers. Wireless charging isn’t a standard feature yet, but it is becoming more common, so it would’ve been nice to see here. The MW07 Plus are some of the best-sounding earbuds you’ll find right now, and at the end of the day, that’s arguably the most important thing.

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