OnePlus has introduced OnePlus Buds Pro, its latest true wireless stereo pair of earbuds a while ago and it offers flagship-level features such as a premium design, active noise cancellation, wireless charging, and offers a whopping 38 hours of battery life. Here’s our OnePlus Buds Pro review.
Design, Build & Ergonomics
The OnePlus Buds Pro is categorized in premium earbuds category, flaunts a premium matte finish rectangular designed casing with curved edges preventing fingerprints and smudges. The case is light in weight (52 grams) and offers wireless charging capabilities as well as Warp Charge for faster charging.
The case features an IPX4 rating which seems rare, many earbuds offer water-resistant design for the earbuds only and not for the case. The backside of the case has a USB Type-C port that supports 10-min quick charging while the front side has an LED indicator that shows the power, charging, and low battery.
Opening the case and you will see the earbuds that offer a nice matte look with rubberized padding, short protruding stems that are glossy and metallic in color, and silicone tips on the end. The design of the earbuds appears to be highly premium and looks absolutely amazing.
The earbuds are water-resistant as well, but with a different IP rating, an IP55 water-proof design. It’s also extremely light in weight, it carries a weight of 4.35 grams each and easily fit in the ears, comfortable to wear. OnePlus Buds Pro includes three ear tip sizes in the box, all made from silicone.
The earbuds offer triple microphones (total 6), one at the touch area, one at the bottom, and one around the eartips. You will see two pins on the buds used for charging, the outer side has gesture control for controlling the music and calls. The earbuds have in-ear detection which automatically pauses your music when you remove an earbud and resumes playback when you insert it.
Performance, Features & Connectivity
The OnePlus Buds Pro comes with 11 mm dynamic drivers with support for LDHC high definition audio and Dolby Atmos. In addition, the features include a 40 dB Smart Adaptive Noise Cancellation, microphones calibrated for wind and noise reduction, 94 ms ultra-low latency, and Audio ID that builds an EQ setting to adjust for your ears.
About the sound quality, the earbuds offer incredible audio output, with a balance of amplified bass, mid, and treble, the sound performance of the earbuds is exceptionally great. No custom equalizer is available which might be a letdown for some users.
The earbuds supports high quality LHDC (96 kHz) audio codec, but the codec isn’t much popular among smartphones. Starting from Android 10, LHDC is a part of the Android Open Source Project enabling every OEM to integrate this standard into its own Android devices freely. Having said that, not all smartphones may support high-quality LHDC audio, rivals such as Qualcomm’s aptX HD and Sony’s LDAC codecs are more popular among smartphones.
The LHDC improves the sound quality, however, works with certain devices especially those with integrated LHDC support. OnePlus Nord 2 supports this codec and can utilize the potential of the high quality audio. If your smartphone doesn’t support LHDC, then the Bluetooth falls back to the standard audio technology i.e AAC, SBC.
The active noise cancellation is effective and does silence the environment up to 40 dB, the performance of the ANC is decent. Another feature called Zen Mode Air downloads ambient environmental sounds and use the earbuds to listen to any of the five white noise clips. This can be useful if you want a peaceful sleep, or if you take part in yoga, meditate, or during a stressful workday.
The OnePlus Buds Pro uses Bluetooth 5.2 to pair instantly, just open the case and the buds will be connected instantly. OnePlus offers an app named HeyMelody that lets you connect, use many of its features, and gives you firmware updates. The app is available for Android and iOS platform. The app displays battery information as well as its features such as Active Noise Cancellation, customize gesture controls, and update its firmware and more.
Battery Runtime & Charging
Moving to the battery, the OnePlus Buds Pro delivers an incredible battery performance, can last up to a whopping 38 hours in full charge (with the case). The battery life on the earbuds is exceptional and stands out in its segment.
Each earbud can last up to 7 hours without ANC whereas it can last 5 hours with ANC enabled in a single charge which varies according to your usage and volume levels. The case offers a 520 mAh battery capacity while the earbuds carry a 40 mAh battery each.
Charging the earbuds for a quick 10 minutes will give ample of battery power, about 10 hours of battery power can be gained in just 10 minutes. Additionally, the earbuds offer wireless charging capabilities, supports a Qi-compatible charger to charge.
Verdict
The OnePlus Buds Pro offers a premium design, incredible audio quality, and packs some great features, active noise cancellation, wireless charging, app based customizations, Zen Mode Air, and exceptional battery. The OnePlus Buds Pro appears to be far more promising for OnePlus smartphone users and is recommended if they are on OnePlus EcoSystem. For audiophiles, this pair of earbuds offer impressive sound quality and considerable if you have the budget.
