OnePlus has made a name for itself by offering quality products across a price range. Even when you take a Nord device, which is the affordable range from OnePlus, there is a guarantee of quality.
The truth is that most earbuds under Rs 3,000 is junk. These tend to be poorly designed and sound quality is mediocre. But, once in a while, comes something like the OnePlus Nord Buds 2. There is a small degree of active noise cancellation and transparency. Also, it’s packed with enough useful features for a budget pair of truly wireless earbuds.
Well-designed and practical
First, the design. It’s all plastic and one can’t expect anything more than that in the under 3K price range. On the rear, there is a Type-C port and a pairing button. These buds, which support Bluetooth 5.3 protocol, are held together in the case by strong magnets. The design of the buds is unique, thanks to its flat, broad stems. At first, it may appear — and only appear — uncomfortable but the fit is quite comfortable. Once you find the correct tip for the earbuds, even passive noise cancellation is quite good. After a couple of hours, there was no sign of fatigue. The flat stem is wide enough to have all the touch controls. With enough surface area, there was no issue when it came to registering touches. The only feature that’s missing is wear detection, so there is no automatic play/pause when you take it out of your ears. There are two ways to use the buds — pair it with any OnePlus phone, which is something we would recommend because all the settings are easily available on the phone. Otherwise, use the HeyMelody app, which is well-designed. There is clear indication of active noise cancellation and sound transparency on the front page, besides battery level and equaliser settings. There is also a latency mode but I would suggest getting wired headphones if you are deep into gaming, even though the lag is minimal on this particular device.
The buds are light and the touch controls don’t fail
In the box are extra ear tips
Sonic foundry
The earbuds come with 12.4mm drivers. These are bigger drivers than usual and feature a larger diaphragm with titanium coating. The sound you get is clear while bass is on the heavier side. The buds support AAC codec, which is common on budget earbuds. What distinguishes the buds is the tuning. Having more bass will ensure the buds hold an appeal among most users. These are buds that will mainly be used during exercise routines and that means, playing workout music. Being bass friendly can lead to vocals taking a slight hit but that’s okay. The pure vocals and harmony of Boygenius on The Record shine through and the different textures on Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd are not lost. I won’t compare it with what you get from, say, Nothing Ear 2. Yet, the Nord earbuds are pleasant and the overall sound signature is bright while instrument separation is probably the best in this price category.
There is a basic custom equaliser that allows users to work on the bass and treble. I wasn’t expecting this on a pair of budget earbuds.
The level of active noise cancellation here can tackle 25dB of environmental sound. It’s enough to cut out most street noises. Also, there is good passive noise cancellation. Together, it’s a good combination.
There are two mics on each earbud and you can take calls now and then but don’t rely on it if you have an important video conference to attend.
Should you buy it?
The budget earbuds come with IP55 rating to tackle water and sweat. Battery life too is quite good. With ANC on you will get five hours on the earbuds and 27 hours with the charging case. When ANC is off, you will get seven hours from the earbuds and 36 hours from the case. These are good figures to have and enough to go with for the weekend without having to charge the earbuds. These are must-have earbuds for anyone looking for an inexpensive option for casual music listening and usage in the gym. It does quite a bit of heavy audio lifting despite going light on the price tag.