If there’s one tech brand that’s trying to break the cliched design mould it would be Nothing and its sub-brand, CMF. The affordable brand from London-based Nothing has a new set of wireless earbuds. And it’s worth checking it out for the design.
CMF Buds Pro 2 comes in several colours — dark grey, light grey, orange and blue. But in the box is a charging cable that I didn’t like — USB-A to Type-C. At a time when laws are being formulated to push USB-C I am not sure why companies are still propagating USB-A. Also, the cable is very short.
In the box are two sets of ear tips besides the one that are on the buds. The medium tips fit well and it sits comfortably in the ears.
The stems on the buds have a matte finish to tackle fingerprints while the upper half of each bud has a glossy finish. Further, the stems are flat, offering more surface area to help with touch controls. The case is easy to grip and made from a smooth plastic material. The buds come with IP55 rating, meaning it’s good enough to be used during a drizzle or to keep sweat at bay.
What’s unique about the case is the presence of a dial, which I am sure most people will keep spinning. The dial is not new to CMF products if you remember CMF Neckband Pro. What makes the dial special is that you can control the volume.
Whether the design element clicks with the audience is something else but the design team is hard at work, coming up with quirky elements. It’s something most rival brands are not even looking at.
You may ask why you need the dial when there is gesture control? Using tactile, physical buttons is a feeling that cannot be replaced. You can even click the button to get a feature working. Not only that, the click can be set to single, double, triple and long press. Speaking of design, the Nothing/CMF team has also spent considerable effort on the app — it’s a clean UI.
CMF Buds Pro 2 comes with Dirac Opteo to make the sound staging more accurate
Sound advice
There are two drivers — 11mm bass driver and 6mm micro-planar tweeter. From the app you can change noise cancellation levels — high to adaptive. Also present is the transparency mode. There is also the option to change equaliser settings and use spatial audio. You can even change the level of ultra bass. That’s quite a lot for an inexpensive pair of earbuds.
If that’s not enough, there’s dual connection. You can switch audio between the phone and the laptop/tablet.
With ANC set to high, you will get excellent noise cancellation (up to 50dB). It does better than most earbuds. Coming to the microphones (three in each bud), CMF has done well in tackling environmental noises and the overall sound is decent. I wouldn’t say it’s better than what you get on Sony or Sennheiser. But this one is not bad at all.
How does it sound? The driver setup is nothing new but it’s about the tuning. The sound signature is bass heavy; the sound can be thump-y. If you are listening to, say, Sabrina Carpenter or Charli XCX, it will work well but Wayne Shorter’s first posthumous LP will be done justice to on Apple AirPods Pro or Sony WF-1000XM5, though personally I would like to listen to the album on a sound system. You get good instrument separation and the overall soundstage is acceptable... it mostly depends on what you are listening to. Use the equaliser to tone down the bass when you listen to different genres. The buds support LDAC codec and there is Dirac Opteo support.
Should you buy it?
Playback with ANC off will deliver up to 43 hours with case and up to 11 hours with buds only. And playback with ANC on / transparency mode you will get up to 26 hours with case and up to 6.5 hours with buds only. It’s almost similar to other earbuds.
If you are looking for wireless earbuds that have something different in terms of design and a sound profile that’s bass-heavy, the CMF Buds Pro 2 does a good job.
At a glance
Device: CMF Buds Pro 2
Price: Rs 4,299
High notes
Excellent design
Good battery life
Clean app experience
Decent microphone quality
Muffled notes
It’s mostly for those who like bass-heavy sounds
