Standing out in the true wireless earbud market is easier said than done, and with the OnePlus Buds Pro, that's exactly what OnePlus has managed to do. True wireless earbuds have gone from a small niche to a mainstream accessory in just a few short years. There are more models available than ever before, all sorts of price ranges for people to choose from, and seemingly everyone wants a piece of the pie. Whether it be Apple, Samsung, TCL, or Aukey, new competition is creeping up all the time.
In regards to OnePlus, specifically, it's had mixed results with its own earbud offerings. The original OnePlus Buds launched in September 2019 with varied reception. The earbuds delivered fast charging speeds and water resistance at a reasonable price, but they weren't enough to stand out from their many competitors. Just about a month later, OnePlus tried its hand yet again with the much more successful OnePlus Buds Z. The Buds Z were cheaper, had a more comfortable fit, and even better durability.
After creating earbuds for the lower and middle segments of the market, OnePlus thinks it's got what it takes to play in the big leagues. The $150 OnePlus Buds Pro are the company's most expensive earbuds to date, tout the most promising feature set, and have a much more sophisticated design. After using them for the past couple of weeks, it's safe to say the Buds Pro are the best earbuds OnePlus has ever created — and some of the best $150 earbuds available in 2021.
Right off the bat, the OnePlus Buds Pro make a good impression with the design. They might look almost identical to AirPods Pro at first glance, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. They're lightweight, comfortable to wear, and come with differently-sized gel ear tips to help users get the best fit possible. Even while on a brisk walk or wearing the earbuds for hours at a time, the Buds Pro remained secure and comfy with virtually zero complaints. That excellent comfort is also bolstered by an IP54 dust and water resistance rating — making the Buds Pro a reliable companion while at the beach or gym. This bests the IPX2 and IPX4 ratings found with similarly-priced earbuds like the Galaxy Buds 2 and Beats Studio Buds, giving OnePlus a notable durability advantage. It's also worth mentioning that the charging case is backed by its own IPX4 rating (something many earbuds in this price range often ignore).
Going back to the AirPods Pro inspiration, this carries over to the playback controls as well. Rather than using physical buttons or a capacitive touch area, playback controls are used by pressing and holding the stem of either earbud. Overall, these controls work incredibly well. They're easier to use than capacitive touch areas, more comfortable than pressing a physical button, and have proven extremely responsive throughout testing. It may not be the most original idea, but it's also hard to complain about OnePlus taking this page out of Apple's playbook. Furthermore, the OnePlus Buds Pro also feature in-ear detection. Take one earbud out, the music stops playing; put the earbud back in, the music resumes. Just like the playback controls, OnePlus nailed the execution here. Unless someone's actively trying to trick the in-ear sensors by covering them with their fingers, the automatic playback works when expected and isn't triggered unintentionally.
None of these things matter if the OnePlus Buds Pro aren't enjoyable to listen to. Thankfully, that's not something folks need to worry about in the slightest. Like other $150 earbuds that have come out this year, the OnePlus Buds Pro sound really good for just about anything. They don't specialize in any one area, but the general listening experience has very little to complain about. The earbuds get plenty loud, there's good bass when it's needed, and the mids and highs are perfectly adequate for this price range. Something that's been a personal highlight is Dolby Atmos support. This means the OnePlus Buds Pro can handle enhanced audio when used with a supported app, whether that be movies on Netflix or songs in Apple Music. As someone who listens to numerous albums in Dolby Atmos every single day, having this support on the OnePlus Buds Pro has been a treat.
Making this audio experience even better is active noise cancellation. Low-frequency sounds like a dishwasher, air conditioner, etc. are pretty easily blocked out by the Buds Pro. A nearby car or someone talking can still be heard, but the Buds Pro quiet the volume of these things so that they're considerably less noticeable. When someone does want to hear what's happening around them, the Buds Pro have a transparency mode to reverse the ANC effect. It's not the strongest transparency mode ever tested, but it also doesn't have that artificial effect so many other transparency modes are often plagued with. As a way to hear upcoming runners or bikers while walking through a nature trail (or the chirps of surrounding birds), the transparency mode on OnePlus Buds Pro has been perfectly effective.
Additionally, OnePlus nailed the battery experience for the Buds Pro. Using the earbuds at 50-percent volume with AAC audio, OnePlus claims they deliver up to 7 hours of continuous playback. In our testing — which had the volume over 50-percent, played Dolby Atmos songs, and frequently switched between ANC and transparency modes — the OnePlus Buds Pro lasted around 6 1/2 hours before finally giving up. Factoring in the charging case delivers total battery life between 28 and 38 hours depending on if ANC is on or off.
All of this is made even better with the charging options. Plugging in the included USB-C cable delivers 10 hours of listening time after just 10 minutes of charging. And for folks who prefer wireless over wires, Qi wireless charging support is also present. This is about as good as it gets when it comes to endurance and charging for true wireless earbuds, regardless of price.
And, of course, there's the software. Using the OnePluds Buds Pro with a OnePlus phone is the best experience. There's a pairing pop-up when setting up the earbuds for the first time, opening the case shows the battery life for it and the earbuds, and all of the smart features are baked into the main settings app. Users can easily control ANC/transparency mode, customize certain playback controls, take an earbud fit test, and see the last-known GPS location of the earbuds in case they become lost. As great as all of this is, it is disappointing that OnePlus doesn't include manual EQ controls. There is a test that automatically adjusts frequencies based on someone's hearing, and while it seems to be fairly effective, pairing that with traditional EQ sliders would have been ideal.
For folks who don't have a OnePlus device, the good news is that most of these settings aren't exclusive to OnePlus phones. Just pair the OnePlus Buds Pro to another Android handset or iPhone, download the HeyMelody companion app, and (almost) all of the features are the same. There's no pairing pop-up or Find My Buds functionality, but that's really the only difference in feature parity. The only other complaint is that the OnePlus Buds Pro do not support Google's Fast Pair standard on Android handsets — even though this is something found on the original OnePlus Buds and the Buds Z. It's unclear why OnePlus ditched Fast Pair for the Buds Pro, but whatever the reason is, it's not present here.
In an alternate reality, the OnePlus Buds Pro could have been a small blimp in the wireless earbud world. In this reality, however, the Buds Pro end up being some of the best value earbuds of the entire year. They've been thoroughly enjoyable to use, are priced incredibly well, and show OnePlus's commitment to the niche.
The OnePlus Buds Pro are far from the only earbuds in this price range, but the way they one-up the competition is what's really impressive. The Galaxy Buds 2 might have a more exciting design, but they also have a much lesser IP rating and aren't compatible with the iPhone. The Beats Studio Buds integrate more deeply with iOS, but they lack wireless charging and have worse total battery life. So long as someone doesn't mind the lesser integration outside of OnePlus handsets, the OnePlus Buds Pro deliver a package that's extremely hard to argue with. They're wonderfully comfortable and durable, sound great, have effective ANC, long battery life, great charging options, and provide a positive experience regardless of which operating system is on someone's phone. We may not have gone into 2021 expecting OnePlus to craft some of the year's best earbuds, but as fate would have it, that's exactly what happened. For anyone with $150 looking for their next pair of earbuds, the OnePlus Buds Pro stand out strong as one of the best options available.
Source: OnePlus
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