OnePlus started with smartphones, moved on to accessories and audio products, and then even launched televisions last year. Although its audio range includes a wide range of wired and wireless products, the company only recently entered the popular true wireless earphones segment. The OnePlus Nord Buds.

This is the first product in the ecosystem, offering a unique design and a solid battery life at a cheap price tag which  Rs 4,990. The OnePlus Buds are attractive on paper featuring a gamut of features such as low latency mode, customizable controls, Fast Charging, IPX4 rating, and others.

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A number of these alluring features are reserved for OnePlus users only, making these buds fairly limiting for non OnePlus users. If you can make do with the limiting controls, the inability to update the firmware, and the lack of aptX support, these earphones do provide you with decent sound, good battery life, and Fast Charging abilities.

If you are a OnePlus user, go right ahead if you don’t mind the bass-boosted sound profile. However, it’s hard to not recommend earphones such as the Realme Buds Air Pro instead that cost the same and are not limiting to any user when it comes to utilizing the available features.

FEATURES

In addition to the touch controls, wear detection and IPX4 rating we mentioned in the previous section, the OnePlus Buds also come equipped with features such as Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, SBC and AAC codec support (no aptX sadly), USB-C charging, Fast Charging, Google Fast Pair and Mono mode (both earbuds can be used individually while the other is in the case). It is disappointing to see OnePlus ditch aptX support on these Buds despite their models such as the OnePlus Bullets Wireless 2 and Bullets Wireless supporting the high-quality codec. With OnePlus devices, you get access to a wider array of features such as Dolby Atmos support with supported OnePlus devices (7/ 7 Pro/ 7T/ 7T Pro/ 8/ 8 Pro), and Dirac Audio Tuner support on OnePlus Nord devices.

Performance

The 13.4mm dynamic drivers aggressively push bass notes to compensate for the sometimes flimsy half in-ear fit and the resulting isolation vocals sound slightly listless and are relegated to the background due to the heft of the drums in the track. Even in softer tracks, the lows and bass are definitely more prominent than the other frequencies. Nevertheless, the bass isn’t muddy or distorted which makes for an overall decent listening experience.

BATTERY LIFE

OnePlus claims that the OnePlus Buds are capable of a whopping 30 hours of battery life with the charging case and buds combined, while the buds themselves have a playtime of about 7 hours. In our tests, at about 50 percent volume and AAC codec active, we achieved a playtime of about 6 and a half hours, which is pretty close to the estimate. The charging case allowed for 3 additional full charges and still had a bit of juice remaining. Do note that calls will substantially decrease the playtime of the earbuds, and you will get about 4-5 hours of continuous playtime on calls in a single charge.