OnePlus Buds Pro Review: You’d Be Surprised How Refined These Are, And Absolutely Worthy Of The Pro Name
Third time is also the charm. After the consistency and genuine value that OnePlus Buds and the OnePlus Buds Z brought to the table, OnePlus’ third wireless earbuds effort is definitely making all the right sounds. With a lot more at stake and a more resting on its shoulders, OnePlus Buds Pro indeed have the “Pro” moniker to live up to. Not an easy task. Particularly when almost every other wireless earbud is attempting this whole “pro” thing too. What certainly helps, is the Rs 9,990 price tag which pits it against the Google Pixel Buds A-series (around Rs 9,999) and is more affordable than the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro (around Rs 15,990). You may be wondering if the OnePlus Buds Pro are pro enough? They most definitely are right up there with what you’d expect. And then do that bit more to add a genuine wow factor.
We have to talk about the looks of the OnePlus Buds Pro. They look gorgeous. The chunky design, the matte finish on the black color option, the dual tone finish highlighting the touch sensitive areas on either stem, as well as the matching matte finish on the charging case. In fact, the case has a design that allows you place each bud in a lying down position, rather than dropping them in like you’d do on an Apple AirPods Pro. The stem has some visual heft but is significantly shorter than you’d expect. The default medium sized eartips worked well for my ear contours, but you nevertheless get small and large size options in the box. You can buy the OnePlus Buds Pro in black and white colour options, but unlike just any other black colour buds, there are aesthetics that do set it apart. OnePlus says that each bud goes through laser coating process to give it the smooth texture. The OnePlus Buds Pro are IP55 water and sweat resistant as well, which definitely adds to the peace of mind as you may be out and about.
The slight change with how the touch controls work on the OnePlus Buds Pro wireless earbuds is that instead of single taps and therefore the occasional struggle to find the exact sweet spot based purely on the finger memory, you get the pinch method here. Pinch the stem one, pinch it twice, pinch it thrice or pinch and hold—all these can be configured exactly as how you’d want it. A more rounded approach with your fingers to the stem as you ear the earbuds is definitely more intuitive—it isn’t always easy for the finger to find the exact touch zones otherwise. These can be configured on a OnePlus phone via the Bluetooth menu and via the Hey Melody app on any other Android phone or tablet.
And that neatly leads us to how you’d be pairing your OnePlus Buds Pro with an Android phone or an Apple iPhone. The thing with this generation is that non-OnePlus phone users aren’t exactly at the sort of disadvantage that first generation OnePlus Buds buyers were. Sure, OnePlus phones still get the convenience of the built-in fast pairing and deeper integration of functionality within the Bluetooth menu, other Android phone users and Apple iPhone users can download the Hey Melody app instead. That offers the same set of options, controls and settings, including firmware updates for your OnePlus Buds Pro. The fact that the iPhone is now on the same functionality level as the Android phones makes the OnePlus Buds Pro one of the rare wireless earbuds that actually play well on both ecosystems. Many attempt to appeal to both sides of the fence, but not many do it as well. Samsung and Nothing, in my opinion, are the few others that do.
In each ear are 11mm dynamic audio drivers. OnePlus has time and again insisted that these are tuned better for lower frequencies, and therefore more bass reproduction. In the out-of-the-box state of tune, there is definitely more bass to experience than a lot of other earbuds would be able to reproduce. Yet, it doesn’t sound artificially boosted on some hidden EQ and neither does it overwhelm the mids. In terms of bass by default, they are a notch higher than the brilliant Nothing ear (1) wireless earbuds, which packs similar sized 11.6mm audio drivers. Of course, if you want, you can always tweak the EQ via the music app or the audio settings on your phone, but in my opinion, you’d probably like the way the OnePlus Buds Pro sound as default tuning—almost neutral with slight lean towards powerful bass, is how I’d like to summarize it for the sake of simplicity.
OnePlus has taken a leaf out of Jabra’s wireless earbuds book here. Jabra has been making the audio customization available for buds and headphones for a few years now, something that a few others are eventually catching on to. OnePlus has the Audio ID feature wherein you can run through an audio test which will tell the buds a bit more about ears and their hearing capabilities, allowing it to tweak the sound signature better—the idea being to focus less on frequencies that your ears may not be able to decipher anyway. And this will be subjective, and the audio test results of OnePlus Audio ID for one user may not be ideal for another. There are some OnePlus phone specific goodies though. The high-res music streaming capabilities, with the LHDC codec, is presently available only on the OnePlus 9 Pro and the OnePlus 9 phones. The OnePlus Buds Pro support Dolby Atmos but only on the OnePlus 9 Pro, OnePlus 9, OnePlus 8T, OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus 8, OnePlus 7T Pro, OnePlus 7T, OnePlus 7 Pro and OnePlus 7—great news if you use Apple Music on any of these phones.
Noise cancellation on the OnePlus Buds Pro is available as a three-level setting, in two layers. The first layer is simply off, noise cancellation or transparency. If you choose ANC on, then you have the lowest setting, something that sits in the middle called Smart and then the most powerful of them all, Max noise cancellation. Indoors and in quieter environments and as long as you are socially distanced, the Smart mode is ideal—it’ll use the readings of the ambient noise to crank up the ANC as needed, and then dial it down a bit. OnePlus says that the maximum noise cancellation is 40dB, and to be honest, you’d have to be in a really noisy environment for something louder to still filter through a bit. For once, ANC doesn’t temper down the lower frequencies for music playback, something that really irritates me with quite a few wireless earbuds.
Something truly unique to the OnePlus Buds Pro is the Zen Mode Air. You’ll need to hold the stem on the OnePlus Buds Pro for three seconds to switch this on, and you can choose from a variety of nature and soothing sounds to play back. Might be very useful if you are really stressed. In the Hey Melody app or the OnePlus Buds app on OnePlus phones, you’ll be download six different sound types, including sounds from Iceland and the sounds of the sea. Perhaps not a feature that will have you running to dust off your credit card to buy the OnePlus Buds Pro, but this will be a useful feature in the long term. Particularly if you need that extra push to calm down after a stressful day at work. Of which there seem to more than strictly necessary, somehow.
Charging up the OnePlus Buds Pro will not be a problem at all. This has the same USB-C charging interface as most newer generation Android phones. The case is wireless charging enabled too and shall work with any Qi enabled wireless charger. Then there is the Warp Charge support, and a splash and dash of a fully discharged OnePlus Buds Pro for 10 minutes should allow the buds plus case to last about 10 hours of usage. In my experience, it was really a task to drain the OnePlus Buds Pro, that’s just how good the battery stamina is. Fully charged earbuds lasted me close to 5 hours and 30 minutes of music listening, a lot of that with Dolby Atmos on Apple Music, and the earbuds at about 30% volume. That’s good, no doubt about it. Mind you, the battery life stats will vary based on volume and how much as well as what level of ANC you use—I didn’t have enough time to test those, yet.
The Last Word: OnePlus Buds Pro Definitely Are Worthy Of Being Called “Pro”
OnePlus, in my opinion, has done more than enough to really add a genuine “pro” persona to the OnePlus Buds Pro. Right from your first interface with the OnePlus Buds Pro and the pristine build quality, to the uniqueness that is the Zen Mode Air, to the robust battery life, the vibrant sound, and the adoption of premium features such as the Ear ID, the OnePlus Buds Pro definitely are a serious wireless earbud option to consider if you are searching for something around the Rs 10,000 price point. Competition is tough, and OnePlus’ efforts certainly give the OnePlus Buds Pro an extra edge.
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