OnePlus Nord Buds is the first pair of truly wireless earphones from the Nord series. The Nord Buds were launched beside the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G smartphone, the most affordable 5G smartphone from OnePlus which we recently reviewed.


The OnePlus Nord Buds retail for Rs. 2,799 in India and will be available starting 10th of May, 2022. I have been testing the OnePlus Nord Buds for over 10 days, and here is the full review of the most affordable TWS-style earphones from OnePlus.


.  OnePlus Nord Buds Specifications

.  Driver -- 12.4mm
.  Frequency Response -- 20 Hz - 20 kHz
. Bluetooth Version -- Bluetooth 5.2
. Battery -- 480mAh (Charging case), 41mAh (Earbuds)
. Supported Codecs -- SBC, AAC
. Weight: 41.7g (Charging case), 4.82g (Earbuds)

Design and Build Quality

The new OnePlus Nord Buds has a simple design, a unique one with a rectangular shape that’s curved and it feels great to hold in your hands. It is lightweight though and can be carried easily as it rightfully fits anywhere, while I do like the satisfying touch to open and close the magnetic lid of the case.

The design of the earbuds is somewhere between stick-shaped and pill-shaped, now, it’s the perspective which you will like or hate as per your choice. However, for me, it was easy to use the buds and both insert them back or take them out from the case, which is something many manufacturers lack sometimes.

Also, thanks to IP55 dust and water resistance, travelling anywhere at any time is pretty easy, well, in terms of build quality too it never looks or feels cheap. Additionally, the earbuds have a sweat-resistant hydrophobic nano-coating that protects them against corrosion.

The earbuds come in Black Slate and White Marble colorways, here I got the black one for review but I am sure the white one will also look fantastic.

Each has a metallic look and feel thanks to non-conductive vacuum metallization – the same process used to create the OnePlus Buds Pro’s colorways. Also, I would say the earbuds are very comfortable to use even while using them for a prolonged period of time, credits to OnePlus for this.

Audio Quality

The part you were curious about has to be the sound quality of the OnePlus Nord Buds, yes, to my surprise it does provide you with soothing sound quality. Well, honestly almost all earbuds these days have a similar sound signature at this pricing but the lack of Noise cancellation does highlight when you are in a crowdy environment.

Much like the OPPO Enco Air2 Pro, we reviewed recently, this one too features a 12.4 mm titanium dynamic driver that does produce rich sound than the 10 mm drivers you see in the same price range. Also, the sound signature and live effects were similar to the OPPO earbuds I have been using and why it won’t be because it’s made by the same parent company.

So, this is why the music generated by the Nord Buds is truly soothing and doesn’t hurt with higher volume while there are different modes in the HeyMelody app to fiddle with. I like the clear music you get thanks to the Dolby Atmos support for a crisp and clear sound, now your smartphone should support it to use the feature though

Connectivity

Coming with the latest Bluetooth 5.2 and having ultra-low latency as low as 94 ms, I did notice that while hearing music I didn’t notice any lag or distortion which even some high-end earbuds do face. The swift connectivity because of the OnePlus Fast Pair is good and acts as a good substitute for Google Fast Pair.

Battery Life

Last but not the least, the strong advantage this OnePlus Nord Buds has because of not having the ANC is that it can give you phenomenal battery life. When I got it for reviewing the charging level was 70-80% and I have been using it daily for over 4 days now (3-4 hours on average), but still there’s some battery left.

The 480 mAh charging case does help to hold up with the battery life for almost a week if you are an average user like me. The best fact I like is the earbuds can hold up to 7 hours of continuous playback with a single charge, so the likelihood of charging it again keeping in the case is far less than the others I have tried at a similar price range.

The healthy 30 hours of playback OnePlus claims with the case is quite good and shall last a week for moderate listeners but for heavy users could last for 4-5 days.

Verdict

Drawing the verdict was pretty simple for me and in fact this is one of the most balanced earbuds which also looks as well as feels premium. The OnePlus Nord Buds is a must have for OnePlus fans who are looking for a budget TWS earbuds option, while if ANC was there this could have been out-of-the-box.

Still, for ₹2,799 the Nord Buds is a solid contender which is easily recommendable for its ease to use and reliability. While the market is filled with TWS earbuds, the one budget option from OnePlus speaks for itself and gets you covered in all important aspects you desire of.