The OnePlus Nord Buds are the company's first audio product in the Nord line, as well as the company's most affordable truly wireless earbuds. The Nord Buds, which start at $39, are designed to be a no-frills set of earphones for individuals on a budget.
OnePlus has cut down the Nord Buds to the bare essentials, with no active noise cancelling, wireless charging, sophisticated codecs, or even in-ear detection. However, you do get an IP55 rating, rapid charging, and four mics for calls with AI noise reduction. All of this is presented in a distinctive and intriguing style.
Let's see how it works out.
Design and Convenience
The OnePlus Nord Buds offer a modern appearance with clean, flat edges and basic geometric forms. The charging cover is shaped like a pill, but it has flat sides and sharp edges that make it stand out.
The casing has a matte finish, low panel gaps, and tight lid tolerances. Even the pairing button on the rear is flat with the surface, and at first sight is scarcely discernible.
The flat, pill-shaped stem of the earphones continues the design trend. A concave, mirror-like region on the outside serves as a capacitive touch surface for playback motions. The stems are short, measuring around one inch in length.
The earphones' inner ear section shifts away from the severe geometric edges and toward a more organic look. Since the OnePlus Buds Pro, OnePlus has been employing the new oval-shaped ear tips on all of its latest devices.
The Nord Buds' compact size and light weight make them easy to wear for long periods of time without exerting undue strain on any region of your ear. However, you must exercise caution while handling them because their small size makes them tricky to handle, especially with big fingers.
The earbuds' and case's finish and build quality are surprisingly good for the price. The earbuds are also dust and water resistant to IP55 standards, and include a nano-coating to prevent corrosion.
Software
OnePlus phones come with native compatibility for the Nord Buds. When you open the case near the phones, they will instantly bring up a pairing dialogue, similar to the AirPods. Additional customization choices for the earphones can be found in the Bluetooth settings, however, like the AirPods, this menu is buried much too deep and not straightforward to find.
Users with non-OnePlus Android and iOS devices must first download the Oppo HeyMelody app, which will then provide the same options as those seen on OnePlus phones. The iOS app, however, had not been updated to accommodate the Nord Buds at the time of publication.
The Nord Buds come with a restricted set of possibilities. You may modify the functionality of the touch sensors on the earbuds to play/pause, previous or next track, and voice assistant with a single, double, or triple tap. If you don't want inadvertent touches, you may also turn off the gesture. A lengthy touch and hold gesture may also be used to switch between the current and previously linked device. Unfortunately, you can't assign volume control to any of the movements, so you'll have to adjust it manually every time.
There's also a capability to locate my earphones and a firmware upgrade option. At the time of publication, my review unit was tuned to 107.107.100.
Sound Master EQ is a new feature with the Nord Buds. There are four settings available: Balanced (Default), Bold, Serenade, and Bass, as well as the ability to build custom presets utilising a 6-band EQ. Each modifications you make here, including the creation and naming of new custom presets, are kept on the earphones and transmitted to any new device you link with them.
SBC and AAC are the only codecs supported by the Nord Buds. They support Bluetooth 5.2, however no multi-device pairing is available. Instead, you may link two devices independently and switch back and forth using the aforementioned option.
The absence of in-ear detection is a key flaw with the Nord Buds. When you insert or remove the earbuds from your ears, there is no automated play/pause.
Audio quality during performance
The OnePlus Nord Buds provide a bass-heavy sound that is subdued in the upper mid-range and treble.
The mid-bass and upper-bass regions of the bass are over-emphasized, which tends to obscure the whole sound spectrum. The bass quality is OK; you get a lot of it, but it's largely sloppy and muddy.
The lower mid-range offers a lovely and smooth tone, however it is frequently overshadowed by the bass response. The earphones' lacklustre high-end response truncates the upper mids as well. The treble is muffled and muffled, resulting in a hazy presentation for singers and instruments alike.
The entire tone is heavy on the bottom, resulting in a gloomy, one-dimensional sound. We've heard similar overdone bass sound in other recent OnePlus audio products, but the Nord Buds are also plagued by an underemphasized treble.
The Sound Master EQ settings, fortunately, can assist. The included 'Bold' preset drastically improves the tune. It has a somewhat spicy top-end and a slightly recessed mid-range, but it sounds substantially better overall since it does the crucial task of lowering the bass to minimal levels. Most users will find that selecting this preset is a simple approach to improve the overall tone of these earphones.
The Serenade setting reduces the treble from the Bold preset and instead increases the upper mids, making the sound nasal and honky. The Nord Buds' drivers have a nasally, metallic sound in the upper mids, which is especially prominent on this setting.
The good news is that you can make your own instead of using any of them. With a little tweaking, I was able to achieve a preset that I was mainly satisfied with. A six-band EQ can only do so much, and there's nothing you can do about the drivers' timbre or resolution, which are still lacking. However, unlike the default profile, I was able to find a tuning that I could listen to for more than five minutes.
Microphone
The microphone performance of the OnePlus Nord Buds is surprisingly good. Voices seem full-bodied and genuine when recorded in a calm atmosphere. The ambient noise reduction method causes some garbling, but it's not too annoying.
Latency
For watching videos, the Nord Buds provide a low latency performance. When the video initially starts, there is a slight delay, but it rapidly syncs and stays that way. Although the latency is acceptable for recreational gaming, competitive multiplayer gaming requires connected earphones.
Connectivity
The Nord Buds provided dependable connection. There were no unexpected disconnections or disruptions in the sound at any point.
Cancellation of noise
There is no active noise cancellation in the Nord Buds. However, the ear tips passively filter a significant amount of ambient noise, making it easier to focus on the music being played, even in extremely noisy circumstances.
Life of the Batteries
On a full charge, the OnePlus Nord Buds are said to have a battery life of 7 hours. I was able to reach 6 hours, 52 minutes in my tests, which is quite close to the promised time.
After 10 minutes of charging from 0%, OnePlus promises 5 hours of playing. I was only able to obtain 2 hours, 57 minutes in my tests, which is a respectable length of time but nothing near the promised total.
Conclusion
For those on a budget, the OnePlus Nord Buds are an above-average pair of earbuds. They offer a distinctive design that is both comfortable and functional, as well as an excellent microphone and a long battery life. The default audio tuning is terrible, but it's very easy to adjust with the presets offered. For a device in this price category, the sound quality is good.
Apart from the lack of in-ear detection, there's not much to complain about, so if you're looking for a set of budget earbuds, the Nord Buds are a viable alternative.
