Thanks to OnePlus, I’ve been using the OnePlus Buds for five days now. OnePlus’ entry into the truly wireless earbud marketing is well-timed – the market is comprised of the leading AirPods and AirPods Pro from Apple and other players include Jabra’s Elite 75T and other offering such as Anker’s Liberty 2 and others.

Late last week, I received both the Nord Blue pair and a white pair of OnePlus Buds – and I was immediately impressed. First, let’s look at the packaging and the Buds ‘in the flesh’.

Appearance and Features

As you can see, the earbuds come in a small box with the case and earbuds themselves. The case is egg-shaped and has a matte finish, while the earbuds are glossy.

The first thing that stood out to me with the earbuds is that they are hard-plastic tipped, with no soft rubber to seal outside sound and offer comfort. This is a design that’s very similar to Apple AirPods, in which users describe them as wobbling out of their ears and not comfortable after long periods of use.

I’ve had the earbuds in the 3 hours at a time, and comfort wasn’t an issue.

The OnePlus Buds feature includes:

• 30 hours of battery life (when factoring the earbuds and charging case)
• Environmental noise cancelation on the mics – meaning callers can hear you over ambient noise
• Bass Boost for balanced deep tones
• Low latency
• IPX4 rating – protects against splashing and minor drips

When paired with a OnePlus phone – Buds will support:

• Dolby Atmos Support
• Ability to customize double-tap functions
• Automatic OTA updates

Soon after today’s launch of OnePlus Buds, the OnePlus 6, 7, and 8 Series of phones will offer the features listed above.

Performance and Sound

Upon unboxing – pairing with the OnePlus 8 Pro (my daily driver) was easy. The OnePlus Buds paired instantly, much like AirPods. It was almost too easy – no fussing with Bluetooth pairing motions like normal wireless headphones.

In my calling tests – I’ve found the sound from the OnePlus Buds to be balanced and adequately bass-y. I was able to hear my callers very well – at surprisingly low volumes as far as the output. When I was in a noisy co-working / office setting, there was ample background noise around me and my caller said she couldn’t hear it at all. I speculate the OnePlus Buds have some sort of noise isolation for the mics as a result.

Controls and Usage

I have yet to see a full instruction manual, but I can tell there are touch-sensitive buttons on the headphones and touching the right side pauses my music. I’ll update this post when new materials are launched.

Pricing

The OnePlus Buds are being offered at an astonishingly low price of $79 and will be available in white worldwide and Nord Blue will be exclusive to India and Europe. A grey colour is coming soon shortly after launch.

At this pricing, the OnePlus Buds become the leading choice for truly wireless earbuds aside from the AirPods Pro.

With Buds, OnePlus Knocked It Out Of The Park!

I’ve tried numerous competitors – and OnePlus Buds’ performance easily matches that of base level AirPods, which are start at $159. Jabra’s Elite 75T are offered at $180 — meaning the Buds are not only amazing performers on their own – but especially in a price/performance lens.

Which color interests you the most and will you be grabbing a pair of OnePlus Buds?