OnePlus Buds 3
A pleasant pair of finances earbuds with highly effective ANC and lengthy battery life, however it must deal with the low-ends higher.
OnePlus Buds 3, at $100, test nearly all of the containers. They’re intuitively designed by way of controls, last more than every week of typical utilization, function glorious detailed audio, and have the type of noise cancellation excellent for a loud commute. Bass is without doubt one of the areas the place they fail to ship; it typically comes off as muddy and typically leaks onto the high-end.
Professionals
Lengthy Battery Life
The ANC is just too good for $100 buds
Wealthy, ethereal sound with a number of element
Function each multi-point connectivity and mono-listening
Cons
Bass will get muddy and begins leaking at a better quantity
Even the smallest ear tip measurement just isn’t tight sufficient
The OnePlus Buds 3 gives so much for its worth. They’re a good budget-friendly choose except you’re an enormous bass fan. The sound feels properly layered, and the ANC is highly effective sufficient to silence everybody on the subway. Until I’m accountable for having terribly small ears (which isn’t true), I want they match extra snugly. You would possibly discover the design a little bit boring, however at $100, I’m not complaining an excessive amount of.
OnePlus Buds 3 Design
A really “$100 earbuds” design.
OnePlus’ latest buds function an especially inconspicuous design. The case at 40.8 grams and the earbuds at 4.8 grams really feel like a feather in your pocket. For comparability, certainly one of our top-rated wi-fi earbuds for 2024, the Grasp and Dynamic MW09, weighs round eight grams, and the Apple AirPods Professional 2 weighs about 5 grams. The charging circumstances for these buds are additionally about 10 grams heavier than the OnePlus. With pretty, curved, rounded corners, the case feels good in your fingers and sits properly in your pocket.
Don’t anticipate any bells and whistles by way of design, although. The case is as modest as doable, that includes a plain (boring) absolutely matte physique. You get to decide on between a Splendid Blue and Metallic Gray shade. The buds are fortunately barely flashier with a gleaming metallic exterior and lengthy Airpods-style stems. All in all, for $100, the OnePlus Buds 3 gives precisely what you’re paying for, so I’m not going to whine an excessive amount of about their lackluster aesthetic.
OnePlus Buds 3 Match and Controls
The match may’ve been snugger.
OnePlus’ latest buds are IP55 rated in opposition to water and mud. This implies they’re nearly fully dustproof and might be uncovered to a lightweight bathe of water or rain from any angle. This makes me need to begin utilizing them as exercise buds, however sadly, their match doesn’t assist that. I attempted all of the ear tip sizes, however these buds are usually not cosy in any setting. Even on the smallest measurement, they stored plopping out of my ears.
The stem design made controlling the buds a lot simpler. There was extra actual property to play with, and my fingers weren’t always struggling to seek out house. I loved having loads of room to slip my forefinger alongside the stem to boost or decrease the amount and handle all the pieces from calls, playback, and ANC modes on the bud.
OnePlus Buds 3 Audio
They get overwhelmed by an excessive amount of bass.
The buds join by way of Bluetooth 5.3 and assist multi-point connectivity for as much as two units. It’s good to have this on $100 buds, contemplating some costlier choices don’t function it, like the brand new Bose Extremely Open that retails at $300. Mono-listening can also be supported. Whereas taking a bud out of your ear, auto-pause your music, and you may manually play your music once more within the single bud you’ve got on. That is even higher because it permits you to shortly take your bud out to speak to somebody. (For me, although, it was good as a result of it made certain I didn’t miss my music each time a bud would fall out, which was typically).
Don’t go for the OnePlus Buds 3 if you happen to’re a fan of bass. I used to be shocked at how messy it bought as I cranked the amount up. The low-end on these buds is respectable solely at a particular quantity for particular soundtracks. It loses its energy whenever you give it a little bit extra work (elevating the amount or placing a bass-heavy music on). It sounded muddy and in all places.
Then again, Treble additionally retained its energy and charm at greater volumes. It sounded clear and (the great type of) tinny. It had an optimum quantity of sharpness, and the buds may deal with that frequency properly.
OnePlus prides itself on the proprietary OnePlus 3D Audio they function on these buds, and they need to. The sound was dynamic and felt flat or uninteresting. Even when the bass was leaking onto all the opposite components of the orchestra, I used to be simply grateful that I may make out these components as separate layers as a result of they got that house to exist.
You’ll be shocked at how properly these little $100 buds cancel noise. If ANC mode is activated, even with nothing enjoying, they cancel round 90% of your ambient sound as quickly as you set them on. When my coworkers from just a few desks away would chat at work, it was sufficient to put on the buds with out even placing a music on.
After I examined these at dwelling, they muted the loud, high-pitched sound correct subsequent to me higher than the a lot quieter, low-end hum of the heater round 5 toes away, however that’s simply how ANC works. Low-end is far tougher to silence.
There’s additionally a transparency mode, which I all the time choose over an ANC on-and-off mode. Fortunately, the transparency mode doesn’t function that loud, synthetic, annoying hiss you discover on many buds.
OnePlus Buds 3 Battery and Mic
The battery life’s nice, and the mic’s pretty respectable.
These buds and the charging case promise a whopping 44-hour battery life. With 30 to 35 hours being the typical battery life for many true wi-fi buds, 44 hours is spectacular. That is along with your ANC turned off, although, they usually final 28 hours when it’s turned on. The buds final 10 hours with out ANC and round six hours with it. I’ve been utilizing them for a few hours every day for the previous 4 days, and I haven’t needed to cost them even as soon as.
There are three wind and ambient noise discount mics on every bud, they usually function what they’re calling the AI Clear Name algorithm (AI 2.0). The buds are additionally designed to cut back as a lot wind within the background as doable. Whereas I feel the mics did a good job at lowering wind, I don’t get the extreme hype round it. If something, there’s some room for enchancment.
OnePlus Buds 3 Verdict
Nice worth for cash.
At $100, these buds pack so much. You’re getting a light-weight design, an simply navigable contact management panel, a reasonably clear treble, and good dynamic sound. The ANC is surprisingly nice, and there are just a few appreciated options, like mono-listening and multi-point connectivity. The battery life can also be significantly larger than you’d discover on rival buds, particularly at this worth. And, like I stated, $100 is a reasonably cheap worth level, so the dearth of aesthetic is forgivable, too. I want the match was tighter and the low finish may maintain readability at any given quantity.
