I recently got my hands on the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro and the first thing that I noticed was that these TWS (including the case), look similar to the OPPO Enco Air 4 Pro, which hasn’t been launched in India despite its global announcement back in May this year. While I liked the Enco Air 3 Pro (review), the Nord Buds 3 Pro do look quite compellign as well. It also helps that both these TWS share most of their specifications and that the Buds 3 Pro come at an affordable price of Rs 3,299. Now that I’ve spent some time with the new truly wireless earphones from OnePlus, let me share whether these could be the perfect buy for you.
Design
The Nord Buds 3 Pro come with an oval-shaped case with a dual-tone finish. While the bottom half of the case is matte, the top half comes with a slightly glossy finish. The aspect of this case that won me over immediately was its compact size. I could easily slip it into my jeans pocket with ease and carry it around without facing any discomfort.
The TWS case comes with a USB Type-C charging port at the bottom and right beside it you’ll find the pairing button. Apart from the capitalised OnePlus branding up front, the case design is fairly minimalistic. Right below this branding, you’ll find the pairing indicator light. I received the Soft Jade colour variant of these earphones, which has a distinct look and is aesthetically better than the Starry Black option in my opinion.
Regarding the design of earbuds, OnePlus has not tried to reinvent the wheel here and has stuck to a fairly standard design that is closer to the Enco Air3 Pro than the Nord Buds Pro 2. The stem on these earbuds is thin at the top and gets thicker towards the bottom.
This is a nice touch as it makes it easier to hold the earphones for stem controls. As these stems are not that long, they don’t feel bulky. For me, the earbuds fit quite well in my ears and didn’t drop out while moving around or even while doing any challenging physical activity.
I must point out that at times I felt like the earbuds had to be adjusted within my ear as the fit felt off. While it wasn’t a major issue, if you like a snug fit, you might want to try these earphones for some time before you make your decision.
Features and app support
While these earbuds connect directly to any device, on your phone you can install the HeyMelody app to get access to some advanced controls and make the most of these earbuds.
You can change the earbuds controls from this app and tweak equaliser settings too. There are three presets available in the app – Balanced, Serenade, and Bass. While these are pretty self-explanatory, I preferred the Serenade preset out of the lot. If you’re really into bass, you can go for the BassWave feature that dynamically boosts bass in any song. In some songs, this feature does well but the artificially boosted bass can be a hit or miss.
The Nord Buds 3 Pro supports dual connection, which means they can be connected to two devices simultaneously. I found that this feature works quite well. I’ve found even some of the more expensive audio devices struggle with switching between devices at times but Nord Buds 3 Pro seamlessly performs this function.
The app also lets you toggle on an option that lets you click an image from your phone when the camera app is open by just double-tapping your earbud. If you want to click a group shot with you in it, this feature can definitely come in handy.
There is ‘Find my earbuds’ functionality in the app, which makes the earpieces play a beeping sound that increases in volume with passing time. but I found the sound to be a bit subdued and unless the room is pin-drop silent, you might have a hard time finding these earphones via this feature.
I found that the touch controls were a bit inconsistent and failed to register at times. While you can change the functionality controlled by certain gestures, the inconsistency of the touch controls can at times frustrate you.
Sound quality and ANC
The Nord Buds 3 Pro punch well above their price category when it comes to sound quality. I already knew that these wireless earphones have been priced quite affordably at Rs 3,299 (without cashback) but when I first checked out the sound quality on offer, I was taken aback. Usually, this kind of sound quality is offered by buds priced around Rs 5,000, if not more. With the 12.5mm titanised driver (titanium coating on the diaphragm) these earphones offered a balanced sound signature with a pleasant profile. While these earphones do not support high-resolution codecs such as LDAC or aptX, they do support LHDC 5.0.
To check out the performance offered in the high-frequency range, I played “Take Five” by The Dave Brubeck Quartet. Whether it was the instruments or the vocals, I found the treble to be crisp and clear. The earphones did a great job of handling instrument separation and presented a decent sound stage. I would suggest that you make sure you have chosen the right EQ for the kind of music you are playing as your listening experience could drastically vary, according to your choice.
To check the quality of the mids delivered by these earphones, I listened to “Gravity” by John Mayer. While clean guitar tones could easily attract your attention in this song, Mayer’s vocals were very soothing. If you use the “Serenade” EQ profile, the amplified vocals sound like a treat to your ears.
Finally, to check the bass performance, I went with “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine. While choosing the ‘Bass’ EQ profile does a decent job, you can have further control over the bass performance with the BassWave 2.0 functionality, which dynamically boosts bass as per your desired level. While choosing level 10 would unnaturally boost the bass and impact the quality of the original song, I would suggest keeping this setting around level 6 for optimum output.
The HeyMelody app lets you adjust the noise cancellation level (high, moderate, low, and Smart), transparency mode, or even an option for personalised noise cancellation (enabled after an ear canal test). These earphones offer up to 49dB of active noise cancellation and in my experience, the Buds 3 Pro did a fairly good job at handling ambient noise. I won’t say that these earphones completely tune out the external noise but if you’re in a mildly noisy environment, you can get a smooth listening experience.
Battery life
As far as battery life is concerned, the company claims that you can get up to 44 hours of battery life (buds + case) without the ANC on and around 20 hours of audio playback (buds + case) with the ANC on. I mostly used these earphones with ANC switched on and found the battery life to be in line with the company’s claims. Thanks to fast charging, these earphones offer an audio playback up to 11 hours with just 10 minutes of charging. For those of you who travel a lot, this could be a godsend feature.
Verdict
OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro are easily the best truly wireless earphones you can buy under Rs 3,500 (even under Rs 3,000 with discounts) right now. This is despite some issues with the ear fit and the touch controls as these earphones offer impressive sound quality and ANC, which matches some of the best TWS around the Rs 5,000 mark. With decent battery life and support for fast charging, the Buds 3 Pro offer a robust choice at a price point where it is hard to ignore these earphones. In case you want support for high-resolution codecs such as LDAC and aptX, you might want to consider spending a bit extra, but for most people, the Nord Buds 3 Pro are easy to recommend.
Editor’s rating: 7.5 / 10
Pros
- Sound quality
- Decent battery life
- Good ANC
- Affordable
Cons
- Ear fit could have been better
- Touch controls are inconsistent
