CMF Buds Neo review: well worth the money

CMF isn’t new to the accessories segment in India, and its headphones, earbuds and smartwatch lineup has quickly gained a following. I’ve also used the CMF Buds Pro 2 for a while, so I have a good point of comparison for the newer CMF Buds Neo.

At Rs 1,999, the Buds Neo pack a surprising number of features for the price, with ANC and dual connectivity being the key highlights. Several competitors at this price also offer active noise cancellation; however, it is rare when the feature works as intended. I’ve been using the Buds Neo to see how well the ANC works, along with how they handle audio, calls and connectivity in everyday use. Here’s my experience with them so far.

Table of Contents

Audio: quality sound with a bass emphasis

The Buds Neo come with 12.4mm dynamic drivers that follow similar tuning to most budget earbuds, with an emphasis on bass that makes them sound pleasing right out of the box. I don’t consider that a bad thing, and there’s a reason why it works. The mids remain clear, and the overall sound has a warm character. Basically, the output is bass-forward, with a slightly boosted mid-range and somewhat recessed treble.

The Buds Neo offers six EQ presets in the Nothing X app, giving you some room to adjust the sound to your liking. As a side note, the earbuds can also get extremely loud. I usually listen at around 35-40 percent volume, and I found 30 percent more than sufficient with the Buds Neo. At around 70 percent and above, I noticed some distortion, although that isn’t a safe space to listen anyway.

My favourite preset was Pop, which tones down the bass slightly. I also preferred keeping the bass boost at 0, although even level 1 sounded good to me. Level 2 pushed the low-end a little too far for my liking. Bass-heavy Bollywood tracks such as Challa, Sadda Haq, the Aashiqui 2 album, and various Cyberpunk 2077 OSTs, which I often listen to while working, sound particularly lively on the Buds Neo. At the same time, softer tracks from artists such as Sufjan Stevens and Iron & Wine also sounded perfectly enjoyable.

The Buds Neo don’t try to deliver a particularly neutral sound. They go for a warmer, bass-forward presentation that works well for casual listening, and I found the tuning enjoyable across the music I regularly listen to.

ANC and calls: pretty good for most situations

The ANC works surprisingly well for the price, with up to 35dB of noise cancellation. That’s not something I often see working this effectively on earbuds in this segment. CMF offers three levels of ANC, and I found the highest setting good enough in everyday situations without putting too much pressure on my ears.

It does a good job of suppressing the constant background noise you typically encounter in offices, living rooms, and cafeterias. The buds won’t completely eliminate your surroundings, but they take the edge off enough to make it easier to focus on your music or work.

Traffic is a different story, which was expected. You will still hear honks and the general sound of vehicles, but the ANC smooths them out to a decent level and makes sudden noises feel less harsh. That’s about what I’d expect from earbuds at this price, and I don’t think the Buds Neo need to do much more than that. If ANC is one of your core requirements, the Buds Neo fulfil that requirement particularly well for their price.

The microphones also do a good job of handling background noise during calls. Calls came through clearly, and the other person could hear me well during most of my testing. Even in traffic, the person on the other end could hear my voice without too much trouble, although the ambient noise did make its way through alongside it. That’s fairly normal given the environment, and I was satisfied with the call quality.

Design: classic CMF design

The Buds Neo follow CMF’s familiar design language, with a square charging case and rounded corners. The case has a rotating ring on the top corner that doubles as a lanyard attachment, unlike the Buds 2 Pro, where it could control volume and change listening modes.

The matte finish also does a good job of keeping fingerprints away, while the overall build feels appropriate for the price. I like the simplicity of the design, and the Buds Neo don’t feel cheap in hand. There are three colours to choose from, and I happen to like all of them.

You get a USB Type-C port on the side for charging, while an LED on the front indicates the charging and pairing status. The earbuds sit securely inside the case thanks to strong magnets, and I didn’t have any trouble taking them out or putting them back in.

The earbuds themselves use a matte finish on the stems and a glossy finish around the main body, giving them a slightly more premium look than their price suggests. There are two microphones on each earbud, while the buds carry an IP54 rating for dust and water resistance. This should be enough for light splashes, sweat and occasional rain.

Comfort: good fit and light enough for long sessions

The Buds Neo are very light, and I almost felt nothing when I first put them in my ears. The default silicone tips also fit my ears quite well, although CMF includes other size options if you need to find a more secure or comfortable fit. I never had problems with the earbuds getting loose even when moving around.

I usually don’t wear earbuds continuously for more than an hour or two, as that’s about my self-imposed upper limit. The Buds Neo remained comfortable throughout that time without putting much pressure on my ears. Given how light they are, I wouldn’t expect longer listening sessions to become particularly uncomfortable either, provided you find the right ear-tip size: medium, small, and large, provided in the box.

Connectivity: works as advertised, mostly

The Buds Neo support Bluetooth 6, Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair, giving you a fairly straightforward experience across phones and laptops. You need to wear the earbuds, touch both of them and hold for five seconds to enter pairing mode. I initially had some trouble getting the Google Fast Pair notification to appear, although it worked fine after a few attempts. Swift Pair worked immediately on my laptops, so both features work as intended.

I wish CMF had included a physical pairing button, however, as it would make the process quicker and more convenient, especially when you want to connect the earbuds to a new device. Another thing some users might miss is the wear detection, which stops audio when an earbud is removed. I don’t mind the omission here, but if you’re coming from a device that has it, you might miss it.

I didn’t experience any random disconnections during my testing, and the range was good enough for me to walk into other rooms without interrupting playback. Your mileage may vary depending on how many walls or other objects sit between the earbuds and your connected device, but I found the connection reliable overall.

CMF sticks to the AAC, SBC, CVSD and mSBC codecs, without support for more advanced options. I don’t see that as a major drawback at this price, as most users are unlikely to notice a major difference unless they have unusually discerning ears or use higher-quality audio sources.

The Nothing X app acts as the central hub for Nothing’s peripherals and offers plenty of useful features and customisation options. Dual connectivity is my favourite, and it’s still pretty rare to find it at this price. You do have to manually pause playback on one device before switching to the other, but it works well enough and makes moving between my laptop and phone much easier.

Battery: more than enough for most users

Battery life is another area where the Buds Neo have worked well for me. CMF rates them for up to 52 hours of total playback (without ANC), and based on my usage, I have little reason to doubt that figure. I have only recharged it once, and that was towards the middle of next week, so you should rarely run into battery trouble unless you spend six to eight hours a day listening to music.

Even then, the quick-charge feature can give you around five hours of listening from 10 minutes of charging, which is useful when you forget to charge them before heading out. Overall, I’m quite satisfied with both the connectivity and battery performance here.

Verdict

I’ve been using my older CMF Buds Pro 2 for about two years now, and they continue to work well even today (except for being a little dirty). That experience also gives me some confidence in CMF’s products and their longevity, and the Buds Neo have largely reinforced that opinion.

The Buds Neo do well in almost every area that matters. The audio sounds good, the ANC works surprisingly well, call quality is reliable, and the connectivity remains stable throughout everyday use. More importantly, the features CMF promises here generally deliver in actual use, which isn’t always a given at this price.

I don’t have any major complaints with the Buds Neo. The lack of a physical pairing button and wear detection would have been nice, but I can live with those omissions considering everything else the earbuds offer for Rs 1,999. They look stylish, feel comfortable and deliver where it matters most.

If you’re looking for an affordable pair of earbuds that offers good audio, effective ANC and useful features without cutting too many corners, the CMF Buds Neo are easy to recommend.

Editor’s Rating: 9/10

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