OnePlus Buds Pro 2: Slick-looking and sounding buds for film and gaming
OnePlus’s ecosystem has really expanded in the past few years from mid-range phones to flagship devices, watches, wireless buds, and most recently tablets.
The recent Cloud 11 event unveiled some of their new devices and a brand-new flagship for 2023 including an updated pair of their wireless earbuds, the OnePlus Buds Pro 2.
These are an update to the OnePlus Buds Pro which was released early last year. The new Pro 2's come in two colours Arbor Green and Obsidian Black, which both look great but sadly there are no chromed-out silver ones like last year…yet.
They appear nearly identical in size shape and design but under the hood, there have been numerous upgrades and improvements here.
The buds are very sleek despite their long stems (OnePlus)They are also rated IP55, protecting them from limited dust and low-pressure water from all directions as well as limited submersion, meaning they'll be fine with sweat, and limited rain and should be ok if dropped in water if removed, the case also offers some limited protection at IP4 against water but not dust.
Both the case and buds sport and very sleek and streamlined design with the buds themselves featuring a two-toned, matte and metallic design on the stems that looks really good without being too overt.
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They feature a long stem design, which I’m personally not too keen on as I prefer shorter stems, however, the Buds Pro 2 stems aren’t too long and aren’t positioned awkwardly
The buds are very light at only 4.9g each making them comfortable to have in your ears for prolonged times, the case is also only 47.3g making it easy to slip into your pocket and carry all day.
After inserting the buds in my ears they felt very comfortable and didn’t fall out once, but if you're not sure they are in correctly you can use the earbud fit test available in the app.
Connectivity has been further enhanced with the Buds Pro 2 using Google Fast Pair, as soon as I opened the charging case my phone had a notification asking if I wanted to pair the buds, it was so simple and fast.
The Buds Pro 2 (in the middle) Compared to the Buds Pro and Nord Buds (James Ide)Also using Bluetooth 5.3 has made them more energy efficient and reliable which meant I never experienced any dropouts or issues in my time with them.
I could also have the buds connected to my phone and laptop or to two phones at the same time thanks to the addition of dual connectivity which was super convenient and worked really well.
The controls for the buds are very simple, you squeeze the stems of the buds slightly to play and stop playback and you can hold the stem to activate or reactive noise cancelling.
While I enjoy that these are novel control I prefer simple tap controls that most other buds use, also there wasn't a way to adjust the volume I could figure out with this control method, meaning you need to use your phone to change this.
Unless you own a OnePlus device, you’ll need to download the Hey Melody app for detailed control of the buds. With the app, you can customise your experience with a full equaliser hearing test to tweak the audio to your preferences and even change if you want the buds used only for media and not for phone calls.
TheOnePlus Buds Pro 2 were co-created with Danish company Dynaudio (James Ide)And one of my favourite features from the app is the find my earbuds feature, if, like me, you always misplace your buds.
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Audio quality has been drastically improved since the previous model with the buds now featuring two drivers, a 6mm second driver, to the 11mm set up and you can certainly hear a greater added depth to the buds 2.
Highs were clear and detailed with rich mids and not too punchy bass, which was good great for everything except the most thumping tracks.
The Buds Pro 2 are one of the first to include Google’s support of special audio which uses the buds sensors to track your heads position, so the audio feels like it’s always coming from the direction of your device which is not only a neat trick but added an extra sense of immersion to films and games I was watching on mobile.
A wide variety of Bluetooth audio codes like AAC, LC3 and LHDC are supported so they'll connect and work well on nearly anything.
Active noise cancelling has also been improved compared to the old model, now offering 48db of noise cancellation but it still wasn’t quite as powerful as I would have thought for the price point.
The ANC is also now adaptive meaning it can turn itself up or down depending on the ambient background noise, but I just prefer pushing my ANC to the max whenever I have noise cancelling as an option.
Everything included in the box including OnePlus's famous Red Cable (OnePlus)The earbuds have adaptive active noise cancelling that can ramp up or down depending on ambient noise, but it is fairly weak, meaning it was best left on its maximum setting. Even then they struggle with higher notes, including a car tyre noise, the typing of keys in an office and wind noise.
The Golden Sound is a great addition allowing you to personalise the audio to your specific hearing, and allowing the buds to push certain frequencies to allow you to get the best listening experience.
Mic quality was great, my voice came through loud and clear but in a busier environment like the office it did often pick up everything else too.
The 60mAh battery offers a fantastic 9 hours per bud while the case's 520mAh gives you 39 hours, however, this is of course reduced if you are using ANC, that's more like a respectable 6 hours for the buds and 25 with the case and it also supports wireless charging.
For gamers, there is a Pro Gaming mode option that drops latency to 54 milliseconds, perfect for helping you hear and be ready to react, however, this is only for OnePlus device owners.
OnePlus Buds Pro 2 Verdict 4/5
They are defiantly priced as a more premium set of buds at £179 but given the amount of sophisticated tech crammed into their sleek body this isn’t too surprising.
They obviously work best with the latest Oneplus devices, but other android users shouldn't rule them out either.
The brand-new spatial audio worked really well but I was a little disappointed with the ANC and the controls were slightly harder to use than competitors.
However, the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 really delivers where it counts, offering killer audio quality, great battery life, and a comfortable and attractive design as well as an app that offers heaps of useful features and customisation.
The OnePlus Buds Pro 2 are out now and available for £179 from the OnePlus website
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