OnePlus Buds Pro  Headphones Review

The OnePlus Buds Pro have a very similar look to the Apple AirPods Pro Truly Wireless. What sets them apart is the shiny metallic accent on each of the buds' stems. They come in two color variants: 'Glossy White' and 'Matte Black'.

These headphones are comfortable. They feel lightweight, don't have a deep in-ear fit, and don't apply pressure on your ear. They also come with three differently-sized pairs of ear tips to help you get the best fit possible. However, you may need to readjust their fit as they could come out of your ears over time.

The OnePlus Buds Pro have passable controls. They're easy to use and some of them can be remapped in the companion software to include controls like voice assistant. They make an audible clicking sound each time you press the buds' stems and there are different audio tones to let you know when you're toggling between ANC on, off, and transparency mode. The case also has a button inside, which resets the headphones. Unfortunately, they lack volume controls, which some users may find disappointing.

On either bud:

• Quick squeeze on the earbud stem: Plays or pauses audio.
• Double squeeze on the earbud stem: Skips the track forward.
• Triple squeeze on the earbud stem: Skips the track backward.
• Squeeze and hold the earbud stem for one second: Cycles between noise cancelling on, off, and transparency mode, which allows you to hear your surroundings without removing the buds from your ears.
• Long touch and hold stem: Enters 'Zen Mode Air', a feature that plays soothing nature sounds.

The OnePlus Buds Pro have outstanding breathability, which is to be expected from in-ear headphones. They don't trap very much heat inside your ears. You also shouldn't notice a difference in temperature or sweat more than normal when wearing them, even during moderate physical activity.

The OnePlus Buds Pro are very portable. The buds are small and lightweight. They should easily fit into most pockets or bags, even if you have them in their case.

The OnePlus Buds Pro have a good carrying case. It's mostly made of plastic and is certified IPX4 for water resistance. There's a small light in the front of the case to let you know if the buds are charging. There's also a button inside the case so that you can reset the headphones if necessary.

The OnePlus Buds Pro have a good build quality. They're made of matte plastic with a glossy metallic finish on the stems. Overall, they feel sturdy. They're also certified IP55 for dust and water resistance, which should protect them from direct contact with water like rain.

The OnePlus Buds Pro have good stability. Like the Google Pixel Buds Pro Truly Wireless, they lack stability fins. However, they still don't move around too much, even during moderate physical activity.

• OnePlus Buds Pro earbuds
• 3x ear tips
• Charging case
• USB-A to USB-C charging cable
• Manuals

Update 11/17/2021: Users reached out to us regarding the bass range being higher than what's represented in our graphs. Although we ran a few additional passes, we couldn't achieve more bass. Our test head has a very small ear canal, and we usually use the smallest ear-tip size to get a good seal. Even when using the smallest tips provided by the manufacturer, the tips are still a bit big when place in our testing head's ear canals. The headphones also have a sensor that turns the buds off when not in your ears. Since our test head is made from silicone, the buds don't turn on when placed in our test head. We attached copper tape to their sensors with a grounded negative and positive electrical cable to turn on the buds and activate their ANC. This copper tape tricks the headphones into thinking that they're placed on human skin. However, this may have broken the seal, which could also partially explain their lack of bass. That said, when we did a subjective listening of the headphones, we found them to be more bass-heavy than the graph implies. We have updated the review with our subjective impressions to better represent their bass.

The OnePlus Buds Pro have a bass-heavy sound profile that delivers extra thump and rumble. However, some users may find their overemphasized low-bass to be a bit overwhelming. In comparison, vocals and lead instruments are slightly harsh and bright. However, they're still well-suited for a variety of audio content. While they lack an EQ or presets to help you change their sound, their companion app offers 'OnePlus Audio ID', which is a hearing test that's advertised to create a personalized sound profile based on your hearing abilities.

The OnePlus Buds Pro have excellent frequency response consistency. Once you achieve a good fit using the included ear tips, you should get consistent bass and treble delivery each time you use them.

The OnePlus Buds Pro's bass accuracy is outstanding. While our graph's range is very flat and neutral, subjective listening indicates that they have a more bass-heavy sound profile. They deliver extra thump and body, though some people may find their low-bass a bit overwhelming. However, the overemphasized bass doesn't muddy vocals and lead instruments.

These headphones have very good mid accuracy. The low-mid is very flat and neutral, resulting in clear instruments. A dip in the mid-mid can nudge vocals and lead instruments to the back of the mix, though, and a peak in the high-mid makes vocals sound harsh.

The treble accuracy of the OnePlus Buds Pro is great. There's some overemphasis extending from the mid-range into the low-treble. However, the upper harmonics of vocals and lead instruments shouldn't seem too harsh. The mid-treble is overemphasized, so sibilants like cymbals are bright.

The OnePlus Buds Pro's peaks and dips performance is good. A small peak in the mid-bass adds a bit of body to your audio, while a dip in the mid-mid nudges vocals and lead instruments to the back of your mixes. A large peak in the high-mid makes vocals and lead instruments sound harsh, and a dip in the low-treble weakens their upper harmonics. Another peak in the mid-treble turns sibilants like S and T sounds piercing.

These headphones have a fantastic imaging performance. The group delay falls below the audibility threshold, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble reproduction. Our unit's L/R divers are also well-matched in terms of amplitude, frequency, and phase response, which is important for the accurate placement and localization of objects and instruments (like voices and footsteps) in the stereo image. That said, there's a small spike in the phase response's bass range, which may be noticeable with real-life content. Our results are only valid for our unit, and yours may perform differently.

The OnePlus Buds Pro's passive soundstage performance is terrible, which is to be expected from in-ear headphones. They completely bypass your outer ear, which needs to be activated by sound resonances to create a large and natural soundstage. As a result, their soundstage seems closed-off and as if sound is coming from inside your head, rather than from speakers placed in the room around you.

Unfortunately, if you're not using a compatible OnePlus phone, you can't access the OnePlus Buds Pro's Dolby Atmos virtual surround feature. The manufacturer advertises that this feature is only supported on the following OnePlus devices: OnePlus 7, 7 Pro, 7T, 7T Pro, 8, 8 Pro, 8T, 9, and the 9 Pro.

The OnePlus Buds Pro's weighted harmonic distortion performance is great. All frequencies fall within good levels, resulting in clear and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when using them in this configuration.

The OnePlus Buds Pro have a just okay noise isolation performance. They have an active noise cancelling (ANC) system but perform worse than the OnePlus Buds Z Truly Wireless, which can only isolate noise passively. Even with this system on, the headphones have a hard time blocking out the low rumble of bus and plane engines. They do a better job of reducing mid-range noise like ambient chatter. When it comes to high-pitched noise like the hum of an AC unit, their performance is just okay. If you're looking for truly wireless headphones with a better noise isolation performance, consider the Nothing Ear (1) Truly Wireless.

The OnePlus Buds Pro have a very good leakage performance. The leakage is mostly concentrated in the treble range, and escaping audio sounds thin. If you like to listen to audio at high volumes in a moderately noisy environment, it shouldn't bother others around you.

The integrated microphone has a sub-par recording quality. Your voice sounds thin, unnatural, and somewhat distorted. However, whoever's on the other end of the line shouldn't have too much trouble understanding you.

The noise handling performance of the OnePlus Buds Pro's microphone is good. If you're taking calls from a noisy environment like a busy street, the mic can separate your voice from background sounds, so you'll be heard clearly.

Update 09/29/2021: These headphones have a quick charge feature called 'Warp Charge'. It's advertised to give you up to 10 hours of playback time from their charging case and earbuds combined in 10 minutes of charging. However, this claim is a bit confusing. In the fine print, the manufacturer notes that the buds themselves only provide two hours of playback time from 10 minutes of charging. In contrast, their reported claim of 10 hours of playback time from 10 minutes comes from the combination of the earbuds battery life when full and the additional two hours that come from the 10 minutes of charging. In light of this, we've clarified our results. However, the scoring of this test hasn't changed.

The OnePlus Buds Pro's battery performance is sub-par. They're advertised to last five hours continuously with their ANC on, but we measured slightly less than this. That said, battery performance can vary depending on your usage, so your experience may vary. The case holds roughly four additional charges, and you can even use one bud while the other one charges. They also have a 'Warp Charge' feature that's advertised to provide two hours of playback time to the buds when they're charged for 10 minutes. Unfortunately, unlike the OnePlus Buds Truly Wireless, these in-ears don't have any power-saving features.

The OnePlus Buds Pro have two different apps, depending on which phone you have. Since we don't have a OnePlus phone, we used the HeyMelody app, available on iOS and Android. This app allows you to update their firmware, see the battery life of each bud, remap some controls, and cycle through ANC on, off, and transparency mode. You can also turn on 'Zen Mode Air', which is a feature that plays calming nature sounds, or use 'OnePlus Audio ID', which is a hearing test that creates a personalized sound based on your hearing abilities. You can even store ten different custom audio tests.

If you have a OnePlus device, they have an app called 'OnePlus Buds'. Unlike HeyMelody, you can adjust the ANC between three different levels: 'Faint', 'Smart' (which is the default, auto-adapting setting), and 'Extreme'.

The OnePlus Buds Pro have great Bluetooth connectivity. Thanks to firmware update 531.531.411, they support multi-device pairing, meaning you can stay connected to two devices at the same time. You can turn this feature on in their app, but keep in mind that audio will only play from one device at a time. These headphones are advertised to sync to your OnePlus phone once you open their carrying case, and they have a 'Pro Gaming Mode', which is supposed to reduce latency when paired to select OnePlus phones. They support LHDC (Low Latency High-Definition Codec), which allows for the transfer of data up to 900kbs. However, we don't currently have a device able to test this codec. While they have high latency on PC, their latency on iOS and Android is lower, so they may be a suitable choice for streaming video. Some apps and devices compensate for latency, so your real-world experience may vary.

You can't use these headphones wired, which is to be expected with truly wireless headphones. They come with a USB-A to USB-C cable to charge their carrying case.

The OnePlus Buds Pro have full mic and audio compatibility when connected to Bluetooth-enabled PCs. However, you can't connect them to PCs in any other way.

These headphones come with a hard carrying case that holds roughly four additional charges. It only has a USB-C input to recharge the case. Luckily, the case also supports Qi wireless charging.