OnePlus launched the OnePlus Nord Buds 2 as the successor to the popular Nord Buds in India last week. It adds ANC, comes with Bluetooth 5.3 while retaining the 12.4mm drivers, AAC codec and promises up to 36h total playback. Are these the best budget true wireless earbuds with ANC from OnePlus? Let us dive into the review to find out.
Box contents
- OnePlus Nord Buds 2 in Thunder Grey Colour
- USB Type-C charging cable
- Ear tips in Small and Large sizes (Medium sized tips pre-installed)
- Quick start guide and Safety guide
Design and Build Quality
Starting with the design, the headset is housed in a round charging case that fits in your pocket. The case has a matte finish, so it doesn’t easily attract fingerprints or smudges easily. The Thunder Grey Colour that we have has a sparkling look that you can notice when you look closely.
The charging case measures 67.99×28.9×35.5 and weighs 37.5g, making it lighter than the case of the first Nord Buds. There are left and right markings for each buds to be placed in the case.
There is a tiny LED indicator on the front that glows in green, yellow and red colours. The case of the Nord Buds 2 has a slightly curved design, compared to sharp edges in the first Nord Buds.
The USB Type-C port is present in the back, along with a set-up button.
The headset has a plastic build that has a glossy finish on the inside that attracts fingerprints easily, even though the other side has a matte finish. There are microphones are present on the top and the bottom of each earbud.
The earbuds weigh about 4.7 grams. The earbuds feature an in-ear design and also come with medium-sized ear tips pre-installed. You can change to bundled Large or Small sized ear tips if you wish. It doesn’t have an Optical Sensor for Wear Detection, so you have to use the touch interface for play or pause.
Overall, the headset offers good build quality and fits your ears perfectly so that they don’t fall off your ears easily, even during outdoor activities like running or cycling. The earphones also have the sparkling look, and have IP55 ratings for dust and water resistance, so it can withstand splashes or light rain, but you can’t use it when swimming. There is no IP ratings for the case that the Buds Z2 have.
Connectivity, Pairing, and Controls
The OnePlus Nord Buds 2 supports Bluetooth 5.3 with AAC audio codec. The pairing process is very easy for OnePlus (6 or later) devices. Just enable Bluetooth on the OnePlus phone, open the charging case of the buds, place the charging case close to the phone, and follow the prompts. This works even with phones with the ColorOS base, such as OPPO and realme.
To connect to a non-OnePlus phone or other Bluetooth device, place the Nord Buds into the charging case with the cover opened. Press and hold the setup button in the case for 2 seconds to enter Bluetooth settings. Then, select OnePlus Nord Buds 2.
We tested it on the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G and Xiaomi 13 Pro, and never faced any pairing or disconnection issues. Since the phone pairs with the case and not the headset, you will need the case if you want to reconnect it or even turn on the headset if it’s disconnected from the phone.
| Function | Left earphone (L) | Right earphone (R) |
| Play / Pause and | Single tap | |
| Play next track or Answer call / Hang calls | Double Tap | |
| Play previous track | Triple Tap | |
| Switch between noise cancellation / transparency | Press and Hold for 1s | |
| Switch the device / Reject calls | Press and Hold for 3s | |
There is no option for volume control, same as other first Nord Buds.
You can customize the controls from the settings from a OnePlus phone, and for other phones you can use the HeyMelody app on Android and iOS. You can change single tap, double tap and triple tap control options.
There are options to choose from different equalizer settings such as Balanced (Default), Bold, Serenade and Bass. There is also a custom equalizer option. If the phone has Dolby Atmos, it works with the earbuds. The new BassWave Enhancement algorithm lets you boost the base, and you can choose the strength manually.
Audio Quality, Active Noise Cancellation and Call Performance
The OnePlus Nord Buds 2 pack a 12.4mm dynamic driver, similar to the predecessor. Audio from the earbuds are very loud and crisp, but the bass is slightly on the higher side even without enabling the BassWave option. There is also Dolby Atmos feature, but it works only with compatible phones. I tried it with the Xiaomi 13 Pro, but audio quality better in OnePlus phones with Dolby Atmos compared to others.
Even though these are budget earbuds, you get the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) feature, which is a first for the Nord buds. It blocks the ambient sound up to 25dB that helps in most cases. You can feel the difference when you are listening outdoors and even indoors when the AC or fan is on. The Transparency mode allows you to listen to ambient sound so that you can recognize the surrounding situation and any potential risks.
You can switch between noise cancellation, transparency and noise cancellation off by pressing and holding the earbuds, but it doesn’t have any other additional modes like the Buds Z2 or the buds Pro since they have up to 40db ANC.
It offers low-latency experience as low as 94ms that is useful when gaming which is good with other phones, but with OnePlus phones it is better since it is integrated with Pro Gaming mode or Fnatic Mode.
Coming to the call noise cancellation, it uses dual on each earbud that work together to filter out unwanted noise. This does a good job in cutting down noise. During my use, wind noise and traffic was cut out to the receiver.
Battery Life
The earphones pack 41mAh battery that promises about 7 hours of standalone battery life without ANC, same as the first Nord Buds, and the company promises 5 hours of battery life with ANC. During my use with AAC, I got about 6 hours of battery life in about 50% volume with mixed use, so it is good. For calls, it lasts for is less since it uses AI call noise cancellation tech.
With the 480mAh charging case, it promises up to 36 hours of total battery life without ANC and 27 hours with ANC. The green light in the case indicates that the battery is high, and it turns yellow when it’s medium and red when it is low. You can also see the charge left in the case in the HeyMelody app or on the OnePlus phone’s screen itself when the earbuds are placed in the case.
Charging the case fully with the earbuds takes about an hour. It also has fast charge, so that you get 5 hours (charging case + earbuds combined) of playback with 10 minutes of charging.
Conclusion
Overall, the OnePlus Nord Buds 2 is a good upgrade to the original Nord Buds since this adds ANC and new features. It retains the compact design, and offers a long battery life. Priced at Rs. 2,999 it will be available from Amazon.in, Flipkart, OnePlus.in, Myntra.com, OnePlus Experience Stores and select partner stores starting from April 11th.
Pros
- Good audio quality
- Decent ANC
- Comfortable fit
- IP55 ratings
- Good battery life with fast charging
Cons
- No volume controls or in-ear detection
- Dolby Atmos and ultra-low latency work better with OnePlus phones