CMF by Nothing today launched the CMF Buds Pro 2, the company’s latest TWS earbuds and the successor to last year’s Buds Pro 2. The new earbuds get dual drivers, 50dB ANC, LDAC audio codec, and longer battery life. Are these the best earbuds in the price range? Let us dive into the review to find out.
Box Contents
- CMF Buds Pro 2 in Dark Grey colour
- USB Type-C Cable
- Ear tips in Small and Large sizes (Medium pre-installed)
- User Manual, Safety and Warranty Card
Design and Build Quality
Unlike the round case for the first Buds Pro, the Buds Pro 2 has a square case with rounded corners that is similar to the CMF Buds, which was launched a couple of months back.
Unlike the silver-coloured metal ring for the lanyard in the CMF Buds, the Buds Pro 2 has a working customizable smart dial that was first introduced in the CMF Neckband Pro. This lets you control the volume, play/pause, control ANC, and more without even opening the case.
It has a PC + ABS + metal body with a matte finish that doesn’t attract fingerprints. It measures 53.4 x 53.4 x 23mm and weighs 55.8 grams including the buds. The case doesn’t have any IP ratings.
Opening the case, you can see the earbuds, and the function key has moved to inside, similar to the Nothing buds. The case has magnets, so that it locks securely. There is also a magnet connecting the two parts of the case, and the earbuds also have a strong magnet that secures them in its place.
You can see the LED light on the front. The USB Type-C port is present on the side.
The in-ear earbuds have a matte finish for the stem, and the rest of the earbuds feature a glossy finish. The earbuds weigh about 4.9grams, almost similar to the Buds Pro, and measures 33.1 x 20.2 x 23.8mm. There are three mics on each earbud, which promise better wind noise cancellation.
There is an optical sensor for wear detection so that it can automatically pause the audio when you remove it from your ears and play when you put it back.
You can also see the CMF branding on the outside where the touch-sensitive area is present that lets you control play/pause, ANC and volume. The earphones have IP55 ratings for dust and water resistance that can withstand splashes or light rain. The company says that it has been tested for 360° water spray for 3 minutes at 12.5 L per minute.
The fit was perfect, and it doesn’t come out easily, even during strenuous activities like running or workout. The Earbuds fit test option plays music to ensure that your ear tips make a good seal with your ear canal for better noise-cancelling. This is powered by Mimi.
In addition to Dark Grey, it also comes in Light Grey, Orange, and Blue colours.
Connectivity, Pairing, and Controls
The CMF Bud Pro 2 supports Bluetooth 5.3 with LDAC Hi-Res audio codec for HD sound quality on supported devices, it also supports AAC codec that works in phones that have it.
The pairing process is very easy for Nothing and CMF Phones. Just enable Bluetooth on the phone, open the charging case of the buds, place the charging case close to the phone, and follow the prompts. To connect to other devices, place the 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 the buds.
There is a fast pair option which works in latest Android phones. We tested it on the OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite and Google Pixel 8, and never faced any pairing or disconnection issues.
You can enable dual connection option that lets you connect to two devices at the same time and switch the audio playback between them. But the headset gets rebooted every time you need to disable or disable the feature.
This uses touch controls, same as the Buds Pro. This lets you skip tracks, switch between noise cancellation modes, and adjust volume – all with a press. The controls can be customised in the Nothing X app.
| Function | Left earphone (L) | Right earphone (R) |
| Play / Pause or Answer call / Hang calls | Double tap | |
| Next track | Triple tap | |
| Switch between ANC and Transparency Mode | Tap and hold | |
| Volume control | Double tap and hold | |
Volume control is disabled by default, but you can customise them with the Nothing X app on Android and iPhone. You can change actions for double tap, triple tap and double tap and hold. Tap and hold is set for noise control.
Control using the customizable dial in the case is off by default and needs to be enabled in the app. You can control single press, double press, triple press, press and hold and the rotate option is set for volume control which can’t be changed.
Audio Quality
The CMF Buds Pro 2 has a 11mm dynamic driver with a titanium coating for deep and powerful bass, and there is a 6 mm tweeter with an ultra-thin 25μm planar diaphragm flat coil cone for crisp, clear treble. Supported by a strong N52 magnet and copper voice coil for powerful output, Buds Pro 2 covers an ultra-wide frequency range of 20-40KHz.
The LDAC HD transmission protocol with Hi-Res authority certification, offers up to 96kHz sampling rate and 990kbps transmission code rate, for an enhanced listening experience. There is an option to enable it in the app, which worked without any issued.
The audio quality is crisp with clear vocals and good amount of bass that is punchy. Highs are good, but the mid-range is average.
It features five equalizer presets – Dirac Opteo, Rock, Electronic, Pop, Classical and Enhance vocals. – so that every song can be heard how it should. You can also create custom EQ with the custom option. It doesn’t have the Personal Sound Profile feature present in the Ear series. However, there is a separate ultra bass feature that lets you select the amount of bass you need. If you prefer heavy bass, then you need to try the ultra bass mode which is good, otherwise balanced is good.
Noise Cancellation and Call Performance
Regarding the Noise cancellation, the Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) blocks the ambient sound up to 50dB that helps in most cases since it adapts depending on the environment, and also has 5000Hz Ultra-Wide Frequency ultra-deep personalized ANC.
You can feel the difference when you are listening outdoors, since 50dB is more than enough to block most outdoor noise. For the price, it does an excellent job. The Transparency mode is also useful. You can also turn off the noise cancellation directly from the headset by enabling it from the settings, even though it only switches between ANC ON and Transparency modes by default.
There are four modes, Low, Mid, High and Adaptive Mode that automatically adjusts the noise reduction level based on your environment in real-time. However, it is not perfect in varied sound conditions like switching from traffic or crowded areas. You can switch between noise cancellation, transparency and no noise cancellation with tap controls on the earbuds.
This also has Transparency mode that allows you to listen to ambient sound so that you can recognize the surrounding situation and any potential risks.
This also has low latency mode, which is called low lag mode. The company says that this is <120 ms under Game Mode when using with Nothing Phone. The Low Lag Mode reduces latency by 50ms~100ms on average on other phones, according to the company.
Coming to the call noise cancellation, it uses Clear Voice Technology 2.0 for calls that use three high-definition microphones to cut external noise. The company says that it uses advanced algorithms that analyse the input, referencing more than 28 million sound samples, more compared to the predecessor.
It also has improved wind noise resistance with Wind-Noise
Reduction 2.0, according to the company. Based on my use, this feature has improved, and the wind noise was completely cut out to the receiver, but the outside noise such as traffic noise, and footsteps when running were audible. Even though you can’t compare these with Nothing’s flagship earbuds, the Nothing Ear did a good job when it comes to outdoor call noise cancellation.
Battery Life
The earphones pack a 60mAh battery that promises about 11 hours of standalone battery life without ANC and 6.5 hours with ANC. During my use with LDAC and noise cancellation enabled, I got slightly over 4 hours in about 60% volume, which is decent. For calls, it lasts only for 4 hours since it uses call noise cancellation tech.
With the 460mAh charging case, same as the predecessor, it promises up to 43 hours of total battery life without ANC and 26 hours of total battery life with noise cancellation enabled. This is good. You can’t expect wireless charging in the range.
Charging the case fully with the earbuds takes over 1 hour. It also has fast charge, so that you get 7 hours (case + buds) / 3 hours (buds) of playback without ANC with 10 minutes of charging.
Conclusion
Overall, CMF Buds Pro 2 is good active noise cancellation (ANC) TWS earbuds for the price of Rs. 4,299, which is Rs. 700 more than the Buds Pro. Even though the design of the earbuds look similar to old one, this improves the matte finish, the audio quality has improved with dual drivers, LDAC is an added advantage, and the battery life is good as well.
It will be available from Flipkart and retail stores starting from July 12th.
Alternatives
The realme Buds Air 6 Pro offers similar features at Rs. 4,999. If you spend more that, there is OnePlus Buds 3 with LHDC.
Pro
- Dual drivers with good audio quality, LDAC codec
- Bluetooth 5.3 with dual connection
- 50db ANC with customizable modes
- IP55 ratings for the buds
Cons
- Outdoor call quality could have been better