OnePlus has proven it's a force to be reckoned with in wireless earbuds. It offers capable audio products from the budget-friendly Buds Z through to the high-end Buds Pro. The company recently launched its first set of earbuds under the even more budget-oriented Nord brand, previously known only for phones. Like the Nord phones, these earbuds offer more value than the rest of OP's lineup, but there are some compromises. No surprise with the very approachable $39 price tag, but these buds strike a great balance between quality and cost.

Hardware, design, what’s in the box

I’m not sure who is to blame for conditioning us to expect low-cost electronics to look like kids’ toys with brightly-colored plastic straight out of a Disney fever dream — something OnePlus actually tried with its original Buds — but fortunately the Nord Buds rejected that look for a more stylish design.

The standard glossy bulb that fits into the ear is adorned with a simple pill-shaped stem made of matte black plastic. The only visual extravagance is a circular touch pad with a mirror finish. There’s no visible branding or complicated designs, it’s just a clean look.

This design language carries over to a pill-shaped case styled in a similar matte black plastic. The only notable difference is the OnePlus name on the lid in glossy black letters that don’t draw too much attention. The only other visible traits are a status LED in the front and the USB-C port in the back, which sits next to a virtually invisible button used for pairing.

I've noticed one other quirk after spending more time with the buds, but I’m not sure if it’s intentional or merely a fluke. It turns out the top of the case has a magnetic field in the center that will hold a single bud in place. It’s not an aggressively strong hold, and the bud must be in the correct orientation, but it’s enough to hold a bud even with the case upside down. Perhaps this sounds like a strange thing to be excited about, but I can’t count the number of times I have been wearing just one bud and then removed it for a conversation. If I need to set down the bud for a few minutes, it’s more convenient to place it on the top of the case rather than open the lid and orient the bud into its cradle.

We’ve seen OnePlus experiment with case designs arranged like makeup compacts and cigarette packs, but the Nord Buds return to the coffin-like configuration of the Buds Z2. I don’t hate this construction, but I think it’s the least pocketable since it’s fairly chunky in every orientation. This case will still fit in most pockets — skinny jeans excluded — but it’s going to look pretty pronounced if the fabric is even slightly taut. Additionally, the squared off edges are likely to quickly wear a very specific outline into many fabrics, particularly denim.

Comfort is pretty good, at least for short and mid-length listening sessions. It seems to take between 30-45 minutes before I get perceivable fatigue, a bit longer than most of the buds I’ve used in the past. However, they seem to also hit a point of irritation more quickly, leaving me wanting to take a break after a little over 2 hours instead of the 3-4 hours I can reach with some other buds.

If you plan to take these on a run or to the gym, they are extremely lightweight and the silicon tips seal into the ear well enough that it takes extraordinary effort to shake them loose. I feel pretty confident that they’re not going to fall out easily, at least not from my ears.

In addition to the case and buds, the box includes the standard three sizes of silicone ear tips, a USB A-to-C cable, manuals, and one of three Nord emoji stickers.

Sound quality

If you’re expecting sound quality to suck at the $39 price point, leave those thoughts behind. The Nord Buds still won’t impress seriously picky music listeners, but they deliver clean and crisp sound that’s much closer to the premium counterparts than it rightly should be.

They deliver clean and crisp sound that’s much closer to the premium counterparts than it rightly should be.

Most buds in this price bracket tend to emphasize bass as a means of covering up mushy audio in the mids and highs, but the Nord Buds really don’t need to compensate because they deliver really good sound throughout the frequency range. Make no mistake, there is some extra bass, but it’s pretty clear they were tuned for a typical customer rather than to hide other inadequacies. As a side effect, mids are a bit underrepresented in the default sound profile, but that can be corrected with a moderate boost in the EQ settings. If it matters to you, there’s no aptX support, only SBC and AAC.

There is one blind spot for anybody that demands heavy bass. Put simply, these buds do not thump. Despite their casual emphasis on bass, the 12.4mm drivers hit a wall if the lows are boosted to that max on any tracks with some deep bass.

Overall, the sound quality is good enough that the average person isn’t going to notice the imperfections unless they’re already spoiled by much higher end products. For the truly picky person, it’s not that hard to find something to complain about, but I think even that listener is going to admit these are better than the price suggests.

Microphone quality seems to be good for phone calls, or at least I heard no complaints and was told sound was coming through clearly, if maybe a bit louder than usual. The Nord Buds have AI noise reduction that’s supposed to help in loud environments, but it doesn’t seem to have very much effect, but at least it doesn’t seem to hurt either.

Features and battery life

Of course, with such a low price point, there were bound to be some compromises. Naturally, OnePlus is giving up a bunch of line item features that many people won’t miss, and in some cases, aren’t even that useful. There’s no ANC, no wireless charging, and no in-ear or removal detection. I’m personally comfortable losing the first two, especially since my experience with ANC across more than a dozen different earbuds has shown me that it’s almost never good enough to use, but I do miss in-ear detection.

But there are also a few features you’ll only get if the Nord Buds are paired with a OnePlus phone. For starters, they support the proprietary Quick Pair feature (curiously called "Fast Pair" in the marketing), not to be confused with Google’s more universal Fast Pair protocol. Low-latency mode is also available on some OnePlus phones while Game Mode is active; but I found the latency was already very minimal, so I’m not sure this matters very much.

On the subject of pairing, the Nord Buds initially irritated me because you have to place both buds back into the case before holding down the pairing button. Many other buds require placing one side back in their case, but it’s pointless to require both. However, I discovered OnePlus included a perfectly acceptable solution, though it's disabled by default. The app allows you to configure the long-press gesture to switch between the two most recently paired devices. This isn’t quite as good as the multi-point support in the Buds Pro, but it’s a pretty suitable solution if you’re only pairing with two devices like a phone and a computer.

OnePlus claims these buds can last 7 hours on a full charge, and that appears to be true from my experience, though I can’t imagine trying to endure a session that long without taking a break and tossing the buds back in the case. The case carries enough capacity to add another 23 hours through recharging for a total of 30 hours of active listening.

Like all earbuds made by OnePlus, the app situation is a little fussy, but pretty simple once you have it set up. All OnePlus phones should automatically install the appropriate app from the Play Store after pairing to the Nord Buds — either Wireless Earphones or OnePlus Buds, depending on the phone. These will allow you to access the extra features through the Bluetooth settings. Users of any non-OnePlus phone should install the HeyMelody app, which has no system integration, but it’s a perfectly good companion app.

The app is pretty mature and battle-tested, so it functions well and looks nice. However, the Nord Buds just don’t have very many features to configure, so the only thing you’ll use it for is mapping the tap controls and tuning the EQ settings. The app also displays battery levels for the case and each bud, and it allows you to install firmware updates.

Somewhere during the last month, OnePlus released a firmware update for the Nord Buds. However, it seems that the HeyMelody app doesn’t post notifications when new versions are available, so I only noticed it when I made a point of opening the app.

Setting aside poor notification etiquette, the update actually adds a Game Mode for any phone to make use of. The description given in the app suggests that the earbuds sync with games to remove latency, but of course, this is really just playing audio with almost no buffer, so there’s no perceivable delay between receiving the Bluetooth signal and running it through the speakers. The addition of Game Mode could be good for situations where you need to shave off the last fractions of a second in the audio. Bear in mind that this mode is prone to interference that will cause the audio to briefly cut out or skip — that’s what happens when there’s virtually no buffering.

Should you buy them?

Absolutely! OnePlus underpromised and over-delivered with the Nord Buds. Sure, they’re not quite as good as the Buds Pro, the most premium alternative OnePlus has to offer, but they’re so much closer than they have any right to be for a quarter of the price. You’re giving up several perks, especially if you’re not also using a OnePlus phone, but many users probably won’t mind the compromises.

You might miss ANC, wireless charging, and in-ear detection — and it’s hard to ignore the fat design of the case — but the audio quality and unblemished style would make the Nord Buds reasonable at double the price. If you’re at all concerned with budget, you’ll find all of the premium buds on the market offer diminishing returns for an asking price of $100 or more. Of course, that value proposition changes if you actually need those extra features like ANC or wireless charging.

If I have any concerns, it’s that OnePlus has a reputation for releasing a first-gen product that’s better than it should be for a very competitive price, and then it’s followed by a refresh that falls far short — but that’s a problem for the Nord Buds 2, and we’re not talking about those anytime soon. For now, just grab these and do something else with the rest of your money.

Buy them if…

• You want a great pair of budget-friendly earbuds
• You like the style and have a OnePlus phone to pair with

Don’t buy them if…

• You really need features like ANC or in-ear detection
• You’re a determined audiophile that must have the best quality possible

UPDATE: 2022/07/08 BY CODY TOOMBS

A magnetic discovery

This review was updated with long-term thoughts about the case and its magnets, as well as a rundown of the latest firmware update with gaming mode.

FAQ

Q: How do the OnePlus Nord Buds compare to the Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2?

For a similar price, Anker’s Soundcore Liberty Air 2 has very similar features and battery life. The Nord Buds get their win on sound quality while the Liberty Air 2 has the advantage of wireless charging and aptX support, which technically offers higher fidelity Bluetooth audio, though it’s going to weaker drivers. Anker’s buds and case aren’t as stylish either, but you can choose to get them in either white or black, and the case has a flatter design that will fit better into your pockets.

Q: How do the OnePlus Nord Buds compare to the OnePlus Buds Z?

OnePlus previously attempted a budget-friendly version with the original Buds Z for $50 before doubling the price on the second generation model. This original lacked customizable EQ and came in at just over half the listening time per charge of the buds. It’s also hard to ignore the look, which screams cheap Airpods knock-off. The Z2 increased its value by adding ANC and using better drivers to improve sound quality, but they still lacked EQ settings, making the $100 price tag a little hard to swallow.

Q: How do the OnePlus Nord Buds compare to the Jabra Elite 3?

The Jabra Elite 3 landed our pick for best value in a roundup of the best wireless earbuds. The Nord Buds undercut the price by half while maintaining a similar battery life, but they lack the much wider color selection of the Jabra. You’ll also get better call quality out of Jabra’s microphones and audio processing, though the Nord Buds win in just about every other way.

Q: How do the OnePlus Nord Buds compare to the OnePlus Buds Pro?

It seems crazy to compare $150 buds against a pair that’s launching at just $39, but here we are. The premium-priced Pro model comes with an extensive list of features, including ANC, multi-point Bluetooth connectivity, “Zen Mode” for those spontaneous meditative moments, and a handful of other perks; but if you don’t care about those things, all you’re really trading in is a negligible difference in audio quality and the slightly flashier appearance of the Pro’s chrome stems. Somewhat ironically, the Nord Buds even have something the Pro model doesn’t have: Software EQ. Yes, seriously, that’s still not available for the Buds Pro, and they really should have it.