Kellen
The announcement may have flown under the radar some because of all of Google’s Pixel fun in August, but OnePlus dropped a new pair of “Pro” earbuds on us a couple of weeks ago. The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 are official and you can buy them at a pretty good launch price, far below what Samsung and Google are charging for their newly introduced “Pro” buds.
We’ve been testing the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 for a solid month at this point, taken them on runs, worn them in the office, and connected them to several different devices, all to be able to give you some thoughts if you are in the market.
Let’s dive into this OnePlus Buds Pro 3 review.
What are the OnePlus Buds Pro 3?
The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 are the next high-end earbuds from OnePlus that are packed with fancy marketing terms, all of the specs, an interesting design, and a couple of color choices, both of which carry that fancy vibe. At $179.99, these are well-priced, but OnePlus has also been keeping the price down to $149.99 for much of their early life. These seem like a pair of “Pro” earbuds you could get at a steal no matter the time of year.
As for features, OnePlus says you’ll find 11mm woofers and 6mm tweeters in these buds with two DACs per earbud focused on each, Active Noise Cancellation (although OnePlus is calling it “Adaptive” Noise Cancellation), gesture controls in each bud (with squeezable stems), spatial audio support, Bluetooth 5.4 compatibility, Fast Pair support, an IP55 rating, and battery ratings of 6 hours with ANC on and 10 hours with it off. You can get up to 43 hours of total usage with ANC off through the charging case, which supports both wireless and wired charging.
There’s an audio profile that is tuned by Dynaudio, and to be honest, I have no idea who that is. I’m no audiophile, so hopefully it means something to you, audio guy. OnePlus describes this setting as a profile that “balances bass, mids, and treble to replicate the sound of Dynaudio experience.” They also provide settings for Balanced, Bold, Serenade, and Bass, plus you can create your own equalizer settings and tune to your specific ears with a Golden Sound feature.
You’ll find other currently popular features too, like a game mode, option for dual connection between two devices, and ANC options of ANC ON or off, and a transparency mode. OnePlus says they’ve increased the ANC by 6-8 decibels over the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 and is giving you High, Moderate, and Low ANC levels, plus an Auto mode that will recognize ambient noise in your environment to adjust accordingly.
The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 come with XS/S/M/L ear tips to help you get the proper fit, colors of Midnight Opus (black) or Lunar Radiance (cream), and cases that are wrapped in faux leather. The design is a familiar bud+stem look, but OnePlus does jazz it up a bit by mixing up textures, giving you both matte and metallic finishes.
Are the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 any good?
I’d probably start trying to answer that question by talking fit. For my ears, the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 come with medium ear tips on out of the box and these fit my ears perfectly. I’ve worn these buds when working out and pounding the pavement in this size and haven’t had to worry about them falling out or needing adjustment. They are light enough to not bring on ear fatigue, yet carry enough weight that you know they are there. Finding that balance in an earbud can be tricky, but I think OnePlus mostly got it right. I’d probably rate them on the heavier side even if they essentially match Samsung’s Buds 3 Pro and the AirPods Pro 2.
Using the Buds Pro 3 is as easy as any pair of earbuds. The stems, once you get used to interacting with stems, work well. You can pinch to click to play/pause or skip tracks, hold that pinch to toggle between ANC modes, and swipe for volume adjustments. None of this is new stuff, but earbuds from other companies in the past have struggled to get this stuff to a working state – OnePlus has great controls here.
As far as battery life goes, I just don’t find myself in situations where I would need to wear them for 6 hours straight. My earbud sessions typically last up to an hour, but often less than that. That means that needing 6 hours of usage with ANC active isn’t a thing I worry about. As you can probably imagine, I never found myself draining these Buds Pro 3, as short sessions lead to the buds back in their case, where they again charge to full.
I will say that during my testing, because the case provides up to 43 hours of use, I’ve only needed to charge the case twice, if I am recalling correctly. That’s pretty wild for a pair of earbuds. For heavier users, I still think you’ll find battery life acceptable, if not great.
OK, but what about sound?
Overall, I’d call this audio tuning mostly balanced, with a focus on lows that tend to bury vocals at times. While testing, I kept wondering why every song seemed to lack a vocal punch, and I just think that’s where OnePlus wanted to go. These Buds Pro 3 can certainly carry bass, with a smooth deepness that is satisfying with the toughest of tracks. And yes, I threw The Weeknd’s “High For This” at them, as I always do. They held on without turning crunchy and I’m satisfied there. However, my ears keep wanting more from the artist singing to me. Whether that’s the raw fun of Teddy Swims, that next-level falsetto of Aaron Frazer, or the emotions of Abraham Alexander, I didn’t quite find any of it to my satisfaction.
That’s not to say these buds can’t be good with the right track. A venture into hip hop often met the moment or songs with a vibrance that you don’t need a vocalist to carry were fine. But still, when firing up something like Celeste’s “Both Sides Of The Moon,” I was disappointed.
I’ve traversed through all of the pre-made sound EQ mixes, cranked BassWave to the top, set the buds mostly on its “Dynaudio feature,” and danced between ANC levels or Transparency to find a mix that helped the Buds Pro 3 along. I just couldn’t find a setup that allowed these to shine.
Look, the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 are a solid pair of “Pro” buds with a lot of popular features. They are probably not up to the level of all of the other high-end buds I have sitting on my desk, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t consider them. They are $80 cheaper on most days than the new Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 and anywhere from $100 to $120 cheaper than Samsung’s latest. They are a good value even if they aren’t the best in the business.
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