The Nord Buds 2 are the latest entry-level successor to last year’s Nord Buds. These are still some of the cheapest earbuds OnePlus sells, but at $59, the Nord Buds 2 are $20 more than their predecessors.
At that price, the Nord Buds 2 add active noise cancellation, making them one of the cheapest OnePlus earbuds with this feature and the cheapest earbuds on the market from a reputable brand with this feature. increase. Is that enough to justify the price increase? Let’s check.
design
The Nord Buds 2 have a slightly tweaked design from their predecessor. The basic shape of the case is the same, but the edges are curved to give it a more rounded shape. The new case is also slightly smaller than the previous one. Like its predecessor, the new case has a great fit and finish for the price, but it’s not IP rated.
The new case is also a bright gray color with a metallic sheen. The body is a lighter gray than the lid, and has an interesting speckled pattern that looks like garbage at first glance. The back of the case has a USB-C port for charging and a pairing button, almost invisible on the surface.
The earbuds follow the theme of having a slightly tweaked version of the old design. It’s inlaid into the body with glossy clear plastic. In fact, someone should have thought of that.
Despite the modifications and paint job, the Nord Buds 2 are still very distinctive and cool looking earbuds. They were also very small and light and comfortable for long sessions.The earbuds he has an IP55 rating, which makes them dust and water resistant.
Software and features
Nord Buds 2 can be controlled via Bluetooth settings on OnePlus phones or the HeyMelody app on other Android and iOS phones. The earbuds have the same basic feature set as the original Nord Buds, but with a few additions.
The main new feature here is Active Noise Cancellation. You can turn it on or off, or switch to transparent mode. There is no automatic or manual level adjustment available here, nor custom ear tuning.
ANC and audio settings
Audio can be adjusted from the Sound Master EQ menu. Four presets are available here, along with the option to create custom profiles with a 6-band EQ. New here is BassWave, introduced in the OnePlus Buds Pro 2. It’s supposed to be an algorithm that dynamically adjusts the sound, but it’s really just another bass knob. A positive or negative offset can be used to increase or decrease the bass level.
The Nord Buds 2 are also well controlled with touch gestures. Single taps, double taps and triple taps are possible, each of which can be adjusted or disabled per ear. You can assign play/pause, previous/next track, voice assistant or game mode, but unfortunately there are no volume control options. You can switch to a device paired with the .
earphone control
Both EQ and earbud control feature changes are saved on the earbuds themselves. This means that even if the device doesn’t support the apps, they will carry over to the device that pairs them.
Unfortunately, a major omission from the original Nord Buds has been carried over to this model. This is a lack of in-ear detection – the earbuds can’t tell when you put them on or take them off. That is, it cannot be played or paused accordingly. Similarly, ANC remains active when both earbuds are removed, and removing only one earbud does not switch the other earbud to transparent mode.
This was the perfect feature to include in the original model. At least I’d rather use in-ear detection than ANC like the one that comes with the Nord Buds 2, but more on that later.
performance
audio quality
The Nord Buds 2 are equipped with the same 12.4 mm dynamic drivers as the previous model. The Bluetooth version has been updated from 5.2 to 5.3, but still supports the same SBC and AAC codecs. This means nothing to audio quality.
In terms of sound quality, the Nord Buds 2 are very similar to the original, with slight tuning differences. His default EQ profile is called Balanced, which is ironic considering it’s very bass-heavy. The bass is fairly fat and thumpy, with an excess of low-mid energy. It works in some genres and tracks, but in others it feels intimidating and unnecessary.
Vocals have a smooth and pleasing tonality in this preset. The voice has a good tone, and content such as podcasts sounds pleasant due to the added warmth. The midrange may not stand out, especially next to the bass, but it’s not sunken or pushed back as is the case with most other mainstream tunings.
The high register has a similarly smooth energy without sharp peaks or sibilance. The Nord Buds 2 add a little extra sparkle to the top compared to the otherwise similarly sounding Nord Buds tunings. This makes it a little more balanced than its predecessor, which was all about its bass.
Luckily, like the Nord Buds, the tuning of the Nord Buds 2 can be heavily altered using presets. The featured Bold preset lowers the bass to a more manageable level and adds energy to the treble. The highs tend to sound a little too bright due to the over-boosted highs, and the vocals are left behind and sound pretty mediocre, even compared to the balanced presets.
The Serenade preset is all about midrange and is probably the most balanced preset overall. The midrange sounds too forward and nasal than it should be, but otherwise it has the most reasonable bass and treble tuning.
A Bass preset is basically a Balanced preset with more bass and a little extra treble. The BassWave setting can be used to add more bass when you don’t want to hear anything else, but we recommend setting it to -5 on the Balanced preset. I still enjoy tuning the mellow mids and trebles.
Custom EQ is useful, but limited by the 6-band EQ. Also, the bass can still be on the high side, even on the lowest settings. Still, using the curve above, I was able to make the earbuds sound pretty good, at least as far as frequency response is concerned.
That aside, the sound is completely mediocre and there’s not much you can do to improve it. The sound is also very boxy, with even the spacious tracks sounding almost stuck in your head with little sense of space.
The Nord Buds 2 sound very similar to the Nord Buds, with the exception of slight tuning differences between presets and BassWave settings. Not without room for improvement, OnePlus decided to turn its attention to other aspects of the sequel.
microphone
Like its predecessor, the Nord Buds 2 have surprisingly good mic quality. There is a slightly metallic tone to his voice, but aside from that, background his noise is well suppressed, so it sounds very natural. If you want something for voice calls, these work very well.
noise cancellation
The Nord Buds 2 come with active noise cancellation, a feature the previous model didn’t have. As mentioned, it’s a simple on/off function with the added transparency mode.
ANC levels are mediocre at best. As usual, there is some attenuation in the lows and mids, but not as much in the highs. However, the earbuds themselves have decent passive isolation, so the overall effect is still decent.
On my 5-point scale where 4 is the best current ANC implementation and 0 is no ANC, the Nord Buds 2 are a 1 at best. It’s better than no ANC, but I’m not sure I’d pay extra for it.
latency
The Nord Buds 2 have very good latency performance. On OnePlus phones, the game automatically triggers low-latency game mode, but you have to manually enable it when using the HeyMelody app. When enabled, latency is amazingly low, making it perfectly usable for most games. The video player syncs automatically to compensate for lag, so video playback isn’t a problem, even on smartphones.
Things are different with computers as there is no automatic sync and this is where most Bluetooth products fall apart. Luckily, the Nord Buds 2 have relatively low latency by default, so the earbuds perform very well even without game mode or auto-sync. The delay is slightly noticeable for high frame rate video, less so for 24 fps content, and even less for animation. However, games are not recommended.
connectivity
The Nord Buds 2 had no connection issues and the earbuds worked reliably every time.
battery life
The Nord Buds 2 have a battery life of 5 hours with ANC enabled and 7 hours with ANC disabled. My test took 6 hours 13 minutes with ANC enabled and 8 hours 34 minutes with ANC disabled. These are significantly higher than the figures quoted, so I don’t see them complaining.
After 10 minutes of flat charging, the earbuds played 2 hours 25 minutes with ANC on and 3 hours 16 minutes with ANC off.
Conclusion
The OnePlus Nord Buds 2 are a modest upgrade from their predecessors. They look and sound similar, and have equally good mics, latency, and battery life.
Adding ANC may not be worth the extra cost in some regions. Certainly in the US he wouldn’t recommend paying the extra $20. Now, for the discounted $29, you’d be better off getting a still decent first-generation model. In India, the price difference is only INR 300, in which case you should get a new model.
Overall, though, the Nord Buds 2 are a great pair of entry-level earbuds. I really liked the in-ear detection, as that’s the main issue with the earbuds. Sound quality isn’t great either, but if that’s your priority Get a pair of wired 7Hz Zeros or Moondrop SSRs.
