At the recent OnePlus event, they showcased a new set of earbuds. The OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro. Bit of a mouthful, say that 10x fast!
Now, I had just reviewed the OnePlus Buds 3, and the differentiation between the Buds and Nord Buds is ... well ... hard to really describe. Best I can describe it as the Nord is the line up of OnePlus that tends to be the more 'economical' range. Think 'a series', like Pixel 8a, or Samsung A24. There are some sacrifices on the flagship lines to bring it down to a 'no-brainer' kind of price point, but still have some of the quality of its 'uppers'.
They had released a Nord 4 phone, but we won't get that; we did get the Nord Buds 3 Pro.
Whereas the OP Buds 3 are $140CDN set of earbuds, the Nord Buds 3 Pro are just $120CDN and even on sale for $96CDN.
So what is the difference? Why would you want to shell out 44 more dollars for the 'non-Nord's?
Let's check it out with first an unboxing:
It's got a neat look to it, with that speckled design (I at first thought it was just 'dusty') giving it a bit of a prestigious look (not sure why it's only on the bottom half and not the top hinge too).
The buds themselves look like most others, but have a bit of a unique 'waterdrop' look to the stems on the buds (instead of a straight 'stick' they have some 'bulging' at the bottom).
Okay, take it out of the box and let's play. Now, immediately my non-OnePlus phone had the quick pairing option pop up and ask to pair. Cool, and not just a 'X wants to connect', you get a pretty full looking 'card' of the device, leading you to believe you'll get everything.
Let's check it out.
First up you can check if your firmware is up to date; it's always good to have the latest.
Then you can adjust the noise cancellation; transparency is if you want to be able to hear what's around you to some level (i.e. cars or at work if you have those coworkers to 'pop in').
The noise cancellation 'works' - it's not fantastic like others I've tried, but it does a decent enough job that I could use it in my back yard while lounging in my hammock and not being bothered by cars driving by.
You have the option of running a 'personalized' setting; where it'll run a series of sounds in your ear and try to determine the best level of cancellation needed for you and your fitting. That's a nice touch; although, I don't know if I heard a great deal of difference.
Then there is the EQ settings. They make a big 'todo' about their Bass Wave feature.
When you compare these to the Buds 3, these actually have a bigger driver, and for those bass-heads out there, the bigger the woofer, the deeper the bass; and it does a pretty good job of pumping it out.
Personally, I found it a bit too much - not that it was overpowering (and there are 2 modes for you to play with to adjust what types of EQ settings you'd like, more 'singing' and more 'bass'.
It's nice to have, but I have some a range of music/podcasts to listen to that I feel I'd be constantly going back in and adjusting what mode I had it in.
In terms of battery life, it makes the claim of 44 hours, which is what the Buds 3 said; but when you dive in to the specs on the page it shows it might be just a little less than what the Buds 3 are in daily use. Buds 3 with 50% volume and ANC on gets 6.5hrs per charge, and the Nord Buds 3 Pro get 5.5hrs. Not a BIG difference as I wouldn't wear the buds for that long.
Where they do make a neat claim is that with 10 minutes of charging, you should get 11 hours of play back. Now, does that mean 10 minutes of charging the case would convert to how much time of the buds? When you dive in, 10 minutes of the buds in the case would equal about 4hrs of playback.
The math gets a little murky to determine which mode and whatnot to calculate usage time...
Needless to say, I don't think anybody will be too disappointed with the battery life. I usually have a 30 minute bike ride to work. Do a walk at lunch, then a bike ride home. They sit in the case between so it always keeps those charged for that minimum of about 4 hours of usage, and there's never been a time I've used something for longer than 2 hours. Just got to remember to charge the case now and again.
And here's where I'll say, for the extra money, I'd have loved for it to include wireless charging. It's a really great great feature to add, but I get that it would add $ to the bill. But once you get a pair that charge in the case wirelessly, it's hard to go back and dig for a cable to charge it.
The other area I noticed that it was a little lacking from the OnePlus Buds 3 was the fact the 'gestures' on the buds - it doesn't have any volume control.
I'm so used to using a 'swipe' feature on stems of buds or their pads to control volume, that this not having it was a pretty big notice for me.
Sure, it has the 'tap' / 'double tap' / 'triple tap' methods for you to customize your left/right buds in the app to do something
It even has long-hold, and a variant of touch and hold and release for more gestures...
...but there is no volume control swiping. Best you can do is set the left one to single tap to be 'volume up' and double tap to be 'volume down', which is really hard to remember (and leave the right one for the play/pause/skip/previous etc...).
All in all, for under $90CDN you can't go wrong with this set - but you could also pay a little more and get some additional features.
The sound is decent. I've heard better, but I'm in no way complaining about it, whatsoever. It's not muffled or discordant getting those various ranges in. I liked it without the EQ or extra bass settings and a clear sound comes in and I can pick out a variety of instruments on the right bit of music. I also liked the noise cancellation on it. I don't think I'll rely on it to really shut out a noisy airplane, but it's great to just relax in.
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