OnePlus Nord Buds 3 review

The Nord Buds 3 are the latest in-ear truly wireless earbuds from OnePlus and an India-exclusive product. These are the amateur version of the Nord Buds 3 Pro that launched a couple of months ago and the new entry-level model in the lineup.

For the most part, this is the same product, just with a couple of changes, most notably to the active noise cancellation. This means you are still mostly getting the same design, the same drivers, and the same or even better battery life. All that for 30% less money sounds like a good deal but we will have to see if it's worth it.

Design

The design of the Nord Buds 3 is nearly identical to that of the Pro model. The only difference is in the finish, with the Pro model having a dual-tone finish as well as a speckled paint pattern on the case while the non-professional model is either all-glossy for the white model or all-matte for the black model.

As such, all observations on the Pro model apply to this one. It's reasonably well-designed with good fit and finish, build quality and comfort. The standard model also retains the IP55 dust and water resistance for the earbuds from the Pro model.

Software

The Nord Buds 3 pair with Android and iOS devices using the HeyMelody app. Those using OnePlus smartphones or tablets do not need the app as all functionality is built directly into the Bluetooth settings of those devices.

The app allows you to adjust all of the features available on the earbuds. You can change your ANC settings and EQ, toggle game mode, manage paired devices, and customize gestures. You can also update the firmware but Nord earbuds rarely ever get updates so it's not of much use.

HeyMelody app

Compared to the Pro model, the Nord Buds 3 lose a handful of features, mostly related to the ANC. You do not get adjustable ANC levels and can only toggle it on or off or enable transparency mode. There is also no personalized noise cancellation feature that adjusts it to your ears and ambient noise. You also don't get the earbud fit test feature since there is no third feedback mic pointed inside your ear that the Pro model has.

But by far the most annoying omission on the Nord Buds 3 is the lack of in-ear detection for controlling playback and ANC. This means the earbuds have no idea of when you wear or remove the earbuds, and thus cannot play/pause the music for you, or enable or disable ANC. At this point, this feature should be table stakes, and releasing earbuds in 2024 without it just doesn't seem right.

Gesture control

The lack of this feature means you have to rely on gestures to control playback. This works by tapping on the side of the earbuds, which works reasonably well most of the time. However, the single tap gesture, which can only be enabled for play/pause functionality, is far too easy to trigger accidentally, which is probably why it is disabled by default.

Performance

Audio quality

The Nord Buds 3 have the same 12.4mm dynamic drivers with a titanized diaphragm as the Pro model. Both models also support only SBC and AAC codecs over Bluetooth 5.4 connection.

Based on that, one might assume the two would sound the same, but the tuning is different. OnePlus leans even further into the bass-boosted aspect of the sound, even though the Nord Buds 3 Pro were already fairly bass-heavy.

In terms of audio quality, there isn't much good news to report. It's the same sort of bloated, bass-heavy sound that we have come to expect from OnePlus at this point. While the bass itself isn't overwhelming, it has a wooly, boomy quality to it without much precision. It's also mostly mid-bass rather than sub-bass that you'd want to have.

In a bid to make the bass stand out, OnePlus also dramatically nerfs the rest of the frequency spectrum. While the lower mids are decent, which preserves most of the timbre of vocals, the upper mids and treble are eviscerated. This further adds to the muddiness of the sound as there's just no detail or resolution to speak of and everything just sounds soft and bassy.

The three EQ presets are mostly just two presets. The Bass preset sounds like the default "Balanced" preset, just with even more mid-bass for added bloat. The Serenade preset is far too mid-forward and tends to sound honky as a result. Fortunately, there is a manual EQ available that lets you create multiple custom profiles.

Using the manual EQ, it took seconds to vastly improve the default tuning of the earbuds. The 6-band EQ is rather limited, especially in the mid-range frequencies, but it was still possible to get a decent sound out of it. Improving the upper mids and highs vastly improves the perceived level of detail in the sound while also improving other aspects of the sound, such as imaging and soundstaging.

At this point, I am willing to offer my services pro bono to OnePlus to help improve the default tuning of their earbuds. I feel like this has gone on for long enough and they need someone to course correct because they had good sound on their audio product in their early days. The current tuning sounds like it was made exclusively by and for people who have never heard anything better even though people are much more aware of what good sound should be like these days. I am confident that most people who appreciate sound would pick my preset or something similar over the default tuning if it came pre-installed in the app as a preset, and it took me less than a minute to make it.

Microphone

The Nord Buds 3 have subpar microphone performance. The voice sounds garbled and constantly fluctuates even when recording in a quiet room. There is also the occasional crackling sound heard in the background.

Noise cancellation

The Nord Buds 3 have active noise cancellation that promises up to 32dB of attenuation, down from the 49dB promised by the Pro model. As mentioned before, the standard model has two microphones on the outside, one for ANC and the other for calls, while the Pro mode has three, with the third being inside the earbud for feedback.

The ANC performance on these earbuds is mediocre. While low-frequency attenuation is decent, they still let in a fair amount of mid and high-frequency noise. Also, if there is a lot of high-frequency noise, such as the sound of rainfall or construction work, then enabling ANC somehow amplifies the high-frequency noise, more so than if ANC was disabled.

Compared to the Pro model, the difference is quite clear. The Pro model does really well and even though there is still some aspect of that high frequency amplification, it's not as noticeable or bothersome as on the standard model.

Similarly, the transparency mode isn't as good on the standard model. The sound is a bit muffled and I found myself removing the earbuds to hear people around me better.

Latency

The Nord Buds 3 have good latency performance. The default latency is pretty decent and gets even better with game mode enabled. Perfectly adequate for casual gaming or watching content on a PC.

Battery Life

The Nord Buds 3 have a claimed battery life of 12 hours without ANC, the same as the Pro model, which isn't surprising since the two have identical battery sizes. However, the standard model has 8 hours of claimed battery life compared to 5.5 hours of the Pro model, simply due to having a worse and less battery-draining ANC.

When testing with ANC, I managed to get 9 hours and 6 minutes of playback. That's a bit higher than the claimed figure, which isn't surprising as the ANC level is dynamically adjusted based on ambient noise, and the test environment was likely not loud enough to trigger the max level ANC.

With ANC disabled, I got 12 hours and 26 minutes of playback, the same as what I got on the Pro model and closer to the claimed 12-hour number.

Overall, the battery life on the Nord Buds 3 is very impressive but it comes at the cost of reduced ANC performance compared to the Pro model.

Conclusion

The OnePlus Nord Buds 3 are priced at INR 2,299, which is fairly affordable and a good bit cheaper than the INR 3,299 price of the Pro model.

For the lower price, you get worse noise cancellation and no in-ear detection for play/pause. Audio quality remains a sore spot for both models and the cheaper Nord Buds 3 has somehow even worse tuning out of the box. The battery life is better on the non-Pro but again, it comes at the cost of worse ANC performance.

Overall, the Nord Buds 3 is only recommended if you can't spend extra for the Pro model, even though it is well worth it, and are willing to spend time tuning the sound regardless of which one you pick.

Pros

• Attractive, well-built design
• Comfortable
• Great battery life
• Good latency performance

Cons

• Shoddy audio tuning
• Subpar microphone performance
• Mediocre noise cancellation
• No in-ear detection feature