OnePlus Buds Pro 3 Review: Better Than AirPods Pro 2?

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The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 feature an incredible 43 hours of battery life and exciting audio profile, with a particularly booming bass, all for less than $200/£200.

The Good

1. Rich and smooth bass
2. Exciting audio profile
3. Marathon 40+ hours of battery life

The Bad

1. Noise-cancelling could be better
2. Made of plastic so aren't fully premium in build quailty
3. Touch controls work fine, but some may find them fiddly

• User Ratings (10 Votes)
  6.1

OnePlus is calling the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 “our best-ever audio experience”. That’s serious talk.

They also feature a frankly bonkers 43-hour battery life, and a price point which will make them tempting for virtually anyone who is in the market for a new pair of earbuds and who isn’t completely welded into the Apple ecosystem.

The Buds Pro 3 have, therefore, got quite a task on their hands. I should also note at this juncture that I haven’t heard the Buds Pro 2, so I can’t compare this new pair against their predecessors, but I have tested a lot of earbuds already this year.

Let’s see how the latest OnePlus flagships perform.

Specs and pricing

The Buds Pro 3 have been developed in partnership with Dynaudio. So, we’re off to a good start. There have been several interesting upgrades over the previous generation, too, including a new dual driver technology for the 11mm woofers and 6mm tweeters. There are also two DACs per earbud now, which is a first for OnePlus.

Google Spatial Audio is supported, and Bluetooth 5.4 is on connectivity duties (they’re compatible with Google Fast Pair, too).

In terms of noise cancelling, the Buds Pro 3 can achieve up to 50dB of adaptive (not active) noise cancellation which aids the 43-hour quoted battery life (with the case). A fast 10-minute charge delivers over five hours of listening time.

The Buds Pro 3 are priced at £199/€199 and can be ordered today.

Design and fit

The Buds Pro 3 come in two colours – Midnight Opus and Lunar Radiance. I was sent the latter to review and they look rather lovely – particularly the case, which has a faux-leather feel. That makes it very grippy and a pleasure to hold and interact with.

The buds themselves are very AirPods Pro-like, and while they’re made of plastic, do sport a premium look and feel thanks to that shiny finish on the stems. The Dynaudio branding on the rear of the case completes a package that does make you feel like you’re getting a lot for your money.

They’re comfortable, too. I had some initial issues with the left earbud falling out of my ear during a treadmill run, but a couple of adjustments to the fit solved that and they’ve been solid ever since. I’m a big fan of stem-design earbuds, and the Buds Pro 3 feel great during long listening sessions.

The touch controls are tastefully implemented with OnePlus opting for ‘squeezy’ stems for play controls and brushes of the finger up and down the stem for volume. During my testing, they were responsive and unobtrusive, which is all I ask if a manufacturer insists on touch controls for earbuds.

Sound and noise cancelling

The Buds Pro 3 sounds great. You can tell Dynaudio has got involved (they remind me very much of Oppo’s Enco X earbuds, which were created in partnership with the same audio company).

I’m increasingly looking for headphones and earbuds that excite me, and the Buds Pro 3 do that brilliantly. They sound bright and alive, and there’s a definite leaning towards rich bass. That might not be to everyone’s taste, but if you enjoy listening to music which benefits from a beefy bottom end, the Buds Pro 3 will deliver without making it all flabby and unsatisfying.

If you’re wondering, the Buds Pro 3 sound fuller than the Nord Buds 3 Pro (OnePlus’ lower-end range of products). In fact, ‘body’ is definitely the order of the day when it comes to describing the sound these earbuds produce.

Noise cancelling is good. It’s not quite on a par with AirPods Pro 2, but that’s a high bar, and we should remember the price differential here (Apple’s earbuds are £30 more expensive). More importantly, there’s no obvious degradation in sound or noise cancelling performance while the adaptive tech does its job (a common problem in other earbuds). OnePlus appears to have struck the right balance between audio quality, noise cancellation, and battery life, which is what you want on a pair of daily driver earbuds.

Conclusion

I’ve enjoyed digging into OnePlus’ latest products this year. They reveal that you don’t have to spend a fortune to get your hands on flagship technology.

The Buds Pro 3 are no different. They compete nearly pound-for-pound with AirPods Pro 2 and deliver an audio experience that is addictive and exciting. For £199 they feel like a bit of a bargain.

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