OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Review: Bang For Your Buck

For those not in the know, OnePlus’s Nord range of tech is always focused on affordability. As someone who bought the OnePlus One in 2014, I always associated OnePlus with phones that would not break the bank and still offer a wide range of features in its price bracket.

A decade on, a lot has changed about that sentiment and while you can’t really fault them for trying to add more quality and raise prices, the Nord range sticks by the idea that you can get decent specs at a decent price (compared to other major, global tech brands). In the audio department, OnePlus offered up their OnePlus Buds Pro 3 recently which was a solid contender in the wireless earbuds category and that’s been followed by OnePlus Nord Buds 3, an alternative for the price-conscious consumer.

The comparisons between the two can begin with the oval design case and formidable battery life in both, OnePlus Nord Buds 3 and OnePlus Buds Pro 3. That’s pretty much where the comparisons end, however. There’s a world of difference simply because the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 are perhaps trying to compete with high-end earbuds from the likes of Samsung and Apple.

The OnePlus Nord Buds 3, however, just stays in its own bracket, in terms of price (₹2,229) and features. This is mostly a good thing. With active noise cancelation up to 32 dB, it’s a decent amount to get you through everyday living and situations like flights, but it may not always come to your rescue when you’re around loud, chatty people. Unliked the OnePlus Buds Pro 3, there’s only an on and off mode of noise cancelation or transparency mode on the OnePlus Nord Buds 3.

If you’re on a call, however, the mic can do a great job. Fixed up with dual mics (an FF mic and a talk mic on the stalk) and the AI Clear Calls algorithm, plenty of conversations made with these are (relatively) stress-free and save you from hearing the dreaded “I-can’t-hear-your-voice-clearly.”

Speaking of clarity, on the sound front, another trademark technology that’s part of the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 is BassWave 2.0. It aims to boost bass with “clarity and fidelity” according to the makers. In usage, there’s no doubt a greater treatment of bass which OnePlus clearly champions in all their audio tech, but is it really necessary? They kind of forego a well-balanced offering for seasoned music listeners (Sure, it’s never claimed that the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 is for anyone close to an audiophile, but still) for the focus on bass. A silver lining here then is that these earbuds do pretty great for gaming.

Like with Nothing Ear (a), OnePlus Nord Buds 3 also has a dual connection feature where you can stay connected to two devices at the same time. It is, without a doubt, a technology that needs to be in all Bluetooth products as soon as possible, but until then, these earbuds are giving users the advantage of listening to music on laptops, taking calls on phones and vice versa.

The earbuds offer about 12 hours of continuous playback on a single charge with active noise cancelation (ANC) turned off. This goes up to a good 43 hours when it’s put into the charging case from time to time. With ANC, that turns to eight hours on a single charge and up to 32 hours with the case. True to OnePlus’s fast-charge prowess, a 10-minute charge can give you up to 11 hours of playtime, so no worries whether you’re turning up a concept prog album or a massive rap mixtape or putting on your favorite show or a new movie.