OnePlus Buds Pro 2R  Bluetooth Truly Wireless in Ear Earbuds| Up to Rs.1500 Off on Bank Offers | Up-to 45dB Adaptive Noise Cancellation, Dual…

Feb 2023 UPDATE

So I went to the OnePlus service centre and we’ll obviously it is non repairable. I also found out that a subsequent amount of people are getting this issue where either one or both buds battery drains. As of now, 15-20 minutes of zoom or phone call. 45-50 minutes of movie or music. These stats are ofcourse without ANC or Transparency On and volume at less than 50 percentage.

In my original review I strongly recommended these buds but I would ask you all to steer clear off of these. Or atleast do some research on reddit or other forums before buying. Don’t just rely on YouTube or Amazon reviews. I have enjoyed these buds average 8-9 hours everyday but didn’t expect the battery to fail so miserably.

So this is my final update and verdict. I am not going to buy another OnePlus buds.

Jan 2023 UPDATE

Earbuds battery has diminished so much that it is borderline not usable. Not sure if it’s software issue or hardware. Sound quality continues to be awesome but minor crackling and one side disconnect and small issues like these appear from time to time seldom. Considering the price which hasn’t reduced alot even though it’s been more than a year and next gen is coming up, the battery of earbuds draining faster than everready torch batteries is unacceptable. To give you perspective at 70% volume no ANC no TRANSPARENCY mode fully charged buds struggle to finish a 45 minute call. While watching movie or music it dies at around 1:20 or 1:30. At full volume calls last less than 30 minutes and 1 hour for movies/music. If you turn on ANC or Transparency 15 minutes call which is useless because no meeting last only 15 minutes.

Will I buy OnePlus buds pro 2? Probably if there are good exchange options. Because the sound quality still remains one of the best in this range.

ORIGINAL REVIEW

I don’t own any premium ANC earbuds or headphones. However I have extensively demoed the industry leads like sony wf & wh 1000xm4, bose QCs and mid range like samsung buds, live and buds pro. I brought these because I own OnePlus 7 and wanted that advantage of being in OnePlus environment. Plus, I didn’t want to break my wallet on my first premium earbuds.

BUILD: Pretty good, the dual tone finish and matte black is very handsome. The metallic part isn’t metal. Case is not metal but maybe polycarbonate, again matte finish. As you can see it has already attracted oily finger prints. The fit is perfect for my ear and it doesn’t fall off while jogging or dancing. I use the medium tips that come out of box. There’s also large and small tips included in the box.

CALL AND MIC: There is a little sync issue while on cellular calls and it’s very negligible. I have noticed this on two different calls while my handset was next to me. Other than that other side didn’t have any issue hearing my voice. Noise cancellation is fine as well. I tested while cooking (utensil noise, stirring, etc.), While at terrace with monsoon winds blowing through the mic. They were able to ear me clearly but also able to tell that I was cooking or not indoors. For me that’s more than enough.

CONNECTIVITY: In my 24hrs of usage I have not faced any connection dropping or lag while watching movies. However, this doesn’t support multi device connectivity. Connecting with my device was a breeze. Just open the case and the UI pop out on your phone will ask if you want to connect. To connect with laptop you need to press the pairing button between L R marking inside the case. Yes that’s a button. Issues mentioned above can easily be fixed with software update,which I am sure OnePlus will do.

INTERFACE: You have to pinch the stem to perform any action. There is no physical click but the auditory click is very satisfying. You have single click to Play pause accept or hangup call. Double click to next track, triple click to previous song. All of these are customisable from bluetooth settings in OnePlus devices. For other android device, you have to download an app. 2 second long press is for changing ANC. 3 second to activate zen mode, which is nice but I don’t care about it. There is no volume control which is regrettable. I wish they had been innovative and incorporated by rotating the stem or something like that.

AUDIO QUALITY: I listen to music almost all the time while I am working and not on calls, and I watch atleast one movie or couple episodes of any show before going to sleep. I am happy to report these have amazing audio signature. The mids and lows are clear, bass is very punchy comes very close to Sony XM4s and the earphones are very very loud. I have never in my life put earphones at mid volume level. I have tested these on A R Rahman, MM Kreem songs, songs like Faint – Linkin park, You spin me right round – Dead or Alive, Abba, Hans Zimmer Themes. I heard instruments I didn’t know those songs had in them. On downside, there is slight distortion on bass when mids and highs get loud. I hope OnePlus fixes this with a software patch.

AUDIO ID: Many reviewers on YouTube have dismissed this as a gimmick but this unique feature does work. I have tinnitus and don’t hear many frequencies clearly. What they do is test your hearing capabilities of different frequencies and boost them. Problem is there is a bug in current system that saves the profile on your buds but not on UI. And I would’ve loved customisation of eq after audio ID is generated but as of now that’s not possible. So after few hours of listening on Audio ID profile I switched back to default by forgetting device and pairing it again.

DOLBY ATMOS: I didnt expect these earbuds to have remotely decent sound stage. Though it’s not mind blowing it’s still amazing for what it is. I watched Saving private Ryan, Edge of Tomorrow, Godzilla 2014 and tomorrow war. The overhead sound, has good amount of distance. Punchy bass helps with the movie experience and vocals are clear.

BATTERY: About 4-5 hours with ANC on. I don’t know what’s the duration without ANC but maybe an hour or two more. My case hasn’t run out of juice since I got them and I haven’t yet plugged in yet it’s been 2 days. The case came fully charged out of the box.

ANC: These cost less than half of sony wh 1000xm4 and the ‘adaptive Noise cancellation’ is just half as good as Sony’s which is still very good. My house help loves banging utensils while washing, and the noise he makes is irritatating as well as deafening. With ANC on, I can barely hear those banging. My fan makes a lot of noise too which this cancels out. However, there is no difference between smart and extreme modes. Transperancy mode works good.

Overall for 10k I feel these are better or almost as good as more expensive counterparts like samsung, nothing ear1 and if you want ANC earbuds without breaking wallet and great sound quality, you should definitely buy these.

Non audiophile here. I got these in Oct’21 for ~10K and these were my first wireless earbuds. Pretty high purchase price for my taste then but went for it, and was not dissapointed. They used to last 8 hrs+ with great quality as I remember during the first 1.5 years with decent usage. But for the past couple months, battery usage does not last above 30 min without ANC. It’s just dissapointing to see this given the amount spent. I have noticed the same with other reviews here, and might not recommend this device to someone who is looking for good usage beyond 1.5 years. Else go for it if you will be upgrading after an year or so.

Buds pro case quality more better than pro 2
Pro2 looks cheap but pro model has premium quality