OnePlus Buds 3, at $100, check almost all the boxes.
Pros
Cons
The OnePlus Buds 3 offers a lot for its price.
Theyre a decent budget-friendly pick unless youre a big bass fan.
Photo: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo
The sound feels nicely layered, and the ANC is powerful enough to silence everyone on the subway.
You might find the design a little boring, but at $100, Im not complaining too much.
OnePlus Buds 3 Design
A very $100 earbuds design.
Photo: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo
OnePlus newest buds feature an extremely inconspicuous design.
The case at 40.8 grams and the earbuds at 4.8 grams feel like a feather in your pocket.
The charging cases for these buds are also about 10 grams heavier than the OnePlus.
Photo: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo
Dont expect any bells and whistles in terms of design, though.
The case is as modest as possible, featuring a plain (boring) fully matte body.
You get to choose between a Splendid Blue and Metallic Grey shade.
Photo: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo
The buds are thankfully slightly flashier with a gleaming metallic exterior and long Airpods-style stems.
OnePlus Buds 3 Fit and Controls
The fit couldve been snugger.
OnePlus newest buds are IP55 rated against water and dust.
I tried all the ear tip sizes, but these buds are not snug in any setting.
Even at the smallest size, they kept plopping out of my ears.
The stem design made controlling the buds much easier.
There was more real estate to play with, and my fingers were not constantly struggling to find space.
OnePlus Buds 3 Audio
They get overwhelmed by too much bass.
The buds connect via Bluetooth 5.3 and support multi-point connectivity for up to two devices.
Mono-listening is also supported.
This is even better as it lets you quickly take your bud out to talk to someone.
Dont go for the OnePlus Buds 3 if youre a fan of bass.
I was surprised at how messy it got as I cranked the volume up.
The low-end on these buds is decent only at a specific volume for specific soundtracks.
It sounded muddy and all over the place.
On the other hand, Treble also retained its power and grace at higher volumes.
It sounded clean and (the good kind of) tinny.
It had an optimum amount of sharpness, and the buds could handle that frequency well.
OnePlus prides itself on the proprietary OnePlus 3D Audio they feature on these buds, and they should.
The sound was dynamic and felt flat or dull.
Youll be surprised at how well these little $100 buds cancel noise.
Low-end is much harder to silence.
Theres also a transparency mode, which I always prefer over an ANC on-and-off mode.
Thankfully, the transparency mode doesnt feature that loud, artificial, annoying hiss you find on many buds.
These buds and the charging case promise a whopping 44-hour battery life.
This is with your ANC turned off, though, and they last 28 hours when its turned on.
The buds last 10 hours without ANC and around six hours with it.
The buds are also designed to reduce as much wind in the background as possible.
If anything, theres some room for improvement.
OnePlus Buds 3 Verdict
Great value for money.
At $100,these budspack a lot.
The ANC is surprisingly great, and there are a few appreciated features, like mono-listening and multi-point connectivity.
The battery life is also considerably bigger than youd find on rival buds, especially at this price.
I wish the fit was tighter and the low end could sustain clarity at any given volume.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
However, some of our most-anticipated tech for the month won’t arrive until April.
I Am Smitten With This Super-Thin Foldable You Cant Buy in the U.S.
The Oppo Find N5 is a good look at what’s to come from foldable smartphone design.
Here’s hoping better cameras are on the horizon.
