OnePlus Buds Pro 3 Review: Design, Features, Performance, and Price

5 minutes of reading Last update: August 26, 2024 | 1:44 PM IST

The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 are the third-generation premium wireless earphones from OnePlus, priced at Rs 11,999. The earphones offer adaptive active noise cancellation, the LHDC codec for high-resolution wireless audio, surround sound, multi-point connectivity to connect to two devices simultaneously, and support for both wireless and wired charging.

On paper, the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 seem like an improvement over their predecessors, but OnePlus claims there have been improvements in several aspects — from design and sound quality to call quality and battery life.

Design

The OnePlus Buds Pro 3, both the case and the earbuds, look nothing like their predecessor, and that’s for the better. The case, which now takes on a pebble shape, features vegan leather on the front and back for a premium feel and improved ergonomics. Available in Midnight Opus and Lunar Radiance (review unit) flavors, the case features a shiny gold OnePlus logo, adding a touch of elegance to its otherwise generic design.

As for the buds, they have a glossy finish on the stems and a matte texture on the buds. The buds have “R” and “L” cutouts for clear identification between the right and left earphones. They are easy to take out of the case, but the glossy texture on the stems is slippery and leads to accidental drops. Nevertheless, the earbuds are lightweight and modestly sized to provide a snug fit in the ear canal. Moreover, the in-ear design with soft ear tips provides a secure fit.

Characteristics

The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 are feature-packed wireless earbuds. Among their key features are:

Adaptive Active Noise Cancelling: Automatically adjusts noise blocking intensity based on ambient noise levels, with manual settings of maximum, moderate and soft.

Audio equalizer: That’s for the sound profiles, co-created in collaboration with Danish audio brand Dynaudio. There are a total of five preset equalizers to choose from, and the option to create your own if the presets aren’t to your taste. The preset options include Balanced, which is set as the default and works well in most scenarios; Bold, which enhances instrument detail; Serenade, which is tuned for vocals; Bass, which adds more texture to the low-end to boost the impact; and Dynaudio Featured, which is meant to replicate the sound of Dynaudio speakers. In addition to these sound profiles, there’s the option to enable OnePlus’ BassWave technology, which boosts the bass without compromising detail in the other bands.

Golden sound: This is a tool for customizing the sound signature based on your hearing profile. To do this, the earphones perform a test lasting about three minutes to scan the structure of your ear canal and your hearing characteristics.

Surround sound: It uses Google Spatial Audio technology to provide a wide soundstage, even if the audio track natively supports only stereo output. More importantly, it supports head tracking.

Game mode: Reduces transmission latency, but works best only with OnePlus smartphones.

Double connection: Can be paired with two devices, including Android and iOS.

Headphone Fit Test: Helps you find the right ear tip for the best experience.

Google Fast Pairing: Android devices recognize the headphones in pairing mode and enable quick connection.

High-Resolution Audio: It supports the LHDC codec for transmitting high-resolution audio, in addition to the commonly used SBC and AAC codecs. It is important to note that the LHDC codec is not widely available on Android devices.

Companion app

Most of the main features of the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 are available even on non-OnePlus devices via a companion app called “Hey Melody.” The app is available on the Play Store for Android and the App Store for iPhone. That said, it’s fair to say that OnePlus isn’t tying the main features of the earbuds to its ecosystem.

Sound and Calls

The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 deliver a balanced sound profile with clear bass and treble, complemented by optimal volume. As mentioned above, there are five sound profiles available, and you can find the right sound tuning among them that suits your hearing preferences. If not, there’s an option to create your own. For me, the default (Balanced) sound profile worked well in most cases, while it occasionally switched to the Bass sound profile.

The surround sound feature improves the audio experience by widening the soundstage, with support for head tracking. Importantly, it works on streaming audio platforms and even with audio files that are natively recorded in stereo.

While the headphones generally perform well, the call quality is decent but not exceptional. The microphones sometimes have trouble filtering out ambient noise in loud environments.

Battery

The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 offer a modest battery life of around four hours with active noise cancellation turned on in Smart mode. Battery life improves significantly with ANC turned off and at lower volumes. With the case, the earbuds offer enough battery life to last at least a week with a few hours of daily use. Charging is quick, taking around 40 minutes, although wireless charging is slower. This feature remains a useful addition, especially for devices that support wireless power sharing.

Verdict

The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 are feature-packed wireless earbuds that offer a compelling combination of performance and versatility. Primarily designed for Android devices, they also work effectively with iPhones thanks to the companion app. If you’re looking for premium wireless earbuds that offer future-proofing and adaptability to a variety of devices, the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 are a good choice.

First published: August 26, 2024 | 1:44 PM IST