INTRO
Thanks HeyUpNow for sending me this unit, it’s a great opportunity as always to try new tech and express my opinion to an audience that really cares about new tech and what it can do for your life.
This is the review of the CMF (by nothing) Buds Pro, a cheap pair of headphones produced by the creators of the nothing brand.
UNBOXING EXPERIENCE
The unboxing experience, considering also the low price of these pair of earbuds, is very good. The packaging is slim, eye-catching, and very well refined, and contains all the essenti
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ls for the product. If you want to delve more into this, here’s my unboxing video:
https://youtu.be/kGjULu0TkjA
In the box, other than the earbuds and their case, you can find a usb-a to usb-c cable, braided and very high quality, although very short, and some replacement ear tips, together with some paperwork. Pretty good.
DESIGN, BUILD QUALITY AND USER EXPERIENCE (APP)
Let’s start with the case: i like it. Maybe too big, but the case is very nice to hold in your hands, has a nice matte finish and looks great. Also the orange color, despite a bit too eccentric for someone, looks real cool, and if you need someone less vivid, there’s also black and white, that looks great as well. The case, according to my tests, can charge the headphones 4-5 times, depending on the use of noise canceling or not.
The buds, however, in my opinion are a bit ugly. They look like airpods pro ripoffs, but a bit bulkier and finished in this glossy orange that make them look very cheap, like a pair of knock-offs. Their design is a big NO in my opinion… but their build, although not as good as the case itself, isn’t bad.
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After downloading the app, the same great one used for the other nothing audio products (Nothing X), you can set up the headphones in many ways, controlling the behaviour of the touch buttons, the noise cancelation/transparency mode, and even the EQ for the buds. The app is very good and helps you set up the buds pro in a very easy and convenient way, while also having some pro features like a professional equalization mode, which I can’t seem to understand because i’m not professional enough.
The same good things cannot be said about the buds: the touch controls, now that i’m used to Nothing Ear (2)s taptic ones, aren’t that great. There’s not that much customization, and as many reviewers pointed out, the logo on the stem of the earbud seems like a button, despite not being one.
The battery life, maybe because the buds are bigger that competition, is very good. It can even reach 11 hours with ANC turned off, and 5-6 hours of listening time with ANC or transparency mode on.
SOUND AND MICROPHONE QUALITY
The Nothing X app offers three main sound profiles: balanced, bass boosted and voice, despite the fact you can create your own EQ through an easy mode and a professional mode. I tested the buds in balanced mode, which is the way the engineers tuned them, and i must say, for the low price of 50 euros (at least for a pair of true wireless from a big brand) they don’t sound half bad. You can definitely listen to music and have fun. I compared them to the Nothing Ear (2)s, and the latter has definitely better bass response e cleared highs, but considering the 100 euros price difference, was to be expected.
Their sound profile is a bit V-shaped, with a preference for bass, that tends to crush highs. Bass is not that amazing either, but once again, these earbuds can be used for music listening, and are better than off-the-shelf amazon branded buds, that come straightly from china.
Would i recommend these earbuds for a great audio experience? No. But for calls and casual listening, they’re ok. Talking to the phone through these buds is a suprisingly good experience. Considering the historically BAD microphones true wireless earbuds have, even top notch ones like airpods, the microphones of the CMF Buds Pro are totally useable, and have a good noise cancellation algorithm. As always, a 20 euros pair of wired earbuds can do better, but that’s to be expected.
NOISE CANCELATION AND TRANSPARENT MODE
Noise cancelation is kind of… a marketing gimmick. It doesn’t really cancel that much, and, compared to the already not that great Ear (2)s (that at least can make you feel like there’s silence in the room), these Buds Pro can only lower a bit the volume of your surroundings, but i feel like most of the work is passive noise cancelation and not active. Once again, for 50 euros, not that i could have expected much, and it’s nice to at least have some kind of noise reduction.
Transparency mode, on the other hand, works pretty good.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
These buds definitely are a case of form over function. They bet all on the eccentric colors and design, and, despite not being bad at all, they also don’t do anything really well. I don’t think i would recommend a pair of these, because, even at this price, they’re just above mediocre.
My score for these buds is a 6/10.
