There’s no shortage of wireless earbuds out there these days, and sadly, a vast majority of the ‘affordable’ ones just really aren’t very good. CMF is the budget brand of Nothing, the company that makes cool phones with lights on the back, and they recently launched 3, yes 3, new wireless earbuds, the CMF Buds 2, Buds 2a, and Buds 2 Plus.
They all look exactly the same, have almost exactly the same features, and cost about the same as well. So why on earth release 3 very similar products all at the same time? I literally have no idea. It seems like the just about the dumbest thing you could do as a company, but I don’t make those decisions.
It’s one of the most confusing product launches and product lineups I’ve ever seen, but considering how similar the Nothing Phone (3a) and Nothing Phone (3a) Pro are, I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised.
Anyway, I got a hold of a pair of the CMF Buds 2 earbuds, and I wanted to share my thoughts.
Cool design
As with all CMF and Nothing products, the Buds 2 look really nice. The colors and materials (the “C” and “M” in CMF) look and feel great and while the buds themselves don’t stand out from any other wireless earbuds, the cool Mint color I got does at least look different than most others. There’s also a fairly bright orange if you want to stand out even more, but I wasn’t able to get those.
The case also doesn’t really stand out from any other cases, with one big exception – there’s a large wheel in the top left corner that actually turns. Sadly, it’s not actually functional, unlike the wheel on the CMF Buds Pro 2, which came out last year, cost the same as the new Buds 2 Plus, which don’t have a working scroll wheel.
Yeah, I’m confused too.
Moving on.
Great sound
For $59, the CMF Buds 2 actually sound pretty good. They aren’t at the level of the AirPods Pro or even something like the OnePlus Buds Pro 3, but they sound much better than most other earbuds in this price range that I’ve used. The sound is powered by an 11 mm custom driver that delivers decent sound that’s a little heavy on the bass for me. The Ultra Bass Technology enables the deep bass, but I’m not a fan. I’d rather a more well-rounded sound, but I also realize I’m in the minority there. All the cool kids want their bass these days.
There’s something called Dirac Opteo in the buds as well which is basically a digital tuning software from a company called Dirac that is supposed to digitally eliminate ‘unintended resonances’ in the sound. Basically, it’s supposed to give you a clearer sound, than headphones without it.
Solid features
There are a surprising number of extra features in the Buds 2 that you typically don’t find at this price point. There’s 48 dB Hybrid active noise cancellation, which means it uses both the external and internal microphones to actively cancel out the noise. Combined with the rubber ear tips that provide the passive noise cancellation, I was impressed with how good these were at cancelling out the environmental noise. I still preferred my OnePlus Buds Pro 3s for abnormally loud environments like mowing the grass, but otherwise, I would go with the CMF Buds 2.
There’s also spatial audio, which helps give you a more immersive sound depending on what you’re listening to, dual connection, which lets you connect to two devices simultaneously, like a laptop and a phone, so you can listen to music on one and still hear notifications on the other. If you’ve not used headphones with this before, it’s pretty great.
The Buds 2 also have ChatGPT integrated directly into them so you can talk to your favorite AI with the push of a button. I honestly don’t know how useful this would be, and I literally never used it, but it’s there if you want it. You’ll need to be paired with a Nothing or CMF phone to use it, however, so keep that in mind.
They are also IP55 water and dust resistant, so there shouldn’t be any problems taking these on a workout or a light rain. I wouldn’t swim with them, though.
Battery life
CMF claims up to 55 hours of total playback with the Buds 2, and while I never specifically timed that, I believe the claim. After several weeks with the Buds 2, I’ve only had to charge them once, and that’s with a least 30 minutes to an hour of average use every day, including phone calls.
The best part is that just 10 minutes of charging with give you another 7.5 hours of listening so you can juice them up before you head out and you’ll have plenty of life left until you get back.
Price
The Buds 2 are $59 right now, and you can probably find them on Amazon for a few dollars cheaper. But the price is by far the hardest, most annoying, and most confusing thing about them because that is literally right between the $49 Buds 2a and the $69 Buds 2 Plus, so it’s really hard to recommend these at all. If your budget is tight, get the Buds 2a with slightly worse, but still very respectable, specs or if you can, spend a few dollars more and get the Buds 2 Plus with better noise cancellation, better sound, and more battery.
So really, unless you are in love with the Mint color, or you really can’t spend the few extra dollars for the Buds 2 Plus (which, in that case, you should save your money anyway and get the 2a), then the Buds 2 are really solid.
