OnePlus Buds Z Review – Best TWS Earbuds Under 3000

The OnePlus Buds Z comes at a price of Rs. 2,999 in India. The earbuds are available in two different colour options: White and Grey.

The OnePlus Buds Z packs the following items inside the box:

• Earbuds
• Charging case
• Silicone eartips (S, M, L)
• Type-C charging cable
• Documentation

Before we talk more about the OnePlus Buds Z, let’s see what on-paper specs look like:

• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0
• Supported OS: Android, iOS
• Battery: 40 mAh (earbud), 450 mAh (case)
• Weight:: 4.35g (Earbuds), 40g (case)

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When it came to designing the Buds Z, OnePlus didn’t exactly break new ground. Yes, it’s the typical long stem design with the classic OnePlus Bullets rings on the touch control area.

The Buds Z comes with silicone tips for the inner ear. Not only does this makes them extra comfortable than the original Buds, but it also helps them reduce the outside noise. Moreover, the buds weigh just about 4 grams each and hence are comfortable to wear for long durations. I wore them for pretty much the entire time that their battery lasted without feeling any discomfort.

The OnePlus Buds Z earbuds have touch-sensitive controls located on the outer sides that can be customised directly through the Bluetooth settings if you own a OnePlus smartphone.

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The case is constructed of high-quality plastic. It has a glossy finish that looks nice, but it is easily scratched. So make sure you keep them properly or use a case with it.

On top of the case, there is clear branding for OnePlus. The front has an LED indicator that tells about the remaining battery in the case. While the backside has a Type-C port along with a physical pairing button.

Overall, the OnePlus Buds Z have a good design and built quality. They also have an IP55 dust and water resistance rating, making them suitable for use in the gym and in light rain.

For the price, the OnePlus Buds Z offer good audio quality. They have 10mm dynamic drivers with bass boost, Dolby Atmos support, and panoramic sound. The 10mm drivers may not appear to be as impressive, but they deliver a solid, user-friendly sound.

The bass is steadily elevated throughout the range, resulting in a strong and reverberating low-frequency response. The majority of the time, the treble and midrange in rock, pop, and classical sound good. I enjoyed my Spotify playlist thoroughly. The audio was rich and the vocals were clear.

However, the OnePlus Buds Z do not have active noise cancellation, but they do have environmental noise cancellation. When these earphones are turned on, there is a mild background hiss, but it is mostly inaudible unless you seem to be in a very quiet environment.

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While it may not appeal to audiophiles, the OnePlus Buds Z will serve the entry-level audience well, and for Rs 2,999, there isn’t much to grumble about except that the bass could’ve been punchier.

Furthermore, the Buds Z include a mic on each bud. I used the Buds Z to take calls, and attend meetings while being at the office. The end result was quite impressive. I could clearly hear my friend on the call, and he could hear me clearly as well.

The OnePlus Buds Z packs a 450 mAh battery inside the case, while the earbuds hold 40 mAh each. OnePlus claims that it can deliver a playback time of five hours on a single charge and a total of 20 hours with the charging case.

However, during my testing period, I got a maximum of 4 hours of playback on a single charge which is a full 1 hour short of the company’s claims. The case offers three additional charge cycles offering somewhere around 16-17 hours of battery life.

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Well, the battery life is nothing great, it’s just average I would say. But the real highlight is the fast charging support. With just 10 minutes of quick charge, you can get a playback duration of three hours. Now that’s really good.

It takes about an hour and a half to fully charge the case from 0 to 100 per cent using the type-C cable. Sadly, there’s no wireless charging support.

The OnePlus Buds Z comes with Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. They use two different Android apps, one for OnePlus smartphones and another for the rest. OnePlus Buds is a built-in app for the OnePlus smartphone.

Others have to download the HeyMelody mobile app on their phone to access the update the firmware and customise the controls of the OnePlus Buds Z. Let me be clear: the OnePlus Buds Z are not feature-rich earbuds like those from Oppo and Realme.

To begin with, only two touch-sensitive functions are supported – long press and double tap. The long-press function, which is not customisable, can be used to swap between two devices which are paired with the buds. You can use the double-tap feature to play/pause music, skip tracks, go back to the previous track, and invoke voice assistant.

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There is no way to adjust the volume, which disappoints me and may be a deal-breaker for some users. Good thing is that the earbuds have in-ear detection, so the music will pause or resume automatically when the earphones are taken out or put back in the ears.

Finally, OnePlus devices can take advantage of Fnatic mode, a gaming mode that activates automatically. In this mode, the latency drops to 103ms, which isn’t the best I’ve seen but it does the job.