OnePlus launched its new TWS alongside the Nord 5 smartphones earlier this week. The Buds 4 are currently priced at Rs 5,999. OnePlus will likely add a Pro model to the lineup somewhere down the line. The Buds 4 make key upgrades on several fronts. There’s a larger audio driver within these earbuds compared to the vanilla model from last year (our review here). They also offer better ANC. OnePlus has also made a few tweaks to its design. There are a bunch of tertiary features like AI translation support and Golden Sound to talk about as well. So, without further ado, let’s jump into our comprehensive review of the OnePlus Buds 4.
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In This Article
OnePlus Buds 4 Review: Design
Here’s what you get inside the OnePlus Buds 4’s retail box:
- Charging case with earbuds inside
- USB Type-A to Type-C cable
- Extra silicone eartips (S and L)
- User guide and warranty booklet
The pebble-shaped charging case, previously seen on the Buds Pro 3 and Nord Buds 3/Pro makes a return on the Buds 4. If you like to fidget with the lid of your charging case, this is a far superior form factor than the lunchbox design of the Buds 3. Its strong hinge inspires a lot of confidence. The OnePlus lettering is engraved on the front panel under the lid, and the LED notification light is positioned below that. The bottom edge houses the USB Type-C port, while the pairing button lies on the right edge. The case is made entirely out of plastic, but the quality of the material and the soft matte finish on top lend it a premium in-hand feel.
The earbuds follow the traditional in-ear design, offering a snug and comfortable fit. OnePlus has gotten rid of the curved stem for a flat unit. The touch-sensitive part of the stem is slightly concave. The earbuds have an all-plastic build with a soft matte texture. Their compact form factor keeps them from causing fatigue and abrasion. Each earbud is equipped with 3 microphones. Overall, OnePlus has done a solid job of perfecting the in-ear design.
OnePlus Buds 4 are rated IP55 for dust and water resistance. We wore the earbuds while working out and were pleased to see that they remained unfazed upon exposure to excessive sweat. The absence of glossy inner panels meant that the earbuds remained locked in their position the entire time.
OnePlus Buds 4 Review: Performance
OnePlus Buds 4 use dual drivers to produce audio output. The driver combination comprises an 11mm woofer and a 6mm tweeter. Pairing the earbuds to your smartphone is easy with Google Fast Pair onboard. There are 3 audio codecs on offer: LHDC 5.0, SBC, and AAC. The LHDC codec for HiRes wireless audio is exclusive to OnePlus devices.
During the week-long review period, we used the OnePlus Buds 4 to listen to genres like post-punk, classic rock, heavy metal, pop, and grunge. The soundstage offered by these earbuds is impressive. Compared to the other TWS products in this price bracket, the Buds 4 sound very balanced. However, compared to the Buds 3, the bass elements are slightly more pronounced here. This isn’t a bad thing at all, since the low-range frequencies do not overshadow the mids and the highs. Some bassheads might even welcome the change.
The HeyMelody companion app for Buds 4 lets you change its equaliser profile. There are 3 options on offer: Balanced (Default), Serenade, and Bass. The ‘BassWave’ function lets you adjust the low end of each profile. You can also create a custom equaliser profile.
The ‘Golden Sound’ option in the HeyMelody app tests your hearing and adjusts the audio output accordingly. ‘OnePlus 3D Audio’ renders a spatial output, making the listening experience more immersive. However, the Buds 4 lack the head-tracking option. The handy ‘Game mode’ drops the earbuds’ latency to 47ms. We wore the earbuds while playing FPS games like Call of Duty Mobile and BGMI. The audio output synced perfectly with the gameplay and did not present any lag.
If you’re a OnePlus smartphone user, you don’t need to install the HeyMelody app for the Buds 4. The earbud controls are embedded in Bluetooth settings. There is no dedicated toggle switch for the low-latency mode, as it automatically kicks in as soon as you launch a game on your phone.
There are 3 Buds 4 features that are exclusively available for OnePlus smartphone users: HiRes wireless audio, AI translate, and Camera control. HiRes audio uses the exclusive LHDC 5.0 codec and relays a detailed output. AI Translate is a nifty feature that uses the smartphone to translate the speech of the speaker and feeds it directly into your ear. You can also choose the face-to-face mode to get your smartphone to translate your speech back to the other person. Camera control is a rather simple tool that triggers the camera’s shutter when you double-tap an earbud.
The OnePlus Buds 4 are reliable for phone calls and virtual meetings. Either earbud is equipped with 3 microphones – a talk mic for capturing the voice of the speaker, a feed-forward mic to detect external noise, and a feed-back mic for internal sound monitoring. The earbuds do a great job of extracting the voice of the speaker from the surrounding noise and relaying it perfectly to the listener. However, in outdoor conditions, the call quality takes a small hit.
Moving on, the OnePlus Buds 4 can nullify up to 55dB of background noise. The noise cancellation works across a 5,500Hz frequency range. In an indoor setting, the earbuds can completely nullify distant hums, but only partially curb the sounds from the ceiling fan, air conditioner, and keyboard. Needless to say, OnePlus still needs to work on its ANC chops to be the outright best in its segment.
There are 3 ANC levels to choose from: High, Moderate, and Low. The Auto setting switches among the three levels depending on the intensity of ambient noise. The Adaptive ANC mode kicks in when you’re having a conversation with someone. This saves you the trouble of manually turning off ANC every time you talk to someone.
Each earbud is packed with a 62mAh battery. The charging case holds an additional 530mAh. The battery life of the earbuds depends on the audio codec you’ve selected and your ANC usage. OnePlus claims that you can get continuous playback up to 11 hours while using the AAC codec and keeping the ANC turned off. This drops down to 5.5 hours with LHDC and ANC in use. With the LHDC codec relaying the audio and mixed ANC usage throughout the day, we got 8 hours of playtime out of the earbuds. The charging case can fully charge the earbuds up to 4 times. It takes up to 80 minutes to fully charge the case and earbuds.
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Verdict
The OnePlus Buds 4 deliver a rock-solid audio output and pair it with premium features. The nicely tuned low-end on the soundstage makes for a very enjoyable listening experience without overpowering the mid and high frequencies. The noise cancellation works fine in indoor settings, but needs some more work to better curb traffic and engine sounds. If you’re hung up on the Rs 6,000 price tag, features like Golden Sound, HiRes Audio, AI Translate, and OnePlus 3D Audio make a great case for splurging a bit more money.
OnePlus Buds 4: Pros
- Comfortable fit
- Good soundstage
- Good call quality
- HiRes Audio for OnePlus smartphone users
OnePlus Buds 4: Cons
- ANC needs more work
