OnePlus Nord Buds CE

Experience immersive audio with OnePlus Nord Buds CE. Designed with cutting-edge technology, these earbuds deliver high-quality sound for your music, calls, and more. With up to 24 hours of battery life and fast charging, you can stay connected all day. Plus, the ergonomic design ensures a comfortable fit for extended use. Upgrade your audio experience with OnePlus Nord Buds CE.

The Nord Buds CE are the latest TWS earbuds from OnePlus. Not only are they part of the budget Nord series, they are also part of the even more budget CE or Core Edition lineup, meaning these are essentially the cheapest earbuds the company currently offers.

Sold only in India at the moment, the Nord Buds CE are meant to offer the truly wireless earbuds experience for those on a shoestring. Admittedly, we didn't have high hopes going in; after all, how good can a $29 pair of earbuds really be? Turns out, the Nord Buds CE have an ace up their sleeve.

Design

The OnePlus Nord Buds CE have a classic one-size-fits-all earbud design similar to the AirPods. OnePlus had previously used this design on the original OnePlus Buds but since moved on to the in-ear design.

The Nord Buds CE earbuds look very similar to the AirPods, with the same hairdryer style shape and nearly identical size for the part that sits inside your ear. This is where they differ from the original OnePlus Buds, which had much more bulbous proportions designed for larger ears.

The stalks on the Nord Buds CE are shorter than the AirPods and feature capacitive touch surface for gesture control. Unfortunately, the Nord Buds CE do not support in-ear detection so there is no automatic play or pause when you insert or remove the earbuds from your ears.

Fortunately, the earbuds are still IPX4 rated, which means they can survive the rain and splashes of water.

The charging case has a relatively small and curvy design. It has the same glossy finish as the earbuds, which tends to get scratched quite easily. The lid is spring-loaded and opens readily. There is no pairing button on the case; instead the earbuds automatically enter pairing mode when the case lid is opened and no paired device is available. Only thing else on the case is the USB-C charging port on the bottom.

The Nord Buds CE come in two colors, Moonlight White, and the Misty Gray featured here.

Comfort

Comfort is a tricky subject when it comes to this style of earbuds. The one-size-fits-all design can be temperamental and rarely ever works for everyone.

Depending on your ear shape, you may find the Nord Buds CE either too small or too large, which not only affects their comfort but also the sound quality. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do to change it, which is why this style of earbuds has mostly gone out of fashion.

For me, the original AirPods always fit well, and being roughly the same size and shape as them, the Nord Buds CE do as well. Even when your ears are the correct size, they can still move about a bit from their optimal position. Fortunately, at least for me, there didn't seem to be any real danger of them falling out.

But even when they do fit well, this style of earbuds is still not as comfortable as in-ear models. While the in-ear models use soft silicone tips to secure themselves in your ear canal, these earbuds sit in your concha and put pressure around it to stay in place. This pressure tends to mount when you press them in a bit to create a better seal. This does mean that over time your ears will start to hurt a little bit, which for me was after about a couple of hours.

Still, if you find the original AirPods comfortable, then you should have no trouble with these. They are especially better than the original OnePlus Buds, which were far too big and had a hard time staying in my ears.

Software

The Nord Buds CE features can be controlled natively on OnePlus phones and through the HeyMelody app on other devices.

The functionality on OnePlus phones is handled by a system-level application that integrates the features within the Bluetooth settings menu, similar to the way AirPods operate on iOS. Admittedly, neither is a good system, as the options are buried far too deep within the Bluetooth settings for most regular people to find.

Once you do manage to get there, there's not much to adjust with the Nord Buds CE as they have a fairly basic feature set. The two most important options you can change here are the EQ presets and the tap gestures. You can also enable an option to take pictures by simply double-tapping the earbuds in the camera app.

Performance

Audio quality

The Nord Buds CE feature a single 13.4mm titanium dynamic driver. The driver is on the larger side compared to what you normally find on earbuds but that is necessary to overcome the lack of a proper seal and larger volume of air between the driver and the ear drum. The earbuds also support Bluetooth 5.2 and SBC/AAC codecs.

There are two things to note before getting into the audio quality. The way these earbuds sound will differ based on the shape of your ears and how well they fit. Moreover, the sound tends to change as the earbuds move around in your ears and it's not easy to get the exact same sound consistently every time you wear them. This is typical of this design of earbuds and why most people prefer in-ear these days.