The OnePlus Buds are a great solution to expensive wireless earbuds, but there's a serious issue with the way they fit

• The OnePlus Buds are $79 wireless earbuds that are comparatively inexpensive, but offer similar sound quality and features as more expensive models, like Google's Pixel Buds.
• You get good sound, water/sweat resistance, and great battery life.
• On the downside, you don't get a wireless charging case, nor do you get any semblance of ambient noise reduction, whether active or passive.
• Fit might also be an issue for certain people. The OnePlus do not fit or stay in my ears at all, much like Apple's EarPods and AirPods never did.

The OnePlus Buds have been an eagerly awaited addition to the wireless earbud roster for Android users, and for good reason, too.

OnePlus has made a name for itself in making premium devices with value price tags, and it's been extremely successful in doing so. So, in the face of pricey wireless earbuds, we were all curious to see what OnePlus would come up with.

In true OnePlus fashion, you get a great pair of wireless earbuds at a totally reasonable sub-$100 price. With that said, I faced some serious issues with the way the OnePlus Buds fit in my ears, which made them totally unusable. If you've had issues with these types of earbuds before, the OnePlus Buds may not be for you.

Design and fit

The OnePlus Buds immediately reminded me of Apple's AirPods with a similar stem, overall design, and size. They're not overly large or small, they don't stick out very far, and they look pretty much identical to AirPods when in your ears. As far as wireless earbuds go, the OnePlus Buds are as inoffensive and standard as it gets, and few should have any complaints against the design.

Fit is another matter. The OnePlus Buds do not fit or stay in my ears, and there's little I can do about it. The OnePlus Buds are likely to fit a good chunk of people, just like Apple's EarPods and AirPods do. But if EarPods and AirPods never fit or stayed in your ears, you're unlikely to get a good experience with the OnePlus Buds.

There may be third-party accessories to help get a better fit with the OnePlus Buds, but having tried a bunch for EarPods and AirPods, none worked well enough for my ears.

Sound quality

If I simulate a good fit by pressing the OnePlus Buds into my ears (and manually keep them pressed in), I can get pretty good sound out of them. You get surprisingly rich sound and clarity with a generous dose of bass and treble. Mids are lacking a little, making for a confined soundstage, but for $79 wireless earbuds with a good set of features (mentioned below), it's a small nitpick.

If the OnePlus don't fit you, you'll get an awful tinny and hollow sound experience, and it's truly not worth using them. If they don't fit, they ain't it.

The songs I listened to include "Pneuma" by Tool, "Your House" by Steel Pulse, "Drip" by CloZee, "Nevermind" by Dennis Lloyd, "Catching Plays" by Destructo, among several other tracks spanning a variety of genres.

Battery life and features

OnePlus makes some big claims that the buds themselves last for seven hours compared to the five hours offered by Apple's AirPods and Google's Pixel Buds. OnePlus also claims the total battery life of the buds is 30 hours, so that means the charging case holds about 23 hours of charge.

In real life, however, it's hard to tell much difference in battery life between the wireless earbuds I've tried, and they all last about as long as each other. OnePlus does have a leg-up when it comes to getting a quick battery boost — a 10-minute charge will get you 10 hours of battery life, the company claims, whereas most companies claim a similar charge will net you five hours.

As for features, you're getting IPX4 water and sweat resistance, which is nice to see on a $79 pair of wireless earbuds and makes the OnePlus Buds a viable option for workouts. It's also nice to see that the OnePlus Buds will automatically pause music when it detects that an earbud has been removed from your ears. Music resumes when you place the earbuds back in your ears.

There's no ambient noise cancellation or reduction here, whether active or passive. In fact, OnePlus said it specifically designed the Buds to fit in a way that lets ambient noise in, which is something I'll never understand. There must be some kind of data showing that people want ambient noise, so ambient noise is what people get. I am shaking my head in confusion and disbelief.

Drawbacks

There is ambient noise reduction for the microphone for voice calls and recordings, but I found that this doesn't work at all. During a voice recording while using the OnePlus Buds, I could still clearly hear a noisy air conditioner nearby. In fact, I made a similar voice recording with a Pixel 4 XL smartphone, and found that the phone did a much better job at reducing the air conditioner's sound in the recording. This isn't something I expected to work on a $79 pair or wireless earbuds. In my experience, the only pair of headphones that successfully reduce ambient noise for phone calls and voice recordings are the $379 Bose 700 headphones.

The charging case doesn't support wireless charging, but that shouldn't be expected on a $79 pair of earbuds.

Also, you won't be getting the best out of the OnePlus Buds unless you own a OnePlus 6-, 7-, or 8-series smartphone. If you do, you'll get Dolby Atmos support for supposedly better sound quality. You'll also gain the ability to customize the touch sensor control on the exterior of the Buds, as well as receiving firmware updates. It's a shame that these things are reserved for OnePlus users. OnePlus said it couldn't add those features to work with other Android smartphones due to hardware constraints.

The bottom line

For the $79 price tag, they're not the cheapest wireless earbuds around, and they're certainly not the most expensive. The OnePlus Buds are a great option for Android users, at least for those with ears that will fit the Buds, and for those who like ambient noise (shakes head).

Indeed, the OnePlus Buds have great battery life, water/sweat resistance, and good sound (if they fit properly). And, honestly, never mind about the lackluster microphone ambient noise reduction — it's truly not something you should expect on a $79 pair of wireless earbuds, anyway. It is a shame, however, that Dolby Atmos support is limited to OnePlus phone owners, but it's not the end of the world.

What are your alternatives?

If you don't think the Buds will fit your ears and/or you'd prefer some kind of ambient noise reduction, I'd check out the $179 Google Pixel Buds. They're $100 more, but you get better sound and a snug in-ear design that blocks out some noise, as well as a wireless charging case.

If you're looking for an earbuds alternative that stays in the sub-$100 price range, I'd also consider the Cambridge Audio Melomania 1, which are our top overall pick for wireless earbuds.

Pros: Inexpensive, water and sweat resistance, good sound, great battery life, compact

Cons: Some features are reserved for OnePlus phones, they're completely useless if they don't fit your ears, they let in quite a lot of ambient noise