OnePlus Buds 4 review – GSMArena.com news
Today, we have the latest entrant in the mainline OnePlus Buds series, the OnePlus Buds 4. As with its predecessors, the Buds 4 sits below the Pro model and promises to offer many of the Pro features and performance at a lower price.
The OnePlus Buds 4 feature a range of improvements over the Buds 3. They include larger dual drivers and pair them with a new dual DAC system, similar to that found on the Buds Pro 3. The LHDC 5.0 implementation has been upgraded to support sampling rates of up to 192 kHz. The ANC system can now do up to 55dB of noise cancellation over a wider frequency range. The latency has been reduced to 47ms, and finally, the battery now lasts longer.
Coming in at €119, the OnePlus Buds 4 are €20 more expensive than their predecessor and €80 cheaper than the Buds Pro 3. Let’s see how they perform relative to their siblings.
Design and comfort
Much like the Buds 3 that borrowed the design of the Buds Pro 2, the Buds 4 borrow some design elements from the Buds Pro 3 and mix in some elements from Nord models.
The case has a similar overall shape to that of the Buds Pro 3 case but lacks the texture on the front and back. Instead, it settles for a uniform metallic texture with a matte finish. This mid-way texture between rough and glossy makes the case quite slippery, making it susceptible to slipping from your hands, especially if you attempt to try and open it with one hand.
The lid itself opens without much effort with a nice weighted feel and snaps back satisfactorily.
The earbuds’ design is new with chunky stalks that look disjointed from the part that sticks in your ear. The stalks have a flattened bit on the back, similar to the Nord Buds models, where the touch gestures can be accessed.
The new ear tip design has a greater insertion depth than that of the Buds 3. This means the ear tips sit deeper in your ear with a greater seal. This is great for noise cancellation performance, as we will see later, but it does exacerbate the feeling of being underwater, as some people often report with in-ear earbuds. It’s not something that has bothered me much in the past, but I did constantly notice it on the Buds 4 and never quite got used to it.
The chunkier stalks on the earbuds do make it very easy to hold on to them when removing or inserting them in your ears or the charging case.
Like the Buds 3, the Buds 4 are rated for IP55 dust and water resistance, making them impervious to splashes of water. The overall build quality and finish are good, but attention to minor detail is lacking for things like the curvature of the edge of the lid and the case. They do not match so the seam always looks uneven from every angle, especially on the Zen Green model that we received.
Software and features
The OnePlus Buds 4 features can be accessed through the Bluetooth settings on OnePlus devices or the HeyMelody app on iOS and non-OnePlus Android devices.
The software experience is similar to what we have seen on previous OnePlus audio products. You get ANC controls with the ability to switch between ANC on, a new Ambient mode, transparency mode, and ANC off. You can also adjust the level of ANC through a separate menu.
Audio customization includes the Sound Master EQ, which includes only three presets on this model, with the BassWave adjustment slider and a custom six-band EQ. The OnePlus 3D Audio feature enables the 3D audio emulation, but there’s no head-tracking like on the Buds Pro 3. Lastly, there is the Golden Sound feature, which produces a custom audio curve based on conducting a hearing test.
The HeyMelody app also has a game mode that reduces latency. On OnePlus phones, this option does not exist as the phones will automatically enable this feature when a game is launched.
HeyMelody app
A new feature for the Buds 4 is the ability to adjust the volume of alerts you hear. These are the sounds that play when you change something, such as the ANC mode. I’m not particularly fond of the beeping, and it also makes it harder to compare things while testing, so I found the option to turn the sounds all the way down very useful. Hopefully, this option also makes its way to other OnePlus audio products.
As with other OnePlus earbuds, most of the changes you make in the app are stored on the earbuds and synced to any other device you pair them to.
Performance
Audio quality
The OnePlus Buds 4 have a dual-driver setup consisting of an 11mm woofer for low and mid-frequencies and a 6mm tweeter for high frequencies. While the Buds 3 had a similar dual-driver setup, the Buds 4 go a step ahead and also incorporate a dual DAC system to power each driver individually. These are likely just pulled out of the Buds Pro 3 as that pair has identical specifications.
Audio transmission is done over Bluetooth 5.4 with support for SBC, AAC, and LHDC 5.0. LHDC supports up to 24-bit, 192kHz audio transmission up to 1Mbps bitrate, but more on that in the connectivity section.
Despite the laundry list of features and specifications, the audio quality on the Buds 4 is ultimately underwhelming. This is largely due to the default tuning, which is one step forward and two steps back compared to the Buds 3 and Buds Pro 3.
To understand this, we need to do a quick recap. Both the Buds 3 and the Buds Pro 3 are neutral-leaning but brightly tuned earbuds, almost as if to show off the dedicated tweeters. The Buds 3, especially, can be quite sibilant at times with piercing highs, while the Buds Pro 3 also demonstrates the occasional hiss.
The Buds 4 do not have that problem, which is a big improvement. However, it seems OnePlus went too far in trying to fix that problem and ended up replacing it with two new ones.
First of all, the Buds 4 are frustratingly bass-heavy. While neither the Buds 3 nor the Buds Pro 3 are clinically neutral when it comes to bass, they both are well restrained in that department, so you can enjoy your bass without it dropping it all over the rest of the frequency spectrum. The Buds Pro 3 especially have very distinct lows and mid-range, which is quite commendable.
The Buds 4 do not care about any of that and sound like they are in permanent bass boost mode. This then spills into the lower mids, which sound muddy and bloated from all the bass energy seeping in. This is a shame as the mids have a pleasant timbre, especially compared to the slightly hollow-sounding Buds 3, but are buried under three layers of goop from the bass.
Then there’s the treble and upper mid-range. OnePlus certainly managed to rein in the highs this time around, but also managed to make them quite dull and lifeless. You don’t get the sense of air and brilliance at the top end that you get on the Buds Pro 3, and the overall sound is quite dark and lopsided in favor of the low end.
This raises questions about the efficacy or even the purpose of the dual driver, dual DAC design, since you can very easily get this sound with just a single driver. Just pick up a pair of entry-level Sony earbuds, and this is the exact sound you’ll find with possibly even less treble energy.
Audio settings
I messed around briefly with the BassWave and EQ, but I couldn’t get the sound to my liking. I’m sure with enough fiddling, you can get the earbuds to sound right, but you could also just get something that sounds right out of the box.
The tuning of the Buds 4 is disappointing as with the Buds 3 and especially the Buds Pro 3, OnePlus showed that it was heading in the right direction. But with the Buds 4, we are back in Goop City all over again. Hopefully, this serves as feedback to ensure we don’t see more of this regression on the future OnePlus Buds Pro 4.
Microphone
The OnePlus Buds 4 have good microphone performance. Voices sound clear enough without a lot of warbling. There was some distortion audible at times, but it was subtle enough to not be distracting.
In noisy environments, voice quality does take a hit and becomes quite a bit softer. However, the earbuds do a great job of tuning out the background noise, and voices still remain audible.
Unfortunately, the Buds 4 do not support Bluetooth LE Audio, so you cannot have high-quality stereo input audio while using the microphone. This means they aren’t suitable for things like gaming while using voice chat.
Noise cancellation
The OnePlus Buds 4 have active noise cancellation. OnePlus claims that the Buds 4 can reduce noise up to 55dB and that they cover a much wider 5500MHz frequency range. For those keeping track, yes, these numbers are better than even those found on the Buds Pro 3. OnePlus also claims enhanced vocal noise cancellation in the 50-3000Hz range, so you hear less of the background chatter.
The standard ANC mode has three levels: low, moderate, and high. There is also an auto mode that can switch between the other three modes depending on the amount of ambient noise.
While low and moderate have a fixed level of noise cancellation, high can actually automatically adjust itself further based on ambient noise. So if you select auto and it selects high, then you get automatic adjustment within automatic adjustment.
Aside from the ANC on mode, there’s also transparency mode and a new adaptive mode. The transparency mode is self-explanatory, but the adaptive mode is something new and interesting. It works as something of an in-between to the ANC on and transparency mode, where, based on ambient sound, it can choose to enable ANC or let the noise in. It can also filter out some sounds when letting ambient noise in, so only what it thinks is important is audible.
To be honest, I’m not sure if it ever worked as intended or if it did, and I just didn’t understand what the intention was. While on a train, it enabled ANC, and the station announcements didn’t come through as one might expect. Then, when someone out in the lawn turned on the mower, it had transparency mode, letting all that noise in. Ultimately, both the earbuds and I seemed equally confused, and neither knew what to do.
Fortunately, you can just ignore it and use the ANC on and transparency modes manually as intended. And you’ll be glad you did because both are terrific.
The ANC performance here is shockingly good. The earbuds form a tight seal in your ears, as mentioned before, which just passively blocks more noise than not just the loose-fitting Buds 3 but also the Buds Pro 3. And once the ANC kicks in at full strength, then you may as well be sitting on the plane’s engine rather than inside the cabin for all the difference it would make.
ANC settings
The ANC performance here is truly flagship grade. The Buds Pro 3, which actually is OnePlus’s flagship, tends to let in more noise, especially at higher frequencies. The Buds 4 have that under control while also having exceptional low-end isolation. The end result is so good that it is actually unsettling and discomforting at times. I frequently found myself either using the transparency mode or one of the lower strength ANC modes indoors, as otherwise the strength of the high preset felt oppressive at times, not helped by the slight pressure created by the ear tips.
Like the ANC, the transparency mode is also exceptional. The best test of a transparency mode is the difference you hear between using it and simply removing the earbuds, and with the Buds 4, there was often no difference. Had it not been for the slight discomfort I felt from the ear tips, I would forget I was even wearing earbuds with this mode enabled and nothing playing.
There is one consideration to make with the ANC. The ANC on in high mode/transparency mode, moderate/low mode, and ANC off have different sound signatures. Turning the ANC from the high preset to off causes the mids to swell up and become a touch too forward in the mix. A similar effect can also be heard when switching from ANC on high to either moderate or low presets. Switching from moderate/low to ANC off has a much smaller difference, but it’s still audible. One has to assume the ANC high mode sound is the intended experience since it’s on by default, and that OnePlus simply didn’t bother tuning the other modes to match it.
Latency
The OnePlus Buds 4 have an okay latency performance. There is a noticeable delay when using applications that aren’t accounting for the delay in some way. However, once the game mode is triggered, either manually or automatically on OnePlus devices, latency drops considerably and isn’t really an issue anymore. OnePlus claims 47ms when used with OnePlus devices, which is about as low as that number gets right now for Bluetooth devices.
Connectivity
The OnePlus Buds 4 have good connectivity performance. There were no dropouts or jitters, and you can walk around the house a bit without losing connection. The earbuds support multi-device pairing, so you can be paired to two devices simultaneously.
I noticed an issue with LHDC performance when pairing to OnePlus devices, something I also noticed with previous OnePlus audio products that support this codec. For some reason, when paired to a OnePlus device, the highest LHDC bitrate you can achieve is about 400kbps, with 1Mbps being a pipe dream. Anything above 400Mbps is unusable because of constant audio dropouts.
Out of curiosity, I decided to pair with a Nothing Phone (2), which has the best implementation of LHDC 5.0 I’ve come across on a smartphone. It offers a much finer-grained control over Bluetooth codec choices as well as bit rates. I was able to achieve a stable 1Mbps with 24-bit, 192kHz on that phone. This was the case with Buds 3 and Buds Pro 3 as well, so it’s not isolated to the Buds 4.
LHDC settings on Nothing Phone (2)
It seems OnePlus’ LHDC implementation on its phones leaves a lot to be desired, and it can’t be going around advertising the 1Mbps transmission bitrate feature of its earbuds if it doesn’t reliably work with its own phones.
I would also like to add that the Buds 4 do not switch to higher sampling rates on their own without you manually intervening through Android’s developer settings. There is a toggle for High-Res mode in the app, which enables sampling rates higher than 48kHz, namely, 96kHz and 192kHz. You’d think it would also switch to one of those when this option is enabled, but it stays at 24-bit/48kHz as it does even with the option disabled, and you have to manually dig through and enable those values. If you don’t, then the setting in effect does nothing, and the sound you get is no different than with it disabled, as literally nothing has changed. It’s the very definition of a placebo, making you think things are better when they are the same.
Battery life
The OnePlus Buds 4 have a 62mAh battery in each earbud and a 530mAh battery inside the case.
OnePlus claims 11 hours of continuous playback when using AAC and 9 hours when using LHDC, both without ANC. In my testing, I got 11 hours and 14 minutes when using AAC and 8 hours and 40 minutes when using LHDC 5.0 locked to 24-bit-48kHz at 500kbps. This means the company’s claimed figures are largely accurate.
This means the claimed 6 and 5.5 hours figures with AAC and LHDC, respectively, while using ANC, are also most likely accurate. Considering the level of noise cancellation on offer here, the numbers are reasonable, and you can probably go through two movies on a long flight before having to stop and recharge for a bit.
The Buds 4 can only charge through the USB-C cable on the case. There is no wireless charging available on this model.
Conclusion
The quickest way to summarize the OnePlus Buds 4 is to say that they are absolute noise-canceling monsters. The ANC and transparency modes on these are so good that they put earbuds three times the price to shame.
Sure, the sound is not great, but it’s less of an issue when you’re out and about than when you’re at home. And while nothing else about the earbuds stands out as noteworthy, it’s at least competent for the price category.
This is not some Swiss Army Knife of earbuds. They have one area of expertise, and by golly, do they put on an absolute clinic when it comes to ANC quality. If you desperately want to drown out your daily commute and just want something to fill in the silence, then you do not need to look any further.