Alongside the mightier-than-it-has-any-reason-to-be budget Phone 2 Pro, Nothing’s CMF sub-brand also announced today a trio of affordable wireless earbuds, all with active noise cancellation, starting at a dirt-cheap $49.
There’s the CMF Buds 2a for $49 at the base, the CMF Buds 2 in the middle at $59, and the CMF Buds 2 Plus for $69 at the upper end. Personally, I think it’s too many models to drop all at once, and any sane person is going to need ChatGPT to tell you the differences between them. But hey, I’m here now, and I’ve spent a few hours listening to music with the Buds 2 Plus, which is something AI can’t do. Take that, chatbots!
Paging through CMF’s press materials, it’s clear to me that the company is hoping geek jargon like driver size, decibels, active noise cancellation frequencies, and the use of specific types of magnets will obfuscate the fact that these are budget audio products. I’m not saying that these budget wireless earbuds aren’t good, but how they sound is all that matters, and it’s virtually impossible to know that from a table of specs.
Here’s how the three new buds differ. First, battery life with active noise cancellation turned off: the Buds 2a last up to 8 hours (up to 35 hours with the case), the Buds 2 up to 13.5 hours (up to 55 hours with the case), and the Buds 2 Plus up to 14 hours (up to 61.5 hours with the case). Strangely, CMF hasn’t shared battery life for the buds when ANC is turned on—important information you’d want to know for ANC wireless earbuds. Gizmodo has reached out to CMF for ANC battery ratings and will update this article if we hear back.
The second difference is call quality. The Buds 2a have four HD mics and an older voice processing technology that could make call quality less clear compared to the Buds 2 and Buds 2 Plus, which have six HD microphones and use a more advanced voice algorithm. And speaking of voice call quality, the Buds 2 and Buds 2 Plus should—according to paper specs—reduce wind noise more effectively versus the entry-level Buds 2a.
And last, of course, is sound quality, which includes spatial audio support and active noise cancellation quality. The cheapest Buds 2a won’t let you hear 3D music, but the Buds 2 and Buds 2 Plus will. As for ANC quality, it’s as you’d expect, ranging from good (Buds 2a), better (Buds 2), best (Buds 2 Plus). Whether or not you’ll notice any difference in noise cancellation between the three while walking down a busy street or sitting on a noisy subway is up for debate.
Like the Phone 2 Pro, I only had a few hours during the weekend to listen to the $69 Buds 2 Plus. I also don’t have the Buds 2 and Buds 2a to compare, so I can only speak for the top budget model. Right off the bat, there’s no mistaking the Buds 2 Plus are budget earbuds. Everything from the plastic case to the earbuds (I received blue to test) screams entry-level. CMF basically took Nothing’s transparent $149 Ear wireless earbuds and stripped them down as much as possible. Even the customizable “smart dial” for controlling volume and other settings on last year’s Buds Pro 2 has been replaced with a mostly non-functional dial. It still rotates (great as a fidget toy) and there’s a lanyard loop if you want to attach a keychain or strap to it, but it’s too bad it doesn’t control anything like volume.
The buds have touch-sensitive controls located at the top of their stems that you can tap or press and hold to activate various settings, like pulling up ChatGPT’s voice chatbot, controlling audio playback, or adjusting noise cancellation. All of this is done via the Nothing X app, which I’ve found to be one of the more easy-to-use audio customization apps out there.
Their fit is comfortable, too, at least for me. I’ve found the lightweight buds to stay put in my small-ish ears for up to four hours of continuous listening time with ANC turned on. I’ll need to spend just a little more time with them to see how long they can last with ANC, but it’s looking like maybe a minimum of six hours.
For $69 wireless earbuds, the Buds 2 Plus sound decent. Linkin Park’s new single, “Unshatter,” which has bass-heavy screaming vocals from lead singer Emily Armstrong, renders mostly distortion-free at various volume levels. Pop tunes from the likes of Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift sound good, but that’s not a high bar to clear for any pair of wireless earbuds.
Where there’s a clear gulf in quality is the active noise cancellation. On the Buds 2 Plus, the ANC is nowhere near as good at blocking out loud noise compared to pricier buds that cost north of $100, but they work in a pinch. Like, I can hear myself tapping at my laptop keyboard and my Gizmodo colleagues fidgeting in their seats, and the ANC is turned all the way up with the volume just above 50%. On my subway commute this morning, the Buds 2 Plus did very little to suppress the train’s metal wheels screeching on the rails. My regular go-to wireless earbuds—Nothing’s $150 Ear (2) and Apple’s $250 AirPods Pro 2—easily drown out that kind of noise. Then again, those buds cost 2-3x more, so they had better have superior ANC.
Generally, you get what you pay for with budget audio. The Buds 2 Plus sound good enough, but what I really want to know is how much better they sound versus CMF’s $59 Buds 2 and $49 Buds 2a. How good enough is good enough when we’re only talking about a $10 or $20 difference?
