A few months ago, OnePlus gave us Buds Pro 3, which is one of the best wireless earbuds around. With OnePlus Buds 4, the company is looking at those who are on a limited budget.

The case design has been changed from the OnePlus Buds Pro 3, and it’s now far more pocketable. The build quality is quite good, and so is the finish.

On each bud are touch controls, complete with a slider for volume. The buds look good and are light, besides coming with in-ear detection. Whenever you take off the earbuds, the music stops, and when you put them back in your ears, the music begins to play again. The design language is clean, and so is the material, thanks to the matte finish.

When it comes to comfort level, I have been using the buds for a couple of weeks. It’s lightweight and offers a good fit. There is zero discomfort even after wearing for 45-50 minutes at a stretch; there is hardly any fatigue. The stem-style design looks good and most people would like it. Let’s not forget there is IP55 rating to take care of a walk in the rain.

With ANC off with AAC, the case and earbuds will give 45 hours of playback

Sound signature

In terms of hardware, it supports LHDC 5.0, AAC and SBC codec. The buds support Bluetooth 5.4, which offers stable connectivity. Even if you are some distance away from the phone, connectivity should remain strong. We are talking about 20-25 metres away from the phone in an open area. With Steady Connect technology onboard, you can get even better connectivity with a OnePlus phone.

Let’s come to sound. The ANC performance on OnePlus is better than on most rivals in the same category, be it offerings from Realme or Nothing.

The buds offer up to 55dB adaptive ANC, which is enough to cut out most of the din in a coffee shop. The transparency mode is equally good.

Add to this the excellent app support that’s available. It’s a clean app with all the features you would like to have. OnePlus wins the heart in something most earbuds fail to deliver. While using the app, you don’t have to provide an email address.

In the sound department, you get dual drivers. Inside each housing, you get 11mm woofer and 6mm tweeter... with Dual DACs. And like we mentioned earlier, there is support for LHDC 5.0. If you have a phone that supports the LHDC 5.0 codec, head into the developer settings and force it to play music at 192kHz.

Unlike most earbuds, the emphasis here is not on loudness. The sound is not dark or discomforting. The overall sound is smoother, and it doesn’t make you feel like you would like to give wireless earbuds a break. You want most of your music to sound spacious, and that’s what you get.

If you are not a fan of overpowering bass, you can drop it slightly from the EQ settings. The quality of the drivers is high, ensuring that the equaliser responds to all the changes you make.

The microphones on the wireless buds are good, but not the best you can buy. During gaming, there is almost zero latency.

Make the call

There is up to 55dB noise cancelling on the buds

With ANC on, you can expect six to seven hours of battery life, plus more from the case, provided the listening volume is around 60-70 per cent. With excellent active noise cancellation and a punchy sound profile, OnePlus Buds 4 can well be the new champions of the mid-range wireless buds segment.

At a glance

Device: OnePlus Buds 4

Price: ₹5,999

High notes

Excellent noise cancellation

Good app support

Clean sound stage

Muffled note

Metal finish would have been better