ANC, EQ presets, Dirac Audio Tuner and huge 12.4mm drivers? I think OnePlus’ second-gen earbuds are the sleeper hits of the year.
It’s not often that a set of even the best true wireless earbuds make me perform a dramatic double-take these days – much as I love a marked arriere-pensee. But the OnePlus Nord Buds 2 are something else, at least on paper. And I think that, for the money, they could be the sleeper hit of the year.
First off, they boast a whopping 12.4mm driver per earpiece (yes, one-and-a-quarter-centimeters of driver) which is the biggest currently in the industry. Then, there’s the ‘bespoke back cavity’ to allow the smooth passage of air and thus, sound, plus OnePlus’s own N52 neodynium magnets – because you’ve got to get those drivers snapping back somehow.
Next, you get EQ presets (Serenade, Bold, Balanced and Bass), a claimed 25dB of ANC in an open-ear design, an IP55 rating for dust and water ingress, OnePlus’s Clear Call tech (a lot like sidetone, in that it helps you hear your own voice in calls) and the HeyMelody app for controlling it all.
