CMF Buds Pro 2 review: Best budget earbuds with fun design

❘ Published: 2024-09-05T12:45:40

Dexerto

CMF’s new Buds Pro 2 are a cheap pair of earbuds that won’t blow you away with sound quality, but they do offer fun color options and intuitive controls. I’ve been using them for more than a month now, and the review below should tell you whether you should get them or not.

CMF is a sub-brand of Nothing, taking its parent company’s mission of making tech fun again to the next level. The company has launched a range of earbuds, watches, and even a smartphone that stand out due to their playful designs. The Buds Pro 2 I’m reviewing are no exception.

The wireless earbuds themselves aren’t anything special. The design is like any other stemmed earbuds you’d find in the market, but the case is where it gets interesting. It has a swivel dial you can use to control your music—rotate it to change the volume or press it to play/pause. The sound quality and noise cancellation are decent for the price, too.

Key specs

Drivers: 11mm woofer and a 6mm tweeter
ANC: 50 db
Battery life: Up to 11 hours
Type: In-canal
Connection Type: Bluetooth
Water/Sweat-Resistance: IP55
Price: $59

Pros	Cons
Dual-driver audio with deep lows and detailed highs	Active Noise Cancelling is bad
Good control gestures
Competitive price

BUY CMF BUDS PRO 2 FROM AMAZON

Design & controls

The CMF Buds Pro are stem-style earbuds, each weighing 4.9g. The earbuds match the color of the case, which comes in dark gray, light gray, navy blue, and bright orange.

They come with touch controls—a small circle on the stem lets you control music playback, adjust the volume, and pick up or hang up calls. However, the area is pretty sensitive, and I often ended up pausing the music while adjusting the earbuds.

The case has a square design with rounded edges. For this review, I received the light gray option, which has a soft finish on the surface. One of the corners features a dial that rotates with a satisfying click.

If you’re someone who likes to fidget, the dial can double as a fidget toy. By default, it doesn’t control any features—it just swivels.

If you want to put the dial to use, you can set it to adjust the volume by rotating it. It also functions as a push button for picking up calls and playing or pausing music. I don’t use it that often, though, since I rarely keep the case in my pocket. It works pretty well for when you don’t have your phone nearby, providing a smooth taper even though there’s quite a bit of travel on the dial.

The case measures 53.4 x 53.4 x 23 mm and weighs 46 g without the buds. It doesn’t have an official IP rating, but the earbuds are IP55 rated for dust resistance and protection against water jets.

Sound quality

In terms of sound quality, the CMF Buds Pro 2 doesn’t offer much beyond what you’re paying for. They’ll impress you if you’re into bass.

I’ve been using the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 as my daily driver, and the CMF Buds Pro 2 doesn’t quite measure up in sound quality. But considering they cost a third of the price, that’s to be expected.

I’ve noticed that with tracks featuring intense sub-bass, like Kendrick Lamar’s ‘HUMBLE,’ the earphones deliver a solid low-frequency thump.

The Buds Pro 2 also handle the deep bass in Travis Scott’s ‘SICKO MODE’ without any issues. On tracks with less prominent bass, like Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams,’ the sound signature becomes clearer. The woofers handle the additional bass in the drumbeats, while the tweeters showcase the smooth vocals with a bit of treble.

The sound quality isn’t perfect, of course. You might find better fidelity with other options, and the midrange can get a bit muddled sometimes. If the sound signature isn’t quite right for you, you can use the Nothing X app for extra controls. The app lets you tweak the EQ, boost the bass, toggle Spatial Audio, and adjust the controls.

Active noise cancelling

The ANC on these earbuds isn’t great, even compared to other options in the same price range. I’ve tested many budget earbuds, and they performed better.

I’d recommend keeping it on high ANC mode if you want to get the most out of it. During testing, it struggled to block out busy chatter, the rumble of traffic, and the buzz of fluorescent lights.

Battery life

The CMF Buds Pro 2 offers pretty average battery life. You’ll get about six hours of listening time with ANC on and around 11 hours with it off. With the case, you can extend those figures to 26 hours with ANC on and 43 hours with it off. The case charges the buds to 100% in less than 70 minutes, which is good.

Should you buy it?

The CMF Buds Pro 2 is a solid choice if you’re looking for an affordable pair of earbuds with decent features.

The sound quality is respectable, and the controls are quite impressive, but the ANC is lacking, which might be a dealbreaker for some. You might also want to consider the Nothing Ear (1) or the original Nothing Buds as alternatives.

Verdict – 4/5

I liked the CMF Buds Pro 2 a lot, not because they sound great, but because they bring something unique to the table. Nothing should focus on polishing these features further, especially the rotating dial Plus, the buds could use a boost in ANC.

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