While OnePlus is well-known for its impressive mid-range smartphones, they’ve also secretly delivered some fantastic earbuds. Their previous model, the Buds Pro 3, set a high bar with clean, powerful audio and a wealth of features at a great price. The new OnePlus Buds 4 aim to continue this trend, offering a suite of compelling features—like finely tuned sound profiles, immersive 3D spatial audio, and smart adaptive noise cancellation—all for an accessible price. With a listed price of $129.99/£119.99, you might even find them for around $100/£100 directly from OnePlus. But do these new Buds truly impress, or have they missed the mark?
Design & Battery Life: Form, Fit, and Longevity
The OnePlus Buds 4 charging case sports a rather uninspired pebble-like design. While it’s larger than many competitors, its slim profile means it can still comfortably slip into a pocket. The lid clicks shut with a satisfying snap, but does exhibit some slight creaking and wiggling if you apply pressure. After a few weeks of use, I noticed minor scuffs and scratches on the surface, suggesting it’s functional but not designed for a premium feel.
The earbuds themselves have a touch more personality, featuring a subtly curved touch area and a metallic-effect ring near the base of the stems. Crucially, they are lightweight and provide a secure, snug fit that prevents them from dislodging, even during runs. They come with various rubberized ear tips, but the default size proved comfortable enough for hours of continuous wear. An IP55 rating confirms their water and dust resistance (though not full waterproofing), which is a welcome bonus not always found in mid-range earbuds. This meant I could use the Buds 4 worry-free during rainy commutes or intense, sweaty workouts.
The touch controls mostly perform admirably, reliably recognizing gestures. The HeyMelody app (which I’ll detail later) offers extensive customization for single, double, and triple taps, adding to their versatility. The intuitive slide gesture for volume control, while initially a bit finicky—my finger would sometimes slip or register as an accidental tap—became second nature with practice.
Battery life is about average, providing between five and a half and six hours of continuous listening with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) engaged, which is perfectly acceptable for this price point. The charging case offers three full recharges, extending total playback to 22-24 hours with ANC, or roughly 45 hours without it. While these aren’t groundbreaking figures, they are solid for the category.
However, wireless charging is conspicuously absent. While not a deal-breaker, some similarly priced buds, such as the JBL Live Pro 2 TWS, do include this feature. On the plus side, wired charging is remarkably fast, with just 10 minutes providing several hours of listening time. Ultimately, the standout features of the Buds 4 truly emerge in their audio quality and the extensive customization options.
Audio Quality & Noise Cancellation: A Sonic Sweet Spot
Considering their price, the Buds 4 deliver outstanding sound. I tested them on a variety of music genres as well as podcasts, films, audio books, and live sports, and they sounded loud, balanced, and natural. They do lean slightly bass-heavy, occasionally nudging other frequencies, but it never significantly detracted from the experience and can be easily adjusted using the in-app EQ. While serious audiophiles might seek higher-end options, these mid-range earbuds still offer a satisfying punch in bass, crisp cymbals, and clear, lifelike vocals.
A notable advantage is their support for Low Latency High-Definition Audio Codec (LHDC), enabling high-resolution audio streaming over Bluetooth for more detailed sound. This is a rare and welcome feature in this price bracket. To fully benefit, you’ll need a compatible Android device (including many OnePlus phones) and a hi-res audio streaming service like Tidal (Spotify currently doesn’t support it), so your experience may vary based on your existing setup.
Fundamentally, these are solid earbuds that make music, podcasts, and films sound fantastic.
The noise cancellation is remarkably effective. You can manually adjust its intensity, or let it adapt automatically. I preferred keeping it at maximum to achieve the quietest background. During my toughest test—a particularly noisy section of the London Underground—the Buds 4 significantly reduced the screeching tracks, outperforming many other earbuds I’ve used. At the gym, it completely silenced the public music, allowing me to fully enjoy my own audio without increasing the volume. In a bustling cafe, it successfully muted all surrounding conversations while I listened to an audiobook.
Equally impressive is the transparency mode, which utilizes built-in microphones to amplify external sounds. This feature worked flawlessly, proving invaluable for safety when walking near busy roads or for staying aware of my surroundings at home. It selectively amplified important sounds without the usual faint background static often found in similar modes.
A standout feature is the adaptive mode, designed to intelligently switch between noise cancellation and transparency based on environmental noise. While the concept is appealing, hoping to eliminate manual adjustments, its performance isn’t quite there yet. The transitions can feel abrupt, and more critically, it’s too reluctant to engage full noise cancellation. In my gym, it often failed to adequately block the loud background music even when ANC would have been the obvious choice, interfering with my listening. The ambition is commendable, and hopefully, OnePlus can refine this feature in future iterations.
Software & Customization: A Toolkit for Personalized Audio
All the advanced features and customization options of the Buds 4 are seamlessly integrated into OnePlus phones. For other Android users, these settings are accessible via the HeyMelody app. Although the app occasionally struggled to detect my connected earbuds, these issues were brief, and overall, the app performed well. Its interface is clean, easy to navigate, and refreshingly free of intrusive pop-ups.
The app truly shines in its extensive sound tuning capabilities. For instance, BassWave provides a straightforward slider to either subtly reduce bass or, if you dare, crank it up to truly extravagant levels. While maxing it out can sound unnatural, gentle adjustments yield impressive results. Another signature feature is the ‘Golden Sound,’ which promises to tailor audio specifically to your ‘ear canal structure.’ This sounds incredibly futuristic, yet the process primarily involves adjusting a slider until a series of beeps are no longer audible. Based on my personal results, the system boosted mid-range frequencies.
Despite my initial skepticism, I noticed a distinct improvement: music indeed sounded richer and more vibrant. Switching the feature off made the audio feel noticeably flatter. If the ‘Golden Sound’ isn’t to your liking, a customizable six-element equalizer offers granular control, allowing you to craft your ideal sound profile with precision.
There’s no denying that this is a generous toolset for mid-range buds.
OnePlus 3D audio, however, left me less impressed. Activating it aims to create an enveloping sound experience, but for music, while it altered the sound—often with louder vocals—it didn’t necessarily feel more immersive. For podcasts, it added a studio-like reverb, which I found somewhat appealing, but it also introduced strange audio artifacts and inconsistent volume levels. Ultimately, I chose to keep this feature disabled.
Regardless of how you feel about these specific options, the sheer breadth of tools available for mid-range earbuds is undeniable. Most users will likely enjoy the default sound, but for those who prefer customization, a perfect audio setup is almost guaranteed. Additionally, there are other useful extras, such as Dual Connection, which allows simultaneous pairing with two devices. This was incredibly convenient for switching between a YouTube video on my laptop and audio on my phone instantly without having to disconnect and/or reconnect. AI translation is also available for foreign languages, though this feature is exclusive to OnePlus phones.
Gaming Mode, which promises reduced latency for mobile games, didn’t particularly impress me. During PUBG Mobile sessions, gunshots still noticeably lagged behind the on-screen action, although some users report better performance with OnePlus devices. For dedicated gaming earbuds, you’ll still need specialized hardware with robust wireless protocols or a 2.4GHz receiver to truly eliminate latency.