OnePlus Buds Pro 3 review

With the OnePlus Buds Pro 3, the brand takes the design of its flagship true wireless headset in a considerably different direction from that of the OnePlus Buds Pro 2. Instead of the earlier square, flat-box design, the Buds Pro 3 gets a pebble-like vertical design. In terms of size and pocketability, this doesn’t make much of a difference, although the round shape of the charging case is arguably nicer looking.

The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 is available in two colours - Midnight Opus (black) and Lunar Radiance (white), both of which look great. Both also have a leather-like pattern and texture at the front and back of the charging case. The front of the case has the OnePlus logo, the back has the Dynaudio branding, and the bottom has the USB Type-C port and charge indicator light. Popping open the lid shows you a second battery status light on the inside, and the earphones themselves sit in place magnetically secured.

Coming to the earphones themselves, the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 feature a glossy and reflective finish, and retain their stem-based design and proper in-canal fit. The insides of the earpieces have big L and R symbols etched on for easy legibility, and the sales package includes three pairs of additional ear tips and a short charging cable. Usefully, wireless charging is also supported.

The headset gets force touch controls, which are in my opinion a lot better and more precise than basic touch or tap controls. You can customise these and set up to control playback, volume, ANC modes, and more. All of this can be done through the Bluetooth settings on compatible smartphones, which worked for me on the OnePlus 12.

The specification sheet of the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 is quite impressive, taking the flagship headset a bit further in its capabilities and features. The headset gets a dual-driver system (11mm + 6mm), with a frequency response range of 10-40,000Hz. There is Bluetooth 5.4 for connectivity, with support for the SBC, AAC, and LHDC 5.0 codecs. This might be an issue if you’re using an Android device that doesn’t support LHDC, since you’ll drop to AAC in this case. LDAC support would have been nice, given its almost universal compatibility with Android devices.

The earphones are IP55 rated for dust and water resistance, and Google Fast Pair is supported for advanced pairing and setup of the earphones. Active noise cancellation with a reduction of up to 50dB is present on the OnePlus Buds Pro 3, and there are three microphones on each earpiece working on ANC and voice pickup.

The OnePlus Buds Pro range has always been on top of its game, and the Buds Pro 3 manages to keep up the charge while improving in subtle ways. One of these is the step up to support for the LHDC 5.0 Bluetooth codec, which support 24-bit/192kHz audio transmission, and a transmission rate of up to 1Mbps. 

While the drivers are technically the same as on the Buds Pro 2, it’s likely they’ve been tuned to work better with the LHDC 5.0 codec, suggesting that there’s a bit more in terms of technology getting the job done, rather than the hardware itself. The sound is also heavily influenced by the equaliser settings; you can choose a preset, or set up a custom EQ if you like.

The sound on the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 sticks to its core signature, focused less on balance and any concept of audiophile tuning. Instead, it’s a popular-focused sound that expectedly and understandably favours the lows and highs - the infamous V-shaped sonic signature. This is obviously subjective to a big extent, but as far as true wireless earphones go, the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 deliver a fairly decent sound that is well suited to popular listening and genres.

The ‘Balanced’ EQ preset comes closest to an actual balanced sound, even if it really isn’t. There’s an obvious bias towards the bass which obvious helps the right kind of tracks sound more exciting. Listening to People Never Change by Peter Cat Recording Co (with the volume generally louder than it needed to be), the OnePlus Buds Pro delivered a rather enjoyable approach, with plenty of refined attack. The same track also highlighted that the sonic approach had nothing to do with detail levels, and you can hear just about everything with a reasonable level of comfort and audibility. 

Decent active noise cancellation helps in keeping the focus on what you want to listen to, in a variety of conditions. While I still haven’t come across a true wireless headset that does ANC as well as the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Gen), that headset does cost twice as much as the OnePlus Buds Pro 3. For Rs. 12,000, you’re getting a pretty good level of performance which works well across different listening situations, including flights, on the street, and in a noisy office. It’s not absolute quiet, but it’s a lot quieter than having no earphones on.

OnePlus claims that the Buds Pro 3 will run for up to five hours with LHDC, ANC on, and the volume at around 50 percent. This sounds about right, and I was able to use the earphones for about four hours in these conditions, with the only difference being the volume was at around the 70 percent mark. The charging case will add three full charges, so you can expect about 20 hours of run time per charge in total. Usefully, the case charges quickly when plugged in, taking about an hour to fully top everything up.

OnePlus’ ecosystem play is a sensible one, at least as far as its audio products go. The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 are pretty good even if you aren’t using them with a OnePlus smartphone, but really come into their element if you use a OnePlus smartphone to activate all of the benefits. So if you’re already on the OnePlus bandwagon, this one’s a no-brainer.

The LHDC codec means that support outside of the OnePlus ecosystem is limited, but not impossible and too curtailed. You still get excellent tuning, good bass-focused sound, and decent active noise cancellation. At this price, there’s little to argue against; the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 is the best you can buy at under Rs. 15,000, and a pretty close match to TWS headsets that cost much more as well.