OnePlus’ new wireless earbuds — the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 — are now official. You can buy them in either cream or black for $180 starting August 20. However, OnePlus is celebrating the launch with a $30 discount if you buy the Buds Pro 3 within the first 30 days.
The new Buds Pro 3 make use of an unusual internal acoustic architecture. In addition to housing two drivers per earbud (a 6mm tweeter and an 11mm woofer), the Buds Pro 3 also have two digital-to-analog converters (DACs) per bud, each dedicated to a single driver.
According to OnePlus, “with one DAC focused on the tweeter and the other on the woofer, they can separate their work and deliver exceptional results at both ends of the scale with no crosstalk, no interference, and better power management.” OnePlus once again partnered with Swedish audio engineers Dynaudio on the Buds Pro 3.
OnePlus brought Dynaudio in on the design of the OnePlus Buds Pro 2, a decision that helped those earbuds earn praise for their audio quality. Our reviewer noted that the Buds Pro 2 were especially good at rendering vocals, calling them “superb for vocal-forward music.”
Noise cancellation has also been given a bump in performance — welcome news for Buds Pro 2 fans, as the Buds Pro 2 didn’t do as good a job with noise cancellation as they did with sound quality.
It’s now adaptive, which lets the system reduce the power of the ANC effect when you’re in quieter locations. This reduces power consumption and may increase comfort as some folks don’t like the feeling of strong ANC.
OnePlus says the ANC system can reduce loud sounds by 50 decibels, but it also claims it has tuned the ANC to do a better job of blocking voices, which results in a further decrease of 6 to 8 decibels in those higher frequencies.
Another Buds Pro 2 weakness identified by our reviewer was spatial audio. OnePlus says that this time around, it has switched to Google’s spatial audio technology and has added head tracking. “Using this protocol allows OnePlus Buds Pro 3 to be compatible with a wider range of audio devices,” OnePlus claims, “bringing the benefits of spatial audio to more than just your phone.” The buds are compatible with any content that uses Google
For the Buds Pro 3, OnePlus has also taken a new approach to the charging case.
Instead of a flat, clamshell design, the Buds Pro 3 are now housed in a vertically oriented case with a flip-top lid. The case has also been treated with a leather-like texture — it should be interesting to see how well that wears over time.
To my eyes, the Buds Pro 3 look a lot like the Oppo Enco X and Enco X2 — right down to the Dynaudio branding on the rear hinge. That’s not coincidental — until 2023, both brands were owned by the same China-based parent, BKK Electronics.
Battery life has been extended, with OnePlus claiming an up to 43 hours of battery life without ANC on. There’s also a fast-charging feature that will give you five hours of extra playtime after 10 minutes.
Speaking of fast, in addition to Bluetooth Multipoint, the Buds Pro 3 are Google Fast Pair compatible, which will make device switching easier between registered products. This also adds the Buds Pro 3 to Google’s Find My service.
Finally, the Buds Pro 3 use a reworked set of controls. You now squeeze the stems for individual commands, while a swiping gesture is used to control volume, similar to the Apple AirPods Pro 2.
