Online stores are full of cheap Bluetooth earphones. Most, however, have mediocre audio quality, boring designs, and lack several useful features, such as active noise cancellation. The CMF Buds by Nothingwhich we tell you about in this one reviewHowever, they have the potential to change the situation. With a price under 40 euros, they surprised us in a positive way: those who want to save money can't find anything better. But what are you willing to give up for such an attractive price?
Our review of CMF Buds
When Nothing contacted us to try the earphones of its cheaper sub-brand, we must admit, we turned up our noses a bit. The Nothing Ear (2) had fully convinced us: even today we often wear them in our ears. But CMF Buds cost less than a third: we expected a poor experience. Instead, we were happily surprised.
Nothing does not see these products directly under its main brand, but under the cheaper CMF. CMF sta per “Color, Material, and Finish“, in Italian “Colour, Material and Finish”. A way of saying that these are products that pay attention to design and construction quality, in a price range where these values are often left aside to obtain the best relationship between the technical data sheet and the cost.
Carl Pei, co-founder of Nothing, explained that the CMF product development team will operate independently from the main Nothing team. But from our impressions during the review, we seem to find many of the things Nothing does well in its audio products also in the CMF Buds.
Design and Packaging
One of the features that CMF seems to completely abandon is the typical aesthetic of Nothing. Model orange that we have tested seems to us, in some way, the furthest thing from the transparent look of the Ears (2).
However, looking closer, some common characteristics can be found. They have it stesso design in-earwith the stem protruding from the ear, even if the stem is longer and the earpiece itself is less voluminous than the Ear (2).
Furthermore, the charging case, compact and easily transportable, is not transparent but is equally square (but with cleverly rounded edges. It is slightly taller, but remains very compact: it weighs only 52.84 grams, with the earphones weighing only 4.57 grams each. Keeping them in your pocket is very convenient. If you prefer, you can also hook a strap into the slot on the round circle of the case.
They also have resistance IP54 to resist dust and water splashes (only the headphones, not the case). Which makes them great for listening to music while exercising: we used them for running and the grip on the ear didn't make them move at all. They're not as comfortable as headphones designed specifically for running, but they're better than many other alternatives. And the fact of finding two other sizes of “rubbers” in the package helps to find the right size for everyone.
They remain cheap plastic earphones: to the touch you feel that these are not “noble” materials. But they are solid and there attention to design details that we found in this product we almost never find it in this price range.
Convincing audio performance
CMF by Nothing has equipped its Buds with 12.4mm dynamic drivers, with bio fiber diaphragms and custom TPU. Furthermore, he worked with Dirac to best balance these earphones and ensure the best audio performance for the price. However, it does not use codecs for high-fidelity audio. The result are earphones that are very good at reproducing the tracks you listen to in streaming, but which will not fully satisfy audiophiles (who, realistically, will have to spend more).
The Ultra Bass 2.0 technology to maximum and the equalizer DIRAC Opteo we were also able to appreciate tracks full of powerful sub-bass such as Loyalty by Kendrick Lamar with Rihanna. In general, the strong bass makes listening to hip hop really enjoyable: from classics like Biggie Smalls and Dr. Dre, up to 21 Savage. But the same goes for pop, where the headphones hold the voices of Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift very well, while enhancing the rhythm track to a great extent.
In more complex tracks like Free by Florence + The Machine, and in genres like jazz or classical music, we hear the loss of some detail. But it's much less than we expected. If you have a streaming subscription for high fidelity music, better find other earphones. But if you use Spotify or YouTube Music, these cheap earphones they are enough and more to guarantee you a decidedly good quality.
Active noise cancellation (and other things we didn't expect at this price)
In addition to above-average audio for the category, the CMF Buds surprised us with several features during our review tests. There active noise cancellation (ANC) up to 42 dB does not reach the level of products costing three or more times as much. But it manages to eliminate background noise while walking on the street or on public transport. We also used them on the train and, although they didn't cancel out the roar of the engines, we were able to listen to podcasts and audiobooks without losing the thread — even during takeoff and landing.
The Transparency mode however, it is not on the same level: it is better to remove the earphones to listen to someone. And we noticed that when you take them off, the earphones take a couple of seconds to recognize movement and stop playback. But in this price range we didn't expect to find detection in the ears: a little latency is not a problem.
The connection to double device through Bluetooth 5.3 and support forvoice assistant further expand the versatility of use of the CMF Buds. You can connect them to smartphones and PCs (there is Fast Pair on both Android and Windows), switching from one device to another with the Nothing X app, which continues to please us for its design and ease of use. There are also features like low latency mode for gaming (although the difference is minimal) and the Find My Earbuds option. At this price, everything is pure gold.
Audio for calls
The four microphones built into the stems (two on each side) of the CMF Buds aren't among the features that wowed us during this review's testing. But they're still pretty good. There your voice sounds slightly metallic, and background noise cancellation isn't on the highest level of option. But they remain more than usable: they are not a strong point, but not a weak point either.
Autonomy and charging
Battery life is another strong point: the CMF Buds promise up to 8 hours of music playback without ANC (active noise cancellation) and just over 5.6 hours with ANC active. The charging case extends the total battery life up to 35.5 hours without ANC and 24 hours with ANC. During our tests we found slightly lower, but still above average results. Listening with ANC on, we got well over four hours. Another strong point.
The fast charging it's an added convenience, offering 6.6 hours of battery life (without ANC) with just 10 minutes of charging. Unfortunately, wireless charging is missing — but that would have been too much to ask.
CMF Buds by Nothing Review: Is It Worth It?
We have said it several times during this review and we repeat it once again: Nothing's CMF Buds really surprised us. The generous 12mm drivers and Dirac optimization offer powerful bass and faithful, quality reproduction (albeit not high fidelity). Decent noise cancellation, dual connection and other advanced features are often not found even in headphones that are worth more. TO 39 euro impossible to find better.
The version CMF Buds Prowhich costs 49 euro, with just those ten euros more you will find more competition. From earphones that lack the ANC and battery life of Nothing's earphones (on paper, better than the basic Buds), but have good acoustic qualities. And they don't have Dirac-optimized audio.
They are highly recommended. Indeed, if you don't have lossless audio sources to connect your earphones to and you don't need a perfect Transparency mode, we find it difficult to advise you to spend more. We, without a doubt, will no longer take the quality of earphones under fifty euros for granted: CMF by Nothing has raised the bar for the entire category.
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