the middle of TWS earphones

The latest product from OnePlus, the OnePlus Buds Z2 TWS earphones were presented two months ago in China and now they are coming to Europe. These are headphones that are positioned just below the OnePlus Buds Pro, but retaining its main feature: the active noise cancellation.

You already know that not all helmets have this type of technology, and that there are several variants.

We spent a week with them testing their performance on calls, playing sports, seeking isolation with noise cancellation, and listening to music and podcasts.

Features OnePlus Buds Z2

Simple design

This is perhaps the least striking aspect of these headphones. Not that they’re ugly, but they’re not as sleek as the OnePlus Buds Pro, or tiny like Samsung’s.

Aesthetically, they are almost identical to the OnePlus Buds Z 2020, but with the stick slightly shorter. Despite this, they are more striking than the other options. And we can not ignore that the design of the earpiece is closer to the Apple Airpods Pro than to the 2020 model.

They are convenient and the control application software has a possibility of calibrating whether the pads we wear are suitable for our ears, to try to maximize noise cancellation.

Pairing is done automatically via Fastpair with a OnePlus mobile, or with the HeyMelody application on any other Android device.

Autonomy and charge

The company boasts that these headphones provide up to 38 hours of battery life with the charging case, although that depends on whether or not the active noise canceling and volume cancellation we have on the mobile are used.

What it is striking is the loading speed, a feature that OnePlus generally has a lot, and for good reason. 5 hours of autonomy in 10 minutes of charging with the company’s system, which is available with its chargers.

Sound and noise cancellation are good

These headphones offer one of the best noise reductions in their price segment, with up to 40 dB cancellation, the same that we see in models that cost almost double.

Despite this, we found that they don’t isolate as much as the OnePlus Buds Pro and, most importantly, they don’t offer the OPPO Enco X experience. That said, both cost a lot more.

We are talking about maximum noise cancellation since these headphones have two levels, the one we are talking about and a lighter one, capable of soothing up to 25 dB. We also have the transparency mode, but it’s not as transparent, worth the redundancy, as one would expect. That is, the exterior is heard, but not naturally, but something metallic.

As for the latency of watching videos, in theory you can switch between different sound modes, using the 11mm driver that is also found in the OnePlus Buds Pro. However, we were unable to do so, although video and audio synchronization is more than remarkable, which is not always the case, especially in headphones of this price.

The sound quality of the calls is acceptable, on the one hand thanks to the three microphones in each headset, and on the other hand thanks to the noise cancellation.

And yes, Dolby Atmos sound is supported, but only on OnePlus 7, 7 Pro, 7T, 7T Pro, 8, 8 Pro, 8T, 9, 9 Pro and 9 RT. That is to say in the company’s high-end mobiles in recent years.

Appropriate gestures, with a lack

We appreciate how a brand listens to its users and improves aspects of the software that are easy to correct. Last year we complained that the OnePlus Buds Z only had one gesture available, the double-click.

And let go of the OnePlus Buds Z2 we can use five types of gestures:

• One touch: pause and listen to music.
• Double tap: go forward or backward in the song.
• Press three times: voice assistant.
• Long press: switch between sound modes.
• Long press and hold: reject the call or reconnect with the device.

The only thing we missed was being able to control the volume of the phone through the headphones, which is not usually seen in this price range but does show up in some models.

Of course, on more than one occasion, I accidentally stopped the music while putting the headphones on my ear, for touching the gesture area.

conclusion

The price of these headphones is 99 dollars, 40 more than the OnePlus Buds Z that we reviewed last year at launch. These headphones are in direct competition with the Nothing Ear (1) we recently tested, but unpretentious in design.

If aesthetics are something you are not concerned with and sound or isolation, the OnePlus Buds Z2 are a competent option. Of course, they fall far short of the advantages of more expensive models, and their aesthetics are too basic.

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