From one generation of earbuds to the next, we have seen numerous improvements. More gesture control, better noise cancellation, and longer life are only the tip of the iceberg, though, when it comes to what is possible. The OnePlus Buds 4 offers real proof of that, with some interesting tools to significantly improve your overall listening experience.
In the box, you will find the OnePlus Buds 4, their charging case, additional ear tips in various sizes, a brand-coloured USB cable, and documentation. The case is sturdy with a good hinge and a nice, compact oval shape with a fairly thin profile. The buds themselves resemble other stemmed earbuds, except for the flat outer edge of the stem, which features visible capacitive controls—the Buds 4 come in Zen Green and Storm Gray, offering IP55 water and dust resistance.
The OnePlus Buds 4 connect quickly to Android devices, with a pop-up appearing on screen to prompt you to connect. Although connecting to most earbuds is not particularly difficult, I always appreciate a little simplicity in my setups. They can connect to two devices simultaneously, so if you’re listening to music on your phone and need to join a Zoom call on your laptop, you can do so seamlessly.
“The OnePlus Buds 4 offer real proof that earbuds can be both affordable and feature-rich, with tools that truly elevate the listening experience.”
The battery life on the OnePlus Buds 4 is decent with 62mAh batteries in the earbuds and a 530mAh battery in the case, giving you up to 45 hours of playback with combined earbuds and case (11 hours on earbuds alone) when ANC is turned off and just over half of that with ANC turned on. With just 10 minutes of charging time, you can enjoy 3.5 hours of playback on your earbuds and a total of 11 hours when combined with the case.
The OnePlus Buds 4 offer incredibly low latency of 47ms and are powered by dual drivers with dual DACs (Digital-to-Analog Converters) that independently process the high and low frequencies of your audio. They can handle high sampling rates (up to 192 kHz) thanks to their use of the LHDC 5.0 codec and maintain an excellent connection via OnePlus’ Steady Connect. I was able to walk all around my house with concrete walls between my earbuds and phone with no connectivity issues.
Controls on the OnePlus Buds 4 consist of most of the familiar gestures of other earbuds. Holds, taps, double taps, triple taps and swipes up and down on the stems control everything from volume control to answering calls to turning on/off the ANC. You can also access your voice assistant on your phone via the earbuds. Out of the box, the single tap didn’t control anything despite the instructions suggesting otherwise. This was easily fixed, however, within the earbuds’ app.
The HeyMelody app is a true highlight for the OnePlus Buds 4, given the ways it can enhance your user experience while in use. From the app, you can program the controls on each earbud to customize how you use the buds. The HeyMelody app features a basic EQ with balanced, serenade, and bass modes, along with a dynamic bass boost. If you don’t want to settle for the presets, you can configure your own custom six-band EQ.
Active Noise Cancellation on the OnePlus Buds 4 has a few options for you. You can set it to Noise Cancellation and select the level based on the environment you are in. There is adaptive noise cancellation that automatically adjusts the level of noise cancellation based on the noise level of your environment, and transparent mode, which allows you to hear your environment. I know that sounds like the noise cancellation is just off, but it is using the earbuds’ microphones to feed environmental sound into your buds.
There is a game mode in the HeyMelody app that improves sync between audio and video and reduces lag, but the greatest tools in the app, in my opinion, are the OnePlus 3D Audio configurations which creates incredibly immersive sound and the Golden Sound tool, which measures your ear canal and measures your hearing by feeding you tones at different frequencies to customize the sound to your ears and your ears alone.
“With flagship-tier features at $129.99 USD, the OnePlus Buds 4 punch far above their price point.”
The result of these configurations is an exceptional sound profile that, when combined with noise cancellation, provides a truly fantastic audio experience. As I write this, I am sitting on a full train with people chatting away, announcements that I am sure I should be listening to, and the rattle of the rails, none of which I can hear. What can I hear, then? The TV show I’m watching at the moment, and the 3D Audio is giving me the perfect surround sound experience.
Communication is great with the OnePlus Buds 4! Phone calls are clear with the earbuds’ 3-microphone noise cancellation system, which can keep your vocals crisp even with winds up to 20km/h. I couldn’t say I experienced such winds while testing, but I can confirm that meetings I attended using my OnePlus Buds 4 as the mic were clear when I was outdoors, despite quite a bit of city noise.
For those with a OnePlus phone, you can make amazing use of the company’s AI capabilities with AI translation. If you need to speak to someone who doesn’t speak your language, you can speak through your earbuds, and the other party can talk into your phone, with both of you able to read the translation on your phone. Speak with anyone who speaks Chinese, English, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, French, and 17 other languages as of launch.
The OnePlus Buds 4 are now available and retail for $129.99 USD, a very reasonable price for flagship-quality earbuds with numerous features. Features like responsive controls are a significant factor, but for me, the most important factor is the ability to fine-tune your sound with the HeyMelody app. It takes high-quality earbuds and elevates them in every single way. They are a great pair of earbuds for any user, and for the OnePlus ecosystem, they are a no-brainer.
