Introduction
Looking for a pair of earbuds that can keep up with your hectic, on-the-go lifestyle, whether you’re powering through a workout, navigating a noisy commute, or simply unwinding with your favourite tunes?
Here are the top five Over-Ear Headphones for Working Out.
The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 might be your perfect match. Over the past few days, I’ve put these sleek, feature-packed earbuds to the test; let me tell you, they’ve made quite an impression.
Design & Case
The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 comes in a rather unique case design. Unlike the glossy, cheap-looking plastic you find with most true wireless earbuds, this case has a lovely soft-touch, faux leather finish on both the front and back, with a matte strip separating them.
This makes it pleasantly resistant to fingerprints and grease. There is excellent news if it’s late on a Friday night and you’re staggering away from the kebab van, pulling these out of your pocket.
You won’t wake up the following day to find a nasty, smeared mess. The textured design also improves grip, so I’ve never had to worry about them slipping out of my hands and under the wheels of a passing night bus while semi-tipsy. Top 5 Best Noise-Canceling Wireless Headphones
It feels like the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 was made with people like me in mind, and maybe even the best true wireless earbuds for the drunk. Go ahead, OnePlus, and put that on your posters. They come in two colour options: Midnight Opus (black) and Lunar Radiance (white).
It’s a bit of a shame there aren’t any bright, bold colours available yet, like the green of the previous Buds Pro, which was quite lovely, but hopefully, more options will be released soon.
Comfortable
The fit is as comfortable as ever. The box contains several sizes of soft silicone tips to find the best fit for your ears. I could wear them for three to four hours without feeling any ear fatigue. The secure fit means I wasn’t worried about them falling out, even while jogging, which, admittedly, only happens around the last orders. I even put them through a shake test to prove how well they stay in place.
Bluetooth Feature
The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 supports Bluetooth 5.4, making pairing with Android devices easy. They also support dual connections, so you can pair them with your smartphone and laptop simultaneously.
Top 10 Earbuds Under $10: No worries if you don’t have a OnePlus phone. You can access all the features through the HeyMelody app on the Google Play Store.
This app lets you check the battery life of your buds, tweak settings like active noise cancellation, and choose from various sound presets. You can even do an earbud fit test to ensure you’ve got the right size silicone tips in your ears. There’s also a handy ‘Find My Earbuds’ feature that plays a loud tone to help you locate them if they get lost on your sofa or, God forbid, inside your cat.
Touch Controls
Strangely, the touch controls on the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 aren’t customizable through the HeyMelody app, at least not at the time of this review. However, the default setup is pretty good. A single squeeze of either stem pauses and resumes your music, though I did encounter a minor bug once where the music wouldn’t resume.
Thankfully, that seems to have resolved itself. A double squeeze skips forward a track, and a triple squeeze skips back. You also get audio feedback, so you know your commands are being recognized.
The one change I’d suggest is having a double squeeze of the right earbud skip forward and the left skip back, but it’s not a big deal. You can squeeze either earbud for about a second to cycle through different noise cancellation modes, including transparency mode, which lets you hear what’s happening around you.
As with the previous generation, each earbud packs an 11mm woofer and a 6mm tweeter. These have been redesigned to improve audio clarity, with new ceramic-metal composite diaphragms and an extra magnet to beef things up. Each bud also has dual DACs (digital-to-analogue converters).
OnePlus has also partnered with Dynaudio to fine-tune the audio output. Comparing the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 to their predecessors, I didn’t notice a huge difference, but the clarity is still excellent across the full range of sound.
Whether I was listening to metal, techno, rave tracks, instrumentals, or acoustic music, it all sounded fantastic and full-bodied, with nothing missing compared to more expensive headphones.
HeyMelody App
The HeyMelody app also offers a variety of audio presets, like bass and serenade, but I only noticed subtle differences between them. You can tweak the equalizer, but I highly recommend using the ‘Golden Sound’ feature. This customizes the audio to your ear canal structure, boosting the frequencies you struggle to hear. It only takes a few minutes to set up, and I noticed a real improvement in audio quality, especially in the mid to high ranges.
Audio Quality
The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 also supports spatial audio, featuring Google’s tech. It’s not something I’m particularly excited about, but it’s there if you want it. The adaptive noise cancellation (ANC) has been improved, too, scaling up or down depending on your environment.
Whether in a quiet room or on a noisy train, 4 Best JBL Headphones Review, the ANC does a great job drowning out unwanted sounds. It’s not the best ANC on the market, but it’s more than adequate for commuting or other daily activities.
Mic Testing
The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 has a triple-mic setup plus a voice pickup sensor, so they know when you’re talking and can enhance your vocals. I tested this in various noisy environments, and my voice was always loud and clear.
Battery Life
Battery life is decent but not outstanding. With active or adaptive noise cancellation on and streaming in high quality, I got about 4.5 hours of use, which isn’t great compared to other true wireless earbuds.
Best Review: However, turning off the ANC almost doubles the battery life, which is pretty good. If you’re running low on juice, pop the buds back in the case for 10 minutes, and you’ll get another three hours of use, ANC included.
The case holds enough charge for about four full recharges before needing to be powered up, which you can do via USB-C or wirelessly.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 are premium earbuds. They offer solid noise cancellation, fantastic audio quality, and a stylish design. My only gripe is the battery life with ANC switched on, but overall, they’re a great choice, especially if you enjoy a drink now and then. Seriously, put that on the poster, OnePlus.
