OnePlus launched the Nord Buds 4, the company’s latest Nord series earbuds, today as the successor to the Nord Buds 3, which was launched back in 2024. The new Nord Buds 4 brings features such as up to 52 dB ANC and promises up to 54h of total playback on a single charge.
So, are these the best true wireless earbuds with ANC for under Rs. 3,500? Let us dive into the review to find out.
Box contents
- OnePlus Nord Buds 4 earbuds in Astral Teal color
- OnePlus Nord Buds 4 charging case
- User guide
- Silicon ear tips (S and L; M pre-installed)
- Safety and Warranty card
Design and Build Quality
Starting with the design, the headset comes in a slightly squarish charging case compared to a pebble-shaped case, and it is compact. It has a matte finish, so it doesn’t attract fingerprints easily.
You can see the OnePlus logo, and there is an LED on the front. The charging case weighs 42.5 grams. There is a tiny LED indicator on the front that glows in white, green, and red colors.
The Astral Teal color variant has tiny speckles that make it unique-looking. It also comes in Stellar Black color.
The USB Type-C port is present in the back, along with the setup button.
The headset has a plastic build with a matte finish, so it doesn’t attract fingerprints easily, unlike the predecessor, which had a glossy finish. There are three microphones on each headset: the front, the back, and the bottom. This uses touch controls, the same as the old Nord series buds with touch controls.
The earbuds weigh about 4.3 grams and feature an in-ear design. The earbuds come with medium-sized ear tips pre-installed, but you can change to bundled large– or small-sized ear tips if you wish. There is an optical sensor for wear detection so that it can automatically pause the audio when you remove it from your ears and play when you put it back. This was missing in the Nord Buds 3.
Overall, the headset has good build quality, is compact, and fits your ears perfectly so that they don’t fall off your ears easily, even during outdoor activities like running or cycling. The earphones have IP55 ratings for dust and water resistance, so they can withstand splashes or light rain, but you can’t use them when swimming. There are no IP ratings for the case.
Connectivity, Pairing, and Controls
The OnePlus Buds 4 supports Bluetooth 6.1 with AAC / SBC codecs that is common in the headsets in the price range. The pairing process is very easy for OnePlus devices. Just enable Bluetooth on the OnePlus phone, open the charging case of the buds, place the charging case close to the phone, and follow the prompts.
To connect to a non-OnePlus phone or other Bluetooth device, place the Nord Buds 4 into the charging case with the cover opened. Press and hold the setup button in the case for 2 seconds to enter Bluetooth settings. Then, select OnePlus Nord Buds 4.
There is a fast pair option that works on the latest Android phones. We tested it on the vivo X300 Ultra, OPPO Reno 16, and the MacBook Pro and never faced any pairing or disconnection issues. It also comes with Microsoft Swift Pair. Since the phone pairs with the case and not the headset, you will need the case if you want to reconnect it or even turn on the headset if it’s disconnected from the phone.
You can enable the dual connection option that lets you connect to two devices at the same time and switch the audio playback between them.
| Function | Left earphone (L) | Right earphone (R) |
| Play / Pause | Single tap | |
| Play next track or Answer call / Hang calls | Double Tap | |
| Play previous track | Triple Tap | |
| Enable noise cancellation or switch between noise cancellation modes | Press and hold for 1s | |
| Volume control | Press and Hold | |
You can customize the controls from the settings if you have an OnePlus phone, or even from OPPO or realme phones. Other use the Hey Melody app on Android and iOS.
You can’t edit the single press for play/pause but can change a double press for the next track to the previous track or to launch the voice assistant for either the left or right earbud or both earbuds. The triple tap function can also be customized. You can use long touch and hold to control the volume, which comes in handy. However, there is no slide volume control that was present in the Nord Buds 4 Pro.
You can also choose at least two from noise cancellation, transparency, and noise cancellation off when you press and hold either earbud.
You can also customize the controls with Spotify Tap and even tap a bud to start their chosen AI assistant. You can also choose at least two from noise cancellation, transparency, and noise cancellation off when you press and hold either earbud. The autoplay / pause option when you remove the earbud can be disabled. The sound space can play ambient sound to help you sleep or stay calm.
The earbuds fit test option plays music to ensure that your ear tips make a good seal with your ear canal for better noise-canceling. For OnePlus phones running OxygenOS 15.0.1 or later, there is AI translation that can translate between languages such as English, Hindi, Spanish, and French.
Audio Quality
The OnePlus Nord Buds 4 pack a 12mm titanized dynamic driver, similar to the predecessor. Audio from the earbuds is very loud and crisp, and as usual, the bass is on the higher side even without enabling the BassWave option, which further enhances the bass.
The BassWave Enhancement algorithm lets you boost the bass, and you can choose the strength manually. It features three equalizers—Balanced (default), Serenade, and Bass—so that every song can be heard how it should. You can also create a custom EQ. There is OnePlus 3D audio, which uses software to create spatial sound.
The audio quality is crisp with clear vocals and a good amount of bass. Highs are good, and the mid-range is average.
Noise Cancellation and Call Performance
Regarding the noise cancellation, the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) blocks the ambient sound, which helps in most cases. You can feel the difference when you are listening outdoors. For the price, it does a good job. It has received TÜV Rheinland high-performance noise cancellation certification, said the company.
Compared to 32dB ANC in Nord Buds 3, this offers 52dB ANC, and it has a wide 5000Hz frequency range. There are high, moderate, and mild modes. This doesn’t use hybrid noise cancellation, so you will need to set it to high, and it will adjust it in real time accordingly.
This also has Transparency mode that allows you to listen to ambient sound so that you can recognize the surrounding situation and any potential risks. It can turn on the transparency mode automatically when you remove a single earbud.
The low latency is 47ms. This is useful when gaming. The new gaming-specific spatial audio mode tuned for BGMI, Free Fire, and Call of Duty helps you hear gunshots and footsteps clearer and earlier, says the company.
Coming to the call noise cancellation, it uses an AI-powered noise reduction algorithm and three ENC microphones to cut external noise. This does a good job in cutting down wind and traffic noise. During my use outdoors, wind noise was completely cut out to the receiver, but the traffic noise was faintly audible. OnePlus says that it can block winds of up to 25 kilometers per hour.
Battery Life
The earphones pack a 62mAh battery that promises about 13 hours of standalone battery life and 6.5 hours with noise cancellation enabled. During my use with noise cancellation on and off, I got about 9 hours of battery life at about 60% volume, so it is good. For calls, it lasts for less than 5 hours since it uses call noise cancellation tech.
With the 530mAh charging case, it promises up to 54 hours of total battery life without ANC and 27 hours of total battery life with noise cancellation enabled. The green light in the case indicates that the battery is high, and it turns red when it is low. You can also see the charge left in the case in the HeyMelody app when the earbuds are placed in the case.
Charging the case fully with the earbuds takes about one and a half hours, and charging the earbuds fully takes about an hour. It also has fast charge, so that you get 11 hours (charging case + earbuds combined) of playback with 10 minutes of charging with ANC off.
Conclusion
With the Nord Buds 4, OnePlus has delivered a highly competent successor that fixes one of the biggest complaints of the previous generation—moving from a smudge-prone glossy body to a clean, premium matte finish.
For a budget-friendly price tag, the leap to 52 dB Active Noise Cancellation is genuinely noticeable outdoors, and the addition of modern features like dual-device connectivity, wear detection, and low-latency gaming spatial audio makes it an incredibly versatile package.
While the mid-range audio frequencies remain a bit average, the staggering 54-hour total battery life and massive bass response more than make up for it. If you are a fan of punchy, bass-forward sound profiles and need reliable ANC without breaking the bank, these are easily one of the best value-for-money packages you can find right now.
Pricing and availability
Priced at Rs. 3,299, the Nord Buds 4 will be available from Amazon.in, Flipkart.in, OnePlus.in, the OnePlus Store app, Myntra, Blinkit, OnePlus stores, and select offline partner stores starting from June 29th at 12PM. For a limited period it will be available for Rs. 3,099 as a part of the launch offer.
Pros
- Strong audio quality with powerful, customizable bass
- Highly effective 52dB ANC for the price range
- Compact, matte-finish case
- IP55 ratings for the headset
- Good call quality with call noise cancellation
- Excellent battery life with fast charging
Cons
- Average mid-range frequency performance
- The price bump from Nord Buds 3 feels a bit steep