wireless listening pleasure for your smartphone

OnePlus has launched a new set of in-ear headphones with many nice features such as active noise canceling and Bluetooth 5.2 support. But what good is these wireless in-ears in practice? DroidApp tested the OnePlus Buds Z2!

OnePlus Buds Z2 review

OnePlus delivers the Buds Z2 in a small square box, in which we find the necessary accessories such as extra buds for different ear types, a short USB Type-C cable for charging and some documentation. In a fairly large, oval holder we find the two in-ears. Compared to the previous Buds Z, OnePlus indicates that this fraction has been made shorter.

If you want to exercise and walk outside in the rain, that shouldn’t be a problem, because the earphones have an IP55 rating. This Buds Z2 has a price tag of 99 euros.

Sound quality

Of course, headphones are all about the sound quality and the experience of the sound. What is striking is that the active noise cancelling, ANC for short, seems to be doing its job well. In noisy environments such as a station or in the train, the sound is filtered out well. This makes the noise canceling of the Buds Z2 seem to do its job slightly better than the OnePlus Buds Pro.

We experienced the sound quality itself as okay, the low (bass) part seems slightly boosted. The middle is reasonable but by boosting the bass some tones are muted which is a shame, because of that the middle seems less sparkling. The highs have undergone the same boost as the lows and therefore less pleasant to listen to at loud volume. So keep a normal sound level, then the boost, especially in the highs, will not be noticeable.

A disadvantage is that the Buds Z2 still does not have an equalizer, so that you cannot adjust the low and high downwards yourself. Support for the aptX audio codec is also missing, but you can use the SBC and AAC audio codecs.

App & Battery Life

By opening the holder, a small LED light on the front briefly lights up, indicating the status of the battery. If it is green, there is still sufficient power available and you can assume that the in-ears are also properly charged. With ANC on, the earphones last for about 5 hours before you have to recharge them in the pouch. Via the case you can listen for a maximum of about 38 hours with the ANC setting.

The OnePlus Buds Z2 are well suited for a OnePlus device, and that is because the settings can easily be adjusted via the Bluetooth settings on your OnePlus phone. If you don’t have a OnePlus smartphone, you have to rely on the HeyMelody app from OnePlus. In this app you will find approximately the same settings, but requires an extra app download.

Rating

The OnePlus Buds Z2 are an interesting accessory for OnePlus users, with fine ANC support, reasonable sound quality and ease of use when it comes to pairing the headphones. Still, we find it a pity that an equalizer is still missing and we have noticed that you should not turn the sound too loud with some pieces of music.

You can order the OnePlus Buds Z2 at OnePlus, Belsimpel, Amazon and Bol.com.