OnePlus Nord Buds 3r Review: Basic, affordable, enjoyable TWS earbuds

Pros:

Loud and lively sound output

Customisable sound and controls

Unique design, comfortable in-ear fit

IP55-rated dust and splash resistance

Excellent battery backup, fast charging

Dual-pairing support

Very good call quality

Affordable

Cons:

Sharp corners on the charging case

No ANC or wear detection sensors

Price: Rs 1,799

Rating: 4/5

OnePlus released the Nord Buds 3 and 3 Pro last year and probably forgot about the Nord Buds 3r for almost a year. It cannot be a mere coincidence that it was unveiled days after the Oppo Enco Buds3 Pro launched in India. Those two have almost identical specification sheets barring a couple of minor differences.

And given their common ancestry, it is only fair to think they may be the same products. Is that the case? Let’s find out, and while at it, let’s see what the most affordable OnePlus TWS (true wireless) earbuds have to offer.

OnePlus Nord Buds 3r: Design and Comfort (7.5/10)

Right off the bat, the charging case is noticeably different and unique in a way. Neither does it look like that of the Oppo buds nor like the others in the Nord Buds 3 series.

It seems rectangular with rounded corners when shut but opens up to a hexagonal shape on the inside.

Though a tad bulky, it looks pretty cool with a good build and a matte black finish. With the lid open, it has a few pointed corners that can give you a scratch or two; something OnePlus should have addressed in QC.

The case is fairly lightweight weighing under 40 grams and can be slipped into your pocket but with a slight bulge showing. It hosts a 560 mAh battery with a tiny status LED and a USB-C charging port located towards the base.

A Bluetooth pairing/reset button is absent but those functions can be performed by touching and holding the touch zones of both buds simultaneously for a few seconds. A small indentation at the back of the buds denotes the touch area. The touch sensitivity is perfectly fine. The buds are quite light at 4.5 grams each despite hosting 58 mAh batteries.

They look exactly like those of the Oppo Enco Buds3 Pro, just a little darker in shade. The fit is comfortable and can be worn for long. However, I found the fit of the Oppo buds to be a bit more snug for my ears. While you can use the Nord Buds 3r during workouts or jogs without a worry, thanks to their IP55-rated dust and splash resistance, you need to adjust them from time to time so they don’t pop out of the ears. The right sized silicon tips from the three bundled pairs can improve things and also offer decent passive noise isolation. You will need that as there’s no ANC (active noise cancellation) here.

OnePlus Nord Buds 3r: Features and Specifications (7.5/10)

Each earbud is fitted with a 12.4 mm dynamic driver with a titanised diaphragm and two microphones. You do not get any extras like ANC or wear detection sensors, which is acceptable for its selling price. But you do get support for dual-pairing and the Nord Buds 2r can be connected to two devices simultaneously. These Bluetooth 5.4 compliant TWS buds support SBC and AAC codecs. You also get Spacial audio here called OnePlus 3D Audio.

You do not need to install any app on Oppo or OnePlus phones to access the features of these earbuds or update its firmware. It is built into the phone settings. You will need the HeyMelody app on other phones to do the same. It lets you alter the sound profile, configure the controls and more. You can assign play/pause, previous/next track, voice assistant etc to single, double and triple tap gestures. Touch-and-hold lets you increase or decrease the volume.

OnePlus Nord Buds 3r: Performance (8/10)

These earbuds produce a loud and punchy sound output. They are perfectly audible around 50% volume when indoors and at 60-65% when outdoors. The wireless range is fine too with the buds maintaining a stable connection at 10 metres with no obstruction between them and the source device. Moving on to sound quality, though its specs are similar to those of the Oppo Enco Buds3 Pro, the sound signature is a little different. The sound is V-shaped here too but it favours the lows more than the highs.

In simple terms, the bass here is more pronounced than the treble in comparison. However, using the 6-band Sound Master EQ, both the earphones can be made to sound identical. With a few tweaks in the EQ, the OnePlus Nord Buds 3r produces an energetic sound output with ample but manageable bass and sharp highs. Midrange reproduction is not its forte, especially the instrument separation. However, the vocal clarity is pretty good.

The soundstage is not too broad but par for the course for the segment. Just like in the case of the Oppo buds, you get three sound presets here but with different names - Balanced, Bass and Serenade. If creating a custom profile using the EQ is not your thing, Balanced is the best preset of the lot - a bit bassy but relatively more balanced. If you are looking for even more bass, Bass is your option, while Serenade is better suited for podcasts and other voice heavy content.

With the right sized eartips, the passive noise isolation holds up in less noisy areas but you do miss ANC in places like public transport. We faced no latency issues with no noticeable delay between the video and audio when watching videos. The latency can supposedly drop to 47 ms in Game Mode, but we had no means to verify the claim.

OnePlus Nord Buds 3r: Call quality (8.5/10)

The call quality on the Nord Buds 3r is quite good, with people on the line clearly audible to each other indoor as well as outdoors. Even in buzzing areas, the microphones filter out a good amount of ambient noise without impacting the voice clarity. Seldom did anybody have trouble hearing what I had to say even when calling from a busy street. If you are looking for an affordable pair of TWS earbuds for calling, this is a good option.

OnePlus Nord Buds 3r: Battery life (8.5/10)

The battery backup on the OnePlus Nord Buds 3r is impressive and neck and neck with its Oppo counterpart. The company claims a generous 12 hours for the buds alone and a total of 54 hours overall with the charging case. Given the battery specs and lack of ANC or a high-end codec, the Nord Buds 3r manage to get quite close. With the average loudness under 60% during testing, the earbuds actually managed to go on for a tad over 11 hours on a full charge, with an overall battery backup of 50 hours with the case, which is impressive.

Mind you, those numbers will be lower if you indulge in a lot of calling. These OnePlus buds also support fast charging, with a 10-minute charge promising close to 4 hours of playtime, which should provide enough juice to get through any domestic flight in India. The buds alone take about 60 minutes to go from empty to full while the case takes another hour to juice up fully. The battery level of each earbud and the charging case is visible in the Bluetooth settings of the synced device or in the HeyMelody app.

OnePlus Nord Buds 3r: Price and verdict

The OnePlus Nord Buds 3r are quite affordable at Rs 1,799 and come with a one year warranty. You often get them for a couple of hundreds cheaper on different e-stores. It’s a perfectly fair price tag for what it offers. Its lively sound output, comfortable fit, very good call quality, impressive battery backup with fast charging and dual-pairing support spell excellent value for money at that price point. It is easy to recommend if you are looking for an affordable pair of TWS earbuds without ANC.

It does have a fair share of competition though, starting with the one that has been named several times in this review -  the Oppo Enco Buds3 Pro. These two are largely similar products and you can literally choose one depending on the shape of the charging case you like or their selling price on the given day. Other options include the Realme Buds T200 or T310 and the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 for a couple of hundred Rupees extra if you want usable ANC in addition to comparable sound quality, similar features but slightly lower battery backup. Choose one depending on your needs and budget.