Over the past few months, I’ve had the privilage of being one of the testers for CMF Buds Pro 2, codenamed Espeon throughout the trial process. I found this quite exciting as it was the first CMF by Nothing product that I have had to test, so I had very little expectations of what it should be like. As such, my impressions from other audio products come from previous Nothing devices, such as Ear, Ear (a) and Ear (2).
TLDR ➡ Lots of bang for your buck!
Compared to my other buds, Nothing Ear, they’re not as clear on the overall sound quality, the bass is sometimes a bit overwhelming (if left at +5) and the design is different. However, these aren’t meant to be comparative to a pair of £130 buds, they’re in their own affordable market and the bang you get for your buck, which we now now is £59, is incredible impressive. I’d recommend these to anyone who is price concious, wants a good looking and sounding pair of buds, which also last all day and pack a punch in the bass department.
Let’s get into it 👇
🎧Hardware & Functionality
Most people will probably initially notice the silver wheel at the top of their Buds Pro 2 case, which I’ll come onto shortly, but my first impressions of the device was actually how strong and secure the case felt. Material wise, my Dark Grey DVT had a nice feel that I would describe is like a mixture between glossy and matte - officially named Soft Touch + Sandblasted.
The hinge actually was surprisingly strong and very satisfying to open/shut - it felt a little stronger than Ear but that might also be because the case is a solid material, versus the clear transparent casing. There is also a single light on the front of the case, which you can barely see when it’s not on, which acts as your indicator for things like connections/pairing/low battery life.
As for the buds, they are a mixture of different finishes. The stem, which has touch controls for your usual media and noise cancellation functions, is a grey matte finish whilst the bud has a glossy finish. The magnets that keep them in the case are very strong and I’ve had instances where I’ve drop the case and they didn’t fall out - very reassuring.
The silver wheel on the case, named Smart Dial, from a material point of view has a metal feel to it and, the clicky-ness of it is also extremely satisfying. I find myself fiddling with my Buds Pro 2 case a lot whilst on calls, spinning the Dial around. Now functionality wise, the Smart Dial serves as an extension of what your buds can do - play/pause songs, skip, transparency etc.
📱Software Experience (Nothing X App features)
Those who are used to the Nothing X App will be familiar already with what the Buds Pro 2 have to offer, so i’ll dive into some of the new things.
Firstly, the Smart Dial as I briefly mentioned above, gives you following actions - Single/Double/Triple Press, Press & Hold and Rotate. All of these can be switched to No action or to an action of your choice, including Voice Assistant/Low Lag Mode/Answering Calls.
When testing these, I personally had a few issues which are largely related to personal use cases, rather than actual functionality. When turned on and the case was in my pocket for instance, I would find that some of the actions would get activated because the movement of me walking would push the Smart Dial. I found more often than not that when I was out and about, I would actually switch all of these to No action, ad when at my desk I’d have them on so that I could easily activate actions.
Sadly, during the trial phases there wasn’t the option to temporarily turn on/off the Smart Dial, due to the DVT unit capabilities. During testing, a few of us raised this concern and suggested it would be a good feature. We were delightfuly informed that such a feature will be available on retail models, so kudos to the team for taking into account such feedback 👏
Spatial Audio has also been added to the Nothing X App for Buds Pro 2, which I know many of you have been requesting. My personal experience with it probably isn’t the best, as I’m not really a user who demands or requires Spatial Audio, so I didn’t really get it at all. I noticed a more roomy and spacey sound when activated, but other testers reported some good results with it, so read into their comments if this is an important feature for you.
🔋Battery Life
This is one area where Buds Pro 2 excel for me, especially coming from using Ear and Ear (2) in the past. My settings for my buds were mostly set to High Transparency, Ultra Bass +5 and DIRAC Opteo EQ, which delivered enough juice for about 4-6 hours continuous use, before needing to charge them. Charging felt very quick, and before I knew it I was able to get through an entire day of use.
I’d say these are very comparable to Ear in terms of battery life for both the buds and case, with 10 minutes charge delivering a few hours.
🔊Sound Quality
So given that I’ve never listened to a pair of CMF audio products before, I had no idea what to expect - I was not dissapointed. My initial impression was that they are very bass heavy, probably thanks to the 11mm bass drivers, and also picked up quite a lot of the mid/high notes. As a bass heavy user, I could feel that Ultra Bass was definitely delivering here but I would say that +5 is sometimes a little too much on the heavier side - you start to lose audio quality and the buds end up rattling in your ears more, due to the intensity.
Transparency had been massively improved during our testing too, through firmware updates. When we first started testing the device, it was good but could be better. After one of the updates we received, the Transparency feature almost felt either on-par, if not better, than Nothing Ear.
At times, it felt like I didn’t even have buds in my ears when I was just walking around with Transparency mode switchedon. High ANC mode, which I had on more often than not, delivered sufficient noise cancellation, and blocked out most of the high pitched noises I experienced during my daily commutes. These buds do a very good job at making you feel islolated and immersed in whatever you’re listening to.
✍Summary
So who are these buds for?
- I’d say that if you’re looking for an affordable upgrade on your existing audio buds and you’re not a strict audiophile, but still want a high quality sound experiece, then these are the buds for you.
- Equally, if you’re into your colours or already embedded into the CMF by Nothing product line, there are a range of colours to suit your style.
What is missing from them?
- I mentioned above, but the ability to toggle your Smart Dial wheel on/off would’ve been nice to try.
- There was also no ChatGPT functionality available during our testing, but this will be available for retail models.
- I’d also say that sometimes the clarity of the sound wasn’t as clear as more expensive devices, and sometimes the bass felt a little bit too heavy - but tuning the bass intensity to your taste will help this
Would I use these buds daily?
- Yes I would and I have been for the past few months.
- They performed really well for me during my daily commutes, cancelling out most of the loud noises and leaving me immersed in my own audio world.
- I think these would also make for good gym earphones, as I felt like they stayed in my ears very well throughout use. I also preferred how much more grippy these felt vs my Ear case.
- For £59 these are an absolute steal!
