Knowing that there’s nothing releasing headphones from a new cheap sub-brand, we know these will be the next ones we’ll have to review. And none is one of the most exciting brands on the market right now. The unique and original design of the products makes many people buy them, although not everyone can buy them because of their price.
That’s why the new CMF Buds Pro, the headphones we have on hand, promise nothing but premium quality while maintaining an affordable price. But… did you make it? Well, join us in this review where we take an in-depth look at the first headphones from CMF, a no-budget brand.
CMF Buds Pro: very light headphones with good sound quality, 45 dB of active noise cancellation and 11 hours of autonomy.
The CMF Buds Pro range of mid-range Bluetooth headphones are the cheapest if not the most affordable yet: Ear (1), Ear (2) and Ear Stick. And while they’re less than half the price, they’re hardly the envy of the most expensive TWS headphones on the market… Why? Well, they offer everything you’d expect from AirPods-style headphones: powerful noise cancellation, plenty of autonomy, and good sound quality.
CMF Buds Pro details
What does the CMF Buds Pro look like?
From the moment the CMF Buds Pro packaging is in your hands, you know you’re looking at a product with the unique stamp that says NO. And the box is very refined: it is a pair of plastic covers that open like a book and match the light and low design of the headphones. Now, to be honest, we expected a bit more from the looks of these headphones.
They are hockey puck-shaped with a soft rubber coating that makes them very comfortable to touch. It has a front LED and an attractive chrome bezel with a USB-C charging port on the back. Overall, it’s an easy case to carry anywhere, although some people may find it a little bulky and sturdy.
As for the headphones, they have the same design as AirPods with a long stick and a head that is the right size for the ear. This, together with their light weight (4.8 grams) and soft and flexible silicone tips, allowed us to use them for a long time without discomfort.
Now, even though the build and materials seem to be of very good quality, we can’t help but be a little disappointed with the looks. The design is the main attraction of Nothing’s products and the brand promised to maintain this approach with CMF, which they did not deliver this time as the design of CMF Buds Pro looks a bit generic.
Putting aside the looks of these headphones (which you may or may not like), the rest of their design features are understated for their price. We were surprised that there are optical sensors in each earpiece. These are mostly found in the more expensive TWS models on the market (AirPods, Nothing Ear 2, etc.) and are responsible for detecting active use of the headphones. So, when you take them off (or put them on) the music automatically stops (or plays).
Another thing we like is that the headphones (but not the charging case) are IP54 certified against water and dust. In fact, we tested them working in light rain and a little splash of sweat and water didn’t cause them any problems… Do they have touch controls? Yes, they have sensors on the top of the cane and thanks to the app you can program many touch gestures, which we will tell you later.
How is the CMF Buds Pro’s sound quality, ANC and connectivity?
Each CMF Buds Pro comes with a single 10mm dynamic driver made of liquid crystal polymer and polyurethane. They also use Bluetooth 5.3 to connect to mobile phones or smart devices and support AAC and SBC audio codecs… How do you hear it? Well, they come with the usual “V” tuning so they provide very powerful bass and treble, thus sounding very powerful. Unfortunately, they sacrifice a lot of midrange sounds that spoil the vocals, some instruments, and the details of the song.
Generally, they have a good sound that most people like. Now, if you don’t listen to urban, pop or electronic music, you might be overwhelmed by the powerful bass and bright treble… Can this sound be edited? Yes, thanks to the Anything X app for Android and iOS, although not as much as we’d like. This is the same app used by the Ear (2), no more premium headphones. Thanks to this, we are experiencing one of the best software-equipped headphones for the price.
Double- or triple-tap, tap and hold, or double-tap gestures in the app. You can also activate powerful active noise cancellation that blocks sounds up to 45 dB. This is undoubtedly the best we’ve tested in its price range, as it efficiently removes background noise, especially very high or low sounds. It is also worth mentioning that the function “Find my headphones” can call the headphones to find them if they are lost.
What we owe is app balancing. This is very basic and only allows configurations in three frequency bands. We missed the advanced parametric equalizer of Nothing
Finally, it should be mentioned that it brings transparency and low latency mode that disappointed us. Especially the latter, since activating it, the audio delay is still very high, from 200 to 300 ms.
How long does the battery last on the CMF Buds Pro headphones?
Needless to say, the CMF Buds Pro come with a 55 mAh battery in each earbud, providing up to 11 hours of noise canceling and 6.5 hours with ANC enabled… Really? Well, we’ve tested them and if you never activate the noise canceling and use it sparingly (60%), they provide about half a day of autonomy.
If you add the charging case 460 mAh to this, the autonomy increases up to 39 hours with ANC disabled or 22 hours with active use of noise cancellation. Finally, it should be mentioned that in order to restore the autonomy, we only have to charge via USB-C, which is surprisingly fast: with a 10-minute charge, we have 5 more hours of autonomy.
Are the CMF Buds Pro headphones worth it?
In short, the CMF Buds Pro are the closest you can get to premium Bluetooth headphones for under €100. They have a compact and quality design (although it does not come from nothing) which makes them very convenient to use. They have high-end noise canceling software for the Nothing X app and superior noise canceling for the price. And the battery is what we like the most, because we were able to use them for several hours without worrying about charging.
What do we like least? It’s a fact that their high latency and their equalization sacrifice midrange tones, so we don’t recommend them for gaming or high-fidelity music lovers. They are perfect for everything else, they will be very useful for your daily life… their price? Well, it’s around 50 euros on AliExpress, although you can get them now. 42 euros with the coupon ES06 Thanks to the Black Friday deals (until November 29).
