Over the past few years, we've seen OnePlus develop beyond being a company that only sells phones, to one which offers various products that all connect to each other. That's seen some misfires - OnePlus Watch we're looking at you - but it's also seen the company grow its personal audio range.

Its first 'Pro' buds were a strong start, but with the second generation, OnePlus is seeking to deliver a truly market-leading experience. From the sound, to feature set and everything in between, it's a pair that promises a great deal and doesn't cost a fortune. Has it succeeded?

Design and case

• 4.9g weight per earbud - IP55 rated water/dust resistance
• 47.3g charging case weight - IPX4 rated
• Touch controls on stem

OnePlus has made bold claims about the improvements made to the internals and hardware of its Buds Pro 2, but there is one area where the flagship in-ears have remained mostly the same - and that's design. That's no bad thing, there's a lot to like about the way the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 and their case have been put together.

The buds themselves - like the first gen models - have a sleek, rounded design with an attractive finish that contrasts a glossy metallic stem against a matte plastic, rounded upper. It sets the buds apart somewhat from the similarly-shaped competition and gives them a look of purposefulness and class.

Our unit was the black colourway, but OnePlus is also launching the buds in a dark green hue. No AirPods-like white anywhere to be seen. Just two colours designed to match the two OnePlus 11 finishes.

Each bud nestles neatly in a sculpted cradle inside the charging case, sitting securely and snapping into place thanks to some carefully positioned magnets. They're pretty strong too. We tried to shake the buds out with the case lid open, and they just wouldn't budge. By the same token, when you do want to remove them to put in your ears, the positioning makes it really easy to get them out.

It's a nicely designed case too, featuring that rounded cuboid design that makes it supremely pocketable and fun to roll around in the hand. Like the buds, it's lightweight, so you can't even really tell when it's in your pocket.

As far as comfort and wearability go, the Buds Pro 2 deliver here too. Each bud weighs under 5 grams, making them easy to wear for long periods. During our testing we often spent 2-3 hours at a time listening to music, without developing sore spots and - crucially - not needing to adjust the fit in our ear constantly. The silicone tip is grippy enough that the buds stay in place, and doesn't feel invasive when placed in the ear.

Add to that some water and dust resistance - IP55 for the buds, IPX4 for the case - and you also have a pair of buds that will survive if you get caught in the rain, or if you wear them on a sweaty run in the summer.

Features and performance

• Google Fast Pair support - Bluetooth 5.3
• Ear detection for auto play/pause
• Gyroscopic/motion sensors for head tracking/audio direction
• Personalised sound profiles - Ear fit test - Zen Mode

As feature lists go, OnePlus has crammed a lot into these little wireless earbuds. Some more useful than others, but it's pretty much all here nevertheless. From a basic controls standpoint, there are touch-sensitive areas on each earbud stem. A quick squeeze pauses or resumes music, and the same effect can be achieved by just removing one of the buds from your ear. Placing them back in resumes playback. We found there was a little delay in between removing them and the music actually stopping, and every so often it didn't work, so there's some improvement to be made here.

Other touch controls can be customised. You can have it set so that a double-press on either side can skip to the next track, or go to the previous track. You can also have this action set to launch your phone's assistant instead if you want. Like AirPods, a long-squeeze will switch between noise cancellation and transparency modes.

One rather unusual - and welcome - feature is something called Zen Mode Air. With a 3-second long squeeze of the stems it launches a calming white noise setting. It uses sound mixes from Oppo's O Relax app, designed to help keep you focused and calm while working, or you could find it useful to distract yourself in noisy areas if you have sensory sensitivities. It's a neat feature.

Other less unusual but beneficial features include a personalise noise cancellation test which can be run at any time, measuring the outside noise and using internal mics to scan your ear canals, and then adapting the ANC to match. You can also run an individual ear fit test to see if you need to change to smaller or larger silicone tips.

Similarly, a feature called Golden Sound can build a unique EQ balance just for you. It starts off by measuring your ear canals by playing sounds and using an internal mic to measure feedback, then plays notes at different frequencies and asks you to adjust the volume until you can no longer hear it. Using this, it can build a 'Golden Sound' profile with boosts for the frequencies that you need.

For our own ears, there wasn't much change needed from the default balanced EQ, so it was hard to hear a massive difference. But for some ears which struggle with high, medium or low frequencies, it could turn out to be a huge blessing.

Another feature we didn't particularly feel all that enamoured by was spatial audio. It's a hot new buzz-word in music, and - when mixed properly - can be really impactful. However - as you'll discover when you read our section on the sound - the sound staging and general feeling of space is already so good, we didn't feel the need to enable spatial audio at all.

We're also not all that fussed by the head-tracking feature that keeps audio feeling like it's always coming from the same direction either. It can be good for video watching, but that's about it.

We tested the buds primarily with the OnePlus 11 running OxygenOS 13, based on Android 13, and all of these features and controls are accessed simply by going into the phone's Bluetooth settings. No additional app necessary. To get these same features and controls on any other Android phone or iPhone, you need to download the HeyMelody app from the Play Store or App Store respectively.

One additional bonus: the buds do have Google Fast Pair support, so you can pair quickly and easily from any Android phone. Once you put them into pairing mode you get a pop-up appearing asking if you want to pair, so you don't even have to go digging in the settings menu to do that part.

Once paired, the wireless performance was pretty strong too. The Bluetooth range wasn't exceptional, but was good enough that we could leave our phone and go to the next room - up to about 10 metres away - and still maintain a good signal.

Similarly, battery life delivered good enough performance that it was never really a concern. We could easily listen to music for between two and three hours, without even using half of the earphones' battery. It took about 40 per cent with the noise cancelling switched on. That suggests OnePlus' six-hour promise with noise cancelling enabled is pretty accurate. Add that to the battery in the case and you get about 25 hours. If you don't use noise cancelling, that gets even longer - up to nearly 40 hours. Use Hi-Res audio, and of course that drops. When you want to refill again you can charge via USB-C or by placing the case on a wireless charger.

Sound and noise cancelling

• 11mm and 6mm dual driver system - 10Hz to 40kHz range
• Android 13 Spatial Audio support
• Hi-Res Audio support - Personalise sound profile
• Noise cancelling up to 48dB

Where the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 truly shine is in music performance. The sound is simply magnificent for a pair of buds in the sub-£200 category. The earphones seem to get so much right, and a big part of that is the construction of the audio driver.

Unlike a lot other buds that feature one, single versatile driver designed to cover all audible frequencies as well as possible, OnePlus has used two drivers. One of those is a big 11mm driver designed to offer great bass performance, and it's combined with a smaller 6mm for elevating higher frequencies. Between them they're capable of a frequency range far beyond the limits of human hearing, and that means when it gets to those limits it's not struggling to deliver the sound with texture, response or clarity.

The company partnered with audio-specialist Dynaudio to build and tune them as well, and the end result is sound that boosts and amplifies bass without sacrificing the crispness and clarity of the higher notes.

We thoroughly enjoyed listening to some of our favourite songs and albums all over again, just to hear them delivered through the Buds Pro 2. Among the highlights that truly shone was Sigrid's 2019 Sucker Punch album. A lot of the songs - like Mine Right Now - combine the deep synth bass with the high-impact slap and pitter-patter of snare and percussion to great effect, and we can't think of many consumer buds that deliver it to the same quality of OnePlus' newest top-tier buds.

The bass synth is deep, to the point you can feel it as much as hear it, the high-impact short bursts on percussion are crisp, while any instruments and vocals over the top are given the space to breathe. It's an impressive scope and range for a pair of tiny earphones. Likewise, in the songs with less going on, it elevates those little details you might not necessarily hear with every pair of earphones - like the subtle lifting and pumping of a piano's pedals, and the natural reverb and vibration of the strings inside the piano.

It's those qualities that also make the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 ideal for listening to songs with lots of acoustic recorded instruments. It gives an acoustic drum kit that extra sense of authenticity being able to feel and hear the bass drum pedal striking the drum as clearly as you hear the snare drum rolls and paradiddles - and acoustic guitar strumming - in songs like Crash Into Me by the Dave Matthews Band.

It's in these big songs with lots of instruments spread over left and right channels that you also get that sense of space. It gives recordings a real sense of size, almost like it's playing around you, and you're just sitting in the middle of it. It doesn't feel like everything's jostling for attention and trying to squeeze through a tiny driver into your ear canal. It's genuinely a great listen.

Those same characteristics are ideal for any songs with deep, multi-layered orchestral arrangements in them too. That space and elevation they're all given adds a depth of feeling.

As prime examples, there's an orchestral version of Space by Biffy Clyro recorded at Abbey Road which is both multi-layered and big in places, but sparse in others. Whether it's the swelling of the string section, the booming of the timpani, the subtle staccato piano or pizzicato of strings, or even the vocal choir joining in towards the end, it's all given its place to just be and do what it does best.

They'll let you pick out quiet, subtle elements clearly in the backing tracks too. For instance, Landslide by Fleetwood Mac has that iconic acoustic finger-picking lead, but with these earbuds, you'll also hear the much quieter, barely audible, subtle 12-string playing a complimentary riff behind it. A lot of buds we've listened to just don't elevate that subtlety at all. It's crisp and quiet, but very much there.

This bass and treble separation is genuinely great, and the wide soundstage ensures that well-mixed songs and albums - like the actually perfect Rumours by Fleetwood Mac - are beautifully catered towards. When you have guitar picking, hi-hat splashing or maraca shaking pushed to the extreme left or right, it adds that space, making the recordings sound spacious and big.

We could go on all day listing all of our favourite songs and wax lyrical about how they elevated all the layers of backing tracks sound. Whether that's Let Me Down Easy by Gang of Youths, or Cardigan by Taylor Swift. Buds Pro 2 don't seem to do anything but improve those songs to our ears.

Our only real complaint about the buds is - at times - its push to making the treble/high impact sounds clear and distinct sometimes pushed a little too far. With some vocalists placing a heavy accent on 'S', 'T' or 'F' sounds, it bordered on breaking into sibilance (and almost rustling/breaking of the sound). It was never serious enough that it stopped us from enjoying the songs though.

The end feeling with the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 was that they made us want to go back and listen to our favourite songs over again, and that's probably the highest praise we can give any audio product.

For those who really care about such things, there is Hi-Res mode where you can wirelessly play high-resolution audio. But we didn't hear enough of a difference in quality playing with this mode on, not enough to warrant the extra battery drain.

Noise cancelling in daily earbuds is far more important to us, and thankfully, that's something the OnePlus Buds 2 Pro does really well. Whether it's traffic or coffee shop noise - in their max setting - the Buds Pro 2 effectively reduce ambient noise using the active mic system, allowing you to enjoy music to the full in any environment. And when you need it, the transparency mode lets you hear what's going on around you.

They're good buds for making and receiving calls too, and deliver clear audio, successfully cutting out most external noise in order to keep your voice sharp.

Verdict

Overall, it's hard to come away from using the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 and not be impressed. They're a smart pair of buds packed with features, fit comfortably and sound superb for their price tag. They undercut the AirPods Pro, and - to our ears - they outperform them too.

If you're an Android user, you could do a lot worse than picking yourself up a pair of OnePlus' spectacular earphones. In fact, if you love music, and like getting yourself immersed in your favourite tracks, we can't think of many better, at least not at this price.