The Nothing CMF Buds Pro 2 true wireless earbuds are among the phone maker’s recent crop of releases in its CMF range, including the budget CMF Phone 1 we just reviewed a couple of weeks ago.
While the new pair of wireless earbuds carry a “Pro” moniker, they goes for an affordable S$99. Just like the CMF Phone 1 that it is marketed together with, they premium and perform surprisingly well for the price Nothing asks for.
Design
The design of CMF Buds Pro 2 hews close to other true wireless earbuds. There is a squarish charging case with rounded corners that, thankfully, comes with the purchase. Its finish is a smooth matt plastic that is pleasant to touch and fingerprint resistant.
The case measures 53.4mm in length and breadth and 23mm in depth. It weighs 46g without the earbuds, and 55.8g with them in. Like many other true wireless earbuds today, the CMF Buds Pro 2 are easy to bring around in your backpack and pockets.
Open the case up, and the earbuds rest snug in the charging cradles on their sides at an angle. You feel a satisfying pull as you remove the earbuds and when placing them back. They ensure good contact to the charging pins in the case, and make the use experience feel premium.
There are three sizes of rubber tips, and the large one felt comfortable in my ear with a good fit.
I thought Nothing could have labelled the left and right earbuds on both the case and buds, though. I found myself switching the earbuds to the other side after getting them wrong ever so often.
The CMF Buds Pro 2 also stick closely Nothing’s industrial simplicity design playbook. The greyish-black design is understated but attractive.
There is a click-wheel knob on the bottom right of the charging case which Nothing calls a Smart Dial. This can be customised as a gesture button through the Nothing X app (more on that later), but I love using it as a literal fidget spinner, with its satisfying clicks and taps.
App and features
The CMF Buds Pro 2 earbuds are customised through the Nothing X app. The application has a simple design with just enough important controls.
When the earbuds are paired and turned on, their battery life can be checked from the app’s main page. Clicking on Controls lets you link gestures to action.
The Equaliser offers six presets and a custom control that allows adjustments of the lows, mids and highs on a -6 to +6 scale. I personally found the Enhance Vocals preset more than sufficient for most use cases.
This is because the CMF Buds Pro 2 have a bassy sound profile by default that is further enhanced by its Ultra Bass feature. I typically kept the setting between +1 and +2, which adds sufficient “oomph” into dialogue to satisfy me.
In terms of noise control, the CMF Buds Pro 2 firstly offers a “transparency” option. It does a pretty good job of keeping you aware of the surroundings while keeping your content audible.
As for active noise cancellation (ANC), there are low, medium, and high settings, and an adaptive option, but they are all generally effective.
I personally preferred the mix of ambient and media sounds with both transparency and ANC completely off, which helpfully also saves battery life.
What is interesting to me is that while the rubber tips are comfortable, they are not a perfect seal. Yet, the noise cancellation is effective.
The CMF Buds Pro 2 has a IP55 water and dust resistance rating. This should make the earbuds safe enough to use by the pool and take some splashes, but not a soak.
Use experience
Pairing the CMF Buds Pro 2 with my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is painless. My phone detected the buds once I took them out of the case, and asked if I would like to pair them. It is the same when I tested the earbuds with the Nothing CMF Phone 1.
Place the earbuds into your ears, and a soft, bassy thump reminds you that they are on and in service.
The default sound tuning on the CMF Buds Pro 2 is bassy with a capital B. The buds come with a 11mm bass driver and 6mm micro-planar tweeter.
This beats the tinny sound that budget earbuds are prone to. I particularly like that Nothing executed the bass without drowning out the clarity of timbre, or the brightness of vocals.
I watched several TV documentaries while on the go, and liked that the earbuds added a third dimension to the vocals and accompanying background music.
I listened to some instrumentals, and while I am sure more expensive earbuds (and there are many) will do better in clarity, I am more than okay because the timbre is not muffled.
With pop songs, turning down the bass is important. The CMF Buds Pro 2 can get too bassy, even for a bass lover like myself. With that done, it is a very nice listening experience for the average joe on his or her shuffled Spotify playlist.
I used the CMF Buds Pro 2 for a few teleconference calls. There were no complaints about my voice even though I was in an office with others talking, and at a Starbucks cafe one weekend afternoon.
This can probably be credited to the three microphones in each earbud, and Nothing’s own Clear Voice Technology 2.0 doing its magic.
In terms of battery life, with noise cancellation off, Nothing promises 11 hours use per charge without a case, and 43 hours with one. Turning noise cancellation on brings the figure to 6.5 hours and 26 hours respectively.
I did not quite use the earbuds that long until the batteries run out, and did not charge the case daily. Yes, I am not a super heavy user, but that does show the battery life will more than suffice unless if you listen to tunes continuously.
Conclusion
Like the Nothing CMF Phone 1, the CMF Buds Pro 2 are another value-for-money but high-performing piece of gear. There is little to pick on, sound-wise. You will need to turn down the bass, but the above average thumps do not mar the mids and highs.
Comfort-wise, the buds fit nicely in my ears and are not difficult to put on and remove. Their battery life is no slouch, and the design does not feel cheap. Did I mention I love the fidget spinner-like Smart Dial?
Add to the fact that these are in-ear buds that come with a charging case for just under S$100, The Nothing CMF Buds Pro 2 deserve our Approved award.
