OnePlus Buds Z Steven Harrington EditionThe main reason why I switched to a Bluetooth earphone is mainly because they won't get tangled as wired headphones do and it's so simple to use whenever and wherever (tangle-free). as it was my first time buying wireless headphones I was having so many doubts like whether the sound will be comparable to wired headphones, how long will the battery last and whether the Bluetooth earphones will have any signal problems mainly range and latency. I also noticed that newer released mobile phones don't have a 3.5mm jack. So I thought it won't that bad to try it out.
So I planned to buy a wireless earphone under 3000 rs but at that time I really not to make my decision on which headphones to buy or which brand should go for. So I waited for the right moment to come and I saw an ad on Instagram about the OnePlus Buds Z Steven Harrington edition and suddenly I fell in love with the design and features it offered and also it fulfilled all my requirements about wireless earphones. it was a limited edition earphones from OnePlus and 1 person can only get 1 unit from their official website at that time and the oneplus website didn't had any delivery to my location so I was not able to purchase it at that time until amazon India made it available in their store. I ordered the oneplus bud z at the time it was available on Amazon and I also was able to get it for a discount price of 600 rs. I paid 2999rs for purchasing this earphones and for that price I have to say it has the best value for money in the world. I was also able to compare these headphones to the Apple AirPods Pro which cost around ₹24900 and I have to let you know that the sound quality is damn close.
OnePlus Buds Z Steven Harrington Edition Product Box
The box looks and feels premium with Teal and Purple colour combinations all around it. there are some features and information printed on the box. which you can take a look at by enlarging the image by clicking on the image in full-size link
About the Product What's in the box
Image in full size
Image in full size
The first thing you will see while opening the box is the oneplus buds z and under that, you can find the accessories such as Type C cable, eartips, user manual and warranty
FeaturesQuick Pair
This earphone supports Quick Pair which helps it to connect with smartphones faster like other premium headphones and from my testing it only took under 5sec to pair with my phone (K20 Pro).
Build quality and Design
The quality of the earphones feels extremely premium and also its entire body is having a matt finish plastic which you will find in Apple products, due to the matt finish it's not going to leave any scratches or fingerprints from long time use.
Because this is a limited edition the design is one of the best and also unique looking in the market
Battery Life
The Oneplus Buds Z has excellent battery life (20hrs) and also it won't take much time for charging because it supports fast charging. From a technical point of view, the case support 450 mah capacity and each buds have 40 mah capacity in them. from my testing, I had no issues with battery life even when I watched a movie in full volume.
Mic
I'm not sure if all of the holes on the earbuds are for mic but I can say one thing, that the mic quality is good and you can expect more than what you can expect out of 2999rs earphones. The mics support noise cancellation and it's amazing to have that feature. the earbuds can be used solo as they both have the same design and features.
Controls
It has Pairing Button at the rear of the case and pressure-sensitive buttons on the top of the earbuds. which can be used for play, pause, forward and backwards. but unfortunately, the play, pause and backwards will only support on Oneplus devices.
Sound Quality
Previously I was using an Apple EarPods and compare with that I must say the Oneplus Bud Z has similar sound quality with 10% less bass and 15% reduced audio clarity. Never expect that a wireless headphones can beat the wired headphones in audio clarity because the wireless headphones have compression in signals to reduce latency and that will affect in the audio quality
AAC and SBC
if your phone does not support AAC in Bluetooth settings the audio will be in a super compressed codec called SBC and listening to music in SBC codec is terrible in my opinion. the audio experience with SBC codec is poor bass, poor volume, high trable and audio starts to breaks with high volumes.
One of my friends own an iPhone 12 Pro and also an Apples AirPods Pro. which helped me to compare both of these devices side by side. and I must say that the Oneplus Buds Z is extremely good value for money and I was never expecting that the sound coming from 24000rs earphones and 3000rs earphones will be that close. because the only difference I felt while testing both of them was that Apples AirPods Pro has much higher volume without any drop in audio quality and also the difference in the bass which can be expected as the Apples AirPods Pro is really expensive
Gaming
I'm not a mobile phone gamer but still, I wanted to know whether there was any latency in sound. so I tested this earphone in COD Mobile and I must say the sound quality and surround sound was excellent but the latency was a little too high as the latency was about 1-2 sec (delay) I must these headphones are not suited for competitive gaming but for casual level gaming, this is good.
In order for testing the latency, I shoot bullets to that target drawing on the wall and noticed the delay in sound and from the test, it was considered high
Sweat and water-resistant
The IP55 rating makes it more ideal to use in the gym because it won't get damaged due to sweat and drops of water
wear detection
Find Device
some other cool feature will be find device and ring device. Which will help us to find our device if it's lost. Ring device is if the device is lost inside our room and find device is in a wide range as theft or something happen. it will display the device which is currently connected to and also the device user name
Unboxing
Conclusion
The Oneplus Buds Z is an amazing value for money earphones and I don't think any other wireless earphones in this price range can beat it, in terms of looks and sound quality. some features like ANC active noise cancellation is missing in the oneplus buds z but considering its price I have nothing much to say. other than that this is an amazing wireless earphone.
All the images used in this blog belong to me and if any of these images get used by someone else without credits, will be subjected to a copyright strike
Buy it from:
https://www.oneplus.in/product/oneplus-buds-z