CMF Nothing Buds Pro 2 Review: Nothing To Hear Here

Nothing has been on a hot streak lately. It released two phones within four months, and its incredible Ear (a) buds recently won a place in our Best Gadgets of the Month list. Founded by Carl Pei, the man behind Nothing, CMF is the company’s sub-brand primarily for ultra-low-cost earbuds and smartwatches. In June, CMF released its Flagship buds and the successor to the Buds Pro, the Buds Pro 2. 

I knew I had to get my hands on these as soon as I saw the striking orange shade on the charging case, a customizable smart dial, and a retail price of just $60. These earbuds look like they came straight out of a Teenage Engineering studio. The analog dial on the charging case adds to the retro look that a lot of products are going for these days.

CMF Buds Pro 2 Review: Design

The dial is a nice addition.

I guess bright orange is the color of the year. Sorry, Peach Fuzz. The orange on the charging case of the Buds Pro 2 looks as stunning as it did on the Rabbit R1 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra. There’s also a Dark Grey, Light Grey, and a navy blue kind of Blue on these buds. The case is an unassuming 46g plastic box that neither looks nor feels expensive. Though the buds look cheap, the case doesn’t feel flimsy. It is well-made and without any moving parts (throwing shade at Samsung’s recent buds here). My only struggle with the charging case was locating the pairing button. It took me a while to look for it because of how well it was camouflaged inside the case. 

A dull grey dial adorns the top left corner of the charging case, which you could very well mistake for an aesthetic addition. It is a movable customizable smart dial that you can assign actions to on the Nothing X app, and it pretty much carries out any task on the earbuds.

CMF Buds Pro 2 Review: Controls

The on-bud gestures aren’t very well thought out.

Even though the charging case is small enough to fit in my palm and light enough not to weigh it down, at the end of the day, it’s still an extra item to occupy your hands. I’m typically engaged in some chore during a long call with a friend or running an errand while listening to a podcast and can’t afford to busy one of my hands with the charging case. I rant about this in nearly all of my reviews, but women’s jeans pockets aren’t deep enough to properly house the items men’s jeans can easily carry. When I slid the case into one of my pockets, it led to a big, ugly bulge. 

The dial on the charging feels like just a frill. It’s something that would only be useful if I’m in bed watching YouTube on my phone. Unless that’s how you plan on using it, in which case, it’s a very efficient way to control your buds. It’s fully customizable on the companion app, Nothing X. You can single, double, triple press, press, hold, and rotate it for volume control. I customized it on the app to trigger all these actions from the case alone: play/pause, answer calls, turn the low lag mode on/off, enable voice assistance, and tweak volume. 

Sadly, the controls on the buds themselves aren’t that great. There isn’t a single tap gesture at all. The companion app, Nothing X, allows you to choose between double tap, triple tap, tap and hold, and double tap and hold. I’m so used to a single tap for pause/play that I found myself repeatedly doing that, only to realize it won’t trigger a response. 

If the volume controls were better, I could’ve lived with double-tapping for playback. Double tapping and holding is the only way to tweak volume… which is a lot of work. The not-so-sensitive touch interface doesn’t help either. I would’ve much rather preferred sliding up and down for volume control.

CMF Buds Pro 2 Review: ChatGPT Integration

Occasionally glitchy and not entirely hands-free.

A $60 pair of buds offering ChatGPT integration is impressive, but I wish it did a better job. You start with downloading the ChatGPT app on the device the buds are connected to and then head to the Nothing X app to set the voice assistant to ChatGPT (it’s set to your phone’s native assistant by default). Then, you perform the action you’ve assigned voice assistance to. I set mine to double-tapping and holding the right bud, but that never worked. So, I changed it to double-tapping the left bud, which was slightly better. 

On the first few attempts, the buds kept triggering the Google Assistant on the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus that I used these buds with throughout the review period. I made sure it was set to ChatGPT on the app multiple times and went back and forth between the two digital assistants to no avail. It wasn’t until I rebooted the app and the buds that it finally powered the ChatGPT on a double tap. 

I asked ChatGPT a bunch of questions, including what the 10 Commandments are and whether it loves me. The response time was appropriate and close to what you’d get typing on the app or web app. I didn’t like how I couldn’t interrupt the voice by speaking over it or tapping somewhere on the buds interface, which defeats the purpose of having an LLM integrated directly into your buds. The only way to interrupt Breezy (the voice I picked) was to tap on my phone’s screen. The only other option is to listen to its entire response before you can ask a follow-up question. 

Breezy also glitched out quite a few times, resulting in a bit of a stutter pretty often. It was entirely out of sync on some occasions, so the same response played in both ears at different times, and I couldn’t make anything out. You’d probably be okay occasionally turning to ChatGPT on these buds, but regularly using it will reveal its inconsistencies. 

CMF Buds Pro 2 Review: Sound and ANC

Painfully average.

The buds boast an 11mm bass driver and a 6mm tweeter for treble. The frequency range goes from 20 to 40KHz, which exceeds the 20 to 20KHz found on most standard audio peripherals. However, since the human hearing range lies between 20 and 20KHz, the extra 20K is more often than not a marketing stunt. The Nothing X app provides the standard pre-tuned presets and an option to customize your sound profile. Even at $60, it is still a pretty barebones audio experience. 

Listening to Black Spur by Ooyy, I initially felt the sound was more bass-heavy and lacked brightness. I also felt the vocals weren’t emphasized enough. Overall, there was not much space in the orchestra, and I often couldn’t tell the elements apart. I played around on the custom EQ settings and turned the treble and mids (where vocals live) up and the low-end down. The tweaking helped, and the increased treble helped add brightness to the sound profile. As expected, it didn’t inject the orchestra with enough space. 

I wasn’t a massive fan of the Buds Pro 2’s ANC. It slightly silenced my AC window unit, but the sound of my loud and clicky keyboard typing still passed through. I didn’t get to test these out at the Subway station, but given how mildly it was able to mute my AC and my air purifier on Turbo Mode, I am pretty sure it won’t be sufficient for the roaring 6 train. 

CMF Buds Pro 2 Review: Battery

Enough to last you more than a week.

I haven’t had the opportunity to test out the 43-hour battery life on these fully, but I’ve done some quick math on my usage so far, and the claim isn’t exaggerated. During my almost three-day/10-hour usage, which involved a fair mix of calls and music playback, the charging case dropped by 30%. 

The buds alone promise 11 hours if you’re listening to music and 6 hours of talk time. Turning ANC on will reduce those figures to 6.5 and 4.5 hours, respectively. Wireless charging isn’t supported, but quick charging is. A 10-minute recharge provides them with enough juice to last seven hours.

Multipoint connectivity for up to two devices allowed me to test these with my laptop and phone simultaneously. The setup was simple, and there were no stutters. The Buds Pro 2 are rated IP55, so I wouldn’t rely on them if I’m around a pool or a drop in a puddle. Mono-listening isn’t supported, but wear detection is, so they pause playback when you take them out of your ears and resume it when you plug them back in.

CMF Buds Pro 2 Verdict

If the only flaw on the CMF Buds Pro 2 was average sound, I could’ve still recommended them as entry-level buds for kids or folks who don’t care much about audio quality and are on a tight budget. But these buds aren’t great in any department except for battery life. It’s a task and a half to navigate the on-bud controls, and the dial on the charging case can only help in limited situations. The ANC is underwhelming, and the $60 price isn’t an excuse. Samsung’s Galaxy Buds FE offers far better ANC for $80 (the new, discounted price at the time of reviewing). The ChatGPT integration could have been the star of the show, but that was glitchy and irritating to use.

If you’re looking for excellent sound imaging and a rich, airy profile for cheap, the OnePlus Buds 3 is a great option for $70. The Galaxy Buds FE excels if your biggest priorities are a secure fit and simple controls. Both these budget alternatives offer excellent ANC and a long-lasting battery life.