The OnePlus Buds are a great pair of $80 earbuds that really do over deliver. They tic off
all the right boxes for everyday carry truly wireless earbuds and and they even have a
few extra goodies. But today lets see how these $80 earbuds stack up to the Galaxy Buds
Plus and Jabra Elite 75T’s. Two great pair of truly wireless earbuds to consider if you’re
an android user.
Now like I’ve already said, the OnePlus Buds retail for $80 where as the Galaxy Buds
Plus retail for $150 and the Jabra Elite 75T’s retail for $180. Now both the Galaxy Buds
plus and Jabra’s like to go on sale from time to time… but even when they’re on
sale the OnePlus Buds still manage to under cut them by a decent amount. Nonetheless if
you want to pick any of these earbuds up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first off lets address the carrying cases here… all of these earbuds have decently
small cases that aren’t too noticeable when they’re in your pocket. Which I feel is
very important for everyday carry earbuds. Now the Galaxy Buds Plus have the smallest
carrying case here where as the OnePlus Buds case is noticeably larger than these other
two cases. But nonetheless the OnePlus Buds’s case is still acceptable. Cause like ive mentioned
before, if we were to compare this case to the $130 Sony WF-XB700 case you’ll see that
Sony’s case is much bulkier than all of these other cases. Now even though OnePlus’s
case is noticeably larger than these two other case’s… I actually think that it feels
the most premium here. OnePlus’s case has a slate finish to it similar to the slate
finish found on the Pixel Buds case… and this case has a very satisfying snap to it
whenever you open and close this lid. So even though OnePlus’s case is the largest here…
I think its my favorite. Im just a really big fan of finish, and tactile feed back on
my products.
Now just as you’d expect, all of these earbuds charge via a USB C port as they should. But
I think its important to point out that the Galaxy Buds plus are the only earbuds here
that have wireless charging. So either if you have a phone that supports power sharing
or if you’ve already invested in a few wireless chargers you’ll might want to take that
into consideration.
Now when it comes to battery life, the galaxy buds plus have the shortest combined battery
life here with 22 hours. But if you have a phone with power sharing you can always just
extend that. Where as the Jabra’s have a combined battery life of 28 hours… which
is a little above average. But then there are the OnePlus Buds which make up for their
slightly larger carrying case by having a combined battery life of 30 hours which is
pretty impressive.
Now when it comes to the earbuds themselves… obviously the OnePlus Buds are very different
from these other two earbuds. The OnePlus Buds are very similar to AirPods… expect
the OnePlus Buds are a little larger than AirPods. But nonetheless these earbuds let
in a lot of ambient noise cause they don’t actually create a seal like these other two
earbuds. Now personally I do prefer these kinds of earbuds over in ear ear buds if im
looking for a pair of everyday carry earbuds to passively listen to podcasts or take phone
calls with cause I can wear these earbuds for hours on end with any discomfort. Cause
personally for me with in ear ear buds they do get itchy sometimes. But the major downfall
here is that you can’t customize your fit… so these earbuds might not fit everyone perfectly.
Now the OnePlus Buds fit me okay but personally I do prefer how AirPods fit cause they are
a little smaller. Now if you are interested in in ear earbuds then the Galaxy Buds Plus
do fit a little better than the Jabra’s specifically cause their ear tips are a little
gripper and they also have optional ear fins. But nonetheless the Jabra’s fit fine as
well. Ultimaltey I feel that choosing between normal ear buds and in ear ear buds boils
for to preference… But I think the major pro about normal earbuds is that they are
more comfortable… where as with in ear earbuds your music is going to sound better.
But now lets talk about bluetooth connectivity on these earbuds cause there’s a lot going
on here. Now first off all of these earbuds have stable connections and they all have
zero latency across the board when you try to watch movies or videos on your phone…
but when it comes to actual connection set ups… both the Galaxy Buds Plus and OnePlus
each establish a connection with your phone, so if you jut want to use one earbud at a
time you can use either one it doesn’t matter.
Where as the Jabra’s are using a hero and side kick set up meaning that one earbud,
the hero earbud actually establishes a connection with your phone and then relays that connection
over to your other earbud. So if you just want to use one earbud at a time you gotta
use the correct earbud.
But the advantage here with the Jabra’s is that they can actually be connected to
any two devices at the same time. So you can easily hot swap from one device to another.
Where as with these other two earbuds they can only be connected to one device at a time…
but with the OnePlus you can switch these earbuds from one device to another device
by pressing and holding on the their touch pad. So both the Jabra’s and OnePlus are
great options for power users.
Where as with the Galaxy Buds Plus even though technically yeah you can be connected to two
devices at the same time… you can only do so if you’ve got two Samsung devices that
have the smart things app installed. So ultimately I feel that the OnePlus and Jabra’s are
better for power users cause you can swap from any two devices.
But now lets talk about listening to music… even though the OnePlus sound good enough
to get the job done, they don’t compare to these other two earbuds. The OnePlus are
a pair of earbuds where you mostly just hear bass and vocals and everything else is jumbled
up in the back ground. Where as the Galaxy buds Plus have the best clarity here and these
ear buds are a good option for people who like a neutral or vocals focused EQ setting.
Where as the Jabra’s also have decent clarity to them… but what really make them different
from the Galaxy Buds Plus is their bass. If you like a lot of bass to your music then
these are the way to go. But something these two earbuds do have over the OnePlus Buds
right now it that they apps. And through these apps you can adjust how either of these earbuds
sound. Now personally I am hoping that OnePlus will eventually put out an app for their earbuds
so that you can adjust their EQ settings and change what their touch pads do if you decide
to use these earbuds without a OnePlus device.
But this now leads use to the media controls on
these earbuds. If you’re not using the OnePlus Buds with a OnePlus device like I am then
all you can do is double tap to skip a track. This touch pad works fine but the media controls
on these earbuds are fairly limited. Where as with the Galaxy Buds first off you can
customize what these touchpad do not matter what device you’re using… and these touch
pads are okay as well. You can play, pause, skip a track, go back a track and even adjust
your volume all from the earbuds themselves. The only thing that I do want to point out
is that these touch pads can sometimes be a little finicky. Where as the Jabra’s are
using physical buttons. So these are a good option if you don’t want to have to deal
with touch pads. And just like with the Galaxy Buds plus you can play, pause, skip through
your music and adjust the volume all from the earbuds themselves.
But finally this leads us the major differentiating factor between these two in ear earbuds and
OnePlus Buds. Both the Galaxy Buds plus and Jabra’s have ambient modes where as the
OnePlus Buds don’t. Now some people will might say that the OnePlus Buds don’t need
an ambient mode cause they let in a lot of noise anyways… but I would argue that you
do cause having a decent ambient mode just make it easier to hear your surroundings while
you’re playing music or watching a video with your earbuds.
Now when it comes to choosing between the Ambient modes on Galaxy Buds Plus and Jabra’s
is do gotta say the Galaxy buds plus have the slightly better ambient mode here cause
they don’t developing a hissing in the background like the Jabra’s do and they also do a slightly
better job of blocking out wind noise.
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now I do have this AC unit turned on cause
I want to show off what kind of a job these earbuds do isolating your voice. And unfortunately
with the Jabra’s you can clearly hear that AC unit.
Where as with the Galaxy Buds Plus they do an okay job of blocking out that AC unit…
but you can still here a little something something.
But then there are the OnePlus Buds… and they do a phenomenal job of blocking out that
AC unit. Cause if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clearly
hear that AC unit. But if we switch back over to the OnePlus Buds… it basically gone.
But also my voice sounds very good as well.
So with all that being said, the OnePlus Buds definitely give the Galaxy buds plus and Jabra
Elite 75T’s a real run for their money… especially since the OnePlus buds are half
the price. Even though the OnePlus Buds case is a little larger than these other two earbuds,
its still an acceptable size and I also feel its the most premium feeling one here cause
of its slate finish and very snappy lid. But I do feel the OnePlus Buds makes up for its
slightly larger case by having a combined battery life of 30 hours which is very impressive.
And when it comes to bluetooth connectivity… I feel the OnePlus Buds have the best of both
worlds here. If you just want to use one earbud at time you can use either one just like with
the Galaxy buds… and you can switch from one device to another similar to how you can
with the Jabra’s. And when it comes to the microphone for phone calls… the OnePlus
are the clear winners here. The only things that are really holding these earbuds back
here from these other two earbuds is their lack of an ambient mode and their lack of
an app for non OnePlus users. So ultimately I still feel you’re better off springing
for the Galaxy buds Plus cause they sound better, they have better media controls, and
they have an ambient mode… But regardless for $80 the Oneplus Buds are really good
and they over deliver.