My experience with the OnePlus Buds 4 didn’t leave me feeling dazzled, but I’m still satisfied

The earbud market has grown stagnant over the past few years, with most companies producing buds that are decent enough, regardless of the price point. They usually offer incremental changes from one version to the next, and while I wish I could say that’s changed, it hasn’t. That’s what’s going on with the OnePlus Buds 4.

The Buds 4 offer a few new features and improvements over their predecessors, the OnePlus Buds 3, but that’s not really a bad thing; it’s just not exciting. They manage to settle themselves as a good option for mid-tier buds if you’re in the market for them, as long as you’re willing to overlook a few things — like a $30 price hike.

Price, availability, and specs

The OnePlus Buds 4 are available for $130 on OnePlus’s website, but you can get them for $30 cheaper with a launch code until July 31, 2025. At the time of writing, you can only get them through OnePlus. They will also be available at Best Buy and Amazon in the US in early August. The buds are available in the US and Canada, and come in Zen Green or Storm Gray, the color I received for this review.

What I like about the OnePlus Buds 4

Minimalist design, decent earbuds

Out of the box, the Buds 4 don’t really stand out, especially the in Storm Gray color, which is more typical of black hardware. It’s minimalistic and sleek, if that’s what you prefer, but they also come in a fun Zen Green that has a bit more personality.

The buds are rounded with a bar, without any major bells or whistles, so perfect if that’s what you’re into. The eartips have a more unique shape, being more oval than round, and the earbuds come with a few sizing options. I was surprised that I had to use a different size for each ear, but once everything was all said and done, the buds settled in quite snugly.

The overall fit was pretty great! The Buds 4 were barely noticeable during long sessions at my desk or walks around the neighborhood — they are lightweight, so I often forget I had them in. They stayed put, and I never worried that they might fall out. Even during weight-lifting sessions, they didn’t budge. Additionally, thanks to the IP55 rating, they withstood elemental abuse quite well, especially when I was caught in a brief downpour.

What I really appreciated about the Buds 4 was the fit options. Through the Happy Melody app, I was able to perform a noise-cancelling and fit check to ensure everything was properly positioned. I also did an ear test to optimize the sound specifically for my ears using the Golden Sound option. The app itself is simple, but I found I had a smoother experience with the Nothing Headphone 1 and its corresponding app.

Overall, the app itself offered a range of customization options, from basic to more advanced tweaks. The OnePlus Buds 4 use taps for most of the functions, and sliding for volume control. It’s easy enough; single tap for pause/play, double tap to skip songs, triple tap to go back, though I did have trouble getting the single tap to work at all — more on that later.

You can also choose to set it up with your AI assistant or use it as a translator if you have a OnePlus phone. Along with the translator option, there are a few more exclusive features for OnePlus phone users, such as Steady Connect, which enables a longer-range Bluetooth connection, and a Game Mode option as well. The OnePlus Buds 4 feature dual connection, which is great for switching back and forth between my phone and laptop. Pairing was relatively simple, which seems to be the standard these days.

Regarding sound, the Buds 4 offered a decent sound profile. After tweaking the buds to find that “golden” sound, the sound quality was good, though I found myself tweaking it to get things just right. The buds have support for SBC and AAC codecs, as well as LHDC 5.0. My tunes sounded fine at lower to mid volumes, but as I turned up the volume, the sound was not nearly as crisp.

Still, I had no trouble jamming out to different genres with a decent sound profile, from the Beatles’ Yesterday to Zayde Wolf’s Gladiator and even a little Toss a Coin to Your Witcher. The overall sound didn’t blow me away, but it was still decent enough for the price. Additionally, if you want to block out the world, the Buds 4 offer several ANC modes, allowing you to decide how much you want to hear.

As for calls, I had no trouble connecting and hearing anyone I called, both on my laptop via Google Meet and on my Pixel 8 Pro. Also, the sound quality was pretty good for watching videos, movies, and other media. Finally, the battery life is decent but not extraordinary, lasting around 6 to 6.5 hours with ANC enabled, and 11 hours without it. And while the Buds 4 do have fast charging, it is wired.

What I don’t like about the OnePlus Buds 4

Not much has changed since the last model

My experience with the Buds 4 has been mostly positive; however, they fell short in a few areas. While the gesture controls are simple enough, they weren’t perfect. I found myself accidentally skipping over songs with a single touch when I was trying to pause the music, and then tapping furiously to go back. The buds also seemed to ignore me when I did a single tap, even when I tried both earbuds. So, while the control scheme is basic, actually using it is frustrating.

Like Taylor mentioned in his previous experience with the Buds 3, the sound is perfectly decent, but it does have issues when you exceed a certain volume. The sound isn’t as clear and full as it should be, no matter what I listened to. And even though I don’t have a OnePlus phone, I did test the buds on my gaming laptop. The sound actually worked pretty well, but it managed to make Hades II’s soundtrack sound a bit underwhelming, which is a crime. (It’s incredible.)

Another drawback is the ANC (stay with me). The ANC mode itself is good; however, because it has levels, you have to go into the Hey Melody app and adjust the settings. If you set it to High to start, OnePlus boasts that these buds feature adaptive AI-driven noise cancellation and adaptability, which is very good. However, you have to go in and set it to that mode. And if you want to change it, you have to go back into the app and adjust the settings.

By default, it’s set to moderate ANC, which is decent enough, but Adaptive mode was hit or miss, as the buds couldn’t decide whether to block noise or let it in. Sometimes I’d be mid-conversation and one of my buds would randomly turn on the ANC, while the other stayed passive. There are definitely other earbuds that do it better, like the Nothing Ear (a). Also, the Buds 4 don’t offer wireless charging, which is more of a nice-to-have feature at this price point. However, at $30 more than their predecessors, they probably should.

Should you buy them?

A decent mid-range option

If you’re going to hit that mid-range option, there’s bound to be a few areas of compromise. While Buds 4 aren’t going toe-to-toe with the Pixel Buds Pro 2 or Sony’s WF-1000XM5, they’re not going to leave your bank account crying either. They offer good sound quality, decent battery life, and a minimalist style at an affordable price — though, that Zen Green is pretty amazing. Aside from the buggy controls and the need to overutilize the app, they are pretty good considering the price range, but they are priced the same as the OnePlus Buds Pro 3.

Overall, the OnePlus Buds 4 do offer some decent features for the $130 price tag, and they are pretty comfortable for long-term wear. So, if you are in the market for some decent earbuds and don’t want to spend too much, these could be the best fit for you. And if you have a OnePlus phone, you can really take advantage of the extra features.