OnePlus Buds 3 Pro Review

Introduction

The OnePlus Buds 3 Pro are OnePlus’ all-singing, all-dancing true wireless earbuds, looking to tempt not only Android owners but even iPhone users with their wide compatibility and lack of OnePlus-exclusive features.

It also helps that the OnePlus Buds 3 Pro are fantastic earbuds, with impressive audio performance and ANC capabilities, plenty of smarts including custom audio output tuned to your hearing and much more – though the buds are priced accordingly, starting at just under £200 in the UK.

So the question is, can the OnePlus Buds 3 Pro really compete with some of the best premium earbuds around? I’ve spent the past couple of months using the buds nearly every day and here’s what I’ve found out. 

Pricing & availability

The OnePlus Buds 3 Pro are OnePlus’ premium earbuds with a price tag to match, coming in at a not-insignificant £199.99/$179.99 in any of its three colour options. 

That’s still cheaper than the competing AirPods Pro 2 and with similar features on offer, so there is still value to be had here – though there are plenty of cheaper wireless earbuds available if your budget doesn’t stretch quite as far. 

Design

• Similar design to OnePlus Buds 2 Pro
• New squeeze controls are intuitive
• Great fit with four sets of eartips to choose from

OnePlus isn’t exactly redesigning the wheel when it comes to the OnePlus Buds 3 Pro – but that’s not a problem. We’ve seen most manufacturers land on the same general design for wireless earbuds, and it works just fine. 

With that said, the OnePlus Buds 3 Pro are very similar to the OnePlus Buds 2 Pro in terms of the overall design, with the buds sporting a similar dual-material design that makes them stand out against the likes of Apple’s AirPods Pro and Samsung’s Buds 3 Pro, with a circular charging case to boot. 

That charging case looks just as premium as the buds with a faux-leather finish – but once you pick the case up, you quickly realise that this is just plastic with a textured pattern to resemble leather. Actual vegan leather would’ve been a lovely touch here, but it would have also driven up the price so I get it. 

The buds themselves may look very similar, but there are key upgrades here, namely the way you interact with them. While older models used tap controls, the Buds 3 Pro offer the same combination of touch and squeeze controls as Apple’s AirPods Pro. 

The controls aren’t quite as responsive as Apple’s buds, taking around a second to react to my squeeze, but it’s far more convenient than double- and triple-tapping the buds when I’m out and about. 

The earbuds are very comfortable too, thanks to a combination of a small footprint, lightweight design and a whopping four sets of ear-tips in the box to ensure you get the right fit for your ears, with a new XS ear-tip size available this time around. It’s well worth spending the time to get the fit right, as it not only improves the overall audio quality, but the ANC too. 

The colour options are nice too – it launched in Midnight Opus and Lunar Radiance, though it was joined by a rather gorgeous Sapphire Blue following the launch of the OnePlus 13. I imagine most people will opt for the subtle black finish, but there is something to that gorgeous blue finish.

The buds themselves are IP55-rated so going for a jog in the rain shouldn’t be an issue – though that can’t be said for the case, which has no official dust or water resistance rating, so I’d recommend keeping the case safely in a pocket or backpack if the weather takes a turn. 

Features

• Packed with Android-compatible smarts
• Audio-focused features like Golden Sound
• Great call performance

The OnePlus Buds 3 Pro are about as smart as wireless earbuds come in 2025. That experience started with Google Fast Pair which essentially allowed me to pair the buds with my phone via a tap, and once connected, was also paired with any other Android device associated with my Google account. It’s all very Apple-esque, but I’m not complaining.

That experience continues with Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity offering support for both AAC and the high-res LHDC 5.0 codec, boasting support for wireless 24-bit audio at up to 192 kHz for a noticeable boost to audio performance – as long as your connected smartphone supports LHDC, that is. 

Despite being OnePlus-branded buds, these wireless in-ears play well with pretty much any smartphone across the Android and iOS ecosystems thanks to the HeyMelody app. Available on Google Play and the App Store, the app allows you to access the full selection of smart features on offer from the buds – and there are plenty to take advantage of. 

Alongside fairly standard features of earbud companion apps like the ability to customise the squeeze controls, change the EQ and update firmware, there’s a fairly expansive list of additional features, some exclusive to the latest Pro-level buds. 

That includes support for spatial audio, complete with head tracking, though the latter can be disabled if you want a more static experience, and with on-device rendering, it can create spatial audio from playback on your iOS or Android device. 

It does widen the soundscape somewhat, making it handy not just for music but watching movies on Netflix. Still, I don’t think it’s quite as transformative as the Dolby Atmos spatial audio built into some high-end phones, so it’s probably a good idea to stick with that if it’s available. 

There’s also Golden Sound which essentially tweaks the output of the buds depending on your hearing after a relatively short hearing test. The once rare feature is becoming more commonplace on high-end buds like these, but it’s still a noteworthy addition that makes music, even songs you’ve listened to for years, sound that little bit better. 

Other features of note include a dedicated gaming mode that drops latency down to 94ms for a less laggy audio experience when playing mobile titles, as well as a Dual Connection mode that lets you connect to two devices simultaneously. 

Zen Mode Air, present on previous OnePlus buds, has also made a comeback here, providing soothing sounds from waves, the forest and rain with a triple-squeeze of the right earbud. 

One of the more unique features on offer is the ability to monitor your posture, thanks to built-in IMU sensors. 

The idea is simple: after a short calibration, your buds will be able to detect when you’re slouched or hunched over and will alert you to that fact, hopefully prompting you to correct your posture. It also gives you a breakdown of your overall posture health, though for that you’ll need to download the OHealth app. 

The Buds Pro 3 offers the same combination of three microphones as the regular Buds 3, though with the addition of a bone conduction microphone on the inside of the ear to further boost your voice in phone calls while dulling the noise of the outside world. The firm claims this delivers a whopping 2x reduction compared to the OnePlus Buds Pro 2. 

That the buds work surprisingly well in this regard shouldn’t be much of a surprise then, with no complaints from friends and family members about struggling to hear me when using the buds for calls, even on relatively noisy streets of London. It also means that using virtual assistants like Gemini hands-free is an absolute breeze. 

Sound Quality

• Dual 11mm woofers and 6mm tweeters with dedicated DACs
• Well-rounded audio experience with customisation available
• Some of the best ANC performance around

Of course, it’s audio performance that’s most important, and the OnePlus Buds 3 Pro certainly don’t disappoint in this regard. The combination of dual 11mm woofers and 6mm tweeters is larger than what you’ll find with the regular OnePlus Buds 3, complete with bespoke DACs to really take that experience to the next level.

The result is audio performance that can easily compete with some of the best wireless earbuds on the market, with exquisitely deep bass that doesn’t overpower the high-end, making for a rather balanced experience that can be further refined via the preset and custom EQs available from the companion app, with a separate option to only boost audio performance.

With the bass boost active, the Buds 3 Pro are perfectly suited to bass-heavy Dubstep tracks like Chase & Status’ Baddadan, with a satisfying kick when listening to Lena Hall’s cover of Creep, but that doesn’t mean they can’t handle instrument-focused tracks like Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door with ease, offering crisp, clear and rich vocals that really immerse you in the performance. 

There’s also pretty exceptional adaptive noise cancellation (ANC) capabilities on offer, quietening the noise of sounds up to 50dB without impacting the sonic performance of the buds in any noticeable way – a big plus compared to cheap earbuds with ANC. 

That may not be enough to silence the shriek of the London Underground completely, but it does dull it to the degree that it doesn’t distract you from your music – and there aren’t many earbuds that manage that. They were also my buds of choice during recent long-haul flights, successfully removing the dull drone of aeroplane engines. 

For me, I’d put the ANC performance up there with the AirPods Pro 2, my favourite in-ear buds, with a similarly positive experience with the Transparency mode active. The Buds 3 Pro achieves that same impressive level of spatial accuracy as Apple’s buds when the mode is active, almost to the point where I’d forget I had earbuds in when music wasn’t playing. 

Battery life

• Up to 43 hours of battery life
• Drops by almost half when using ANC and LDAC
• Fast charging and wireless charging available

Battery life is par for the course when it comes to wireless earbuds, offering up to 43 hours of charge – 10 hours from the buds and 33 hours from the case – though that’s when using the battery-friendly AAC codec with ANC off. 

That drops down to a less impressive 25 hours with six hours of charge from the buds with ANC enabled, and you can lob another couple of hours off the playtime if you want to use the high-res LHDC codec. 

I can’t say I was ever left high and dry when using the Buds Pro 3, even with ANC and LHDC in use, though I tend to use my earbuds pretty sporadically throughout the day. This gave the buds a chance to recharge between uses. 

Those who intend to listen to music all day long may be left wanting more, even with fast charging of the buds on hand.

That fast charging will net the case up to 13 hours of charge from being plugged in for just 10 minutes, and there’s handy wireless charging too. The latter is how I find myself charging the buds most of the time, with the LED on the exterior giving me an idea of battery life at a glance.

Should you buy it?