Nothing recently launched three new pairs of wireless earbuds under its budget-friendly CMF brand, and we have two of them in-house today. We got the two ends of the trio here, the top of the line Buds 2 Plus and the cheapest Buds 2. This leaves the middle Buds 2a model, which hopefully we get to look at at some point in the future.
Starting with the base model, the new CMF Buds 2 comes with a custom 11mm PMI (polymethacrylimide) driver. The sound is tuned by the Swedish brand Dirac, which has worked on other products with Nothing in the past. You also get 6 microphones (three on each earbud), which work with the Hybrid ANC to deliver 48dB of claimed noise cancelation.
The Buds 2 come in three colors, Light Green, Orange, and the Dark Grey featured here. The case design is similar to previous CMF and Nothing products and features a rotating dial on the lid in clear plastic. However, unlike the functional dial on the CMF Buds Pro 2, the dial here is merely ornamental and at best can house a lanyard.
The Buds 2 Plus have a custom 12mm LCP (liquid crystal polymer) driver. The sound is tuned in-house by Nothing and you also get LDAC and Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification. You also get 6 microphones but with a higher 50dB of noise cancelation.
The Buds 2 Plus come in Blue and the Light Grey featured here. The Plus model has a metal rotating dial on the lid but is just as ornamental otherwise as the one on the 2 and also the 2a models.
Both models are IP55 rated for the earbuds and IPX2 for the case, have Bluetooth 5.4 with dual connection, low latency mode, and around 14 hours of continuous playback.
As you read this, we are working on the reviews for both models and they should be out very soon.
