CMF BY NOTHING CMF Buds Wireless Earbuds,42dB Active Noise Cancellation,50mAh 35.5H Playtime IP54 Waterproof Earphones Night Black

I was looking for a budget-friendly pair of earbuds and ended up choosing these mainly because they’re made by Nothing. That alone gave me some confidence in the design and quality, and I’m glad I gave them a shot. My first impression was very positive. The bass is fantastic and gives the overall sound a really fun, energetic feel. While the clarity isn’t on the same level as higher-priced earbuds, the bass performance actually stands out even compared to some more expensive earbuds. I’ve used several earbuds in the $20–$30 range before, and these are by far the most satisfying in terms of both sound quality and overall build. The difference is noticeable, I can tell this product is a step above typical budget earbuds. Fit and comfort are also solid. They’re not exceptional, but definitely above average and comfortable enough for everyday use. Overall - If you’re looking for affordable earbuds with strong bass and enjoyable sound, these are an excellent choice. They may not deliver premium-level clarity, but for the price, they offer outstanding value and are easily the best budget earbuds I’ve used so far.

TL;DR: If you're thinking of buying these, you're thinking right. Good quality in most every aspect. I'd expect these to cost more if i weren't given the price right away. Onto my review, These will be my default earbuds from now on. I'm surprised more people haven't had these yet. These are a perfect balance of ingenuity, sound clarity, and convenience. For one, the noise cancellation is good quality. Makes your music immersive combined with their recommended, AUTOMATIC EQ setting they have built in, makes me want to keep the buds in all day long. Comfort is no issue either. The auto-EQ (not sure if it's an algorithm or just AI) treats each song as its own different thing, which is EXTREMELY impressive given the price point and in such a small package. The design of their auto-EQ was clearly designed by someone who understands the uniqueness of each song and how each instrument has an intended place in the song. Moving to noise cancellation, we've all had worse - same for its transparency mode - so that's great that those boxes are checked. Additionally, Instead of any bass booster, they have "Ultra Bass", which, for lack of a better term, is Sensitive to your music. It makes sure the bass is as strong and prevalent as you want it to be without sacrificing much clarity whatsoever. I like the customizeability within the app. Very responsive and precise. It all functions seamlessly together, with their custom EQ manual controller (albeit as simplified an EQ as ever), too. They're versatile. Charging is a breeze, battery life is longer than I expected, making this a great value for my money. Just One Little Thing: I REALLY wish that they implemented a toggle for the sound effect that happens when you click volume to max and it HAS to play this 'beep' sound in order to signal to you that you've reached max volume. This beep is annoying and truly ruins the experience and immersion for me. Nothing™-Developers, if you're reading this, make this a thing, pretty please! Good headphones, guys. Well done!

TL;DR: Decent earphones for the price, but not good enough to be a versatile daily driver. I bought this as a spare throwaway set for the gym, because I’m scared of damaging my very expensive Airpods Pro 2 set. I’m using these with my iPhone, and I downloaded the Nothing X app to get full functionality of what is advertised, and I was a bit surprised. Out of the box, the audio curves are very bass heavy. I’m sure most people will love the sound on these, but audiophiles will not have as good of a time using these. I’m more in the middle, I enjoy music with bass but even I know what’s intended to be punchy by the music artist and what’s not. Even with bass turned all the way down in the app, it still feels a bit punchy, but I don’t mind too much. The clarity is good enough, but I wouldn’t use these if you plan on gaming (I’ll explain more in the issues with these earbuds). Noise cancellation is pretty good, almost as close as the Airpods, but for the price it’s really good. The battery life is pretty good, they last just about, if not longer, than my Airpods Pro 2. The case charges them pretty quickly, and the magnets that hold the earbuds are really strong, so there’s no way they can fall out of the case accidentally. However, and this is mainly a preference, while the case ergonomics are fine, I do wish they went with a design that was easily openable with one hand. The Airpods are easily accessible with one hand, but with the CMF Buds case, I have to use both hands to open it. Nothing completely debilitating, but I just happened to notice it a lot more when I go to reach for my earbuds and my other hand is occupied. The volume control can be configured in the app, you can actually ‘rebind’ each of the controls to different tap actions that you can set per earbud, which is a really nice feature, with some caveats. Ok so let’s get to the issues. You cannot bind some controls to other tap actions, like the play/pause control for example. These controls are sectioned off by the different tap actions (Tap & Hold, Double Tap, Triple Tap, etc) and you are limited to what controls are listed under each action. So if I wanted to bind Volume Control to Tap & Hold, I can’t because it’s reserved for Double Tap & Hold only. This makes the control configuration not as free-form as I would’ve liked, but this is an issue that I think is personal to me, so maybe you won’t mind. Now, the app. The app is good, and the first couple weeks into using these earbuds it was working perfectly fine. A weird issue I had with the app was that it wouldn’t detect the earbuds and in order to get the app working again I had to uninstall and reinstall it. It hasn’t happened again, so hopefully that’s just a fluke, but something to mention nonetheless. Okay now the sound clarity, these earbuds don’t get as loud as the airpods, probably for good reason, but I like having my music just a little bit louder than what is the max volume on the CMF Buds, which is around 80% of Airpods max volume. Also, when you pair the CMF Buds to a computer, the audio quality is good when you’re just watching videos or listening to music or in a Discord/Zoom call. However, if you try to play a game or something, the quality just dips significantly. I have no idea what causes it, but in Helldivers 2, it makes it sound like the audio is coming out of a gramaphone or something. So, I wouldn’t really recommend it for gaming. Probably wouldn’t recommend it for video editing either, because of how bass heavy it is even on the lowest level. So, in the end, I’ll keep these for the intended use-case I bought them for, which is as a pair of earbuds to take to the gym, but if you were expecting more out of these, you should look elsewhere.

I find myself saying this in every review on audio products, but here it is again. I'm a full time DJ, who produces and consumes a lot of music on the side. Big audiophile. I had the Sony Wh-1000xm3s the first year they were available. They broke. Bought the Nothing Ear 1s to replace them. Crapped out within a month. OK, I need wireless, preferably with ANC, and now after shredding my wallet with the top of the market I thought I'd give a really cheap option a try. If they break, whatever, it's 40 bucks. Pros: they sound really good. I tried them across a whole bunch of genres, from tech house to 60s Stones. They overcompensate on the bass a lot, but that's common with cheaper headphones, make it feel like more is there. However, I compared them with my brother's AirPod Pros and they sounded extremely similar in the high end. A very good overall sound. Another pro is that they use the same awesome app from Nothing. Very intuitive, some great presets. Touch controls and transparency mode is something I had to pay like $400 for 4+ years ago. Seeing that kind of engineering in a pair of $40 buds is beyond impressive. They're made out of plastic, so they feel fine in your ears for extended periods of time. They look great as well, which doesn't hurt. BATTERY LIFE! I haven't charged the case since I bought them less than a week ago and the case is still at 70% Cons: DON'T DROP THEM. I haven't, but I feel like if I did they'd shatter. The charging case feels like 10 times cheaper than the Ear 1s did. I feel like they included a lanyard ring for a reason. All in all, hope they hold up better than Nothing's flagship did, because I really like them. They sound good, they're cheap, comfy and have great battery life. If you're considering I'd say send it! Only 40 bucks, audio has come a LONG way. *edit 6 months later* Earbuds still work as well as when I bought them. No issues I felt with the Nothing Ear 1s, they sound fine and the NC is great. At some point I'm probably gonna upgrade to Sony's earbud or headset line but these have been beyond fantastic budget options. 5/5 for sure, durability, sound and quality. They do it all. Highly recommend. *edit a year later* They still sound great, the anc works great but sometimes when you take them out of your ear and put them in the case they DON'T CHARGE. You'll pull left out and it's at 1%. WHY? I've had it in the case for hours while I was doing something else! Huge gripe, but the only one I've had since buying these.

These headphones are absolutely amazing. I have been using both Airpods and Bose QC's - which are both great, but you pay for it. The battery life on the Airpods are terrible while using at work all day (get about half the day) and the Bose are a little too bulky for a full day of work. So I was looking for something that would help me out for the entire day. Enter CMF's. I saw these based on other reviews and thought I would give a try - heck there were only $29 and worth a shot. I'll tell you what, these things should be priced a lot higher. The sound is incredible - rivals the AirPods step for step, and only slightly behind the Bose. To me, Bose is a gold standard and love their sound (i have headphones, surround sound, soundbars, and my car) - but you also pay for that quality. These CMF's have the highs and lows that get really close. The sound is crisp and clear and you can even play around with it a bit with the app (which is not required to use). The call quality and mic are top notch and work great. These also have noise cancelling. Now it is not too close to the Bose or the Airpods in this respect, but again not too far off. With my Bose NC on high, you can barely hear anything outside your ears, even with nothing playing. Those are incredible. The CMF's let a bit more through - but still, again for $29, work amazingly. I easily use these while cutting grass on a ride-on mower and can hear the music or podcast clearly. These are comfortable too. Comes with multiple size attachments. I have smaller ears, and the small size stays in all day and you barley notice - except you can't hear too much outside noise if you have the noise cancelling on :) If you are looking for a great set of wireless headphones, but don't want to pay the big bucks for the quality brand names, GET THESE. You will not be disappointed.

First things first: you can connect to two devices at the same time. Amazing. I use this primarily when I’m working so I can hop on a Teams call before seamlessly switching back to a podcast. Sound quality is great and it sounds good in my Teams test calls (the only way I can hear myself using the mic lol)! The app is beautifully made and it’s very easy to customize gestures. One drawback (if you can call it that) is the case needs to be charged with a cable. However, it charges quickly and I don’t find myself needing to charge it often, even when using the earbuds for ~30 hrs/week. This is my first Nothing product and I really gotta say… loving it so far! Quality at a very, very reasonable price.

So far so good with these budget earbuds. My comparisons are the Earfun Free 2S, the Soundcore P20i, and the Edifier X2s -- all budget earphones in the $20-$30 range. I had to return the Soundcore (kept losing connection) and the Edifier (worst fit ever, kept falling out of my ear). So I'll focus on the Earfun vs. CMF. The Earfun is the Wirecutter's recommendation for budget earphones and has been my daily earphones for at least 6 months. I like a lot of things about them, so the comparison with the CMF earphones is close. The main advantages the CMF have are a more solid connection, better microphones, and easier switching between devices. The Earfuns are generally pretty good, but once in a while the connection goes in and out when I turn my head. The Earfuns also have a rounded shape (that is common in earbuds) that I find easy to lose grip on -- they've slipped out of my hand multiple times. The CMF has been solid in staying connected to my phone and has been pretty good in letting people hear me on Zoom calls. My main quibbles with the CMF are about the case -- it's bulkier than it needs to be and isn't usable with one hand (which is a minor thing, but I like being able to take out one earbud with one hand while the case is still in my pocket). I'm also ambivalent about the shape of the CMFs -- they are easy to grip, but of course they have that stem sticking out which makes them less unobtrusive. So far, I've been glad to switch over to using the CMF as my daily earphones. They've been fine for running, being clear over street noise, and being audible on calls. ———— UPDATE: I’ve finally given up on these CMF Buds. I loved them as my daily earbuds while they worked. But they keep having the problem where one of the buds loses volume after a few months. I’m on my third set and they have all had the same problem, each time on the right bud. Nothing’s customer support was good and they replaced the set twice when the right buds failed. But unfortunately I’m going to have to look for a new set of daily earbuds.

I recently purchased the CMF by Nothing Buds, and they have been a fantastic addition to my daily routine. The noise cancellation works impressively well, significantly reducing background noise. And the ability to turn off noise canceling quickly when a conversation starts is perfect at the office. The sound quality is excellent, crisp highs, balanced mids, and thumping bass. I was also pleasantly surprised by the battery life. With the charging case they can easily get me through several days of regular use without recharging. The design is sleek and modern, and the fit is extremely comfortable for long use thanks to the included alternate sizes of silicone ends. However, I noticed that the touch controls can sometimes be overly sensitive, but it’s a minor issue compared to the overall performance. For the price, these earbuds offer exceptional value and could easily rival more expensive brands. I highly recommend these earbuds to anyone looking for great sound, comfort, and noise cancellation without breaking the bank!