Nothing Tech’s CMF sub-brand is touting design first for its affordable accessories, from chargers to smartwatches and three wireless headphones.
We purchased a pair of CMF Buds for our office and have been using them for the past week to get a better idea of their performance. These gorgeous orange buds offer three great sound qualities and an exciting design at an attractively low price.
The CMF Buds bring active noise cancellation (ANC) with a dedicated transparency mode, Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity with dual-device pairing, and 12.4mm drivers tuned by Dirac. You also get a programmable equalizer in the Nothing X app and over 35 hours of playtime between the earphones and charging case.
It might sound too good to be true considering their affordable asking price, but it turns out these orange buds are a surprisingly good choice.
design
Design is a key pillar of the Nothing brand philosophy, which is also reflected in the CMF collection. You’ll notice similarities between CMF’s products and those of Swedish electronics manufacturer Teenage Engineering. This is no surprise, as the Swedish studio is a founding partner of Nothing Tech and has been the driving force behind Nothing product design since Ear (1).
We should start with the charging/carrying case, as it’s unlike anything else we’ve seen so far. Our review unit came in orange, which is a very saturated hue that also pops well in images and real life. From the bold colors to the minimalist design and rotating aluminum dial, Teenage Engineering’s design influence is evident.
It would be cool if the dial could be used to control certain aspects of the bud, but its only purpose is to serve as a lanyard attachment point. It’s also a great fidget spinner when you have nothing else to do.
Aside from the watch face, the case and earbuds are made entirely of plastic, which helps reduce weight. The lid feels solid and snaps shut with a firm snap. The only durability issue is that the plastic case scratches easily—I left it with a few light scratches on the bottom of the case while I was carrying it in my pocket after just one day of use. There’s an LED status light on the front to indicate pairing mode, and a USB-C charging port on the right.
The case measures 54.7 x 54.7 x 22.9mm and weighs just over 43 grams, while each earbud itself weighs 4.5 grams.
When it comes to in-ear fit, we found the CMF Buds to fit very well with their default size M earbuds. The earbuds are comfortable and stay secure for many hours of listening. The top features single, double and triple-click touch controls – all of which can be programmed within the Nothing X app.
Each earbud also comes with 2 HD microphones, and the housing is IP54-rated for splash and dust resistance. The retail package includes a USB-C cable and replacement silicone ear tips.
Features and Companion Apps
Despite their affordable price, the CMF Buds come with a compelling set of features, including Bluetooth 5.3 active noise cancellation (ANC), transparency mode, dual-device pairing, and wear-detection sensors. These headphones are built around 12.4mm biofiber drivers and tuned by Nothing and Dirac. The partnership also extends to Ultra Bass Technology 2.0, which you can adjust to your liking or disable entirely in the Nothing X companion app.
The Nothing X app is one of the best-designed companion apps, featuring Nothing’s signature minimalist approach and bitmap fonts. The app is compatible with Android 5.1+ and iOS 13+ smartphones. The Nothing smartphone also gets an added bonus – a dedicated low-latency mode that works in conjunction with Nothing’s Game mode.
Nothing X App with CMF Buds
One aspect where the CMF Buds’ price point starts to show is Bluetooth codec support, as they only transmit audio via the traditional AAC and SBC types. High bitrate LDAC, AptX Adaptive or AptX Lossless are not supported here. While this might be a scam on paper, that’s to be expected for a cheap pair of earbuds.
ANC covers up to 42 dB of noise with a maximum frequency range of 2,900 Hz, and 4 onboard microphones also provide AI ambient noise cancellation during calls. Two holes have also been added to the bottom of the earbud stem to reduce wind interference.
CMF Buds supports Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair for easy pairing. They also feature in-ear detection sensors that allow them to pause media when you remove either earphone and resume playback when reinserted into your ears.
Performance and sound quality
The CMF Buds feature a vibrant soundstage and punchy bass, much like the rest of the Nothing earbud range. The 12.4mm drivers tuned by Dirac Audio provide decent sound output by default, although you may find the bass to be overwhelming. Thankfully, you can create a custom equalizer in the Nothing X app and choose a more balanced sound signature.
Instrument separation leaves something to be desired, as highs tend to be washed out. The midrange often feels drowned out by vocals and instruments, sounding thin. That’s not to say that the CMF Buds don’t sound good, on the contrary, we found that they offer a lively soundstage that’s well-suited to electronic and hip-hop genres. The treble is well tuned and offsets the punchy bass well.
These headphones are also loud, and the ANC is powerful enough to help drown out unwanted noise in the low-frequency spectrum, which is nice to see at this price point. Transparency mode sounds dull and doesn’t amplify nearby sounds very well. Turning ANC off slightly improves the sound clarity in the bass and midrange, with the bass feeling less intense.
We tested the CMF Buds using an iPhone 15 Pro and a MacBook Pro 14 during our review period. Dual device pairing works in such a way that we can switch between the two, but you still need to manually stop the media on one device and start it on the other. If you’re listening to music on your laptop and get a call on your phone, the headphones will automatically stream the audio to your phone, which is a nice touch.
One complaint I have is that if I use them with another device like a laptop, the Nothing X companion app on my iPhone will always need to interfere with the headphones and re-pair with my phone. Hopefully this bug will be fixed with a future software update.
During our review, the touch controls worked flawlessly. The default mapping doesn’t turn on volume adjustment, but you can assign a double-tap and hold gesture to turn the volume up on one side and turn it down on the other. This is far from an ideal setup, but it gets the job done.
In quiet environments, call quality with the CMF Buds is good enough, but in densely populated and turbulent areas, the CMF Buds struggle to isolate your voice.
In-ear detection automatically pauses and resumes media playback when you remove either earbud from your ear. In some cases, it worked so well that if one of the earbuds became slightly loose, I would stop tracking during a workout, prompting a replacement earbud to ensure a better fit.
Bluetooth range is on par with other wireless headphones we’ve tested recently, reaching up to 15 meters from the source device.
Battery Life
CMF Buds come with a 45mAh battery in each earbud and a 460mAh battery in the charging box. The headphones charge via USB-C and do not support wireless charging. There’s no evidence that you can get up to 8 hours of playback time from the headphones with ANC turned off, and 5.6 hours with ANC/transparency mode turned on. The case extends those times to 35.5 hours and 24 hours respectively.
In our tests, we got 4.5 hours of use with ANC on and volume at 50%. With ANC turned off, this number rises to less than 7 hours. It takes 2 hours to fully charge from 0-100%, which is quite slow. Just 10 minutes of recharging will give you enough power for 4 hours of use. When charging via the charging case, the headphones take just over an hour to charge from 0% to 100%.
judgment
The CMF Buds by Nothing are a pair of premium, affordable wireless earphones that offer more than their price tag would suggest. You get a refreshing design, simple branding, a comfortable fit, and powerful noise cancellation. Add in respectable battery life, dual-device pairing, and a neat companion app, and you’ve got a pair of wireless headphones that tick a lot of boxes.
Nothing also brings its signature vivid soundstage and overwhelming bass, which may be a plus depending on your preferences. Priced at $39 USD / €39 / £39 / Rs 2,500, the CMF Buds are great value for money and we’d easily put them at the top of their price range.
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