I didn’t expect to like these as much as I do.

I haven’t really “tested” much budget earbuds in the past. And like I’ve mentioned before, I’m not much of an audiophile. I kind of just get what’s in trend at a good price. I will say I love my IEM’s though! I have however, tested $30 generic branded “TWS” headphones as they like to call them – and they’re plastic junk. But for just a bit more… $50-$60 you can actually get yourself a full feature-blown quality pair of wireless earbuds – The CMF Buds Pro 2. These things are… so much different than what I’ve experienced at this price point before. I’ve been reaching for them more than my AirPods, which are a little outdated at this point.

This isn’t just a recommendation because they’re good for the price, but they actually have features that rank with those of AirPods or other similar Bluetooth buds. Let’s go ahead and break down why these actually beat pricier headphones in many aspects.

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What Surprised Me the Most

The first thing that caught me off guard was the sound quality. Normally with budget earbuds, I go in with pretty low expectations — you get what you pay for, right? But the bass on these things is actually good. It has that kind of punchy, satisfying thump that makes hip-hop and electronic music sound full, but it’s not overdone to the point where it drowns out everything else – however, I’ll talk about changing that later with Ultra Bass. Vocals come through sharp and clear, which is something I didn’t expect at all for this price. Again, I’m not some pro audio tester or anything but some side by side tests kinda did prove my point again and again.

I also played around with the controls on the Nothing X App – Which controls the CMF Buds. Included are controls for spatial audio, ultra bass, and equalizer settings. These are some pretty fun features. Spatial audio didn’t really do anything for me – I’m used to the way Apple does it on the AirPods. Which makes sense when comparing price points. There were some equalizer presets to mess with, or you could customize it. This was a nice feature for me because I felt like when I was directly controlling the equalizer of the earbuds instead of the music streaming service, I got more control and clearer audio. This also helps if you use something like Apple Music which doesn’t allow you to completely customize all those features.

Ultra Bass was such a fun one that I had to add a separate section for it. I found myself turning this on a lot. It really did increase the bass of what I listened to, and it didn’t feel like the high bass Spotify preset. I actually got some nice vibrations in my ear, not like a fake software side bass. I haven’t really seen any feature like this on anything else before.

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Noise Cancellation

Yeah, I didn’t expect much from the Noise Cancellation. The good thing is that you don’t hear an agitating white noise or sound to cancel out audio like cheaper headphones. But, you also really don’t get much noise cancellation at all. I got the best noise cancellation on the adaptive setting, but you could still hear certain sounds. It is nice though to cancel out some of that quieter background noise. If you have it on with your music cranked up (and maybe the ultra bass setting on) you won’t hear much of anything. However, and it could be just my pair but there is a TERRIBLE software or hardware bug that after a while, causes this absolutely agitating hissing (white noise?) sound to just blare in your ear. I would assume it has something to do with the microphone but the only way to stop it is by turning off noise cancellation. Transparency mode was pretty nice, it definitely sounded like the audio was coming through the microphones. I would say you’re getting more than others at this price point, it’s a nice feature to have when you need it.

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Eartips

Meh, these things fit fine. They’re the standard shape of any other wired or wireless headphone. Nothing super over-engineered like AirPods which always fit perfectly in my ear. And I won’t hold this grudge against them, since I have some super small ears but the silicon tips provided absolutely did not fit in my ears whatsoever. The small size was way too big and I would cram those things in to just hear a little bit of audio. Amazon, not surprisingly, had memory foam tips exactly for the CMF Buds, and they helped a lot. This was the only way I could get these to stay in my ear to actually write this review. Other than that, I can’t really comment on the eartips because I didn’t use the included ones. However, the mesh which blocks earwax from entering the inside is rather cheap. They’re held by the slightest amount of glue and both of mine fell off. They can be put back on but it’s a bit annoying. I know these aren’t completely necessary but it would be nice if they would just stay where they were supposed to.

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That Knob Is Not a Gimmick

Oh wow look a knob, I’ll never use this in my life. “Let’s try to be different than our competitors and change our case.” I was actually wrong. Somehow, I find myself using the knoby dial thingy on the case every time I listen to music. The buds themselves have tap and hold functions to pause music or change settings, but somehow it’s easier for me to use the case. If my phone is in the other room, I’ll just turn the dial to change the volume or push in to pause or skip a song. It’s rather intuitive, and a fun fidget toy when you’re not actively using them.

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Should You Switch?

NOOO! Unless you have first gen AirPods or your last 3 pairs just completely broke like mine. However, if you’re in the market – I would get these. I’m kind of done spending so much money on AirPods when they keep breaking on me. When these have the same audio quality to me (and other reviewers) I might just stick with these. I won’t be completely connected into the seamless Apple ecosystem anymore but that isn’t the biggest issue for me. You’re not going to get seamless switching between your iPhone and Mac, but you are able to connect them to two devices at a time – a pretty nice feature. Another thing that I really dislike about these is the lack of any locating features. It is a little hard to fit that in at this price point, but if you lose these – you’re done. You can play a sound on them to locate them… if they’re already connected to your phone’s Bluetooth. These did not have the range for that. I could lose them a couple rooms over and not be able to connect.

In short: they do what most people actually want their earbuds to do — and they do it well.