CMF Buds, Neckband Pro Review: Funk and function on a budget

The orange case is interesting with a grey rotating dial in one of the corners, which is also where you attach your braided lanyard that comes with the buds. If not, you can just use it to turn your case into a fidget spinner and hope that you don’t break it in the process.

While the colour and finish leave an impression on you, the material lowers the graph a bit. Since nothing is moving with this new experimental approach, it’s hard to tell if it is intentional or not. The case does not seem durable. I had a bunch of rough days with it and it survived every drop, but its flimsiness still makes me want to be cautious — having the hinge on the side instead of the centre does not really help its case: get it?

But that’s my only major complaint from the buds. Everything else about them is top-notch — well almost. The sound quality is great, the Active Noise Cancellation gives close competition to its Nothing Ear siblings, there is absolutely no sound leak (that’s my favourite part) even when you’re playing music at high volume and the Nothing X companion app just makes it so much easier to customise the audio to suit your preference.

My second and last complaint would be with the touch controls, but that’s not something specific to the CMF Buds, it’s an issue I have with most budget TWS earbuds. I can’t really blame them, but I do. They are not always accurate, sometimes there is a lag and it’s just a hit-and-miss situation. More often than not, you let it slide or use your phone to control them, but it’s not a solution. Every once in a while, they make me go, “I should’ve just spent more money,” and I think that’s unfair. That dissolves the whole purpose of having a good experience without it costing a fortune.

If that is something that you don’t pay much attention to, then you will not regret buying the CMF Buds, especially if your budget is under ₹3,000. Other important things to note are a long battery life, good Bluetooth connectivity range, dual device connection and Google Fast Pair.

If you aren’t a fan of the bright orange, they are also available in the vanilla black and white colour options. So, don’t let that hold you back.

The Neckband Pro is not very different from the Buds in terms of sound quality. The only change I could feel was probably a punchier bass and I believe it has to do with the fact that this is catering to people who work out and have an active lifestyle. This is not to say that people who don’t work out don’t need bass in their lives, but it’s good to see Nothing offering both options.

The Neckband Pro also gives you up to 50dB of adaptive hybrid ANC, which could be more helpful if you’re in very noisy environments but to me, both seemed equally good. The battery life on this can also easily last up to a week.

Another interesting thing about the Neckband Pro is its smart dial used to play/pause music, change volume, and for other functions. I would pick it over trying to find the right button or trying to get the touch controls to work properly.

Similar to the Buds, this is also available in three colour options — orange, black and white.

In terms of functionality, both offer great sound quality for the price they’re being offered for. The Buds are available for ₹2,499 and the Neckband Pro for ₹1,999. The only big question here is — are you a TWS person or a neckband person?