CMF launched the Buds 2, 2 Plus, and 2a last year, and when I tested these earbuds, I said they're among the best budget buds around. Now, the Nothing sub-brand has an even more affordable option, the CMF Buds Neo.
The Buds Neo are now available in India, and they should make their way to other markets soon. They retail for just ₹1,999 ($20), and once again, CMF nailed the pricing. It's clear that the brand understands how the Indian market works, and by selling these at an aggressive price point, CMF will undoubtedly find plenty of takers.
As all other CMF products, the Buds Neo have a striking design, and they're sold in three colors: white, black, and dark blue. While the black is the most traditional model, the white and dark blue models have two-tone designs that look great; the white has orange accents, and the dark blue gets a teal highlight that contrasts the color really well. Having used all three colors, there's no question that the white model is the most distinctive.
The square case is on the smaller side, and it has a rotating dial, which I like to see in Nothing and CMF products. Build quality is great, and at no point did I get the feeling that I was using a pair of budget buds. More than anything else, it's this trait that makes the Buds Neo stand out; they don't look like budget earbuds at all.
What's particularly interesting is that these earbuds retain Active Noise Cancellation. They even get an adaptive option that changes the isolation based on your surroundings. In regular use, I found the Buds Neo to do a decent enough job tuning out the ambient sounds, including the sounds of my mechanical keyboard (MelGeek Centauri 80) and the hum of the air con. The buds did a decent job on a recent short-haul flight as well, but I'd suggest Buds Pro 2 if your main use case is traveling.
The Buds Neo have good ingress protection too; the buds have an IP54 rating, and the case itself is IPX2. They connect via Bluetooth 6.0, have Google Fast Pair, and I didn't see any issues with connectivity when using the buds with my Find X9 Ultra, Vivo X300 Ultra, and Pixel 11 Pro XL. You don't get any AptX codecs, with the buds limited to SBC and AAC — but that's understandable in this category.
There are no issues with battery life either. I got just over seven hours from a full charge, and the case holds enough power (465mAh) to charge the buds four times over, so you'll only realistically need to charge the case once a week even with heavy use. Oh, and fast charge gives you 5.5 hours of music playback with just a 10-minute charge, and this is definitely handy.
Let's talk about the sound. The Buds Neo have a 12.4mm dynamic driver, and the tonal signature is in line with the Buds 2. You get a warm sound with good detail and clean extension, with a rumbling low-end and natural vocals presentation. There's a mode to boost the bass if you're so inclined, and Nothing X has six EQ presets to tweak the sound profile.
Now, for a brand that says it doesn't like to do things the traditional way, CMF has three earbuds on sale at under ₹3,000 ($31). Why have three distinct products when one will do the job? I don't know, but it's clear that CMF wants to continually churn out budget earbuds.
Not that there's anything wrong with it — the Buds Neo are easily one of the best entry-level earbuds you can get at the moment. They have a stylish design, great sound, and build quality that's better than most products in this category. If you need budget earbuds that don't look or sound like they're built to cost, you should get the Buds Neo.
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