I have been using the Oneplus bullets wireless 2 earbuds for roughly a week now and I'm very impressed by its sound quality. I own some of the most popular choices of Bluetooth headphone such as Sony 1000XM2, Bose QuietComfort 35, Apple AirPods and Samsung Galaxy buds. I want to share some thoughts on the sound quality of Oneplus earbuds in comparisons with those headphones and earbuds. I'm not an audiophile by any means. These are merely my point of view as an average customer.

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I think Oneplus did a fantastic job on implementing the 2 Knowles armature drivers and one dynamic driver together and made them sound as natural and balanced as possible in most of the frequencies. Those armature drivers give the Oneplus earbuds a clear advantage on the clarity and the reproduction of details of high and mid frequencies compared to other dynamic driver Bluetooth headphones I've mentioned above. While this is not the first mixed drivers' earbuds I've used. I have been using the AKG K3003 earbuds for a very long time which I think is the first consumer product that implements the idea of mixing armature and dynamic drivers in earbuds. Back then mixed drivers is a design that only exists in high-end products and I'm happy to see it becomes more popular and more price-competitive recently. And I'm surprised to say that the difference in the sound quality of these two mixed drivers earbuds isn't as large as the difference in price. The two of them have a very similar style of sound reproduction. K3003 still has its advantage on the extremely wide sound stage and crystal clear trebles. But the Oneplus has deeper bass and slightly richer and fuller mids which I'm so impressed considering the price difference. While the voice reproduction and positioning of K3003 have some unique, magical characteristics that make the voice sounds so angelic and attractive. Both of them have excellent instruments separation. Oneplus did exaggerate the bass a little bit to make their earbuds more appealing to the mass. Some of the details of mids are covered by the over-exaggerated bass and over-sharpening treble. Enabling the special sound enhancements of Oneplus bullets wireless 2 in the setting helps a little on reducing the bass and softening the treble. AKG headphones have their own unique sound signatures that make their products sound true to life although some would argue that the bass is too weak. That's the reason why I also enjoy the Galaxy buds (tuned by AKG) very much because it has very balanced sounding although the bass is a little bit weak and shallow. I highly recommend to turn off the built-in equaliser in the Galaxy Wears which only distorts the frequencies and covers the details with excessive depthless bass. However, the single dynamic driver of Galaxy Buds makes it sounds dull and blur in comparison to the Oneplus earbuds. Apple AirPods isn't a very good choice for serious music listening because of the loose fit of the earbuds which results in bad noise isolation and environment separation. Even in a quiet environment, AirPods still does not have the same level of clearness and bass of the Oneplus earbuds.

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Comparing to the big ones like Sony 1000XM2 and Bose QuietComfort 35 (although it's not a fair comparison), I would say in terms of sound quality Oneplus is still out performed them in high and mid frequencies despite they have a 40mm dynamic driver on each side. The richness of details that the Oneplus earbuds able to deliver are just insane. And unsurprisingly, Sony has stronger and deeper punches in bass, larger sound stage and more accurate sound positioning compared to Oneplus. However, the noise-cancelling is the main reason why most people are buying these headphones and not the sound quality along. Sony 1000XM2 also has other features like LDAC which makes a huge difference in sound quality. Some might not recognise the importance of codec support for wireless headphones/earbuds. Switching between the SBC, AAC and Aptx HD codecs of the Oneplus earbuds, there is a noticeable difference in trebles and overall clarity of the sound even when you are listening to Spotify instead of lossless files. Honestly, codecs like LDAC and AptX HD are the deciding factors that convince me to switch from wired headphones/earbuds to wireless ones. It would be a huge waste if you pair Oneplus earbuds with devices that don't support Aptx HD codec. Overall, I think Oneplus bullets wireless 2 is a great value for money with top-notch sound quality.