Core features like ANC might be a bit underwhelming but decent battery life and dual-rig connectivity help a lot.
CMF Buds: Two-minute review
The CMF By Nothing Buds are very cheap for what they offer.
They certainly wont rival most of thebest wireless earbudsbut among budget buys, theres a temptation here.
The CMF By Nothing Buds sound reasonable if not exceptional.
Theres a crispness here but bass is pretty weak and understated.
Youre left being merely impressed that the CMF By Nothing Buds even attempts ANC at this price.
Theres also app support, although its temperamental.
The earbuds are available in orange, dark gray, and light gray.
Orange is the most eye-catching color and its already proving to be the most popular.
The biggest rival at this price is theJLab Go Air Pop, which is slightly cheaper but lacks ANC.
Theres what Nothing calls dual-gadget connectivity so you’re free to switch between your devices.
Theres app support, ANC, and decent battery life.
The app is a little bit of a mixed bag.
The issue with the app is that I found it would sometimes forget my earbuds.
The ANC is also pretty poor.
That goes for whether you have the Transparency mode enabled or you go full ANC.
That seemed about right in my time with it and I had no complaints at all.
Diving into the app can always help you see whats going on with power.
As is often the way, Bluetooth 5.3 means no chance of dropouts.
They dont sound awful but its very run-of-the-mill stuff.
These arent hidden gems to rival thebest earbuds.
Instead, you get a fairly weak aural experience that youll have to crank up to enjoy.
I worked my way through David Guettas discography and nothing truly caught my attention.
Bass is fairly flimsy and trebles and mids are distinctly weak.
Better however was listening to podcasts.
Sound is reasonably crisp so voices come through clearly.
Its angular yet smooth and it looks so much cooler on your desk than regular earbud cases.
It has a silver sliding circle that moves around to reveal holes for a lanyard.
I received a lanyard with my earbuds but these dont come as standard.
Still, its easy enough to get hold of your own.
For a change for touch controls, it wasnt overly easy to activate the controls.
It all depends whats most important to you.
Value score: 3.5 / 5
Should I buy the CMF Buds?
Youre on a tight budgetThe CMF By Nothing Buds are very cheap for what they offer.
They might not be perfect but theyre appealing.
Yes, the CMF By Nothing Buds struggle here.
You want a secret bargainThe CMF By Nothing Buds are well-priced but theyre no hidden surprise.
Theyre about what youd expect for the price with more promises than most.
Battery life is weaker but its worth the compromise if you’re free to afford it.
I used the CMF By Nothing Buds on my daily morning walks.
At home, I used the CMF By Nothing Buds to watch Twitch videos and content onYouTube.
That went well with my podcast listening to check out how clear voices sounded on them.
For music, I predominantly listened toAppleMusic and Spotify.
The iPhone 14 Pro was driving most of that with a MacBook Pro entertaining me with videos.
Ive reviewed audio products for over 10 years.
