Neckband-style earbuds have principally gone out of style as of late, however there’s nonetheless particular use circumstances the place they work higher than TWS options. For one they allow you to drop the wire however nonetheless have nice battery life, and guarantee they will not fall whereas operating. And in case you are after a pair that will not considerably impression you funds you positively want to take a look at the CMF Neckband Pro.
Before we begin, a phrase on the model. CMF by Nothing is Nothing’s inexpensive model of equipment with a definite styling and aggressive pricing. The Neckband Pro are probably CMF’s strongest headphones they usually retail for simply ₹2,000 ($24).
Unboxing
In the field, you get two further units of ear ideas of various sizes.
When you consider neckband-type headphones, you consider sports activities and health, so a pair of wingtips for the buds themselves might have made the Neckband Pro an excellent higher general package deal. But then a legitimate case may be made that with this manner issue you do not actually need these.
Design and options
This reviewer is a TWS consumer and common runner and located the CMF Neckband Pro an ideal match.
Doing excessive-depth exercises with the buds was a breeze they usually stayed comfortable and safe in my medium-sized ear canals.
The buds are small and lightweight – the full set is slightly below 30 grams.
The technique to flip off the Neckband Pro is connect the 2 buds collectively. They lock properly in place due to constructed-in magnets and principally keep put when worn in your neck.
However, the buds would separate as quickly as I put them in my backpack, turning throughout my automobile commute to the workplace and would each burn battery and trigger points with music playback from my automobile’s stereo.
Each bud homes an enormous 13.6mm customized dynamic driver with Ultra Bass Technology 2.0. The drivers can simulate spatial audio and have energetic noise cancellation of as much as 50 dB.
The USB-C port is on the proper stem of the Neckband Pro. The headset’s 220mAh battery helps quick cost – you may rise up to 18 hours of use with simply 10 minutes on a cost with ANC off. With ANC on, you are 11 hours.
The good dial is a spotlight on the CMF Neckband Pro. It’s each a clicky wheel and a button. It provides off pretty bodily suggestions – you may actually really feel every step.
By default, rotating the dial adjustments the amount, whereas a press does pause/play, a double press is for the following tune, and a triple press is for the earlier tune.
A press and maintain adjustments between energetic noise cancellation and transparency mode.
There’s additionally a small button on the underside of the proper stem that toggles between Bluetooth units – sure, the Neckband Pro assist twin connection and it labored flawlessly in our testing.
The Nothing X app
CMF’s merchandise use the Nothing X app on Android and iOS and also you get basically the identical menu.
Sound high quality and battery life
We’ve already stated that the CMF Neckband Pro has beefy 13.6mm drivers – that is greater than the 11mm drivers on the brand new Nothing Ear buds. The energetic noise cancellation on the CMF Neckband Pro can be increased-rated – 50 dB vs 45 dB. Impressive stats for a set that prices below $30.
In the actual world, we won’t actually say we felt these further 5 dB of noise cancellation. We’d say the noise cancellation felt the identical between the CMF Neckband Pro and Nothing’s costlier buds. That’s to say it is on par with nearly each different set of TWS buds with ANC round, besides just a few very costly outliers, just like the Apple AirPods Pro 2, or Sony’s WF-1000XM5.
Nothing’s X app is the place you tune the sound and right here, we’re a little bit dissatisfied. The equalizer is a simplified three-channel one with Bass, Treble, and Mids and you may alter every from -6 to +6.
That lacks granularity and we might desire the complete adjustable equalizer you get in the identical app for the brand new Nothing Ear. We simply left the buds in Balanced, which appeared to swimsuit it the very best.
Tuning the sound
As for sound high quality, the CMF Neckband Pro is loud, very loud. When listening to increased-high quality audio, like Spotify, you get stable, ear-filling sound.
The low finish may be very robust, even when Ultra Bass is turned off. Turning it on fills it in a bit extra, making sound higher rounded. The midrange just isn’t very balanced. Instruments and vocals really feel filled with presence and life in some songs, whereas in others, we hear cracking. Sometimes devices got here out a bit tinny. Lowering the amount a notch helped right here.
There’s plenty of presence and readability with the CMF Neckband Pro, however choosing loud quantity ranges may cause it to interrupt aside at occasions.
Putting these aspect by aspect with the Nothing Ear (2), we might say it is a matter of massive quantity and a rumbling low finish on the CMF aspect versus a mature sound stage with extra presence and brilliance on Nothing’s aspect.
CMF claims you may rise up to 37 hours of playback with ANC off and eight and a half with it on. We did not handle to kill these buds in per week of testing, regardless of the unintentionally linked classes whereas the buds had been in a backpack.
Conclusion
The CMF Neckband Pro is a wonderful headset for the lover of neckband-type headphones. They are nicely-constructed, have logical and intuitive controls, and match completely in our use case.
Their specs sheet can be impressively lengthy. It’s laborious to discover a higher-specced system for the cash.
We’d say the CMF Neckband Pro is value it for the large drivers with highly effective bass and loud sound, good energetic noise cancellation, and good app integration. Add within the nice battery endurance, and the standout worth, and the CMF Neckband Pro is a winner.
The solely difficulty is discovering the CMF Neckband Pro on sale at a retailer close to you. European customers have the CMF Buds and Buds Pro, whereas the Neckband Pro is seemingly solely out there in India for the time being.