40 AUGUST 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 378
ONEPLUS BulletsWireless2
★★★★★
£99•From http://www.oneplus.com/uk
IN-EAR BLUETOOTH HEADPHONES
VERDICT
TheBulletsWireless2lookalmostidenticalto
theirpredecessors,butsoundfarsuperior
HEADPHONESSUBTYPEIn-ear•PLUGTYPENone•
WEIGHT24g•CABLELENGTHN/A•WARRANTYOneyear
RTB•DETAILSwww.oneplus.com/uk•PARTCODEBullets
Wireless2
SPECIFICATIONS
ONEPLUSMADEITSname in smartphones,
but last year saw the company venture into
the headphones market with its Bullets
Wireless earbuds. These had an alluring
design and an affordable price,but were let
down by lacklustre drivers.
Now OnePlus is back foranother try
with the Bullets Wireless 2. Can these new
headphones fix their predecessors’ problems
and win over audiophiles on abudget?
SECOND SHOT
Design-wise,the Bullets Wireless 2havealot
in common with the original Bullets. The
wired-together format, with its rubberised
neckband, will suit commuters and office
workers, although it doesn’t work well with a
high-collar jacket. It’s not ideal forfitness fans
either,but splash and water resistance means
theyshould survive abit of rain or sweat.
The finish and controls are very similar,
too. The dark greyaluminium housing keeps
its red accents, with the earphone nozzles
set at a45° angle.Onthe leftside of the
cable,aninline three-button remotecan be
used to control your media and answer calls.
AUSB Type-C charging port is set intothe
leftside of the neckband, along with a
multifunctional power button.
One last familiar feature is Magnetic
Control. Once again, OnePlus has embedded
magnets inside the outer housing of
the drivers, allowing them to snap tightly
together.This not only makes them
convenient to stow away, but it also doubles
as an instantaneous power toggle.Pull them
apart to turn them on, and clip them back
together to turn them off:it’s that simple.
Battery lifeisaverage,with the earphones
lasting around eight hours on asingle charge.
However,it’s also possible to apply aquick
flash charge,with 10 minutes of charging
providing around five hours of
playback. It’s perfect if you’re getting
ready to head out the door and realise
your headphones are dead.
Connectivity is one area where the
Bullets Wireless 2improve on the
original model. Theypaired
instantly with a
smartphone over
Bluetooth, and
alongside the SBC and
aptX codecs, there’s
now support foraptX
HD,for even better
transmission quality.
If you hold down the
button on the leftside of
the neckband, you can pair
the Bullets Wireless 2with
an additional secondary
source,and if you’ve
already paired the
earphones with another
device,they’ll
instantaneously switch to
it. That’s the theory,
anyway; in practice,we
couldn’t get the
headphones to
automatically switch between
aMacBook Air,aSurface Go
and an Honor View 20
smartphone,but it will work fine with
modern OnePlus phones.
Once you’ve got aconnection, wireless
performance is generally good. At one point
we found the Bullets Wireless 2had randomly
disconnected, but turning them off and on
again cleared this up.Abigger irritation is the
overly loud high-pitched tone that beeps in
your ear when you power on the headphones
or try to switch the source.
THREE FORALL
As well as the upgraded codec support, the
Bullets Wireless 2feature ahybrid triple-driver
setup in each ear,which is adefinitestepup
from last year’s single 9.2mm dynamic drivers.
As aresult, the Bullets Wireless 2sound far
superior to their predecessors, with ameatier
sound signature and better tonality across
the frequency range.
The improvement is particularly noticeable
at the lower end. The mid-bass frequencies
are farbetter controlled
than with the Bullets
Wireless, which sound
wobbly in comparison.
The bass also hits
harder than some
rivals, such as
SoundMagic’s E11BT,
although compared to the
beefy 1More Triple Driver BT,
the OnePlus buds lack a
touch of finesse.
The lower mid-range is
excellent, too. There’s abit
of adip in presence,but
vocal tracks featuring rich
instrumental sounds are
vibrantly brought to life.
The highs extend well, with plenty of energy
and sparkle,and alovely wide,clear
soundstage.It’s not quiteasengaging as the
sound of the Creative Outlier Air (Shopper
377), which manage to separatethe
instruments in Enrique Iglesias’sBailamos
flawlessly,but it’s still agreat performance.
The Bullets Wireless 2’s biggest sonic
weakness is adip in the upper mid-range: this
area of the spectrum lacks presence and just
sounds abit odd. This doesn’t come as ahuge
surprise,ashybrid earphones often struggle
with the crossover frequencies between
drivers, something that isn’t an issue with
single-driver earphones.
ARMS RACE
Regardless, the OnePlus Bullets Wireless 2are
asolid improvement on their predecessors.
The feature upgrades are welcome,and the
enhanced drivers and codec support make
abig difference to sound quality.They’re
definitely worth the £30 price bump on the
original earbuds.
They’re not flawless, to be sure.The design
won’t suit everyone,the loud audio tones are
annoying, and rival sets from 1More,
SoundMagic and Creative give them arun
fortheir money. If,however,you’re looking
foranupgrade over the original set or you
own aOnePlus smartphone,the Bullets
Wireless 2are agreat choice.
ChristopherMinasians
