cmf by Nothing has been trying to make inroads in the budget segment of the Indian consumer market for a couple of months now. Carl Pei’s brands have been known to make a dent in the market share held by established players across budget segments in the world of consumer tech. First, there was OnePlus which took on the biggest names in the smartphone space, and then now, there’s Nothing, capturing the mid-range segment. Entering the budget segment, from the same line of companies that were established by Carl, is cmf. They have fared decently well, and are expanding their product range to include two new audio products – cmf Neckband Pro at ₹2,499 and the cmf Buds at ₹2,999. These join the Buds Pro, Watch Pro, and their POWER 65W GaN.
While the Neckband Pro is a new product in itself, the Buds join the Buds Pro that were launched a couple of months ago. For these products, I wanted to focus on the performance specifically, because that is what would help them stand out. They are fairly well built and there is not much to complain about in the features department as well. I tested these earbuds and spent some time with both the cmf Neckband Pro and the cmf Buds and here’s how they fared in my tests –
As you can see in the graph below, there is a boost in the sub-bass frequencies which also affects the performance of the cmf Buds in the mids and the highs as well. Tracks like Rescue Me by OneRepublic and others, which are vocal heavy, sounded fairly hollow, and there was a ton of echo. The vocals were crisp, however, not as intimate, when it came to their imaging. The soundstage of these earbuds is limited, but during the time I spent playing Counter-Strike 2, neither notice the lack of immersion nor there were footsteps or essential sounds in the game that I missed. The latency was also not an issue.
Given the sound signature of these earbuds, they are an ideal candidate for people who listen to a lot of EDM music, which does not have a lot of vocals. For content consumption as well, I would say that you can go with these earbuds because when there is not a heavy backing track on vocals, they sound great. However, during action-heavy scenes when there is a lot going on in the background, these earbuds struggle to separate the vocals from the backing tracks or background sounds.
Coming to the ANC, it was surprisingly great. When on my desk, I could not hear the AC rumbling, and the sound of my keyboard which is specced with fairly noisy blue mechanical switches was also subdued quite a bit. In extremely noisy scenarios, they do let sound in, but with the right-sized ear tips, you should be able to get a space of your own during train rides. As for the microphone, I recorded a sample in the office, and again, it isolated my voice well. However, there was some amount of echo and cutting down of low frequencies, which gave an unnatural tone to my voice.
These earbuds slot perfectly in the sub-3K price range, and make a decent case for themselves. The sound signature is something that bass lovers will appreciate, and the mic and ANC are definitely serviceable. The OnePlus Nord Buds 2 will be the biggest competitor of these earbuds. They sound similar and if you are out looking for a pair of TWS earbuds around 3K, I would definitely say, keep those in mind.
cmf Neckband Pro comes with a name that sets the expectations high. The Pro label generally means that the product is going to be engineered to be the best, at least amongst the offerings from the brand and its price range. However, the cmf Neckband Pro did fall short in some areas which led it to not living up to its name or the tag of being a Pro product. The sound quality of the buds was not the best that I have seen in neckbands around this price. As you can see in the graph, there is an aggressive dip in the mids which when coupled with the boost in the lows, means that the crowd that loves bass would appreciate it. If you are planning on watching movies, then I would recommend changing the EQ settings to give the mids a boost.
The ANC on the cmf Neckband Pro is definitely serviceable for the price. I tested the efficacy of the ANC on these earbuds right after the cmf Buds, and I did not notice much of a difference in their performance. When making this product, I assume, the development team of the Neckband Pro took inspiration from the team behind the Buds, which is completely fair. No complaints. These earbuds will serve you well in day-to-day use. The microphone performance was a place where I noticed a considerable difference in the performance of the cmf Buds and the Neckband Pro. The sound recorded on the mic of the Neckband Pro had similar characteristics as that of the Buds, but sounded a lot more muffled. So, folks with a slightly heavy voice might have an issue with the mic.
The cmf Neckband Pro at ₹2,499 makes for a decent purchase at this price. Keyword – decent. If you are tied to the bright orange aesthetic, and are looking for a pair of neckbands that have a solid build, then you can go for these. However, before you take the plunge, I would recommend you look at other offerings in the market as well. Especially, the Realme Buds Wireless 3 and the OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z2 ANC, both of which are solid contenders in the ANC neckband category in the sub-3K price range.
