The wireless buds market is on a surge.
These buds are much cheaper alternatives to Airpods for Android phone owners.
But dont worry, they dont look like copycats.
OnePlus buds are thicker and the open area where youd tap to perform gestures is bigger.
Vivos buds have a sleeker, curved design towards the end of the bud.
My colleagueNapier didnt like the fit of the OnePlus buds, but I had no problems with the fit.
Vivos buds offer slightly better passive sound isolation.
But because of the open design, theres some sound leakage through both of them.
The OnePlus buds have limited gestures as to skip tracks with double-tap, or to pick/reject calls.
you’re free to customize these gestures through parameters on the left and right buds.
Vivos TWS Neo have capacitive controls that let you play/pause/skip track through a various combination of taps.
And its all changeable through configs.
Lets talk about the design of their cases.
The OnePlus Buds has a thicker and rounder case.
TWS Neos case is a flatter capsule-like design.
Credit: Ivan Mehta
Both buds charge through USB-C Ports.
So, its not fair to expect top-grade sound out of these audio devices.
However, casual users wouldnt mind listening to songs, podcasts, or taking calls on these.
Vivos buds have a slight advantage in Bluetooth streaming as they support the AptX codec for high-quality audio.
Youll only notice the difference if youre listening to your own high-quality FLAC files.
Having said that both of them have different sound signatures with visible flaws.
OnePlus prefers to produce a sound thats more palpable for mainstream listeners with plenty of bass on tap.
The song doesnt depend much on bass notes, but rather on the subtleties of instruments and sounds.
The Vivo TWS does a better job of setting the mood.
The soundstage is an imaginary and non-quantitative measure that gives you a sense of a space recreated by headphones.
Both buds have a narrow soundstage but from different perspectives.
Both can be advantageous depending on the track youre listening to.
For instance, theBad Guycover from The Interrupters starts with a kick drum beat and a guitar riff.
However, later when theres a combination of trumpets and guitars, Vivos buds have an upper hand.
Both sets offer similar sound quality on calls, and theyre almost unfit to record anything otherwise.
Youll rather want to use your phones mic for that sort of thing.
If you own a Vivo or a OnePlus phone, its advantageous for you to buy those buds.
And the choice entirely depends on your preference of sound and your favorite genre of music.
That’s one heck of a mixed bag.
He likes to say “Bleh.
That’s one heck of a mixed bag.
He likes to say “Bleh.”
