CMF Buds by Nothing review: Best ANC earbuds under $50?

In the world of consumer audio, technology has gotten to the point where most things are pretty good. While it might have been rare to find earbuds for under $50 with modern features such as ANC five years ago, that isn’t the case anymore. The latest CMF Buds by Nothing cost less than $40, and bring all the essentials you could want from wireless earbuds in 2024. But is it too good to be true? Find out in SoundGuy’s CMF Buds by Nothing review.

Editor’s note: this is the first version of the article. Updates will follow as the market changes.

What I like about the CMF Buds

For those who may not know, CMF is a sub-brand of Nothing, and they have a very similar design language to the Nothing Ear, so much so that it’s easy to spot the reuse of parts and pieces. The case is the same size and square shape, except matte and opaque instead of clear plastic. The inside of the case looks almost identical, with the earbud resting at an angle attached to magnets. The UBC-C port and pairing button are also located on the same right side. The only real difference is the aluminum dial on one corner that doesn’t do anything except turn around to reveal two drilled holes through which you could thread a lanyard.

The CMF Buds also work with the Nothing X app, so you get some exclusives, like being able to talk with ChatGPT with the tap of a finger. But the main advantage of the app is the custom 3-band equalizer, which lets you raise or lower the emphasis of the lows, mids, and highs. It’s nowhere near the most complex EQ we’ve seen, but it’s better than nothing. You can also choose from five EQ presets tuned by Dirac for specific genres.

The battery life on the CMF Buds is average for wireless earbuds, lasting 6 hours and 37 minutes with ANC on in our testing. That’s actually over an hour more than what CMF by Nothing claims, which is a nice surprise. The earbuds also support Fast Charging, with 10 mins yielding another 6.5 hours of playback. There is no support for wireless charging, however.

The CMF Buds’ active noise cancelation is another strong point. Our testing shows a peak attenuation of around 38dB, but your experience could vary each time you place the earbuds in your ears.

On average, the ANC reduces the loudness of environmental noises by about 74%, which is on par with the more expensive Nothing Ear.

Lastly, the call quality of the CMF Buds is fairly good. There are four microphones in total, and the earbuds use an AI noise reduction algorithm to suppress background noise, which works pretty well in most conditions. As you can hear in the samples below, noises from streets or wind are suppressed, though your voice will sound slightly muffled in the latter. It doesn’t do as good a job suppressing office noise, but the person on the other end of the line should still be able to understand what you are saying.

CMF Buds by Nothing microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

What I don’t like about the CMF Buds

Unfortunately, here is where I have to address the sound quality of the CMF Buds because, wow, they have a lot of bass. Now, strong bass emphasis may be your cup of tea, but for me, the default frequency response has far too much bass for anything outside of EDM or Hip-Hop. These earbuds emphasize sub-bass frequencies below 100Hz by 10dB more than our headphone preference curve.

There’s also a dip in the mids at 450Hz, which can dilute some vocal clarity. For instance, songs like Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” lose intricate guitar work and vocal harmonies, mainly due to the emphasized bass.

Thankfully, you can reduce the bass emphasis using the Nothing X app’s EQ. Or, though I wouldn’t recommend it, you can increase it using the dedicated Ultra Bass setting.

As for audio codecs, your options are limited to only AAC and SBC. The CMF Buds do have a dual-device connection, which can save you the hassle of repairing the earbuds when switching between your phone and laptop, for instance. They also support Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair if you are outside of the Apple ecosystem.

The earbuds themselves are small and fairly comfortable, but they use tap controls at the top of the stem, which I don’t personally like because it feels like I’m pushing the ear tips into my ears. For the most part, the touch controls are responsive, but curiously, there are no single tap functions, such as to play or pause music, which seems like an oversight.

Should you buy the CMF Buds by Nothing?

The CMF Buds by Nothing pack a good punch for their sub-$40 price tag. They excel with impressive active noise cancelation, decent battery life, and a useful companion app. Call quality and transparency mode are also strong points. However, the sound quality is heavily skewed towards bass, which may be too much for some listeners. While somewhat adjustable via EQ, it’s not ideal out of the box for those seeking a balanced sound profile.

For budget-conscious consumers who don’t require the highest-quality audio codecs, the CMF Buds are a solid choice. Even though wireless earbuds under $50 is becoming an increasingly competitive space, they deliver premium features at an affordable price, making them easy to recommend despite the bass-heavy tuning.

For those willing to spend a bit more, the Nothing Ear (a) for $99.99 at Nothing offer a more balanced sound profile and LDAC support, similar call performance though slightly worse ANC. Our favorites also include the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC, $99.99 at Amazon. These earbuds have really good noise canceling, along with a sound quality that most people will enjoy.

Budget shoppers should consider the Moondrop Space Travel at just $24.99 at Amazon, which deliver impressive sound and ANC performance at an ultra-affordable price point, even if they have an odd, exposed charging case. On the other hand, if you have small ears and need something extremely portable, you can’t go wrong with the JLab JBuds Mini ($39.99 at Amazon).

CMF Buds review: FAQs