Bullets you won't want to dodge
FOR Lightweight; agile and expressive sound AGAINST Not a great fit; timing and subtlety issues
Truly wireless headphones that deliver truly good performance are few and far between – and almost non-existent at under £100. The Oneplus Bullets Wirelesses aren’t truly wireless, of course – the buds are connected to a lightweight rubber yoke that goes around your neck – but they do come in at just £69, and as such are well worthy of your consideration. With just one important caveat.
The Bullets Wirelesses follow a familiar neckband design, similar to that of the Beats X earbuds or Sennheiser’s Momentum In-ear Wirelesses. The band houses the battery, which provides a claimed eight hours of continuous music playback, and an integrated mic with control buttons for volume, call answering etc attached to the left-ear cable.
The lightweight neckband never draws attention to itself, as long as you have it directly on your neck. It does occasionally drag on your shirt collar, as the cables aren’t overly long.
Magnetic power
When not in your ears, the buds clamp together magnetically – a process that cuts off power at the same time. If they’re not stuck together, power shuts down automatically after a few minutes if there’s no music playing through them, so they won’t just run themselves down if they come apart in your bag.
With the earphones, you get three sets of earbuds in differing sizes, three sets of wings to help maintain stability of fit for the buds in your ears, a USB charging cable, and a small rubberised pouch for housing the headphones when they’re not round your neck. This last item is a bit of a letdown, though – it’s just too hard to get the headphones in neatly while still being able to close the mouth of the pouch properly – so we can’t imagine using it too often.
Having removed the Bullets from the box and made sure they’re fully charged and connected via Bluetooth (a simple enough process), we sort out a suitable fit so we can start testing in earnest. And that’s where our main issue with these headphones becomes apparent. For some of our review team, even the largest buds supplied don’t provide an effective in-ear seal.
As with all headphones of this type, a good fit is vital if you want to get anything approaching a decent sound. Without it, bass is pretty much non-existent and everything you hear comes across as remarkably thin and tinny. Without it, we can’t really give a fair appraisal of the product either.
We eventually cannibalise some buds from another set of in-ears and are able to proceed – but that’s not something anyone purchasing these headphones should have to do. It’s the first time we can recall having this problem with large sets of buds, and while it may not be a problem for most, it’s something to bear in mind.
Seal of approval
But once the Bullets are securely in place with a decent seal, these in-ears do a good job – especially taking that £70 price into consideration. The sound is detailed and expressive, with good dynamics and pace to a track.
They are reasonably even across the frequencies, although there’s a bit of a peak to the sound response in the upper midrange. It never quite veers into stridency, so the listen is always comfortable, although it’s not the most subtle reproduction. Bass is reasonably tight and snappy, without the overly booming sound of some budget options.
That general evenness of tone mean that the musical strands tie together well, and the Bullets remain consistent throughout. They can’t compete sonically with the likes of the Sennheiser Momentums – while the sound is fast and agile, timing is an issue, with complex rhythms occasionally tripping them up – but they are comfortably less than half the price of the Momentums, and have a great deal going for them.
Stable connections
Using them out and about every day, we are impressed. The Bluetooth connection is stable and we have no problem connecting to our phone while listening to podcasts and Spotify on our daily commute.
The inline mic and controls work well, and we find ourselves feeling comfortable with the general set-up after only a day or so of use.
The Oneplus Bullets Wireless are a solid option for those after the convenience of wireless headphones. While they’re not perfect, they are competent sonically – the next step up is the Sennheiser Momentums (£170) so you’re getting a lot for your money; and they are easy to live with.
All of which is irrelevant, of course, if you can’t get them to fit. So take care to ensure you can get a good seal for the buds in your ears before you invest. Tick that box, and the Oneplus Bullets Wirelesses are terrific value for money.
“These Oneplus Bullets are a solid option for those after the convenience of wireless headphones”