CMF by Nothing has launched its next duo of audio devices, including the CMF Buds and the CMF Neckband Pro. While a CMF Buds review has also gone live, here’s a detailed review of the CMF Neckband Pro, which has a price tag of Rs 1,999.
Design & Comfort
CMF stands for Colour Material Finish and just like Nothing, the brand’s major play is on design. One can notice that with how the Neckband Pro has been designed. It comes in an attractive orange shade along with the other two, which have a more muted look.
While at first glance it would look like most other neckbands, it is when you begin to notice the controls where the neckband stands out. It has a single pairing and function button while a dial on the neckband is the main controller.
We haven’t seen such a design on many neckbands, and for sure, it’s intuitive and easy to use. You can notice the minute details in design, such as the design of the speaker grill in pill-shaped cutouts placed next to each other, which is also something we haven’t seen before.
Back to the dial, turning it left or right will increase or decrease the volume while the number of presses decides whether you want to play/pause a song, decline a call, forward the song, go to the previous track and more.
Not only that, but you can also customise these controls via the Nothing X app. A triple press can skip back, double press can skip forward, while pressing and holding will get you in ANC mode or transparency mode. Double pressing the function mode will switch Bluetooth connection between devices as the neckband supports dual-device connection.
The dial gives you clicky feedback when you turn it to let you know how each click means an increase or decrease in volume.
As for the comfort factor, the buds are quite comfortable in the ear and fit well. They have a snug fit allowing them to stay inside the ear even if you are working out or doing something that requires a lot of head movement. The wire quality and the plastic portion seem well-made and durable.
The Neckband is also IP55 rated which makes it resistant against splashes and some amount of dust as well. As the buds have magnetic power on/off support, they turn off once you magnetically attach them and turn on as soon as you separate them.
Performance, Nothing X App Support
The CMF Neckband Pro is equipped with a Chipset and five HD mics to deliver noise cancellation of up to 50 dB. It further packs a 13.6 mm composite diaphragm driver and a 0.27cc back chamber to enhance bass depth without distortions.
The CMF Neckband Pro audio gets adequately loud at higher volumes but could have been louder compared to some other neckbands I have tried. Aside from that, the audio quality has been tuned with the classic V-Shaped equaliser where the sound signature is mainly composed of treble and bass with mid frequencies taking a back seat.
Tracks have clear vocals, while instrument separation is also well handled by the drivers. There’s enough bass for bass lovers, which never distorts the sound or overtakes the vocals. There’s also a new Ultra Bass 2.0 technology where you can set 5 levels of bass via the Nothing X app, which makes quite a big difference in bass reproduction than with the equaliser.
The bass is clear and gives you that thumping feel in relevant tracks. There are five equaliser modes to choose from, out of which the ‘Balanced’ one worked out the best for me, or the custom option as well. Overall, the sound quality of the CMF Neckband Pro is top-notch and is a treat for the ears.
The device connects wirelessly over Bluetooth v5.3 and supports AAC and SBC codecs. We faced no issues with regard to connectivity either.
In addition, as the Neckband supports Google Fast Pair, as soon as you separate the earbuds, a pop-up appears on your Android device that the CMF Neckband Pro is available for connection. It also supports Microsoft Swift Pair.
Then, the CMF Neckband Pro has a new Spatial Audio effect feature, which can be enabled via the Nothing X app. This makes it feel like you are in an auditorium where the sound now slightly has an echoing effect. It also makes the sound louder and is decent for movies but not for music in my opinion as it does lower the audio quality to some extent.
Noise Control has three options, including ANC, Transparency and OFF. As for ANC, the performance is quite powerful. It blocks out environmental noise very effectively, including high- and low-pitch sounds. The noise cancelling out makes a good difference when listening to music. Even wind noise reduction works well, which we tested in highly windy conditions where it didn’t bother us much.
The 50dB ANC doesn’t feel like a gimmick and is one of the strongest features of the CMF Neckband Pro. There’s also an Adaptive ANC feature which automatically adjusts the ANC levels according to your ambient surroundings but I mostly kept it at high which suited me the best.
The transparency mode, on the other hand, was also effective. It made outside noises hearable but with a slight muffled effect. However, this mode didn’t disappoint us either.
Next up, there’s find my earbuds feature which blasts the speakers at full volume so you know where you might have kept your neckband in case you misplace it.
The dual connection feature, where the neckband connects to two devices simultaneously, worked without any issues. You’ll first have to turn on the feature via the Nothing X app post, which the buds can connect to a couple of devices. They switch connections seamlessly if a call arrives on the second device and you accept it while you are listening to music on the first device. Once the call ends, the music from the first device resumes. However, it doesn’t pause the music as it keeps on playing in the background, though you don’t hear it as you are attending the call.
The Latency has been well contained, and turning on low lag mode helps in refining the experience further while playing games.
These three features, including Low lag mode, dual connection and find my earbuds, can be used via the Nothing X app. The app is smooth to use with no lags as such. The user interface looks modern, and the overall experience remains fluid.
Call Quality, Battery Backup
Regarding call quality, the CMF Neckband Pro exceeded my expectations. Not only was my voice clear and loud to the caller on the other end, but it also transmitted by voice without any major disturbances, even when it was heavily windy outside and also when the traffic noise was high.
As for the battery backup, CMF claims the Neckband Pro can run for 23 hours with ANC ON and 37 hours with ANC OFF, which are respectable numbers. The 220mAh unit, during our review of the CMF Neckband Pro, was able to get close to these numbers.
With about 4 hours of calling, and about 5 hours of music playback, the battery dropped to 50% which means if you call a lot, the battery will drop faster of course. Note that both calling and music playback were set to the highest level with ANC. With that in mind, even these numbers are quite significant.
Without calling, we were able to get near to the 23-hour mark and with ANC Off, the neckband is even harder to kill. To sum up, the neckband impressed us a lot in the battery segment too.