Active noise cancellation and complete wireless connectivity for less than Rs. 2,000? That’s precisely what you’ll find with the Noise Buds Venus.
Indian personal audio brand Noise has solidified its position as a prominent player in its category due to its competitive pricing and its ability to incorporate features not typically found in budget products. This strategic approach has helped Noise establish a strong presence in the rapidly evolving gadgets market, particularly in segments like earphones and smartwatches. The brand’s latest product adheres to this successful formula, offering a feature usually associated with higher-priced products, all for under Rs. 2,000.
Priced at just Rs. 1,899, the Noise Buds Venus true wireless earphones introduce active noise cancellation, making this once premium feature considerably more accessible through its attractive pricing. Among the most budget-friendly true wireless earphones equipped with ANC currently available, the Noise Buds Venus brings significant value for its price point. Is the Venus now the top true wireless headset under Rs. 2,000 in the market? This review will provide the answer.
Design, Features, and Specifications of the Noise Buds Venus
While most true wireless earphones available today tend to sport a somewhat generic appearance, the Noise Buds Venus stands out, aligning with the brand’s distinctive aesthetic approach. The earpieces showcase an intriguing combination of glossy and matte finishes, mirroring the design of the charging case. This sets these earphones apart from the majority in this price range, which often look as inexpensive as their cost suggests.
The Noise Buds Venus earpieces are equipped with touch-sensitive controls and offer an in-canal fit, ensuring effective noise isolation to enhance the active noise cancellation. Although slightly larger and protruding, they are lightweight at just 3.5 grams each and remain comfortably wearable, even with the default medium-sized ear tips. Moreover, the package includes three additional pairs of ear tips, offering a degree of customization for the fit. The box also contains a charging cable (USB Type-A to Type-C) and an instructional leaflet to assist you in mastering the controls.
Interestingly, the Noise Buds Venus boasts premium features such as active noise cancellation and a low-latency gaming mode; however, it curiously lacks a companion app to support these features. The earphones also offer environmental noise cancellation, facilitated by a quad-microphone system that enables Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC), ANC, and voice communications.
The controls on the Noise Buds Venus are fairly intuitive and are managed directly from the earpieces, as there is no app support for customization. Although it may take a bit of time to get accustomed to them, the controls are straightforward and rely on various combinations of taps to manage functions like playback, volume, ANC, and gaming mode.
The charging case for the Noise Buds Venus strikes a balance between size and portability, featuring only a USB Type-C port for charging at the bottom and an indicator light just beneath the brand logo. It easily fits in your pocket, supports fast charging, and provides ample additional charges for the earpieces (more on that later). The headset is available in four appealing color options: black, brown, green, and ivory.
In terms of specifications, the Noise Buds Venus features 10mm dynamic drivers and employs Bluetooth 5.3 for connectivity, supporting the SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs. The earpieces have an IPX5 rating for water resistance, making them resilient against light splashes of water and sweat. Additionally, the earphones offer voice assistance support, which activates the default voice assistant on your paired smartphone.
Performance and Battery Life of the Noise Buds Venus
The fact that the Noise Buds Venus offers true wireless earphones with active noise cancellation for under Rs. 2,000 is already quite impressive. What makes it even more remarkable is that these earphones deliver a commendable performance. Part of this excellence can be attributed to its technically sound specifications, including support for the AAC Bluetooth codec and Bluetooth 5.3. However, what truly sets the Noise Buds Venus apart is the reasonable tuning it has received, especially given its price point.
In the world of budget wireless earphones, where many fall short in terms of audio tuning, the Noise Buds Venus achieves a significant victory. I was pleasantly surprised by the clarity and simplicity of the sound it produced, striking a fine balance in capturing the sonic signature while preserving a respectable level of detail.
For instance, when listening to “Paris (Aeroplane Remix)” by Friendly Fires at moderate volumes, the sound exhibited just the right amount of low-end energy, with subtle hints of high-end brilliance enhancing the upbeat track. It offered an engaging listening experience that allowed me to fully immerse myself in the music, devoid of any distracting audio anomalies. This is precisely the goal of budget wireless earphones, and the Noise Buds Venus accomplishes it effortlessly.
The sound quality remains consistent across different volume levels, and there isn’t a specific “sweet spot” where the Noise Buds Venus performs optimally. This flexibility allowed me to adjust the volume to match my mood or the ambient noise in my surroundings. Generally, I found that setting the volume to around 60 percent sufficed for indoor listening, with an increase to approximately 70 percent for outdoor environments.
While the Noise Buds Venus can reach high volumes if necessary, I did observe some roughness in the sound quality beyond the 90 percent volume mark. In normal usage, such high volumes are rarely required, and the Noise Buds Venus handles modern music genres quite well even at moderate volumes. Call quality is generally satisfactory for most scenarios, though it struggles a bit in noisier environments during voice calls.
The active noise cancellation (ANC) on the Noise Buds Venus is understandably basic, considering the earphones’ price point. It provides a mild reduction in ambient noise but doesn’t entirely eliminate it. Even relatively low indoor sounds, such as the whirring of a ceiling fan, remain audible with ANC activated, and outdoor noises are minimally affected.
Nonetheless, the ANC serves its purpose by making music more enjoyable, even at moderate volumes, so it does offer some utility. However, it doesn’t quite match the performance of even the reasonably priced Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro, so consider ANC as a supplementary feature rather than a unique selling point of the Noise Buds Venus.
In terms of battery life, the Noise Buds Venus offers a decent experience for its price. With ANC enabled and the volume set at 60 percent, the earphones provide approximately 5 hours of playback per charge. The charging case extends this with four additional charges, resulting in a total of around 25 hours of listening time per full cycle. Even with mixed usage patterns, you can come close to the performance I observed during testing. The case also supports fast charging, with just a 10-minute charge yielding about 2 hours of listening time.
Final Thoughts
Active noise cancellation on affordable true wireless earphones tends to be quite rudimentary, especially when dealing with entry-level products. This holds true for the Noise Buds Venus as well, offering a straightforward ANC experience that marginally enhances the overall listening experience. While it doesn’t revolutionize the ANC game, its presence is a welcome addition. The absence of a dedicated app may raise concerns for some users, but in most other aspects, the Venus proves to be a commendable pair of earphones for its price.
The sound quality and battery life are commendable, and the uncluttered design leaves little room for complaints. Given the typically uncommon inclusion of ANC in this price range, the Noise Buds Venus offers perhaps the best value you can expect for under Rs. 2,000 in its category. It’s undoubtedly worth considering if you’re in the market for new true wireless earphones within this budget range.