It was last year when Indian tech company Noise made its most profound premium-isation pitch yet. The partnership with legendary audio brand Bose, to deliver the Noise Master Buds true wireless earphones, delivered an absolute winner. A year later, it’s time for the sequel. While Hollywood and Bollywood often struggle to deliver sequels that match the brilliance of the original, Noise and Bose have in fact perceptibly dialled up the core experiential points in the Master Buds 2. Though the price has gone up slightly to ₹7,999 now (compared with ₹5,499 earlier), the value proposition hasn’t changed.
One of the first things that stood out with the Master Buds was the case design with the rather unique contours including the metal disc element. That continues, albeit with minor size differences noticeable only to someone who has experienced both generations. Attention to detail underlined by the fact that the charging pins inside the case are now electroplated, and therefore blend into the overall design. Very slight changes in colour options too, which Noise says are inspired by natural minerals — aurum, carbon and mercury. This will still pair with the Noise Audio app (available for iOS and Android), and on Android devices specifically, the Fast Pair option is enabled too. You’ll like using this app because it is easy to navigate, to configure the earbuds.
You’ll soon notice that each earbud has a rather unique extension at the top that extends from the ear-tips. This is a nice addition if active noise cancellation is important for you, and also help with a more secure fit in the ear. That has also helped Noise and Bose enhance the noise cancellation umbrella from 49dB (or decibels, of frequency) on last year’s model to 51dB now. In an aircraft journey or a noisy public space, it’ll make a world of difference. In fact, these specs may well be setting the noise cancellation benchmark for earbuds up to and around the ₹10,000 price point.
It is interesting that Noise and Bose have switched from a 12.4mm audio driver to a 10mm audio driver in the Noise Master Buds 2. These are PEEK drivers, as Noise calls them — the simple element to understand is that Noise has used the Polyether Ether Ketone materials, otherwise used in high-performance diaphragms used in high-end headphones and studio monitors. Tuning is absolutely top notch, and there is that typical Bose warmth to the sound, with pristine detailing and just the right amount of lower frequency insertion without it sounding sculpted or artificially boosted. There is a certain dynamism to the sound that works very well across genres dotted by sophisticated listening tastes.
Clearly, the Noise Master Buds 2 should appeal to an audience in a much higher price band, than the price tag otherwise suggests. Support for the high-res LHDC format continues, and as does Spatial Audio with head tracking and motion control. Crucial to everything of course is the fact that Bose has tuned the sound, and to be fair, they’ve not left anything to chance — it very much feels they’ve given these earbuds the complete attention, as they probably would have to their own branded earphones or headphones. That is where, at least in my book, the chunk of the Noise Master Buds 2’s tremendous value actually comes from.
At this point, important to point out the Noise AI integration isn’t exactly the reason you should rush to buy the Noise Master Buds 2. The voice commands don’t seem to generate a response beyond the AI introducing itself. I am sure this is an experiment, one that should be shelved for a smoother integration with Google Gemini on Android devices and a similar approach on iPhone too. It may seem to be a good idea to build their in-house AI, but it is an otherwise costly pursuit and a race in which anyone else apart from AI companies, are perpetually catching up.
Irrespective of official claims, I had noted in the review of the Noise Master Buds that the battery lasts around 34 hours of regular usage and around 32 hours with ANC enabled. In case of the Noise Master Buds 2, that duration has reduced slightly. You’ll now clock just less than 28 hours with ANC off, but the positive here is faster charging speeds — 10 minutes of charge is close to 5 hours of real world music or podcast listening.
More than anything else, the Noise Master Buds 2 is another reminder that premium doesn’t always have to be expensive in monetary terms, if conceptualised well with the right partners. What Noise and Bose have achieved in this second generation earbuds is kept things simple and yet evolved things that mattered most. Noise cancellation is that notch more encompassing than before, design tweaks that matter, as well as the continuity of a trademark Bose sound tuning that hasn’t stumbled despite a change in the underlying audio hardware architecture. And that’s really where the appeal lies.
