New $129 Moto Buds+ tap Bose for boom and Dolby for head tracking

Phil Nickinson
·2 min read
The Moto Buds in Forest Gray.
Motorola

Three new phones under the Edge 50 branding weren’t enough for Motorola this week. The venerable manufacturer also dropped a pair of earbuds to go along with the new Android fare.

The main contenders for North America will be the Moto Buds+, which are available now for $129 in the U.S., and $179 in Canada. They look as you’d expect wireless earbuds to look; that’s worth mentioning because Moto had some wood-clad phones in its drop this week. They’re sleek and stylish and apparently available here only in Forest Gray, though press images show other colors, too. (More’s the pity — those other colors look slick.)

And there are a couple of partnerships on board. Sound by Bose promises “studio-quality audio as you totally immerse yourself.” That’s enough to have earned Bose some branding on the lid of the USB-C charging case. And Dolby is on board for Atmos support, as well as head tracking. But you’ll need to be using the Moto Buds+ with a compatible phone if you want to take advantage of those features. Conveniently, the new Motorola Edge 50 Ultra and Edge 50 Pro fit that bill. You’ll also need to be listening to supported music on a supported service. But line up all those things, and you’ll have “High-Res Audio.”

Buy at MotorolaMotorola promises eight hours of battery life if you don’t have active noise cancellation turned on. You’ll get another three hours of time with just 10 minutes spent in the charging case, which should give you about 38 hours of total run time.

Other stats of note include Bluetooth 5.3, various sizes of eartips, dual drivers (an 11mm woofer for the low end, and 6mm tweeter for the highs), plus three microphones on board for the ANC and phone calls. There’s also protection against “moderate exposure to water,” though Moto didn’t give the exact specification on that front, other than to say that they are not actually waterproof.

There’s a second set of Moto Buds coming elsewhere in the world. They’ll have ANC but lack the other audio goodies. They’re also a good bit less expensive, starting at 59 euros.