Realme Buds Air TWS Earbuds Review: Budget-Friendly Performance with Trade-Offs

The Realme Buds Air marks the brand’s entry into the true wireless earbuds market, aiming to deliver premium features at a budget-friendly price tag of NPR 6,999. While it borrows heavily from Apple’s AirPods in both design and functionality, it manages to impress in several key areas.

Design and Comfort

The Buds Air adopt a half-in-ear design reminiscent of AirPods, which may not suit all ear shapes due to the absence of silicone tips. Weighing just 4.2 grams per bud, they feel lightweight but can occasionally slip out during movement. The glossy plastic finish looks sleek but attracts fingerprints easily. Notably, Realme has not included an official IP rating for dust or water resistance, a surprising omission given competitors often offer this at similar price points.

Charging Case and Connectivity

The charging case mirrors the AirPods’ design, featuring a glossy surface and a sturdy hinge. It houses a 400 mAh battery and supports both USB-C and Qi wireless charging, a rare and welcome feature at this price. Bluetooth 5.0 ensures a stable connection within a 10-meter range, and Google Fast Pair enables near-instant pairing after the initial setup.

Controls and Sensors

Each bud features a touch-sensitive capacitive sensor for controlling playback, calls, and voice assistants through double or triple taps. The Realme Link app allows customization of these gestures. An embedded optical sensor detects when the earbuds are in or out of the ears, automatically pausing or resuming audio accordingly. While responsive, the sensor can sometimes misinterpret quick taps.

Audio Performance

Equipped with a 12mm driver and a multi-layer LCP diaphragm, the Buds Air delivers a balanced sound with rich bass and clear mids. The frequency response spans from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, though high frequencies can occasionally produce a slight buzz. The Super Low-Latency Gaming Mode reduces lag to 119 ms, an improvement over the standard 244 ms, but this remains inadequate for competitive gaming where split-second timing matters.

Call Quality

Call performance stands out as a strong suit. Dual microphones paired with Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC) ensure crystal-clear voice transmission, even in noisy environments. Listeners reported no distortion and praised the loud, crisp audio.

Battery Life

Realme only specifies a 400 mAh capacity for the charging case, keeping the bud capacities undisclosed. The advertised 17-hour total playback time combines both the earbuds and the case, but solo playback is limited to just 3 hours. At around 80% volume with gaming mode enabled, users can expect roughly 2.25 to 2.5 hours per charge, necessitating frequent recharging for heavy users.

Verdict

The Realme Buds Air offers compelling value with its wireless charging, strong audio quality, and clear calls, making it a solid choice for casual listeners and call-heavy users. However, its AirPods-esque design, short battery life, and subpar gaming latency are notable drawbacks. Buyers should weigh these factors based on their primary use cases before committing.