Realme Buds Air Pro Review

The Realme Buds Air Pro – £79.99 from realme.com

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5.0 stars2.5

You may remember not so long ago realme took the step into producing portable audio products and they produced the realme buds Q which I reviewed in my time at What Mobile. To describe them in a couple of words: Shockingly Bad! 

So when the Realme Buds Air Pro got sent to me you can understand me thinking here we go again.  Retailing at £79.99 and available in Black or White. These buds come with the following features:

• Active Noise Cancellation 
• Super Low Latency
• 25 hours of battery life
• 10mm Bass Boost Driver

Design

Realme impress and disappoint at the same time the Buds Air Pro does offer some decent features and they are an improvement on the first attempt but am disappointed as the case is cheap and getting the buds out of the case is a horrible experience.

The buds do have an in-canal design which will offer a better fit in the ear but when tested I did not like the fit and my son did not like the fit either they are very tricky to fit in the ear.

The charging case is a glossy finish plastic case with a magnetic lid that snaps shut. On the side of the case is a small pairing button and a small LED indicator on the front that shows when on charge and when you have closed the case. The case flashes green or red depending on the battery level. You also have the Realme Logo on the front. At the base of the case, you have the USB-C charging port.

The case places the buds too close to each other making removing the buds from the case a nightmare and the fact the magnets inside the case a quite strong its a battle to get the buds out of the case.

Moving to the earbuds you have 3 in-built microphones two for ANC and one to capture your voice when making a call. The earbuds have 10mm, dynamic drivers, for audio enjoyment. These are connected using Bluetooth 5.0 and support AAC codecs.

 

As mentioned I found the fit of these buds quite uncomfortable and felt they might fall out and the chunky upper part of the bud just did not help with the fit. This did not help for an enjoyable listening experience. The buds do come with IPX4 rated which means they are water-resistant which is a good job as my pair fell out and landed in a puddle. Which I was unhappy with but it did prove the IP rating so every cloud. 

 

The buds if you can get a good fit lets move on to the controls they are touch controls which I found after every tap it moved the buds meaning they are more likely to fall out. The controls can be set by the realme link app that lets you set what the double-tap, Triple tap or long-press options are. These are Play/Pause, ANC or Hear-through or activate voice assistant.

 

Performance 

 

The realme buds Air pro are connected via Bluetooth 5.0 and does support google fast pair feature. They also offer AAC Codec which allows you to use an iPhone however the app does not work on IOS so just use these on your android device. The buds did stay connected most of the time but I have been limited to where I can use these I have not been to London since March so testing what these are like in built-up areas was not that possible. 

These buds do offer ANC if you can keep them in your ears and are able to cancel up to 35 decibels of outside noise. This is done via the realme S1 chip that is built on a 28nm process. The microphones collect the ambient outside noise inside the ear respectively and generate the reverse sound waves to cancel out the noise.  It’s actually a sign of progression from realme as it’s a good feature to have and grounds for development. 

The ANC does work well and you can tell the difference when used. I found the ANC did remove most mid and low unwanted noise. However, it was the high noises like a car horn or doorbell and the ANC was a little useless. Most of the time the ANC did help reduce unwanted noise but you will find better buds on the market if ANC is important for you. 

You do get 3 different modes via the app: Noise Cancellation, General & Transparency. It’s this option that allows you to bring some outside noise in while listening to the buds. It’s a nice feature for realme to add but it’s becoming an option we are seeing more and more in other brands. 

Sound Quality

The sound quality is better than the realme buds Q but it’s still not perfect. You do get 10mm bass boost drivers and does handle the mids and lows fairly well however it was the highs that produce distortion the louder you pump up the jam.  Use these headphones at 60% and that is where they work the best. The lows were heavy and with the bass boost+, it does produce some decent bass but not as punchy as i would have liked. 

One small benefit is the latency when gaming you are given at 94ms which does offer a nice experience. The buds are also good for making calls. The dual-mic noise cancellation kicks in and produces a decent call quality but with the music quality so poor it makes having a good call quality a little pointless. 

Realme Link App

As mentioned in this review if you want to customise the controls and also check battery life the app is vital. This app allows you to control what the long press, double and triple taps can do. In the app you have options such as: 

• Play/Pause
• Track control
• Voice assistant 
• ANC/Transparency Mode
• Gaming Mode

You get the option to switch between three modes in the app as well as turn on the gaming mode so the app is quite useful. The volume enhancer can increase the output but as mentioned higher volume does not equal great sound.  You also get the Bass Boost+ mode which on paper is expected to offer more dynamic bass. In reality it won’t make much difference. 

Battery Life

The realme Buds Air Pro do give you 25 hours of battery life but this does reduce a little when using ANC. I found when using these buds with ANC or the transparency mode on your more likely to get about 19 hours of playtime which is decent but the only downside is the case is not Qi Compatible so no wireless charging with these buds.  

However, You are given the fast charging option so with 10 minutes charge you get up to 3 hours of playback and to fully charge these buds it can be done in 60 minutes.  

Verdict – Would I buy these? 

I will be honest, the price point realme does stand out from the crowd and they do this with their handsets and even smartwatch which I will publish the review soon. However, the comfort of these buds are poor, the fiddly case which just drove me mad every time I wanted to use these buds. Plus the fact these did not fit in my ears perfectly and even if you change the tips these buds just annoy me.

They are an improvement on the realme bud Q but let’s face it that would not take much. They do offer decent ANC if you can get these earbuds to fit and the 94ms low latency provides gamers with a nice experience. They are also IPX4 rated which was great when the buds fell out of my ears and into a puddle. 

The sound quality is not perfect but would be ok for someone looking for a budget pair of earbuds. The call quality is actually quite decent but that aside I am sorry but for £79.99 I simply can not recommend you get these buds. For that money, Urbanista Stockholm is a much better option. 

Product Rating: 

Design: 2.0 out of 5.0 stars2.0

Features: 3.0 out of 5.0 stars3.0

Sound Quality: 2.0 out of 5.0 stars2.0

Value For Money: 3.0 out of 5.0 stars3.0

 

The Realme Buds Air Pro – £79.99 from realme.com

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5.0 stars2.5

 

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