It’s time to check out another pair of headphones, and this time we’re testing out Xiaomi’s Redmi Buds 3. They promise a sleek, modern design in a very affordable price point, which generally seems like Xiaomi’s thing, anyway.
But are these worth picking up ahead of an intense holiday shopping season? Let’s find out.
Modern design
If you like sleek headphones in a small footprint, you’re gonna love the Redmi Buds 3.
The design does seem to take a good bit of inspiration from the de facto AirPods design language that we see pretty often these days. It’s plain white plastic and small enough to comfortably fit in your pocket or bag. Very unassuming, but fits well into modern gadget design.
You’ll find an LED indicator on the front of the charging case to let you know if your buds are done charging, and a USB-C port on the bottom. That’s pretty much it, too. Simple.
The headphones themselves could be easily mistaken for AirPods, with a long stem below the speaker and a sleek white finish. They’re touch sensitive, so you can skip tracks and answer calls all without actually touching your phone, which is standard even in the cheapest headphones. They’re comfortable enough, but with no fitted tips and all-plastic build, they’re one-size-fits-all, and if they don’t fit you, you don’t have much you can do to fix it.
I really like the overall design of these, which certainly do feel like more refined AirPods. The case is sleek, the magnet and hinge are strong, and the buds are easy to take in and out and the build quality feels great across the board. For its roughly $30 price tag, you’re getting a high quality set of headphones, despite the plastic construction.
Sound letdown
Okay, these headphones feel good, but how do they sound? Unfortunately, the sound quality doesn’t hold up to the build quality.
You have to keep realistic expectations for cheaper headphones, which is fair, but we’ve heard some excellent cheap headphones in the last couple years. Even for $30, the Redmi Buds 3 just sound underwhelming.
Bass response is nonexistent here, thanks in part to the buds’ non-fitted design. This is immediately noticeable in music with basically no low-end, but even movies and TV shows can suffer and lose impact in big action sequences.
The overall sound profile isn’t terrible, at least; they’re actually fairly balanced and clear without sounding harsh. YouTube videos and podcasts work well, and you’ll be able to take phone calls with the extra noise-cancelling microphones in the headset. It’s still not a great experience, obviously, but it gets the job done.
Battery and features
The Redmi Buds 3 aren’t rich in features, but they cover all the basics. You’re getting 5 hours of playback from the buds, which isn’t bad at all! The included case should get you about 20 hours of playback, which is also solid in this price point.
The touch controls will let you control your phone easily, and if you’re rocking a phone with MIUI, you get some extra features for integrating and pairing the headphones with your device. I don’t have any modern Xiaomi phones laying around to test this out, but the headphones still worked well enough on my Galaxy S21 even without some of the extra bells and whistles.
They’re splash resistant and IP54 rated and rock all of Qualcomm’s newest Bluetooth codec features. There’s no quick charging, however, and no reverse charging or anything else you sometimes see on braver headsets. They will automatically play and pause your media when you take an earbud in and out of your ear, though, and I think that should be a standard feature on all headphones in 2021. Points for that.
Worth it?
Should you buy these? It depends, but probably not.
Even at just $30, the Redmi Buds 3 face some seriously stiff competition. Tribit makes some fantastic and cheap stuff that’s giving even established brands a run for their money, and they’re not the only ones.
The Redmi Buds 3 are designed well, and I’m a huge fan of the case and buds themselves. Build quality is high, it uses a strong magnet and they feel premium and satisfying to use, and they’re light enough to be worn all day. MIUI users get a little extra integration with their smartphones, too, which is also cool.
But at the end of the day it’s always hard to recommend headphones that don’t sound good. Non-fitted earbuds are always going to fight an uphill battle, but unless you’re exclusively listening to podcasts and taking phone calls, the complete lack of any kind of bass with these headphones make it a tough sell to someone wanting to listen to music, which I feel would be most people.
They’re good but not great, and there’s a lot of great competition to check out before you decide on the Redmi Buds 3.
Redmi Buds 3 | $30 | Xiaomi
