You won’t believe how good these earbuds sound for their price. They have dual drivers, noise cancellation, LDAC, and more.
Smartphones may have sort of reached a plateau of innovation, but TWS earbuds are still climbing the mountain of improvement. Every year, they deliver better sound quality, battery life, and features, making it harder to justify spending a fortune on premium models. The latest example of this trend is the Realme Buds Air 5 Pro earbuds, which offer an amazing audio experience at a budget-friendly price. I kept my expectations under check given their price, but after trying them out, I was pleasantly surprised. Here’s what impressed me the most.
Design and fit
The first thing that struck me when I unboxed the earbuds was the colour of the case. It’s supposed to be Astral Black, but actually looks more like a dark grey with a shiny finish — so shiny, in fact, that it doubles up as a fun mirror to check my hair on. I guess that’s a plus, but it also made both case and earbuds prone to fingerprints and scratches. The black colour didn’t help either. The only thing that ruined the sleek look was the clear section on top that had the Realme logo. It looked cheap and out of place and I’d have preferred the logo slapped across the front – anywhere but this.
The earbuds themselves were light and comfortable in my ears. They paired with my phone in a snap. There was a button on the case to put them in pairing mode, but I didn’t even need it. They showed up on my phone as soon as I opened the lid and connected in seconds. Sweet!
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Performance
As soon as the earbuds paired, I wasted no time and blasted my favourite rock tunes. I started with Refuge by Steven Wilson, a song that begins softly with mostly vocals. The earbuds made it sound like they had a treble boost mode on. But when the song reached its bass-heavy peak after 2.5 minutes, I was blown away by how these earbuds handled both ends of the spectrum. They delivered crisp highs and deep lows at the same time, which is rare for this price range.
I checked the earbuds’ website and found out that they have dual drivers in each earbud. One is an 11mm driver for the bass, and the other is a 6mm tweeter for the treble. If you know anything about speakers, you know how much difference tweeters can make. But the Realme Air Buds 5 Pro are the first ones I’ve tried that actually have noticeable tweeters that do their job well. The sound quality is also superb, with a lot of power and clarity that can compete with some headphones.
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The earbuds let you customise the sound to your liking with four presets: Serenade, Original sound, Pure Bass, and Deep Bass. Or you can tweak the equaliser settings yourself for the perfect balance. I don’t think you’ll find many earbuds that offer this much flexibility at this price point. You can also adjust the noise cancellation to fit your ear shape and the surrounding noise level. It’s supposed to make a difference, but I couldn’t really tell. Still, it’s nice to have options. The earbuds also support Spatial Audio and LDAC, which are both great features for immersive sound.
The earbuds are smart enough to pause the music when you take them out of your ears, thanks to the in-ear detection. You can also change the gesture actions to suit your preferences.
Verdict
After using these earbuds for a week, I’m impressed by how good they sound. The design may not be very appealing and looks a bit cheap, but that’s well compensated by the sound quality. If you’re an audiophile who likes to configure the audio, you’ll love the options these earbuds offer — not to mention LDAC support, which is a big plus.
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First published on: 02-09-2023 at 16:29 IST
