In the age of smartphones, another technical product is also becoming more and more important: headphones. They have been around for a long time, but they have been developed further and further, and large, wired over-ear headphones became Earbuds. Nowadays, almost everyone wears Earbuds on the go and therefore the demands on Earbuds have also become correspondingly high. Whether it is the wearing comfort, the sound quality or even the features, depending on the price range and depending on the manufacturer, some areas are increasingly targeted and other areas fall behind. With the Buds Air Pro, realme has now launched new earbuds on the market and we take a closer look at them. Where has special attention been paid and which areas have perhaps been neglected? You can find out here.
Design and workmanship
The Buds Air Pro from realme are based on the Apple AirPods in their design. One relies on a stem, instead of letting the headphones consist only of a button. This not only has design-technical reasons, but also offers haptic advantages, but more about that later. The European version can only be ordered in “Soul White”, while there is also a black version. The headphones come in yellow packaging, which shows the black Eardbuds. The packaging then also contains the white, glossy case alongside them, which looks very cool, but any form of dirt will be noticed directly.
The opening is kept in the closed state by magnets. Their strength is enough to prevent unintentional opening, but at the same time it is not too strong. The only drawback is that the workmanship at this point is not optimal and thus an uneven joint can be seen. The lettering “realme” is still on the front of the case, as well as a status LED that can be activated via a button on the right side. In addition to a yellow USB Type-C charging cable, three pairs of earplugs are included. However, these are only loose in a bag, so you have to find the suitable ones. Before we actually test the headphones, let’s take a quick look at the technical specifications:
Technical details
| Model | realme Buds Air Pro |
| Chip | realme S1 |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.0, up to 10 m |
| Battery life | 20 h at 50% volume |
| Charge time | 2 h |
| Weight | 5 g |
| Highlights | ANC, ENC, Gaming Mode |
| Price | € 119.08 * |
Wearing comfort
First of all: When it comes to wearing comfort, it always depends on the individual feeling and your own perception. I have meanwhile already tested some headphones and had thereby also already some problems with the seat feeling. Often, the headphones fell out despite the different ear tips or had to be realigned again and again. The Buds Air Pro, on the other hand, held well from the start and after I had selected the appropriate earplug, no new tightening was necessary. Even when moving, the headphones from realme held without problems. What is not included, however, are very large earplugs. A bit of a shame, but not a major drawback. As already mentioned above, the “stem” also offers haptic advantages. The Buds Air Pro can be put into the ear without accidentally pressing the touch button and rotated into the right position.
Sound
In addition to comfort, sound is the main thing that matters. Here the S1 chip from realme offers some optional modes. Even if the sound quality is not directly affected here, but it changes. For example, the Transparency Mode is there to reproduce sounds from outside on the headphones, so you wouldn’t have to take them out during a conversation. The problem is, however, that quite a lot of noise is transmitted as well. If you use the noise-cancelling mode, which can filter out up to 35 dB, the noise is significantly lower, but it is unfortunately not completely gone. Thus, there seems to be some kind of background noise in the transmission, which the headphones reproduce. However, since you use the ANC mode most of the time, this should not be a problem for most, especially since the noise is hardly noticeable while the music is playing. The sound for itself is very balanced. The bass is not too strong and the trebles are very clear. This results in a good mix, which is also very good for conversations. Although realme also advertises the 10 mm bass boost driver, this only seems to ensure that the bass is not too weak.
With wireless headphones, one of the biggest difficulties is keeping latency as low as possible. For those who only listen to music, latency is not that important, but for those who play games on their cell phones or watch YouTube videos, latency is often a problem. That’s why realme has integrated a gaming mode that reduces the latency to under 100 ms. To put that in perspective: The specified delay of 94 ms is not perfect. If you pay close attention to it, you can see in a video that the movement of the lips does not fit properly. However, the difference to the normal mode is so serious that these 100 ms hardly matter when switching to gaming mode.
Microphone
The built-in microphones of the realme Buds Air Pro headphone pair are not of the best quality, as is the case with most headphones. However, the problem is not necessarily the microphone itself, but precisely the position of the microphones. They cannot be placed optimally in front of the mouth, which leads to a lot of background noise being picked up and the sound of the voice simply not being optimal. So if you make a lot of calls from your smartphone, you should generally prefer another option, but otherwise the microphone of the Buds Air Pro is sufficient.
Software
With an additional software, most headphones can not serve, which is why the realme Buds Air Pro earned a plus point. Via the software, all modes can be activated and deactivated simply by pressing a button. Furthermore, it is also possible to set which modes are switched through via tapping. You can also activate the “General” mode, which does not remove or add any sounds. Furthermore, the double and triple tap functions can be adjusted for each headphone itself. This makes you much more flexible and you can decide for yourself what the fastest action should be.
Summary of the realme Buds Air Pro review
The realme Buds Air Pro are not the most expensive headphones on the one hand, but they are far from the cheapest either. The features that the headphones offer are almost mandatory in the price range and in combination with the wearing comfort and especially the software, which gives you even more setting options, the price is definitely justified. The microphone is not good, as already described, but there is hardly an alternative that offers better recording quality, especially in this price range.
The drawbacks are by and large the sound quality. The background noise depending on the mode is somewhat annoying, as well as delay. For similar prices, there are devices that use the aptX Low Latency standard, which offers audio-video synchronization that is usually between +40 and -60ms, but the difference is also only noticeable when paying close attention to synchronicity. Therefore, the disadvantages are not too great and those looking for headphones in this price segment should give them a try.
realme Buds Air Pro
Workmanship
Scope of delivery
Sound quality
Recording quality
Wearing comfort
Value for money
82/100
The Buds Air Pro offer ANC, ENC and a fast gaming mode that almost lip-syncs. In addition, a good wearing comfort and software is offered, but noise is reproduced depending on the mode.
