Realme lately launched its first sensible tv and smartwatch in India, however these weren’t the one merchandise unveiled at that occasion. The firm additionally launched the Realme Buds Air Neo true wi-fi earphones, priced at Rs. 2,999. This lower-cost sibling to the Realme Buds Air which was launched comparatively lately in late 2019, the Realme Buds Air Neo is an inexpensive true wi-fi headset meant to take the battle to Xiaomi and its latest entry into the true wi-fi audio phase in India.
The Realme Buds Air Neo is extra inexpensive than the Realme Buds Air and has the identical design, however there are some variations when it comes to options and efficiency. We discover these adjustments, and in addition go into element about how these earphones carry out, in our evaluate.
At Rs. 2,999, the Realme Buds Air Neo is extra inexpensive than the Realme Buds Air
Not as a lot fancy stuff on the Realme Buds Air Neo
Although we weren’t very impressed with the sound high quality of the Rs. 3,999 Realme Buds Air, it positively pushed boundaries of low-cost true wi-fi earphones when it comes to options. The Realme Buds Air Neo is not fairly as properly outfitted, as a substitute sticking to getting the fundamentals proper at a lower cost. There’s no wi-fi charging, and charging is thru a Micro-USB port; there is not any Type-C port, which you get on the higher-priced Buds Air.
Not a lot has modified relating to design; the Realme Buds Air Neo sports activities largely the identical AirPods-like design of its sibling. The outer-ear match is comfy and stayed in place for most traditional actions, however passive noise isolation was virtually non-existent, as could be anticipated from this design. There are touch-sensitive zones on the earphones for the controls, which labored properly for us. The earphones are IPX4 rated for water resistance, and use Bluetooth 5 for connectivity with help for the SBC and AAC codecs.
The color choices have modified; you may get the Realme Buds Air Neo in white, inexperienced, or pink. The charging case is similar color because the earphones, and has the Micro-USB charging port on the backside, plus a pairing button and indicator gentle on the entrance. Simply opening the lid of the case powers up the earphones, and placing them away and shutting the lid powers them down.
The earphones ran for round three hours per cost, with the charging case managing to energy the earphones 4 extra occasions for a complete battery lifetime of 15 hours per cost cycle.
The Realme Buds Air Neo will get barely bigger 13mm dynamic drivers, and what Realme calls an R1 true wi-fi chip for dual-channel transmission and higher connectivity. There’s additionally a low-latency mode for gaming, contact operate customisation by way of the app, and help for Google Fast Pair.
We paired the earphones for the primary time utilizing Google Fast Pair, and this labored precisely because it was purported to, decreasing the variety of steps wanted to get the earphones related to our Android smartphone. You may use the protocol to seek out your earphones by making them ring loudly if they’re inside Bluetooth vary.
The earphones ran for 3 hours per cost in our testing
The Realme Link app is on the market now for Android and can be utilized to customize the contact controls of the Realme Buds Air Neo. You additionally want the app to activate the voice assistant operate on the earphones, which is disabled by default.
Gestures and controls for playback, invoking the voice assistant, and turning off the earphones may be set by way of the app, whereas quantity must be adjusted on the supply gadget. You may see the battery stage on the earphones by way of the app, whereas the charging case will let you realize when its personal battery stage is low by way of the indicator gentle.
Realme Buds Air Neo: Familiar entry-level sound high quality
Although the value has been diminished and among the headline-worthy options have been skipped, in comparison with the older Realme Buds Air, the Realme Buds Air Neo would not sacrifice sound high quality. The earphones provide first rate sound for the value, and actually we discovered them to be ever so barely higher than the costlier Buds Air. The tuning is a bit much less bass-oriented, however there’s nonetheless loads of thump for anybody who likes issues thrilling.
Something that is often lacking from price range true wi-fi earphones is element, so we began with one in every of our favorite tracks for testing this – Love Love Love by Moullinex. The busy nature of this monitor with the various devices and energetic beats wasn’t fairly as spectacular on the Realme Buds Air Neo as on the spectacular JVC HA-A10T, however the earphones did handle to get among the spatial sense of the monitor proper. The sound wasn’t as crisp as on the JVC earphones, however we weren’t dissatisfied with it both.
Switching as much as salsa, we listened to Show Me by Alex Wilson. The mid-range and highs positively take a again seat with extra consideration going to the lows and mid-lows, however the drop off is not as pronounced as on the Realme Buds Air; we may nonetheless hear the vocals and highs clearly sufficient. However, the catchy drum beats on this monitor felt a bit bass-boosted. The earphones did not fairly seize the element within the conga drums, and the monitor sounded uninteresting to us. The nuances of particular genres aren’t precisely reproduced by the Realme Buds Air Neo, and the earphones are greatest used for contemporary digital music that depends on synthesised bass.
This is strictly what we listened to subsequent – we performed The Whistle Song by Netsky, and the essence of this drum-and-bass monitor was properly portrayed by the earphones. Once once more, element was missing, however the Realme Buds Air Neo did get the uncooked thump and forcefulness of the lows proper. The earphones additionally get very loud, which helps amp up the joy in digital music.
Finally, we used the Realme Buds Air Neo for cellphone calls, and the earphones carried out nearly as we anticipated from an inexpensive pair of true wi-fi earphones. While we have been capable of hear and be heard on calls once we had good reception, sound was a bit boomy for us, and never all the time sharp sufficient for the particular person on the opposite finish. The low-latency mode works as anticipated; sound high quality dropped a bit when utilizing it, however there was a considerably noticeable discount in latency, which improved the gaming expertise a bit.
The Realme Buds Air Neo has robust bass, however falls brief relating to element within the sound
Verdict
The Realme Buds Air Neo is not fairly as groundbreaking a product because the Realme Buds Air, which was launched in late 2019. While it prices Rs. 1,000 much less, the omission of wi-fi charging and using a Micro-USB port for charging makes this a much less spectacular choice. Sound high quality would not see any important enhancements, and battery life is common, however some primary options which can be widespread to each headsets comparable to Google Fast Pair, low-latency mode, and app help are helpful to have at this worth and would possibly attraction to many consumers.
The Realme Buds Air Neo is a competitively priced product, eliminating frills whereas retaining the core expertise. Realme nonetheless hasn’t cracked the true wi-fi earphones formulation in India with the Realme Buds Air Neo, in our opinion. If you are procuring on a price range, the Redmi Earbuds S is a extra inexpensive and higher choice to go for, in our opinion.
Price: Rs. 2,999
Pros
- Google Fast Pair, app help
- Stable connectivity, AAC codec supported
- Comfortable, simple to make use of
- Strong bass
Cons
- Not a lot element, uninteresting sound
- Average battery life
- Not superb for voice calls
Ratings (out of 5)
- Design/ consolation: 3.5
- Audio high quality: 3
- Battery life: 3.5
- Value for cash: 4
- Overall: 3.5
Is Realme TV the perfect TV beneath Rs. 15,000 in India? We mentioned this on Orbital, our weekly expertise podcast, which you’ll subscribe to through Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or simply hit the play button under.
