Realme Buds Air Neo Review

Realme not too long ago 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 not too long ago in late 2019, the Realme Buds Air Neo is an inexpensive true wi-fi headset meant to take the combat to Xiaomi and its latest entry into the true wi-fi audio section 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 by way of options and efficiency. We discover these adjustments, and in addition go into element about how these earphones carry out, in our overview.

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 by way of options. The Realme Buds Air Neo is not fairly as nicely geared up, as an alternative 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 no Type-C port, which you get on the higher-priced Buds Air.

Not a lot has modified on the subject of 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 nicely for us. The earphones are IPX4 rated for water resistance, and use Bluetooth 5 for connectivity with assist for the SBC and AAC codecs.

The color choices have modified; you may get the Realme Buds Air Neo in white, inexperienced, or purple. The charging case is identical color because the earphones, and has the Micro-USB charging port on the backside, plus a pairing button and indicator mild 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 perform customisation by way of the app, and assist for Google Fast Pair.

We paired the earphones for the primary time utilizing Google Fast Pair, and this labored precisely because it was presupposed to, decreasing the variety of steps wanted to get the earphones linked to our Android smartphone. You can even 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 accessible 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 perform on the earphones, which is disabled by default.

Gestures and controls for playback, invoking the voice assistant, and turning off the earphones might be set by way of the app, whereas quantity should be adjusted on the supply gadget. You can even see the battery degree on the earphones by way of the app, whereas the charging case will let you already know when its personal battery degree is low by way of the indicator mild.

Realme Buds Air Neo: Familiar entry-level sound high quality

Although the value has been lowered and among the headline-worthy options have been skipped, in comparison with the older Realme Buds Air, the Realme Buds Air Neo does not sacrifice sound high quality. The earphones provide respectable sound for the value, and in reality 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 considered one of our favorite tracks for testing this – Love Love Love by Moullinex. The busy nature of this observe 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 observe 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 might nonetheless hear the vocals and highs clearly sufficient. However, the catchy drum beats on this observe felt a bit bass-boosted. The earphones did not fairly seize the element within the conga drums, and the observe sounded boring 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 precisely what we listened to subsequent – we performed The Whistle Song by Netsky, and the essence of this drum-and-bass observe was nicely 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 thrill 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 in a position to hear and be heard on calls after 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 sturdy bass, however falls quick on the subject of 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 the usage of a Micro-USB port for charging makes this a much less spectacular possibility. Sound high quality does not see any vital enhancements, and battery life is common, however some fundamental options which are widespread to each headsets equivalent to Google Fast Pair, low-latency mode, and app assist are helpful to have at this worth and would possibly enchantment to many patrons.

The Realme Buds Air Neo is a competitively priced product, taking out frills whereas retaining the core expertise. Realme nonetheless hasn’t cracked the true wi-fi earphones method in India with the Realme Buds Air Neo, in our opinion. If you are buying 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 assist
• Stable connectivity, AAC codec supported
• Comfortable, simple to make use of
• Strong bass

Cons

• Not a lot element, boring sound
• Average battery life
• Not excellent 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 below Rs. 15,000 in India? We mentioned this on Orbital, our weekly expertise podcast, which you’ll be able to subscribe to through Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or simply hit the play button under.