Realme Buds Air 3 Review: Stylish TWS Headphones

Today we will talk about Realme Buds Air 3. The manufacturer packed a whole set of modern chips in a stylish case, and even set a reasonable price for the device. Details further in the article.

Specifications

Appearance and equipment

The package includes the headphones themselves, a charging case, a short USB-A to USB-C power cable, a pair of additional ear tips of different sizes, and documentation. From the unusual – the cable is made in a corporate yellow color, which may be funny, but it does not match well with the color of the device.

The global version of Realme Buds Air 3 comes in two variants: classic white and less trivial blue. We got our hands on the second option and, I must say, it looks great. Matte plastic is pleasant to the touch and completely hides fingerprints.

The case is made in the form of a streamlined pebble, which makes it easy to place it even in tight pockets. The lid clicks pleasantly, almost devoid of play when closed. The outer side of the lid has a translucent insert that adds a couple of style points.

I propose to evaluate the appearance and shape of the headphones from the photo. In my case, the ears fit perfectly and did not fall out even with intense articulation and running. The body of the earbuds (not the case) is IPX4 (Drip Resistant) certified.

Software and Features

To unlock the full potential of the device, you must install the proprietary Realme Link companion application. In it, you can update the firmware, adjust the control and adjust a number of options.

I would like to highlight the following from the important points:

1. Multipoint – headphones can be connected to two devices at the same time, which is very convenient.
2. The ability to fine-tune control – a lot of patterns allow you to close almost all possible scenarios. The only thing missing is volume control. You can do that with touches on the outside of the headphones.
3. Noise reduction adjustment – allows you to select not only the intensity of noise reduction, but also the transparency mode. A desperately useful thing for quick dialogues at the checkout, etc. The noise reduction itself is able to cut off a significant part of background noise, which greatly increases listening comfort.
4. Sound effects – seemed to me a dubious entertainment. With Bass Bost+, everything sounds like it’s underwater, while “Clear” dries out the sound. It’s better to stay balanced

Sound and recording quality

The quality of voice recording in a relatively quiet environment is quite acceptable, but with an abundance of extraneous sounds, the noise canceler, although it tries to isolate the voice, does not always cope. However, this is true for most analogues.

The manufacturer promises a sound delay of 88 ms, but this is probably true only when paired with related smartphones. We also had a chance to test the headphones paired with POCO F4 GT. The delay when watching videos on YouTube is traditionally imperceptible, but in games it is very much so. After activating the game mode in Realme Link, there is a lag of about a second.

Realme Buds Air 3 supports the most common SBC and AAC audio codecs, and 10mm drivers are responsible for the sound quality. We listened to them in the most likely setup: smartphone + AAC.

The headphones sound “better than average”, the detail is moderate, the sound starts to fall apart only at 80-90% of the volume (and even that is not critical). However, for my taste, the default sound is flat, the music lacks bright accents. Fortunately, you can smooth it out with the help of an equalizer.

Working hours

The Realme Link application does not accurately determine the current charge of both the headphones and the case (the minimum step is 10%), so we cannot give exact charge and discharge timings. The manufacturer promises 5.5 hours of noise-canceling headphones and 7 hours without it.

Our measurement showed 7.5 and 8 (for the right and left headphones) hours of operation at 70% volume and moderate ANC. One full charge of both headphones spent ~ 20% of the case charge, which means you can wait about four full cycles. Unfortunately, due to the mentioned inaccuracy in the display, it was not possible to evaluate the charge leakage in idle time.

conclusions

Realme Buds Air 3 at the time of this writing can be ordered from $42. For them, the headphones offer a stylish and practical appearance, confident autonomy, active noise reduction, an abundance of control patterns and multipoint.

Of the nuances, there is a lack of volume control, a moderate voice quality. In our opinion, the model turned out to be successful, but whether it is worth voting for it with dollars is up to you.