True Wireless Earbuds market has grown rapidly in the last couple of years, thanks to affordable offerings from various companies. No company wants to remain behind and as a result, we have true wireless earbuds from almost every smartphone OEM. In India, the segment is getting interesting with time as major smartphone OEMs such as Xiaomi and realme have released their affordable TWS earbuds. realme launched its first TWS offering realme Buds Air in India back in December. Now after a long wait, Xiaomi has finally launched its first TWS Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 in India. realme Buds Air and Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 are priced INR 3,999 and INR 4,499 respectively.
We have been using both for last few months now and in this post, we will be comparing both in details, we used Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 unit bought from ShareSave which runs a different firmware as compared to India units, but before diving into comparison let’s have a look at specifications of both.
Realme Buds Air specifications,
- Bluetooth 5.0 (AAC/SBC codec) to connect to Android and iOS devices
- 12mm driver and LCP advanced multi-layer composite
diaphragm - Touch controls for call control, track change, Google Assistant
- Dual microphones for environmental noise cancellation, voice control
- Infrared sensor for intelligent wear detection so it automatically pauses when you remove them
- R1 chip for low-latency gaming mode
- realme Link App support
- 4.5g per headset, Case Dimensions: 51.3×45.3 mmx25.3 mm; Case weight:42.3 g
- 3 hours of standalone playback, 17 hours with the case, USB Type-C charging for the case to charge in 2 hours, 10W Qi wireless charging
Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 specifications,
- Bluetooth 5.0 (LDHC/SBC/AAC codes) to connect to Android and iOS devices
- 14.2mm drivers
- Touch controls call control, and Google Assistant
- Dual microphones for noise cancellation, voice control
- Infrared sensor for intelligent wear detection so it automatically pauses when you remove them
- Semi-in-ear design to fit your ear canal, making it comfortable to wear and doesn’t fall off easily.
- Each headset weigh just 4.5 grams, Case weighs 50 grams
- 4 hours of standalone playback, 14 hours with the case, USB Type-C charging for the case to charge in 1 hour
Design and Build Quality:
realme Buds Air and Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 both feature semi-in-ear design inspired by Apple AirPods, that’s the first thing you’re gonna notice as soon as you pick up any of these.
realme Buds Air has a refined design with gentle curves while Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 has sharp edges, be it earbuds or charging capsule so realme Buds Air are easy to carry around in pockets but realme Buds Air does wobble a little and often fall off when placed on a flat surface which isn’t the case with Mi True Wireless Earphones 2.
realme Buds Air has a glossy finish while Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 has a matte finish and is less prone to scratches and fingerprint compared to realme Buds Air. realme Buds Air charging capsule measures 51.3 x 45.3 x 25.3 and weighs 42.3 grams, on the other hand, Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 charging capsule weighs 50 grams.
These earbuds are completely made of plastic but realme Buds Air and Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 both features half-in-ear design but these fit well in the ear and do not fall off accidentally even if you shake your head, so there shouldn’t be any problem if you plan to use these while workouts or running.
Each earbud weighs under 5grams, thanks to the plastic construction and you won’t even notice that you’re wearing it. Neither of the companies have mentioned anything about IP rating or water-resistant rating but you can use these while running or gym sessions without any worries.
You won’t find any company branding anywhere on the earbuds, and both the companies have gone for branding on the charging capsule only. The charging capsules have an LED Light that glows white/red on Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 and green/yellow/red on realme Buds Air. You won’t find any LED on the earbuds in either of realme Buds Air or Mi True Wireless Earphones 2.
Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 is only in white color as of now and it might be an issue for some since white picks up dirt easily. realme Buds Air is available in white, black and yellow colors, and users can pick a color based on their preference, we wish Xiaomi has also launched a black variant of Mi True Wireless Earphones 2.
We personally found Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 more comfortable as compared to realme Buds Air when used continuously for around a couple of hours. With that said, some might find realme Buds Air more comfortable and vice versa due to half-in-ear design, as a design can simply not be comfortable for all.
To sum it up, Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 felt more comfortable compared to realme Buds Air. Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 have better and sturdy build compared to realme Buds Air, our realme Buds Air retail unit got a small crack near charging port even with after being handled very carefully.
| realme Buds Air | Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 | |
| Finish | Glossy, prone to scratches | Matte |
| Design | Gentle Curves, easy to carry | Sharp Edges |
| Weight | 42.3 grams | 50 grams |
| Color | White, Black, Yellow | White |
Connectivity, Pairing, and Controls:
Mi True Wireless Earphones 2, as well as realme Buds Air, support Bluetooth 5.0 and as per the companies, the connection range is around 10 meters. During our testing, we found the connection range to be good. Despite having Bluetooth 5.0 support, these can only be connected to one device at a time.
The pairing processes are fairly easy and intuitive for both of these, I will not go much into specifics in this comparison post. Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 support pop-up pairing for devices running Android 10 based MIUI 11, but realme Buds Air also has support for Google Fast Pairing.
Mi True Wireless Earphones 2, as well as realme Buds Air, both feature an infrared sensor on each earbud so the music playback stops as soon as either of the earbuds is removed from the ear and playback resumes as soon as you put it back in the ear.
| Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 | Left earphone (L) | Right earphone (R) |
| Answer/disconnect a call | Double tap | Double tap |
| Play/Pause | Double tap | |
| Launch Voice assistant | Double tap |
| realme Buds Air | Left earphone (L) | Right earphone (R) |
| Play/Pause / Answer a call | Double tap | Double tap |
| Next Song | Triple tap | Triple tap |
| Launch Voice assistant | Press and hold | Press and hold |
| End/decline a call | Press and hold | Press and hold |
| Enter/exit Gaming Mode | Press and hold | |
realme Buds Air has realme Link app support, which is the official app for realme AIoT products. Users can check the battery status of individual left and right earbuds and can customize gestures as per their preferences. realme Link app doesn’t provide you the functionality to adjust the volume but you can jump between tracks which is impossible on Mi True Wireless Earphones 2.
To sum it up, the pairing process is fairly easy and the connection range is good on both the earbuds. realme Buds Air has an advantage over Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 due to realme Link app support. The touchpads on the Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 feel more responsive compared to the realme Buds Air probably due to the thick stem on Mi True Wireless Earbuds 2, but the ability to jump between the tracks is certainly a big convenience on realme Buds Air.
| realme Buds Air | Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 | |
| Bluetooth | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Pairing | Google Fast Pairing |
Pop-up Pairing for Android 10 based MIUI
|
| Wear Detection | Yes, auto play/pause | Yes, auto play/pause |
| Track change | Yes | Not possible |
| Volume Adjustment | No | No |
| App Support | realme Link | No app support |
Audio Quality and Call Performance:
Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 packs a larger 14.2 mm driver compared to 12 mm drivers on the realme Buds Air. The Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 supports LHDC Hi-Res audio codec for HD sound quality on supported devices along with AAC and SBC codecs which realme Buds Air have support for SBC and AAC.
Coming to Audio, we found realme Buds Air louder as compared to Mi True Wireless Earphones 2. You will find noise leaking issues on both realme Buds Air as well as Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 due to the semi-in-ear design.
Though there is no complaint when it comes to audio quality, both these earbuds are capable to deliver good sound experience. We found the bass on the Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 little underwhelming (our unit doesn’t run Indian firmware), but on realme Buds Air you will feel better bass when listening to low-frequency audio.
In almost every department we found realme Buds Air sound better compared to Mi True Wireless Earphones 2, be it vocals, dynamic range or handling treble.
We noticed some latency on Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 as you would expect with any wireless audio product but nothing major, though it might be an issue if you plan to use these while playing battle royale games. The low-latency gaming mode on realme Buds Air comes handy for such gaming since it reduces the latency by up to 50%, and it does make a difference.
realme says that it the normal 243.8ms latency was reduced to 119.3ms in the gaming mode during internal testing. This is achieved by real-time dual-channel transmission and the R1 chip. You can enter the gaming mode by simply a long press on both left and right earbuds. You get an engine revving noise, and when you exit there is a musical chime.
The call quality is good on realme Buds Air as well as Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 due to the Environment Noise cancellation as well as a secondary noise-canceling mic on the top of the stem. The primary microphone sits at the bottom of the stem, so it’s closer to the mouth and captures voice well. Even in a noisy environment, the person on the other end didn’t complain of the call quality and was able to hear me properly.
| realme Buds Air | Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 | |
| Driver size | 12 mm | 14.2 mm |
| Low-latency mode | Yes | No |
| Audio Codecs | SBC, AAC | SBC, AAC and LHDC |
| Environment Noise Cancellation | Yes | Yes |
Battery Life:
Xiaomi claims a battery life of 4 hours on a single charge, and up to 14 hours of battery life with the case while realme claims a battery life of 3 hours (at 50% volume) on a single charge and up to 17 hours (at 50% volume) with the case. During our testing, we found the battery life on Mi True Wireless Earphones on par with the company claims, as it lasted for 3 hours 27 minutes on 100% volume while realme Buds Air lasted for 2 hours and 10 minutes on 100% volume.
You can check the battery status of the realme Buds Air as well as Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 in the status bar of your smartphone in case your smartphone runs on Android 8.1 or later version of Android. Alternatively, you can also check the battery status of realme Buds Air earbuds with realme Link app.
Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 earbuds take about 40 minutes to charge from 0 to 100 while realme Buds Air earbuds take about same time to charge from 0 to 100. Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 support quick charge which is clearly an advantage over realme Buds Air.
Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 charging capsule can charge the earbuds almost three times, so in total, you can expect a battery life of about 12-13 hours easily at 100% volume. realme Buds Air charging capsule can also charge the earbuds almost three times, resulting in a battery life of about 8-9 hours at 100% volume.
Mi True Wireless Earphones 2, as well as realme Buds Air have a USB Type-C charging port at the bottom. Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 takes about an hour to get fully charged while realme Buds Air takes about 2 hours.
An LED light can be found on the Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 charging capsule, the LED glows in red color while charging and LED goes off as soon as the case is fully charged. The LED light on the realme Buds Air charging capsule lights up in green, orange, and red to indicate the charge left.
To sum it up, the battery life on Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 is good and significantly better as compared to realme Buds Air. realme Buds Air has an advantage due to wireless charging support but quick charging on Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 makes up for it. Xiaomi may not have gone with the wireless charging to keep the cost low. If battery life is your priority, pick Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 over realme Buds Air without thinking twice.
| realme Buds Air | Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 | |
| App Support to check battery life | Yes | No |
| Charging port | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| Wireless Charging | Yes, 10W Qi certified | No |
| Quick Charge | No | Yes |
| Battery Capacity (Earbuds) | – | 30mAh |
| Battery Life (Earbuds) | 2 Hour 10 Minutes | 3 Hour 30 Minutes |
| Charging Time (Earbuds) | 40 Minutes | 40 Minutes |
| Battery capacity (Capsule) | – | 250mAh |
| Battery Life (Including Charing Capsule) | 8-9 Hours | 12-13 Hours |
| Charging Time (Capsule) | 2 Hours | 1 Hour |
Conclusion:
You can not really go wrong with either of these, we could have wholeheartedly recommended realme Buds Air over Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 had it better build and battery life.
If you’re someone who needs low latency gaming mode, app support, and convenience of wireless charging but can compromise on battery life and build quality, you should go with realme Buds Air. In case you decide to buy realme Buds Air, do yourself a favor by getting official realme Buds Air Iconic case or some other case to save it from scratches and cracks.
Mi True Wireless Earphones have a really impressive build, Hi-res LHDC Audio codec, quick charge support, and really good battery life but don’t sound as good and loud (our Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 unit runs a different firmware as compared to Indian units) as realme Buds Air and lack low latency mode, app support and wireless charging. You can check out our full reviews of Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 and realme Buds Air.
Availability and Pricing
realme Buds Air is available on flipkart and realme.com for a price of Rs. 3999, while Mi True Wireless Earphone 2 is available on amazon.in, mi.com, and Mi Home stores at a price of Rs. 4499. As an early-bird offer, Xiaomi is selling Mi True Wireless Earphones for Rs. 3999 till 17th May. Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 can also be purchased from ShareSave for approx Rs 4,500 with one-year official warranty.
Thanks, Sai Milind for sharing screenshots!