The audio market in India is growing at a rapid pace and consumers now have a wider choice than before to choose from a plethora of products. In that, the true wireless earbuds are becoming popular swiftly among consumers, thanks to its portability and ease of use. There are a lot of true wireless earbuds available in every price segment and realme Buds Air Neo is the latest product from the company and is positioned in the budget true wireless earbuds category.
We have been using the new Buds Air Neo which is a toned-down version of the Buds Air [Review] for quite some time and let us find out if the Buds Air Neo from realme is worth your money or not.
Table of contents - realme Buds Air Neo Review
| Box Contents |
| Design |
| Comfort |
| Pairing and Controls |
| Sound Quality |
| Battery |
| Conclusion |
| Alternatives |
Box Contents
- A pair of realme Buds Air Neo earbuds
- Charging case
- Micro USB cable
- User Guide
Design
The realme Buds Air Neo earbuds have a half in-ear style design similar to the Buds Air and in fact, the design of the earbuds and the charging case is largely similar to the Buds Air. The rectangle-shaped charging case is made of glossy plastic and the earbuds also have a glossy finish to it. There is a LED indicator on the front of the case that displays the juice left on it and there is a button on the front of the case that is used for pairing/factory reset. The earbuds lock onto the charging case with the help of magnets and you shouldn’t face any issue while taking it out of the case.
Aesthetically, the earbuds and the charging case look classy and modern, especially the Punk Green color variant, but the preference of glossy finish or matte finish differs from user to user. It is to be noted that the earbuds are slippery and so is the charging case. They don’t offer a good grip and confidence when you hold it and more often than not, the earbuds slipped out of my hand while taking out the case. It is better to use a grip cover like the realme Iconic Cover.
Comfort
The Buds Air Neo are half in-ear styled earbuds and the stem sticks out of your ear, unlike the full in-ear styled earbuds. They are light weighing at 4.1g each and offer a comfortable and decent fit. It doesn’t fall off easily during casual usage, but don’t expect it to be the same during workouts. The earbuds style is subjective – some might prefer half in-ear style and others prefer full in-ear style. Nonetheless, the Buds Air Neo offers a decent fit and didn’t cause any fatigue.
Pairing and Controls
The realme Buds Air Neo features the R1 True Wireless Chip Neo and there is support for Google Fast Pair which means the Buds Air Neo pairs faster with your phone. Subsequent connection was quick as well, and we didn’t face any issues during our testing.
There is support for touch controls and you can customise it from the realme Link app. By default, the following are the controls and you can change it according to your preference
| Touch Operation | Action |
| Double Tap | Play/Pause, Answer the call |
| Triple Tap | Skip to the next song |
| Touch and Hold for 2 sec | Hang up the call |
| Press both sides for 2s at the same time | Gaming mode |
| Touch and Hold for 1 sec | Voice Assistant |
Sound Quality
The Buds Air Neo features 13mm drivers and the company says that the large sound unit uses high-quality polyurethane and titanium. It supports SBC (low-complexity subband codec) and AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) but there is no support for LDHC or aptX audio codec. Coming to the sound quality, the Buds Air Neo focusses solely on delivering more bass that is overpowering and doesn’t deliver in other frequencies. There is a lack of emphasis on the mids and highs so that the vocals aren’t great either and results in a muffled audio. In songs like Hosanna (Tamil), the humming sounds and the vocals don’t have the clarity, and the bass overpowers in places where there was no necessity. The addition of extra bass all over the place doesn’t give you a good listening experience, except if you listen to EDM or other bass-boosted songs. Similarly, the soundstage isn’t great and in songs like Play Date, the details and the clarity of the audio delivered wasn’t good amidst the crowded background score.
Having said that, there is no distortion at higher volume levels which is a good thing. Coming to the microphone quality, the performance was just fine, and we didn’t face any sorts of disconnection, even during long hours of calls. Overall, the sound tuning isn’t good, and we hope it is taken care of in future products.
Battery
The claimed battery life on a single charge is 3 hours and in our testing at 70% volume, we got 2 hours 35 minutes of playback on a single charge which is average. The total battery life with the charging case is claimed to be 17 hours, and we got around 16.5 hours in our testing. The charging case sports a micro USB port and it charges from 0 to 100% in 1 hr 20 min.
Conclusion
The realme Buds Air Neo comes in Pop White, Punk Green, and Rock Red color options. Priced at Rs. 2999, the realme Buds Air Neo emphasises solely on bass and not on other frequencies which doesn’t offer a good listening experience on the whole. If you are a person who prefers listening to bass-heavy music, then you can consider the Buds Air Neo. If not, there are better alternatives out there. It is available from Flipkart and realme.com.
Alternatives
- Blaupunkt BTW Lite
- Noise Shots Groove
- Noise Shots Neo