JOIN USXiaomi Redmi Earbuds S review: Worth every penny!
After weeks of teasing, Xiaomi launched the new Redmi Earbuds S. It is understood to be the Indian version of AirDots S, which unveiled, a few months ago in China.
It costs Rs 1,799, making one of the most affordable Truly Wireless Earbuds (TWE) product. I have used it for close to a week and here're my thoughts.
Design and build quality:
The new Redmi Earbuds S case is compact and can be fully wrapped around my fingers even those with small hands. It sports a pebble-inspired form factor with visually appealing smooth curvaceous base and slight bulge on top.
It comes with the Redmi brand engraved on the top and a micro-USB port below the hinge which opens up to show the Earbuds S placed neatly in their slots. And, at the base, it shows the model's power input/output and manufacturing details.
The Earbuds too, flaunt the same design language as case and weighs a meager 4.1g each. Once worn, I forgot it is on my ear tunnel when playing my favourite music.
As far as the comfort of fitting into ears is concerned, they sit pretty well thanks to silicone ear tips, which was sorely missed in the Xiaomi Mi True Wireless Earphones 2. Also, the company offers two extra pair of ear tips with different sizes and another pair come fitted with earbuds out-of-the-box. They do a pretty good of hanging to the ears, which is very important while doing intense workouts.
Speaking of exercises, the Redmi Earbuds S comes with IPX4 certification, meaning it can sustain heavy sweating, even water splashes and rains as well.
However, there is one qualm I have with the Redmi Earbuds S is that the retail package doesn't come with a charging cable and this means, you have to use the mobile phone's cord to charge. This seems to be a cost-cutting practice.
Performance and User-interface:
Like the Mi TWE 2, it was easy to pair the Redmi Earbuds S to the phone. Just opened the case and when to the Bluetooth Settings and connected them with ease.
After that, it gets automatically connected once you place them in the ears.
And when you are done with the Redmi Earbuds S and remove them and place them into their slots, they automatically get disconnected. They consistently fared well during the testing period.
An interesting thing about the Earbuds S is that they come with tactile buttons, not the touch-sensitive buds we see in the Mi TWE. I feel more comfortable pressing of buttons than the latter method, as I can know for sure, I did press the button.
Both have the same functionalities. A single tap will let you answer calls or pause the music/video track on the phone. Double-tap will invoke the digital assistant of the phone.
And, with three taps, the Redmi Earbuds S goes into low-latency mode, which comes handy while playing the combat games. With 122ms latency, there will significant reduction in audio lag between the earbuds and the phone.
However, there is no support for jumping tracks nor controlling the volume of the audio on the earbuds. You have to control those things by opening the phone's screen.
It also boasts Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC), which promises l clear call quality with the built-in microphones. During the tests, it did live up to the hype to an extent and have to say, it fared better than the more expensive Mi TWE 2.
As far as the audio quality is concerned, Earbuds S was able to deliver a decent hearing experience. I love listening to Hans Zimmer's acoustic tracks of popular movies particularly, I am impressed with sound quality. I also tested while listening to different genres of music including Carnatic, western, rock, metal, and hip-pop; it was able to deliver good audio output better than rival brands in the budget price segment.
Last but not the least, the battery life. It was able to deliver more than three and a half hours easily. With the case, it can deliver close to 12 hours with a single full charge.
Final thoughts:
Considering its price, I was a bit skeptical about its capability, but as days pass by, Redmi Earbuds S impressed me with the sound delivery. It is totally worth the asking price and probably the best in its category in the sub-Rs 2,000 range.
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