Realme Buds Wireless 2: Box Content
The headphones come in a rather large white rectangular box. Upon opening the box, one is first greeted with the Realme Buds Wireless 2 in a plastic enclosure. Sliding the packaging open underneath the plastic case reveals more items, such as an extra pair of earbuds, a USB Type-C cable, and a quick-start card.
Build, Design and Fit
Starting with the build, the earphones are quite well made. The neckband is made of a soft but well-made silicone material that feels good in the hand. When using them, we did not feel like we were using a cheap pair of headphones. At 29g, the earphones are quite light and do not feel heavy when worn around the neck. While the build quality is pretty decent, the design is rather generic and nothing to get excited about. It’s quite simple but functional. When using it, we found that the bass gray color variant can get dirty easily. If that bothers you, you should go for the bass yellow color variant. Unfortunately, the earphones do not have a flap that prevents dust from entering the Type-C charging port as the Buds Wireless Pro does. The earphones are very comfortable, and after a few minutes, you even forget that they are in your ears. The earbuds are a bit clunky and stick out of your ears a bit, but that does not affect the overall experience with the earbuds. You also get two additional earbud sizes, so you can easily swap out the existing one for the one you find more comfortable.
Performance and Features
Realme Buds Wireless 2 runs on a custom R2 chip. According to the brand, the R2 chip contributes to lower power consumption and offers more stable connectivity. Speaking of connectivity, the earphones connect via Bluetooth 5.0 instead of the latest Bluetooth 5.2 standard. Although we would have liked to see Bluetooth 5.2 support, we did not have any connectivity issues with the Wireless 2. The connection was stable for the most part, and the range was pretty good as well. During our testing, we constantly switched back and forth between the laptop and smartphone using the quick-switch feature. It worked as intended, although it was a bit slow to respond. You can control different aspects of the headphones without having to get your smartphone out of your pocket each time. The inline buttons on the neckband let you easily play/pause music, skip tracks, and answer/reject calls. In addition, the earphones offer feature-rich performance.
Realme claims to have reduced the latency from 119 ms on the more expensive Realme Buds Wireless Pro to just 88 ms. We played several BGMI matches with the headphones and also prepared chicken meals. Although the latency was good enough for casual gaming, if you are a hardcore gamer, you might want to look at the wired counterpart. When we received the device, we had some issues with audio-video syncing on apps like YouTube and Netflix. But Realme was quick enough to provide an OTA update via the Realme Link app to fix the issue. After the update, we no longer experienced the audio-video sync issue. In addition, the earbuds are IPX5 certified, so taking them for a short run or using them during intense workouts should not be a problem. Although the earbuds fit well and stay in the ears, for the most part, we would have liked to see wingtips like the first generation Wireless Buds. The best thing about all of the Realme AoT products is the support for the Realme Link app. The app has a variety of features and allows us to control various settings of the earphones. You can customize the button controls and switch between different sound modes using the app. In addition, you can also update the earphones’ firmware via the app.
Sound Quality
Let us get to the most important part of any earphones: sound quality. The earphones support Sony’s high-resolution LDAC codec. Realme claims that the earphones were tuned by “The Chainsmokers” for a richer bass experience, which was clearly audible during our test. In fact, both color options in which the earphones are sold online include the word “bass,” which clearly indicates that the emphasis is on bass. While the sound quality is decent for the price, it is rather bass-heavy thanks to the large 13.6mm drivers. Also, the earphones can get so loud that you do not even need to use the volume up feature in the app Realme Link. There are three different presets in the app – Dynamic, Bright, and Bass Boost +. The earphones default to the Dynamic preset, and we used them in this preset most of the time during our testing, as it provides a more balanced sound experience than the other two presets. If you tend to be more vocal in your music, we recommend switching to the Bright preset and listening at 80% volume for the best sound experience, as clarity is lost when you increase the volume to 100%. However, we avoided using the Bass Boost + preset because the sound signature was already quite bass-heavy, and adding bass caused clarity, instrument separation, and voices to fall by the wayside.
ANC and Transparency
One of the most hyped and prominent features of the Realme Buds Wireless 2 is its support for active noise cancelation at Rs 2500. Realme claims that ANC can reduce sound by 25 dB, and we were surprised by the performance. We found that the headphones performed well in blocking fan and wind noise in our tests. In this regard, they are no AirPods Pro or Galaxy Buds, but considering the price of just Rs 2299, you really can not complain. Although the ANC mode worked well, the transparency mode on the other hand was very good. It worked, but we did not find it very effective during our test.
Call Quality
The call quality of wireless earphones plays a crucial role and is also one of the main reasons why people switch to wireless headphones. Thanks to the neckband of the Realme Buds Wireless 2, the microphone is quite close to the mouth, which results in good call quality. We made several calls with the earphones, and the person we were talking to never complained about the quality. The earphones also do a pretty good job of suppressing background noise, which Realme likes to call “Vocplus AI Noise Cancelation”.
Battery Life
Let us move on to another important point for all headphones: battery life. Realme claims that the Realme Buds Wireless 2 can last up to 10 hours with LDAC and ANC on all the time. We used the headphones at 80% volume with LDAC and ANC enabled and got close to 9 hours of playback time, which is still pretty good. If you want to get even more juice out of the headphones, you can switch to AAC for better battery life, but note that music quality will suffer. Another plus is the Type-C charging port, which charges the earphones from 0-100% in just one hour. In addition, a 10-minute charge provides an additional 5-6 hours of music playback with LDAC off and ANC.
Verdict
In summary, the Realme Buds Wireless 2 does many things right for the entry-level price of Rs 2299. They sound pretty decent for the price, with rich bass and support for ANC, which works surprisingly well. In addition, the call quality of these headphones is also very good considering the price. Battery life with Sony’s LDAC codec and ANC is also pretty good. The Realme Link app also offers tremendous flexibility and helps control various aspects of the headphones, such as controls, sound modes, and more. However, for a price of Rs 2299, it has to contend with serious competition like the Oppo Enco M31. However, if you are looking for headphones that support ANC, offer good battery life, and can make a few compromises on overall sound quality, then you should check out Realme Buds Wireless 2.
