The Xiaomi Redmi brand is known for making excellent mid-range and affordable mobiles that tend to offer more features and functionality than their price tag suggests.
Now the company is back with a new TWS Bluetooth headset, with active noise cancellation and wireless charging. I put them in my ears to check the signal to noise ratio of the Redmi Buds 3 Pro.
If you are looking for a phone that matches the Xiaomi Buds 3 Pro, check out our guide to the best Xiaomi phones around.
Design and build
Wireless headphones have been split into two main design schools in recent years, either with stems that protrude (like Apple’s original AirPods) or with a smaller, bulky frame that keeps most of the case in. the ear. .
Xiaomi has opted for the latter option, with a touch screen on the outer surface of the headset that provides access to the various commands offered.
The case also follows a well-trodden path, with its pill-shaped chassis covered in a matte finish that is smooth to the touch and ensures good grip without meaning it will stay in your pocket.
Opening the cover makes it easy to remove the headphones and also illustrates the part of the case that houses the 470 mAh battery, which promises a lot of power and the ability to fully charge the headphones more than four times on a single charge.
You can achieve this through the USB-C port on the bottom edge of the case or through a Qi wireless charger if you have one at home. This is very rare at the economic end of the market.
In other wireless news, the Redmi Buds 3 Pro use Bluetooth 5.2 to connect to devices, while still having the ability to maintain two connections simultaneously. This is a very useful feature if you like, for example, to quickly switch between your laptop and smartphone while listening to content.
The headphones are compact in size at 25.4 x 20.3 x 21.3mm and fit comfortably in your ear. If you need a different size of silicone tip, you will find three variations in the box, as well as the manual, a USB-C cable but without charger as usual.
On-ear sensing means playback stops automatically when you remove one of the earbuds, and you can safely wear them during light showers or vigorous sessions at the gym thanks to the IPX4 rating that guarantees protection against splashes and perspiration.
Sound quality and features
Connecting the Redmi Buds 3 Pro is very easy. There are two methods: press and hold the pairing button on the case or simply remove the headset from the case.
Either method will activate the Bluetooth signal and you will only have to select the headset from your device’s list. Very simple and very reliable in my day with headphones.
Sound and noise cancellation
The Buds speakers are a 9mm vibrating diaphragm coil, accompanied by three microphones for easy making and receiving calls.
Listening to music with the Buds 3 Pro is a very pleasant experience. The volume is plentiful and the frequency separation is good, resulting in a balanced sound that fills the ears.
Two modes are standard, one of which offers active noise cancellation, while the other, “Dual Transparency”, allows a small amount of external sound to be heard through the microphones. The latter mode is useful, for example, when you are walking at night or on rural roads and want to be aware of what is going on around you.
Noise cancellation on its own is good because it does a decent job of reducing noise from the city, trains, or family, but it isn’t able to shut off the world completely. Mute some of the sound, but you’ll need to have the headphones glued fairly firmly to your ears if you want to avoid distraction.
That’s a similar level of performance to the Tronsmart Apollo Air +, Enacfire A9s, and Huawei FreeBuds 4i, all with similar price points. You can see more models in our guide to the best wireless headphones.
However, if you have a Xiaomi or Redmi phone, you will have access to additional modes which can be more powerful. It also has adaptive noise cancellation, in which the headphones analyze the sounds in your surroundings and change the cancellation level accordingly.
It’s like automatic brightness adjustment but for audio. Unfortunately, I did not have a compatible device to test this feature.
By connecting the Buds 3 Pro to an iPad, I was able to see how video syncing worked on Netflix and other similar streaming services.
Fortunately, the headphones were fast enough to hold everything at once, so I didn’t suffer from the mental angst of out of sync audio that I’ve experienced with other budget headphones.
The simultaneous dual connection feature is very useful and should be standard on all wireless headsets. With the headphones plugged into my phone, I put them in the charging case and hit the pairing button.
When the light started blinking (indicating pairing mode), I went into my laptop’s Bluetooth menu and selected the Buds 3 Pro.
With the Buds connected to both, it was a matter of playing audio on one normally, then starting audio on the other device, which took priority instantly. This allows for easy switching from one to the other, without the unbundling / pairing process required in many competing offerings.
Call quality is good with all three microphones working to try to reduce noise. However, not much can be done with the small openings, so wind and noisy environments remain a challenge.
Controls
Xiaomi has kept it simple with the Buds 3. The controls are the same on both headphones, so you don’t have to remember more than three controls.
Double-tap any of the buttons to play or pause the tracks you are listening to or answer an incoming call. Three taps skip to the next track or reject or end a call, while holding down one of the earbuds for a second or two to toggle between noise canceling modes.
I found it frustrating that I couldn’t control the volume from the headphones. Yes, you can do this quickly through your phone or from many smartwatches or fitness bracelets, but surely the volume would be more useful than skipping tracks.
It could be a personal bias, as I mostly listen to podcasts and audiobooks, which don’t really have any tracks at all and it’s also not a common feature among rivals.
Nevertheless, the touch areas of the helmet are responsive and offer reliable command execution. They don’t require a lot of pressure either, so you won’t have to push the headphones into your ear canal every time you want to pause a song.
Battery life
According to Xiaomi, the Buds 3 Pro can last a maximum of 6 hours on a single charge. However, there are a few caveats: the volume is at 50% and noise cancellation is disabled.
Years of playing in blues and rock bands in small venues impacted my hearing, and as such 50% volume seems a bit conservative for some albums, so I have a bit moved things during testing.
I managed to get just over four hours on a single charge, with the ANC on, which is normal for most headphones I’ve tested in the past two years. Naturally, if you’re not an old, deaf musician like me, your mileage can take you a step further.
Charging is interesting, since a quick 10-minute charge guarantees you around three hours of listening time.
It takes around 2.5 hours to fully charge the earbuds and the case, which is well worth it as it provides enough power to charge the earbuds four and a half times before you have to plug them back in.
The theoretical total, according to Xiaomi figures, is 28 hours, which is decent. As already mentioned, the case comes with wireless charging as standard, a rare feature for headphones that are even double the price.
Pricing and availability
Xiaomi sells the Redmi Buds 3 Pro straight from their website for $ 69.99, although they now have an offer, putting them for $ 59.99.
In this way, they face the Tronsmart Apollo Air +, which costs $ 60.34 or the Huawei Freebuds 4i, which normally sells for $ 79, now $ 49 for Black Friday.
You can buy the Xiaomi Redmi Buds 3 Pro headphones for $ 55.29.
Verdict
It is clear that Xiaomi has learned a few lessons from its previous efforts, as the Redmi Buds 3 Pro are a good pair of wireless headphones at a reasonable price. The design is modern and comfortable to wear, while the ability to connect to two devices at the same time is actually more useful than you might think.
The lack of volume controls is a downside, and noise cancellation is limited to two modes, unless you have a Xiaomi or Redmi device, which seems like a bad decision but also something Apple would likely do.
Battery life is decent, with fast charging and wireless charging setting them apart from the budget. They also have another unusual feature for inexpensive headphones in ear detection.
If you want good wireless headphones with noise cancellation and a host of smart features, the Redmi Buds 3 Pro are the ones you should take a look at.
specifications
- 9mm vibrating diaphragm composite drivers
- Three microphones
- Double noise cancellation modes (more for Xiaomi / Redmi phone owners)
- Bluetooth 5.2
- Dual device connection function
- Touch controls
- Compatible with wireless charging
- 35mAh batteries (buds)
- 470mAh battery (charging case)
- 25.4 x 20.3 x 21.3 mm, 4.9g (capullos)
- 65 x 48 x 26 mm, 55 g (body)
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