Review: Realme Buds Q

Realme is a brand from massive Chinese manufacturer BBK Electronics, who is also best known over here for Oppo. Both brands have been around now for the last two years in the UK. Recently, like Xiaomi before them, they have started to push into other products, not just mobile.

In this review, we are covering the Realme Buds Q which are a pair of true wireless earbuds that cost £29.99 on Amazon. The key features you get with these buds are:

• 20-hour battery life

• 10mm Bass Boost Driver

• 119ms Super Low Latency

• Instant automatic connection

• IPX4 Rated

These buds come in black currently but doing some research they are available in other colours overseas so expect other colours to appear on the market soon. Inside the packaging, you get the normal accessories, two pairs of ear tips (Small & Large), Micro-USB charge cable plus charging case.

The earbuds are very light at only 3.6g so they will not feel heavy in your ears. Each bud comes with a small glossy finish with the Realme logo on each bud. On the inside of the buds, you have two little magnets for when they go in the charging case to keep them safe in the case.

The charging case comes with a matt black finish with the word Realme printed on the top and a small LED that indicates when the buds are on charge.

At the back of the case you have the micro-USB port.

Inside the case, you have the inserts for where the buds sit and magnets to hold the buds. The case does feel cheap which didn’t fill me with joy as to what the buds would sound like.

The earbuds do look a little cheap looking. They are touch control which is good, and that circular glossy finish is where you tap for the controls. First time setup was quite easy. Give the buds a full charge then keep them in the case and press and hold the touch area of the buds for a few seconds. Then search Bluetooth on your phone and click Realme buds Q and then pair. Once you have done that you’re ready to start the music. The instruction manual was not very clear when it comes to what the controls are so I had to test for myself and the controls are:

• Play or Pause – tap any bud twice

• Skip back a track- Hold left bud 2 secs

• Skip forward a track- Hold right bud 2 secs

• Answer a call – tap twice on either bud.

The overall fit of these buds was very comfortable even when using the controls and not one moment did I feel they would fall out of my ears. You can also wear for several hours without any pain. However, these buds come with no ANC or Passive isolation which I feel is an issue. The buds give you 4.5 hours of playtime with 20 hours of charge in total including what you have in the case. When you need to charge the case from 0% it takes 2 hours.

Moving on to the audio quality of these buds and am very surprised they have a built-in 10mm driver but they are limited. Yes, they support AAC codec which is a benefit. When testing these with tracks within the rock, pop and classic, the lows are decent and it has a punchy bass but then it falls down the mids and highs are not great and are very unbalanced.

When I pumped up the volume I got a muffled sound that could be fixed a little with the custom equalisers via the Realme Link app. Apart from that, the overall sound quality is not great. It does not help when watching a YouTube video I suffered lag quite a few times, and eventually I just gave up expecting a great time with these buds.

The Bluetooth connection can be a little up and down and I have found it to cut out more than expected. However, it’s not all bad considering the price the call quality was quite good I have had buds that have performed worse so here the silver lining when it comes to these buds.

So would I buy these? 

Well, I would have to say no I would not buy these. Yes they are lightweight and come with IPX4 rating meaning they would be good in the gym and they do fit nicely, even for long periods. However, the audio quality is just not any good. They have a decent bass but the rest of the sound profile just falls to the ground. Additionally, the Bluetooth signal also dropped out too much for my liking. The positives are they have decent battery life and the call quality is decent but you buy these to listen to music and the audio quality is very poor in that regard compared to the competition.

So sorry but the Realme Buds Q get a No from Us.

Product ratings: 

• Design- 2 Stars

• Features- 2 stars

• Audio Quality- 1 Star

• Value for Money- 3 Stars

Overall rating: 2 Stars

The Realme Buds Q – £29.99 via Amazon