Realme Buds Air 8 is one of the most value-for-money offerings in the sub Rs. 4,000 price category.
Realme Buds Air 8 are one of the most value for money TWS in the sub-Rs. 4,000 price category
The true wireless stereo (TWS) market in India is becoming increasingly competitive. While this particular category has traditionally been dominated by Chinese and Indian players, including Oppo, OnePlus, Realme, Boat, and Mivi, the market has also seen other players enter, such as CMF. Each brand wants to offer more value-for-money propositions, which is often appreciated by Indian customers. This is where the Realme Buds Air 8 come in, which were recently launched in India alongside the Realme 16 Pro series.
The new Realme Buds Air 8 is a decent offering in the sub-Rs. 4,000 price category, considering it offers real-time active noise cancellation (ANC), AI Live Translator, and face-to-face translation. However, with Realme betting big on the features, the company appears to have made some compromises to achieve the price point.
Realme collaborated with Naoto Fukasawa, the renowned Japanese designer, to bring the Buds Air 8's Master Design from paper to life. No doubt the case is pleasing to look at, but the use of hard plastics on the charging case makes it prone to scratches, even in day-to-day use. You might want to be careful while putting the charging case in the same pocket as your keys.
Realme Buds Air 8 are well-designed.
However, the top of the lid ships with a rubberised matte finish, which makes it feel premium to touch. The earbuds sit horizontally in the charging case, held in place with the help of strong magnets. While Realme has not revealed the exact weight or dimensions of the case and the earbuds, they are light to carry and are extremely pocketable.
The Realme Buds Air 8 is available in three distinct colourways: Master Grey, Master Gold, and Master Purple. I got the Master Grey colour option, which is the least flashy of the bunch. Its subtle accents make it stand out from the crowd, without being tacky, a quality appreciated by many.
Realme Buds Air 8 offer decent comfort.
Compared to its charging case, the earbuds feel much better to touch. The silicone ear tips feel premium. You can wear the Buds Air 8 for hours without feeling any discomfort. It's in-ear design provides a snug fit. In my testing, the earbuds never fell out of my ears during my evening runs or morning workouts. It ships with an IP55 rating for dust and water resistance, which means I never had to worry about sweat damage to the device.
Realme's Buds Air 8 is equipped with two 11mm drivers, one for each earbud. This could disappoint a few, as the competition from Oppo and CMF offers slightly larger 12mm drivers at a lower price. The Buds Air 8 also supports AAC, SBC, and LHDC codecs, which are now industry standards. In terms of sound quality, it offers an impressively balanced audio profile. While it can feel slightly bass-heavy, which many prefer, it also has decent highs.
Realme Buds Air 8's companion Realme Link app has an intuitive UI design.
Where I felt let down was the clarity. Listening to bass-heavy songs like Code Red by Token, Come N Go by Yeat, and Everything I Am by Kanye West is where the Realme Buds Air 8 performed their best. However, while playing predominantly instrumental songs, such as Now That I'm Lonely by Octave Lissner and If You Leave Me Now by Chicago, I found the earbuds often lost clarity above 70 percent volume. Additionally, the separation between instruments is subpar, even compared to other Realme Buds Air models.
Another department which left me unimpressed was the touch controls. The Realme Buds Air 8 comes with gesture controls that let you cycle through tracks, play/pause music, and switch between ANC and transparency modes. I rarely found myself giving inadvertent input, which is a problem Ihave had with other earbuds in this price category. On the contrary, the gesture controls on the Buds Air 8 are overly insensitive to touch, often requiring me to tap the earbuds multiple times for it to register an input.
However, the Realme Buds Air 8 also has a lot going for it. It supports Bluetooth 5.4 with a claimed range of up to 10 meters. This means I could easily leave my phone in my room and attend to the doorbell or get a glass of water from the kitchen, without ever losing connection.
The Realme Link companion allows users to set custom EQ based on the type of song they are listening.
The Realme Link companion app has an intuitive user interface, with most of the customisation options and features just a scroll away. I did not have to fish out the EQ board, as it is conveniently placed under the Sound Effects menu on the home screen.
It's 55dB real-time ANC that works flawlessly, cutting out most environmental noise and offering an immersive listening experience. I tested it on Metro and rickshaw rides during peak traffic, and I was impressed by how rarely I could hear anything other than what I was listening to. Apart from listening to songs, I also listened to podcasts like Waveform by MKBHD, Deep Drive by Autocar India, and the Realme Buds Air 8 offered a decent experience in this regard as well.
Considering its price, the audio quality is not sub-par, but it is an area where Realme could have worked more diligently.
The earbuds pack 62mAh batteries each, while the charging case is backed by a 530mAh cell. Realme claims that its Buds Air 8 will provide up to 14 hours of battery life with ANC turned off and AAC audio at 50 percent volume, which is not far from its real-life performance. In my testing, I got about 10 hours of music playback with ANC turned on and nearly 12 hours and 30 minutes without ANC.
Realme Buds Air 8 offers great value for its price.
With its charging case's claimed 58 hours of total battery life, I never had to worry about charging the Buds Air 8. I went about 4 days without plugging it in, which is an impressive feat for budget earbuds.
When most manufacturers are trying to offer more bang for their customers' money, the Realme Buds Air 8 is a great value proposition. Its impressive, balanced sound signature, ANC, battery life, and Fukusawa's premium-looking Master Design make it an easy recommendation. At its retail price of Rs. 3,799, it is a notch above its competitors, which have weaker ANC performance.
Compared to the CMF Buds 2 Plus and the Oppo Enco Buds 3 Pro+, the Realme Buds Air 8 is a better deal at a slightly higher price. While one might feel that its AI features, like real-time AI translations, are a bit gimmicky and seldom work properly, a few still offer them. Hence, it becomes an obvious choice if you are looking for well-rounded earbuds.
Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.