Realme Buds Q2 is available in Grey and Black colour options.
There is no shortage of affordable truly wireless earphones in the Indian market. Everyone from Xiaomi, Realme, Oppo, Nokia and more are trying to compete in the small space. It has resulted in a price war, to launch the cheapest, yet most feature-packed pair of TWS for the Indian market.
Realme has just unveiled its latest offering, the Realme Buds Q2. Following in the footsteps of the Realme Buds Air 2, the Buds Q2 are the successor to the Buds Q. The Buds Q2 are TWS with a stemless design, active noise cancellation and more. At a price of Rs 2,499, the Buds Q2 sound like an amazing option. However, do they actually sound as good? Let’s find out.
Realme Buds Q2 Review: Design and Build Quality
The Realme Buds Q2 certainly look like the other Realme Buds Q series earphones. The thicker bulkier Buds Q2 feature a stemless design that arguably looks better. The earphones come in a pebble looking case with a battery/charging indicator at the front and a USB C charging port at the back. Apart from that, there is only Realme branding on the outside at the top.
The headset is made out of lightweight plastic with shiny reflective touchpads on the sides. This gives the product a unique look, especially in this Calm Grey colour with iridescent touchpads. The included Silicone ear tips may not fit everyone, hence the company included 3 different sizes in the box.
The lightweight plastic construction also helps when using the earphones for a long time. However, I would recommend swapping out the Silicone ear tips for foam ear tips, if you plan on using the earbuds for an extended period of time for more comfort as the Silicon tips are not usually comfortable.
The case feels quite bulky in a jeans pocket.
While heading outside with the pair of truly wireless earphones, you will also need to carry the case around to charge and store the earphones when not in use. The case is lightweight and small. The pebble looking case is made out of the same plastic the earphones are made out of. The plastic is a scratch and fingerprint magnet, but it feels durable.
The earbuds run for around 5 hours on a single full charge with ANC on and around 6 hours without ANC. The included case can charge them back up in less than 30 mins. The case can charge the earbuds completely around 5-6 times before giving up. The case doesn't support wireless charging, and as for the wired charging, the earphones charge via USB-C port. The battery top-up took around an hour and a half from the completely exhausted case and earphones to the fully charged case and earphones.
It features a USB Type-C charging port.
The company surprisingly was able to pack in gesture support for play/pause, next/previous track, answer/reject calls. The controls are intuitive, but there is no feedback to tell you that the action has even registered. There is a physical button for enabling pairing mode and the battery indicator on the case let’s you know how much battery your case has and if the earphones are in pairing mode or not. If you connect via the Realme Link application, you can change the gestures and even see the exact battery of each earbud.
Realme Buds Q2 Review: Sound and Performance
As for the sound quality, the Realme Buds Q2’s profile is more focused on the low end. The mid-end is not as great as the low end and the high end is disappointing. The earphones are tuned to isolate dialogues on the low end. If you are a fan of pop songs, you will like these. There is a 10mm driver but the bass is still not good.
The Realme Buds Q2 come packed with active noise cancellation(ANC). How ANc actually works is that the earbuds have a microphone that actively listens for surrounding sounds and generates reverse sound waves. The reverse sound waves mix up with actual sound waves and cancel the sound, basically muting many things like the silent humming of an old AC, or chatter in an office.
In my review period, I even made a couple of phone calls using the Buds Q2. The call quality is good. The microphone picked up my voice nicely.
Realme Buds Q2 Review: Verdict
Realme Buds Q2 are a great pair of TWS earphones.
Brands are pushing boundaries on what is possible and what is not possible in the budget segment. The Buds Q2 are available at Rs 2,499 and at that price, good sound quality, great battery life, good design and ANC makes the Buds Q2 a good TWS option on the cheap. If you are looking for TWS under Rs 3,000 this is one of the best options you have.
