Redmi Earbuds 3 Pro Review: Impressive specs and features on paper

As competition ramps up, India’s true wireless earbuds segment is getting competitive, especially in the affordable space. The Redmi Earbuds 3 Pro are the latest TWS earbuds from Xiaomi to debut in the affordable segment. But, with budget earbuds offering everything from active noise cancellation to powerful bass drivers, can the Redmi Earbuds 3 Pro deliver on their promise of performance.

Design

The Redmi Earbuds 3 Pro follows the traditional true wireless earphones blueprint in the design department. The earbuds are available in three Blue, White, and Pink. The case has a smooth matte finish with the Redmi branding on the top. The earbuds have a pill-shaped design and sport a relatively large footprint.

And while the fit is rather secure, I felt a bit of ear fatigue after two continuous hours of listening. The earbuds have a matte finish with a glossy outer touch-sensitive area. The earbuds are IPX4 certified allow them to withstand splashes of water. You also get two extra silicone ear tips in the box. The overall design and build quality of the Earbuds 3 Pro are quite good for the price.

Performance

The dual-driver setup consists of a dynamic driver and a balanced armature driver. The dynamic driver is designed to take care of the low end, while the armature driver handles the high-frequency range. However, the earbuds don’t quite handle highs as well as the lows and mids. Instrument separation is also not always on point, with the bass feeling too much at times, overshadowing the mids and highs. However, the earbuds still deliver solid audio for their respective price.

Xiaomi’s latest TWS earbuds also support SBC, aptX, and aptX Adaptive codecs. Additionally, there’s no AAC codec support for iPhone users and Qualcomm’s proprietary aptX won’t work on devices with MediaTek and Exynos chips.

The Earbuds 3 Pro also don’t get active noise cancellation, though the snug fit keeps a fair amount of ambient sound out. I have to admit that asking for ANC at this price is rather demanding but there are similarly priced TWS earbuds from Realme, boAt, and Noise all offer ANC at a similar price. The earbuds didn’t get too loud and audio quality was maintained at high volume as well.

The Redmi Earbuds 3 Pro feature touch controls on the outer side of each earbud. You can double tap the right earbud to play or pause the music, while the similar action on the left bud brings up the voice assistant. Additionally, holding down on the earbuds can be used to switch tracks. You can also answer calls double-tapping on either earbud. It is worth noting that the Earbuds 3 Pro lacks volume controls and there’s no app support as well, which were a bit of a let-down.

Features

The Redmi Earbuds 3 Pro offers Bluetooth 5.2 support and once paired, the earbuds connect to your smartphone instantly. The buds also come with fast pairing but it is only supported on Xiaomi phones running MIUI 12.

On the plus side, the in-ear detection on the new Redmi buds works well, while they also work individually. You also get an 86ms low latency gaming mode. The microphone’s performance on the earbuds is up to the mark, not something you see with budget TWS earphones.

Battery Life 

When it comes to battery life, the Redmi Earbuds 3 Pro can deliver a little over six hours of playback on a single charge, going all the way up to 30 hours with the case. Of all the sub-5K earbuds I’ve used so far, the Redmi Earbuds 3 Pro deliver the best battery life by a long shot. And it is a good thing that battery life on the earbuds are is decent as a lack of fast-charging will take quite a while to get a full charge. The TWS earphones can be charged over the USB Type-C port on the back of the case.

Verdict

At a starting price of Rs 2,999, the Redmi Earbuds 3 Pro are a solid set of affordable true wireless earbuds. However, I have mixed opinions about them. Every good aspect of these earbuds is met a negative one. The earbuds offer excellent battery life, a secure fit, smooth pairing, a good microphone, decent sound output, and a ton of features.

But on the flip side, charging is slow, there’s no ANC, using the earbuds for a long time could cause some discomfort, there’s no app support, the touch controls aren’t very intuitive, and fast-pairing only works on some Xiaomi phones. So while I do think the Redmi Earbuds 3 Pro offer good value, you may want to look elsewhere to get the absolute best in the segment.