Xiaomi Redmi Buds 3 Pro wireless headphones (global version)

Redmi has introduced an updated version of wireless headphones called Redmi AirDots 3. It was introduced with smartphones such as Redmi Note 10 and Note 10 Pro. If you are interested in knowing my opinion about these smartphones, then you can follow the link here.

What about the new generation of AirDots TWS headphones? This is already the third generation and it has received a fairly strong upgrade compared to the first and second generations. I would like to remind you that Redmi AirDots and AirDots 2 had almost identical appearance.

But what else has changed a lot is the cost. For example, currently Redmi AirDots 3 can be purchased for $38. But the official price in China was $30. If you think about the first two generations, the price tag for them was about $20 or even lower. Thus, let's find out whether it's worth paying twice as much or can you buy a second generation?

Redmi AirDots 3 with 14% discount

★★★★★

$37,59

$43,71

Buy

Aliexpress.com

The main change was, naturally, the appearance and materials used. I also discovered an updated version of the wireless connection - Bluetooth 5.2. The headphones are paired via the aptX audio codec and are protected against splashes and sweat under the IPX4 standard.

Naturally, I cannot classify Redmi AirDots 3 as a mid-budget headphone. So let's check how good the sound is and how comfortable they sit in the ear canal. But I plan to start my in-depth and detailed review with the appearance of the packaging and configuration.

Redmi AirDots 3: Specifications

Control

Touch control is precise. Double tap to play/pause/answer an incoming call. Triple tap - hang up an incoming call / end a call. Single tap is not provided. Holding your finger on the touch area of ​​any of the headphones switches between active noise cancellation and transparency mode.

To pause the music, you can simply remove any earphone from your ear. The optical sensor will work, and the song will instantly be interrupted, and after returning the earphone to the ear, it will start playing again.

Unpacking and packaging

The new generation of AirDots 3 headphones is supplied in the usual rectangular packaging, which is made of blue thin cardboard. Previous versions had red packaging. The packaging arrived intact for me to review. But I cannot guarantee that the headphones will arrive without damage to the box.

On the front of the package you can see the Mi logo, the model name and a small drawing of a charging box with headphones in the lower right corner. Of course, I have the Chinese version, so all the inscriptions and features are indicated with Chinese characters.

The back side has a list of brief technical specifications, which are also in Chinese.

Inside the box I was able to find a charging case with headphones inside. I was also pleased to have the new Type-C charging cable format. If you remember the past two generations, they only had a Micro USB connection. The package also includes instructions in Chinese and a pair of additional silicone ear pads.

Device requirements

Before downloading the official application for Xiaomi Earphones 2 Basic or other models, understand the requirements for the device. Basic conditions:

1. Operating system Android 4.2 and higher.
2. Permission to install software from third-party sources.
3. Availability of the required amount of space in the smartphone memory.
4. Supports Xiaomi headphone type (almost all wireless versions.

There are no additional requirements for the device for installation.

Design, build quality and materials

In appearance, the third generation of Redmi AirDots 3 wireless headphones has undergone minor changes. More precisely, the size and weight of both the headphones and the charging box, which have become larger and heavier. For example, the shape of the new headphones has become a little longer, and the weight has increased by half a gram and amounted to 4.6 grams.

This affected the comfort of fit, that is, now the new generation feels good in the ear canal. But at the same time, I can’t say that I had problems wearing it. Yes, I couldn’t wear it for a long time, since these are not in-ear headphones, but in-ear headphones with ear pads. So I had to take a break every 2 hours to give my ears some rest.

It’s also worth saying that I had no problems while playing sports. The Redmi AirDots 3 headphones sat firmly in the ear canal and I did not have the feeling that they would accidentally fall out of my ear. Also, you can not be afraid to engage in intensive training, since on board there is protection against sweat and splashes under the IPX4 standard.

As for the assembly, I liked how the new generation headphones were assembled. They were really strong and did not make any extraneous sounds or creaks.

I can also note the changed materials used. Now the new generation has received combined plastic. For example, the inside of the headphones is made of matte plastic, and the outside is made of glossy plastic. I didn’t particularly like this combination, since I am not a supporter of glossy materials. In addition, fingerprints easily remain on it, and after this the case looks quite dirty.

The outer part of the case received a touch control panel, an LED indicator and a microphone hole. On the inside, meanwhile, there are two charging contacts and a proximity sensor to automatically pause when you remove one of the earbuds from the ear canal. Therefore, I liked that the third generation of headphones received an auto pause function, it is really useful and convenient in practice.

Okay, now let's talk about the charging case. It has also become larger and heavier compared to its predecessors. Now the dimensions are 65 x 42 x 32 mm and weighing 42 grams, excluding headphones. But the second generation had 62 x 40 x 27 mm, and the weight was about 27 grams. As you can see, the difference is significant.

But besides this, there are some small changes here and let me tell you about them. First, there is one battery level indicator installed on the front, and on the back there is a Type-C port for charging. As you remember, previous versions only had a Micro USB port and did not have a charge level indicator.

Also, under the cover of the case between the headphone seats there is a button for pairing or resetting settings.

In terms of the materials used, the third generation received the same matte plastic as its older brothers. I also liked the build quality. For example, the lid of the charging box has virtually no play, opens smoothly and holds well in the open position.

Well, the last thing I wanted to talk about in this section is the color options. The new Redmi AirDots 3 headphones have three different color options - white, pink and blue. I have headphones in blue for review, but I was a little upset by the news that the headphones are not available in black.

Xiaomi Redmi Buds 3 Pro wireless headphones (global version)

Buds 3 Pro is my not very conscious purchase to get acquainted with ANC... and since Life P3 from ANKER arrived a few weeks earlier and raised the bar quite high (I'm getting ahead of myself), there will be a comparison with them and I hope it will be useful... Hello everyone

On the occasion of the sale, I bought the global version of the Chinese AirDots 3pro - Buds 3 Pro... then I didn’t go into details whether it was global or not, but I couldn’t even imagine that they would come out as such a “global” stump... In general, let’s talk about everything in order.

The anchors arrived first, although they were sent later and if I had known about them earlier, I most likely would not have bought this product from Xiaomi, but the job is done and that’s even for the better. Both models started with approximately the same price tag, and now they sell for different prices - let’s look at the pros and cons.

Here it is, a black box for $39, a hologram and a scratch test area

The first discovery is a box with a crumpled strap, the case is wrapped in cellophane tape, already from the factory with garbage

the kit is predictably ascetic:

instructions in several languages, but without Russian

cord, ear pads and case

The case is more gray than graphite, but streamlined and pleasant to the touch

I like the touch area of ​​the Xiaomi headphones - the “cufflinks” shimmer gray in the light and are clearly comfortable to control

On the inside of the lid there is information about the headphones

and according to the case itself - from inside the case

There are grids in all the holes, they are deep and it will be difficult to grease them, but the gloss collects fingerprints

I’ve already complained about short, “proprietary” attachments, about the small space in the case for them, and here I am again...

... the stock ones are a little small for me, but with my two-color ones from Sony, the headphones are not included in the case, as they lengthen the already “horse” sound guide even more

They fit into my “wide” ear easily, they sit confidently, but the large flat washer in front of the sound guide will not fit everyone with small ears

Additional perspective

On autonomy they work as stated - 5 hours with noise reduction and ~50% volume, charged three times from the box, quickly, within 10 minutes already 60, in half an hour ~90%, when connected, they display an animation, but only after turning it on

...in the Bluetooth simplified connection menu:

An attempt to connect them to a Chinese application does not produce results - there is no connection with the device, although the smartphone has detected them and even displays animation... did they just limit the software to the Chinese version of
AirDots
? or there is a completely different chipset and support is impossible - I don’t know

Without making my own measurements of the frequency response yet, just after listening to several songs, I already roughly guessed what exactly I would see - there is no emphasis on deep bass, yes it is, but it is clearly cut off, the highs are comfortable and without “gaps”, clean. There is little distortion and such a sound will appeal to audiophiles (although it’s unlikely, the volume here is not a cannon), it’s just that this kind of presentation is more suitable for many than “tasty”, but strongly accentuated bass for “bassheads”

Frequency response, Distortion, Waterfall

"waterfall"

As you already understood, at the moment in the global version of the firmware there is no way to connect them to the smartphone software, there is no way to update the firmware, there is no way to make any changes to the controls and sound, so we had to measure everything the way it is configured “ out of the box”... had to tinker a lot

As I heard, ANC works fine here - the noise when putting on two headphones fades into the background, but the sound does not change, the frequency response curve remains unchanged.

But not everything is so rosy

When you turn on the noise reduction in a minibus, at the beginning of the trip everything is fine (it becomes quieter), but as soon as the bus hits an area with paving stones (“potholes”) and breaks through the suspension with a roar, it begins to block your ears and within seconds the ANC “falls off”... If it it will turn on again on its own (by switching to a more powerful one) - I consider it lucky, since during a trip this adaptive mode can switch three or four times, and in the worst case, it will simply turn off. I understand that we need to hope for an application for the global market, but at the moment I have not been able to do anything with it. Plus, the lowest infrasound at very low frequencies (from 10 to 50 Hz) and with good amplitude, the headphones cannot remove due to the poor efficiency of the driver, so, subjectively, the noise canceler does not do a good job of clearing vibrations on the bus.

Transparency mode

“pours” everything from the microphone into the ear, without particularly emphasizing the speech range, however, it still muffles the relatively loud 50-150Hz (which it can effectively reproduce)

- quite transparent

I didn’t hear the difference between the AAC and SBC codecs, but in this model there is such a simplification - the first slightly selects the bass and cuts off everything above ~16 kHz

The maximum volume of the headphones is really not very high on the stock player (my Poco x3pro), but as soon as you move the smartphone to the Singapore region, the volume increases by 20 dB, and it becomes sufficient.

Regarding the microphone

everything is more or less normal - the bandwidth is from ~60Hz to ~8kHz, the noise canceling does not work during calls, you can hear everything that happens around the left earphone, it is a little muffled, apparently this is due to the fact that the earphone does not have a “bar”, only hole directed along the cheek

It would probably be correct to compare side by side with ANKER:

Additional Information

Someone will say “they are big”... in comparison with X5 from UGREEN

Several times I couldn’t close the lid, wondering for a few seconds “why is this happening?”... in general, if they are mixed up, the headphones do not fail)

Let me summarize:
The product was clearly conceived as a middle-class product, the quality of workmanship is high, although it has “auto-pause” and ANC, but the lack of software negates all this. It’s trivial to adjust the touches, turn off the “intelligent” mode or adjust the bass equalizer - it won’t work, it either hardly reacts to the correction or at one moment begins to wheeze with distortion... I abandoned this idea. I blame the “intelligent” mode and the dampness of the firmware when the ANC is disabled in the minibus, but this is not certain and it will be possible to check this guess only if the software appears, fixing one of the “stationary” modes. But the fact that the ears are blocked in overload is clearly a signal that the system is malfunctioning and, apparently, this is why it “emergency” shuts down.

The lack of power in terms of sub-bass makes not only rock music “from a music center”, but also ANC clearly simplified, I will say so - not universal... Yes, it works and in most cases helps well in municipal transport, in the office and on city streets , but after them, the same Life P3 (don’t take it as an advertisement), you can hear a breath of fresh bass air, in everything from the software and sound quality to the way they cope with low vibrations on the bus.

Even with a price tag of $40, I think it’s disgusting not to let me manage all the functionality... if the software doesn’t appear, then it’s very sad. To get acquainted with ANC, you can forgive some shortcomings, but for the $50-60 they ask for the Chinese version (with the Chinese language in the software), for listening conditions with extreme noise, I would not consider them.

PS - third-party software has appeared, thanks to which you can update the firmware and configure all sorts of modes, but for this we will say thanks not to Xiaomi, but to the developer.

Several days of using headphones with the new firmware 1.0.9.9 showed that practically nothing has changed in terms of noise reduction, it switched to transparent mode on the “paving stones”, and switches, and the overall volume has not changed:

Frequency response before and after update

Thank you for reading, for your questions and additions. Goodbye.

Connectivity, latency and touch

On board the new generation of Redmi AirDots 3 headphones, a Bluetooth 5.2 wireless connection with aptX Adaptive audio codec is used. I did not find any problems with the signal quality and throughout the entire test, the signal was stable and did not break.

As for the connection, everything is standard here, as with other TWS headphone models. But if you have a Xiaomi or Redmi device with the MIUI shell, then when you open the lid, a pop-up window with settings and connections will appear on your smartphone. Also here you can see the battery level of the headphones and charging case.

I didn't find any major latency issues while using the headphones. For example, I could comfortably play games or watch videos on YouTube and the delay was minimal.

If we talk about touch controls, they are not very multifunctional, like most other headphones. That is, when you double-tap on the left channel, the headphones call the Xiaomi voice assistant, and on the right channel it stops playback. This is a very weak touch control in terms of functionality. But through the pop-up window, you can change the controls, for example to switch tracks forward or backward.

Application functionality

Mi AI is an application for Xiaomi Mi wireless headphones, focused on providing voice assistant functions. The latter is an analogue of other similar software from Google or Yandex, and the purpose of application is to receive and execute user commands.

In general, the Xiaomi headphone app is focused on solving the following tasks:

1. Help synchronizing wireless headphones.
2. Update your headset software to the latest version.
3. Sending messages.
4. Making calls.
5. Music track management.
6. Setting alarms/reminders.
7. Receiving weather forecast data.
8. Setting the Xiaomi headphone setup application to automatically turn on after turning on the headset.

Features of the program include the ability to change the voice type/tone in the settings, and enable/disable voice control. Alternatively, the Mi True Wireless headphone app can be used to connect another wireless headset. Thanks to this feature, it is possible to expand the capabilities and benefits of the software.

Sound and microphone quality

Each earbud uses two dynamic drivers inside, but I couldn't find information about their size. Also, the Redmi AirDots 3 headphones have a Qualcomm 3040 chipset.

I want to compare the sound quality of the new generation of headphones with its predecessor Redmi AirDots 2. The first thing I noticed was the fact that the third generation began to play quieter, but not significantly. For example, it was enough for me to listen to music at 90% volume level.

As for the frequency range, the new generation of headphones has well developed mid and high frequencies. I also liked that even at the maximum volume level, the headphones did not wheeze and played in detail and without extraneous sounds. Musical instruments played clearly and without any problems, and the vocalist's voice was spacious and dynamic.

But the low frequencies are not as pronounced as on the second generation Redmi AirDots. The new product does not have such a voluminous and massive bass as its predecessors had. Therefore, this is also worth paying attention to when purchasing a new model of wireless headphones.

Overall, I liked how the manufacturer balanced the sound quality. The sound became an order of magnitude better and despite the low bass level, the sound was very good for its price.

The microphone quality was average. For example, in a quiet room, the interlocutors heard me clearly. But in noisy places, my interlocutors had periodic difficulties, since the noise of the surrounding world was also clearly audible.

They have gone up in price

If AirDots 2 a year ago cost 99 yuan, which is about $15, now AirDots 3 are already sold for 199 yuan, which is $30.

Xiaomi announced Redmi AirDots 2

Kostya Baranov

20 July 2020

Moreover, I’m not sure that AirDots 3 can be found on sale for the $30 announced at the presentation - on the same AliExpress they are currently sold for almost $40. And this is about three thousand rubles, taking into account the current exchange rate. As a result, simple headphones that cost about 1000-1500 rubles now cost 3000. And then you think: maybe add and take something more sonorous?

Illustration: Svetlana Chuvileva / Wylsacom Media

Battery and runtime

In each case of the Redmi AirDots 3 headphones, the manufacturer installed a battery with a capacity of 43 mAh. Considering that the third generation of headphones received an updated Bluetooth 5.2 connection. This means that the energy consumption will be significantly less than with the Bluetooth 5.0 generation.

My practice showed a result of 6.5 hours at 90% volume level. This is a very similar result, as the manufacturer guaranteed in its advertising posts. In addition, inside the charging box there is a battery with a capacity of 600 mAh. This is exactly twice as much as its predecessors. Therefore, the total operating time will be about 30 hours.

The headphones are charged in the charging box in 50 minutes, and the charging case via a Type-C connection in 1.5 hours.

Autonomy

The manufacturer claims an autonomy of up to 6 hours of listening to music on a single charge (excluding the case). But we must take into account that this is at half the volume. But if you use them to the maximum, they will last you more than 3 hours. It is worth noting that they have sufficient volume reserve. Well, with the case, the battery life can be multiplied by 4.5.

The headphones are fully charged from the box in less than an hour, and the battery of the box itself is filled in about 2.5 hours. A nice feature for many will be the ability to charge the case using wireless charging.

Price and where to buy cheaper?

As I already said, the price tag for the third generation of headphones from Redmi has almost doubled. But you also get headphones that are quite functional and have decent sound.

Currently, you can purchase Redmi AirDots 3 TWS headphones for $37.59 with a 14% discount. But if you want to buy additional accessories, you will have to pay a few dollars.

Redmi AirDots 3 with 14% discount

★★★★★

$37,59

$43,71

Buy

Aliexpress.com

Ease of use

The new Redmi Buds 3 Pro are almost flawless in use. They do not slip out of your hands when taken out of the case and are easy to insert into your ears.

If you choose the right attachments, the headphones will be securely in place and will not fall out even during training. It is also comfortable to listen to music for a long time. Buds 3 Pro also has a multi-connection feature. They can be used simultaneously with a laptop and a smartphone. The headphones will automatically switch to the device where the sound is coming from.

There is also a removal detector - the music pauses when you remove the headphones from your ear, and continues if you insert them back.

But the Buds 3 can easily slip out when you take them out of the charging case. After listening for a long time, the inside of the ear begins to hurt a little, and the leg sometimes touches the face. I'm glad that there is a removal detector here too.