Getting a pair of wireless earbuds with noise cancellation at under Rs 1,500 was unbelievable even a few years ago. Redmi Buds 5A delivers exactly that. All the basic features one looks for in wireless earbuds are here.

There are times when we look for devices for rough everyday usage and wireless earbuds have to tackle an extra problem — losing them is easy. Be it during morning workouts or commute, we all have lost at least a couple of pairs of these sound cans, so having something inexpensive reduces anxiety. But inexpensive doesn’t have to mean poor quality. The Redmi Buds 5A delivers decent sound quality and the same goes for ANC.

The buds and the case are light but offer good battery performance

The egg-shaped design makes it a good fit in the pocket and having a matte finish will attract fewer smudges. The case weighs only 41.2g. The earbuds — each bud weighs 3.6g — come with a glossy finish and offer a snug fit. Since the buds come with IPX4 rating, a few splashes of water and can easily be tackled. But the rating is only for the buds and not the case, so keep it dry.

The buds come with Bluetooth 5.4 and there is support for Google fast pairing. To get most out of the earbuds, download the Xiaomi Earbuds app from the Play Store.

The 12mm dynamic drivers deliver a good sound experience. Even if you listen to music at 80 per cent, there is hardly any distortion. The overall sound profile is bass-friendly while clarity is decent. It’s not something we haven’t heard before but that’s not a bad thing.

What is missing? A custom equaliser or presets. Since there is app support, Xiaomi could have thrown in some of these features. Having said that, for most users the sound would be good enough.
The USP of these wireless earbuds is active noise cancellation or ANC. You can enable it from the app and it cancels up to 25 dB, which is not too shabby. If you wear this on your daily commute in the underground railway, the loud noise easily gets drowned out. There is a transparency mode, which makes you aware of the surroundings. This too works fine. Once turned on, all the announcements made on the underground metro easily filters through while listening to music.

Coming to the microphone, in quite environments, the sound retains its richness and the person on the other end of a call should be able to hear you clearly. But windy situations are not ideal. Of course, given the pricing, I didn’t expect anything more than this. The earbuds support tap gestures and they mostly work well. But there is no in-ear detection sensor, meaning the music wouldn’t automatically pause if you take the buds out of the ears.

The app doesn’t support presets or EQ

Should you buy it?

Our only quibble is the sparse feature set on the app. You can toggle ANC, read battery setting and toggle on/off low-latency gaming mode. It could have been better. The case comes with a 440mAh battery. You get around three hours of music playback with ANC on and it increases to four hours without ANC. With the case, you get 30 hours of playback. There is also fast-charge or 10 minutes of charge will give you 90 minutes of music playback. These are good figures. Overall, you won’t be disappointed if you are looking for a set of inexpensive earbuds for everyday usage. Redmi Buds 5A (Rs 1,499) manages to deliver a good balance between a clean soundstage and ANC.