Xiaomi Redmi Buds 5 Review: Best Budget Wireless Earbuds for Music

In today’s market, there are many affordable wireless headsets available, particularly in the price range of less than £50. Numerous manufacturers actively pursue this segment to offer users a high-quality product with enjoyable features. This Xiaomi Redmi Buds 5 review emphasizes its status as a must-not-miss contender in this category.

The Redmi Buds 5 boasts a contemporary design, packing numerous impressive features into a compact body. With its stylish white color and exceptional battery life within its segment, these best inexpensive wireless Bluetooth earbuds stand out as the top choice for music enjoyment.

Xiaomi Redmi Buds 5 Review

Design

The Redmi Buds 5 showcases a youthful and compact design, featuring a square and rectangular charging box as opposed to the oval design seen in the previous generation. Users prefer this updated design over the Buds 4, finding it more practical when placing it on a table.

The charging box, crafted entirely from hard, rough-coated plastic, minimizes fingerprints and sweat, ensuring cleanliness in daily use. Despite the practicality, the white color of the headset tends to get dirty quickly after about a week of use. For prolonged use, it is recommended to opt for the black variant.

The glossy ‘Redmi’ logo adorns the front of the charging box, adding a highlight to its surface. Opening and closing the box feels sturdy, avoiding the looseness often found in other budget headphones.

Constructed from robust ABS plastic, the earbud body weighs a mere 4.3g on each side, offering a lightweight and comfortable experience for extended usage. The earbuds’ surface, polished in contrast to the box’s rough coating, adds a touch of elegance when worn.

With an in-ear design, the Redmi Buds 5 features a modest tail length, complemented by delicate glossy lines for an appealing aesthetic. The oval housing and provided silicon ear tips contribute to a comfortable and flexible wearing experience.

Seamless functionality, user-friendly interface

The Redmi Buds 5 effortlessly incorporates the Google Fast Pair feature, streamlining the connection process when paired with Android phones. Simply activating Bluetooth on your phone prompts the Xiaomi Redmi Buds 5 headset icon to appear on the screen, ensuring a hassle-free connection with just a touch.

Enhancing user experience further, the Xiaomi Earbuds app provides a straightforward means to monitor the battery levels of both the earbuds and the case. Additionally, it facilitates easy toggling between the earbuds’ playback modes. Users can fine-tune these functions through touch controls on the headset, tailoring the experience to individual preferences.

Moreover, the application permits customization of touch operations, such as song changes or volume adjustments. It also supports various sound effects through smart EQ, offering options like standard audio, treble boost, bass boost, and vocal boost. Tailoring the audio experience to personal preferences based on musical taste becomes seamless.

The app boasts an array of additional settings, encompassing in-ear detection, an earphone fit test, a pull connection, automatic call answering, and a convenient swap feature. The “Find Headphones” function aids users in locating their headphones, and emitting notification sounds when tapping the left, right, or both headphones.

While Redmi Buds 5 has improved its active noise cancellation (ANC) capability by 46 dB compared to Redmi Buds 4, it falls short of the Redmi Buds 4 Pro (REVIEW). In an office setting with a volume level of around 50-60%, ambient noise considerably reduces. Turning off the music reveals audible surroundings, although the sound is not eliminated.

Moreover, the Redmi Buds 5 complies with the IP54 water resistance standard, ensuring stability and consistent performance during sports activities or in wet environments. Even in rainy conditions, the earbuds maintain reliability. However, it is advisable to adhere to the manufacturer’s recommendation and avoid submerging the device in water for safety reasons.

For communication capabilities, the Xiaomi Redmi Buds 5 budget truly wireless earbuds feature a robust wind noise-canceling microphone system. This system, integrated with a dual-channel AI algorithm developed by Xiaomi, effectively mitigates wind noise up to 6 m/s. This not only enhances the conversation experience but also ensures clear audio while minimizing the impact of ambient noise.

Throughout our Xiaomi Redmi Buds 5 review, we found that, during outdoor calls, the speaker’s voice remained remarkably clear, with minimal interference from external noise. When used for travel, wind sounds were perceptible but not overwhelming.

Versatile sound performance across genres

The Redmi Buds 5 boasts a 12.4mm driver and a titanium-coated speaker membrane, delivering impressive sound quality within the sub-£40 price range. In the realm of today’s popular K-Pop tracks like “A Girl Like Me,” these earbuds excel in the bass spectrum, providing a lively audio experience with just the right amount of bass—enough to be distinctly audible, evoking a sense of dynamism without overwhelming depth.

Transitioning to a track like “You Found Me,” the instrumental elements maintain a skillful balance, ensuring a rounded quality without overshadowing the background. Vocals are processed skillfully, ensuring clarity and separation. Notably, the Redmi Buds 5 demonstrates adept handling of the mid-range frequencies. As for the treble, it registers adequately without standing out prominently.

In summary, the Redmi Buds 5’s sound quality proves exceptionally suitable for contemporary youth music preferences. The audio is accessible and pleasant, with a neatly managed bass range that remains headache-free during prolonged listening sessions. The mid and treble tones maintain a stable level, striking a balanced equilibrium that neither leans too heavily in one direction nor falters in performance.

Battery life

The Redmi Buds 5 boasts an exceptionally impressive battery life. In standard mode (sans the use of the noise-canceling feature), it can consistently deliver approximately 10 hours of continuous music playback. With the inclusion of the charging case, this duration extends to an impressive 40 hours.

Even when engaging the noise-canceling feature, the Redmi Buds 5 maintains a remarkable lifespan, offering around 8 hours of uninterrupted music listening. Coupled with the charging case, this extends the usability to a substantial 30 hours. This marks a noteworthy enhancement in battery endurance compared to its predecessors.

Final line

Redmi Buds 5 stands as a reliable headset within the sub-£50 segment, a highly competitive space eagerly sought after by numerous companies. This segment encompasses cutting-edge features like ANC noise cancellation, an intelligent AI air-filtering microphone, and an impressively durable battery offering up to 10 hours of usage. However, it falls short in environmental sound capabilities, and the noise cancellation doesn’t quite meet the company’s proclaimed standards.

The sound quality, nonetheless, is commendable and conducive to easy listening, with well-defined ranges. This makes it particularly suitable for individuals from GenZ who enjoy genres such as youth music, K-POP, EDM, Dance, etc., without necessitating overly intricate or standout audio characteristics.

Redmi Buds 5 price and availability

Presently, the Redmi Buds 5 is available at an exceptionally attractive price of £39.56 on Amazon.co.uk.