With the launch of the realme 16 Pro, Pro Plus and the Pad 3, the brand also snuck in two wireless earbuds into the mix. These are the realme Buds T500 Pro and Buds Air 8. The former is noted to be an online exclusive, but beyond that, they’re pretty par for the course for wireless earbuds of their price range.
realme Buds T500 Pro
Starting with that, the realme Buds T500 Pro features 12.4mm audio drivers, which are described as Hi-Res drivers. It also supports LHDC 5.0 codec, which lends credence to the Hi-Res claims at least. Also on board are six microphones, three on each side, that drives the Active Noise Cancelling (ANC tech) of up to 50db.
For battery life figures, the company provided four sets in total. The first is with ANC off and on the standard AAC codec, which sees the realme Buds T500 pro lasting 13.5 hours in its own, and up to 56 hours in total, with the case involved. Turn on ANC, and these become eight and 33 hours, respectively. Switching over the LHDC playback, these figures become nine and 36 hours respectively with ANC off, and 5.5 and 23 with it on.
Connectivity to your phone is done via Bluetooth 6.1, and wrapping up the package is an IP55 rating. As mentioned, the realme said that the Buds T500 Pro is an online exclusive item. And it comes with a price tag of RM199.
realme Buds Air 8
Moving on to the realme Buds Air 8, these cost marginally more. But in turn, it gets a few more additional features. To start, in addition to 11mm drivers, it also gets 6mm tweeters to go with it. LHDC 5.0 makes another appearance here, as well as 3D Spatial and Dynamic Audio. Noise cancellation now works up to 55db, done by the familiar six-mic setup.
For its battery life, the company has provided three sets of figures here. Starting with AAC playback without ANC, the buds alone lasts for 14 hours. Getting the case involved bumps the figure up to 58 hours. With ANC on, you get eight hours from the buds, and 30 hours in total. then there’s LHDC playback with ANC on, getting you 5.5 hours on the buds, and 21 hours in total.
Oddly enough, the Bluetooth rating here is an older version 5.4, and the IP rating is a familiar IP55. For all of this, the Buds Air 8 has an asking price of RM299.
