Redmi launched the Redmi Earbuds 3 Pro, the company’s latest true wireless earbuds, in India last week. It comes after the company launched its entry-level Redmi Earbuds S last year. The Earbuds 3 Pro was launched in China earlier this year as Redmi AirDots 3. The main highlight of the earbuds are the Qualcomm QCC3040 chipset with Bluetooth 5.2 along with aptX Adaptive codec offering low-latency for gaming, Balanced and Armature dual drivers and long battery of up to 30 hours with the case. Is it worth the price of Rs. 2999? Let us find out.
Box Contents
- Redmi Earbuds 3 Pro in Blue colour
- Ear tips in Small and Large sizes (Medium pre-installed)
- User manual
Design and Build quality
The charging case has a round box that has a matte finish that feels nice to hold and doesn’t attract fingerprints and is not prone to scratches easily. You can see the LED indicator on the front and the Redmi branding outside. The USB Type-C port is on the back of the case. It also comes in White and Pink colours. The charging case measures 65×42x32mm and weighs 51 grams, slightly bigger than most earbuds in the price range, mainly due to the huge 600mAh battery.
Opening the case, you can see the slots for buds buds and a button for pairing and reset.
Similar to the case, the headset also has a plastic finish, but this has a glossy finish on the outside for the touch area, so it is prone to fingerprints, but has a matte finish on the inside. There is an LED indicator on the glossy area, and you can see a tiny microphone. The earbuds measure 28×16×21mm and weigh about 4.6grams. These feature an in-ear design, but look a bit big on the earbuds. Still, it fits in without any issues and doesn’t fall out of your ears when running or cycling.
On the inside, next to the charging contact points, you can see the in-ear optical sensor for Wear Detection, so it can automatically pause the audio when you remove it from your ears and resume when you put them back. This is a feature that rarely seen in a headset in this price point. The earphones also have IPX4 ratings for dust and water resistance so that it can withstand splashes or light rain, but you can’t immerse in the water.
There are touch controls on the back of both the earbuds that lets you control play or pause or skip music, launch voice assistant and accept or reject calls.
Connectivity, Pairing, and Controls
It has Bluetooth 5.2 and Qualcomm QCC3040 chip. The pairing process is very easy, just press and hold the button in the case for a few seconds when the earbuds are placed. Enable the Bluetooth function on your device, and select the ‘Redmi Earbuds 3 Pro’ and connect. It doesn’t have Google Fast pair support. But if you have a Xiaomi or Redmi phone, you can just hold the phone close to the charging case, open it with the earbuds placed and follow the on-screen instructions to connect the phone to the earbuds. I didn’t face any connectivity issues during my use with the Redmi K20 Pro and Samsung Galaxy A52s. It doesn’t have dual mode connectivity, so you can only pair with one device at a time.
The touch controls are easy to access and are responsive to touch. Since the earbuds are connected to the case, you can’t turn them on or off directly. You just need to place the buds in the case to turn them off.
| Function | Left earbud (L) | Right earbud (R) |
| Incoming call / Hang up Answer second call | Double tap | |
| Play / Pause | Double tap | |
| Double tap | ||
| Activate voice assistant | Double tap | |
| Play Previous song | Touch and Hold | |
| Play Next song | Touch and Hold | |
There is no volume control option. It doesn’t come with any companion app for customizing controls or receive firmware updates.
Audio Quality and Call Performance
The Redmi Earbuds 3 Pro packs Dynamic + Armature Two high resolution sound units for high frequency and low frequency that promise true to nature balanced sound. The driver handles high and middle frequencies well, but you don’t feel the thumping bass for low frequency audio. Since it doesn’t have a custom equalizer support or bass booster mode, there is no option to increase the bass, if you love bass.
It has Bluetooth 5.2 with aptX Adaptive codec for audio. Even though there is no dedicated gaming mode, this has very less to almost no latency when playing games, thanks to aptX Adaptive codec. The company claims that the latency will be as low as 86ms, which is decent.
The Qualcomm chip comes with call noise cancellation. Voice clarity was good for calls indoors, but it doesn’t cut out wind noise much for outdoors. Overall, these have decent audio quality and average call quality for the price.
Battery Life
The earbuds pack a 43mAh battery that promise about 7 hours of standalone battery life. During my use with aptX Adaptive enabled, I got over 6 hours of battery life in 60 to 70% volume. If you disable aptX, you get a better battery life in SBC. It takes over one and half hours to charge the earbuds since it doesn’t have fast charge support. If the earbuds are not connected to a phone for more than 5 minutes, it enters the power saving mode.
With the 600mAh charging case, it promises up to 30 hours of battery life. I got over 3 additional charges wit aptX Adaptive. It takes close to 3 hours to charge the case fully over USB Type-C since it has a huge battery.
Conclusion
Overall, the Redmi Earbuds 3 Pro is a good Bluetooth true wireless earbuds for the price of Rs. 2999, if you need long battery life and aptX Adaptive for gaming, but the audio quality and call quality is just average. It could have offered a companion app with custom EQ settings like Bass boost mode and customizable controls, which is available even in budget TWS earbuds. It is available from Amazon.in, mi.com and Mi Home and Offline stores starting from today, September 9th.
Pros
- Bluetooth 5.2 with aptX Adaptive for low-latency gaming experience
- Wear Detection for auto play / pause
- Decent audio quality
- IPX4 water resistant
- Good battery life
Cons
- No companion to customize touch controls
- Call quality is average
- No fast charging