Realme Buds Air 8 Review: The Honest Truth After 3 Weeks of Daily Use

Pros & Cons

Detailed Review

First Impressions

When the Realme Buds Air 8 arrived, I was genuinely surprised by the packaging. For a sub-3K earbud, it felt premium. The Master Grey color looks classy, not cheap silver like some competitors. My teenage nephew immediately wanted to steal them, which I guess is a good sign.

How I Tested This

I used these daily for three weeks in Delhi NCR during peak summer. Metro commutes from Noida to CP, evening walks in our colony with all the aunties gossiping loudly, and late night gaming sessions when the wife was asleep. I also let my brother use them for a week since he takes calls all day for his insurance business. The real test was during a power cut when the inverter fan was making that annoying hum – wanted to see if ANC actually works.

Sound Quality and Bass

Okay, here is where Realme actually delivers. The dual driver setup with 11mm and 6mm drivers pumps out bass that will make Punjabi songs slap hard. Diljit tracks sound fantastic, and even older Honey Singh stuff has that chest-thumping feel. However, and this is important, if you listen to acoustic or classical music, the bass can feel overwhelming. I played some Arijit Singh ballads and the vocals sometimes got lost behind the bass. The Hi-Res LHDC codec makes a noticeable difference when paired with my OnePlus, but my dad’s old Samsung could not use it.

ANC Performance

Let me be brutally honest here. The 55dB ANC claim is generous. Does it reduce noise? Yes. Does it make the metro silent? Absolutely not. It cuts maybe 40-50% of low frequency sounds like AC hum or traffic. High pitched sounds like auto horns or that irritating vendor outside my office still come through. For this price, it is acceptable, but do not expect Sony or Apple level silence.

Call Quality and Latency

My brother was impressed with call clarity. The 6 mic ENC setup handles wind noise decently, though he said clients sometimes asked him to repeat when he was walking on busy roads. The 45ms latency mode for gaming actually works well. Played BGMI for hours and had no audio delay issues. This is genuinely better than my old OnePlus Buds Z.

Battery Life

The 58 hour total claim is close to real if you disable ANC. With ANC on medium, I got around 35-40 hours total, which is still excellent. The case charges fast and the buds themselves give solid 6-7 hours per charge. No complaints here at all.

Comfort and Build

They fit my ears well, but my wife found them slightly large. The IP55 rating gave me confidence during sweaty evening walks. After 2-3 hours continuously, my ears did feel some fatigue, but that might just be my ear shape.

What Annoyed Me

The touch controls are overly sensitive. I accidentally paused music while adjusting fit at least ten times. Also, the app has way too many permissions and keeps sending notifications about Realme sales. The spatial audio is gimmicky at best and I turned it off after day two.

Score Breakdown

Key Specifications

Our Verdict