realme Buds Q: Designer TWS headphones with a gaming twist

This post is brought to you by realme.

TWS headphones have become ever so important nowadays, with headphone jacks progressively becoming a thing of the past. But the options are certainly vast in the saturated headphone market, and different users have distinctive needs for gaming, music, or even video calls. 

So, what if you needed a little bit of everything? The new realme Buds Q, designed by José Lévy, cooperated designer of Hermès, offer users a blend of style and functionality—including some impressive gaming features—for an affordable price. 

So, what are the key points that you need to know?

The cobble: A modern, trend-setting design 

The new realme Buds Q have a design that was inspired by the humble cobble—according to the team, this means that the “warm, soft, and comfortable” aesthetic of cobbles is represented in the sleek design of realme’s headphones. This was designed by renowned French artist, cooperated designer of Hermès, José Lévy. 

But it isn’t just the designer look that realme’s Buds Q have. The anthropomorphic shape and the in-ear beak-like earpiece also offer users a comfortable and ergonomic fit, which is something that is hugely important for TWS headphones. The rounded edges of the Buds achieve this by matching the contours of your ears, while the frosted touch offers a premium finish. 

This entire design took 180 days and more than 200 prototypes to perfect, and the result is this: a pair of TWS headphones that offers a combination of comfort, style, and functionality.

Impressive battery life

Wireless headphones are often worn by users for hours upon hours, which is why battery life is such an important facet of TWS headphones. And with 20 hours of music playback promised by realme for the Buds Q (including the charging case), you have enough juice to watch the equivalent of 8 movies, 400 songs, or even two whole seasons of Game of Thrones on a single charge.

This means that users who use their headphones for around three hours per day will only need to charge the realme Buds Q once a week—which is pretty impressive. There’s a 40mAh battery within the buds themselves, while the charging case has another 400mAh of juice for easy backup charging. 

And if your charging case runs dry? All you need to do is use a compatible Micro-USB cable, with full charges for the buds and charging case taking two hours respectively. 

10mm Dynamic Bass Boost driver: Thumping bass for days

The realme Buds Q uses a 10mm Dynamic Bass Boost (DBB) driver, which provides an “incredible” sound experience. According to realme, the diaphragm of the driver utilises a PEEK&PU polymer composite to achieve this—PU offers thumping, deep bass, while PEEK contributes to better results on mid and high frequencies. 

DBB was created by realme’s own acoustics specialists, with the company promising dynamism and more bass layers to produce “heart-thumping” music playback. 

Low latency Gaming Mode

The continued development of mobile technology has also contributed to the mobile esports genre, and smartphones are now widely-considered to be a bonafide gaming device. This also means that latency of wireless headphones is more important than ever, and every millisecond of delay can be critical in the success—or failure—of your in-game mission. 

As such, realme has integrated a low latency Gaming Mode with the help of its R1Q True Wireless Chip. With a latency time of just 119ms, all you need to do is to switch to Gaming Mode, and realme says that you’ll have “perfect sync” between video and audio on your smartphone. When Gaming Mode is enabled, this latency is reduced by up to 51 percent—a significant improvement from the standard mode.

An affordable price for the masses

Despite the plethora of features that we’ve just talked about, the realme Buds Q are priced towards the affordable end of the spectrum. Local retail pricing in Malaysia is RM129, which certainly makes this one of the most bang-for-buck TWS headphones you can find in 2020. 

So, if you’re in the market for a pair of TWS headphones that offer you a blend of style, sound, and features—this might just be the one for you. Colour options are signature to realme’s usual theme: Black and Yellow. 

To find out more, click here for the realme Buds Q official product page.