Redmi Buds 5C Review: Reliable and Affordable

Redmi recently introduced its new budget-oriented TWS in the market with Redmi Buds 5C. The latest earbuds come with a price tag of Rs 1,999 and offer some interesting features and specifications. The new earbuds offer hybrid ANC up to 40dB, 12.4mm dynamic Titanium drivers, five different sound profiles, IP54 rating, and more. The earbuds will take on the likes of brands like Boat, Noise, and more that have already established themselves in this price segment. However, is it enough to make its presence felt in the affordable TWS segment? Let’s find out in this in-depth review.

Redmi Buds 5C design and features: compact and comfortable

• Dimensions: 31 x 21.4 x 23.45 mm (earbuds); 57 x 55.95 x 26.85 mm (box)
• Weight – 4.2g (each button); 38.5g (total with case)
• Water and dust resistant – IP54 (earbuds only)
• Colors – Symphony Blue, Bass White and Acoustic Black

The Redmi Buds 5C has a compact design and a comfortable in-ear design. The case has a square design with rounded edges, making it easier to fit in your palms. The lid also feels sturdy and you get a nice click sound when you close it. The device comes in different color options, but the Symphony Blue gives a pretty premium look and feel in my opinion. There is a small LED light at the bottom to indicate connection. At the bottom, you will find a USB Type-C port and a pair button.

The Redmi Buds 5C is available in Acoustic Black, Bass White and Symphony Blue colours.

The earbuds’ stem design is inspired by AirPods Pro (2nd generation). The earbuds are lightweight, comfortable to wear, and come with two extra pairs, one small and one large. The medium earbuds stay in place while hiking, but feel a little loose while exercising.

While there’s no IP rating on the case, the earbuds are IP54 rated, meaning they can withstand light splashes. You also get touch controls on each earbud to play, pause, adjust volume, and more with tap functions.

Redmi Buds 5C App and Specs: User-Friendly Interface

• Driver – 12.4mm
• Companion App – Xiaomi Earbuds
• Gesture control – Yes (tap)

The Redmi Buds 5C comes with a companion app that lets you control multiple functions. The Xiaomi Earbuds app is available on both Android and iOS platforms, which is a good thing. The app interface is pretty easy to use and you get the important information on the home screen such as battery percentage and noise cancellation options.

The earbuds also support a companion app called Xiaomi Earbuds.

The app also lets you customize the gestures on the earbuds. You can customize a single tap, double tap, and triple tap on each earbud individually. The company gives you the option to select different actions for different taps, such as volume up and down, pause and play, and more. While the press and hold function toggles the noise cancellation mode on/off.

The app also allows you to select the equalizer based on your preferences, check the firmware update or find your earbuds. However, these functions require you to log in with your Xiaomi account or create one.

The Redmi Buds 5C has an IP54 rating, which means it is splash and dust resistant.

Looking at the specifications, the Redmi Buds 5C offers some interesting features. The earbuds come with a 12.4mm driver along with hybrid active noise cancellation of up to 40dB. The earbuds support SBC and AAC codecs along with Google Fast Pair and dual device smart connection. It also features Bluetooth 5.3, custom EQ modes, and dual microphones with AI noise cancellation.

Redmi Buds 5C performance and battery life: lots of bass, reliable battery

• ANC-40dB
• Battery – 45mAh (Bud), 480mAh (Case)
• Charging – Wired (USB Type-C)
• Bluetooth 5.3

The Redmi Buds 5C offers a decent performance for the price. The Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) is quite effective and you get three different modes: Noise Cancellation, Transparency, and Off. The noise cancelation works well indoors. As soon as you turn it on, the ambient noise is reduced quite a bit, if not completely. Outdoors too, the performance was decent and was able to cancel out sounds from traffic and other environmental disturbances.

The Redmi Buds 5C supports the hybrid ANC function, which works effectively.

The earbuds also come with different EQ modes, which you can control via the Xiaomi Earbuds application. You get the choice of Standard, Enhance Treble, Enhance Bass, Enhance Voice, and Custom modes. However, the Enhance Bass is the best mode to go with as it offers the best sound output. You can also adjust the frequencies to your liking using the Custom mode.

Coming to the performance, the Redmi Buds 5C brings a balanced approach with an emphasis on the bass. This means that you get a bass-heavy sound while playing songs like ‘Big Dawg’ by Hanumankind. However, I found that the bass overpowered the mids and highs. So in a song like ‘I’m Yours’ by Jason Mraz, the bass overpowers the instruments and vocals. I also noticed some distortion and uneven sound separation at high volumes, which was a bit disappointing.

The latest earbuds come with an AI-powered ENC function for noise cancellation during calls.

The earbuds also have a decent battery life. The company claims that you can get up to 36 hours of backup with the case and up to 7 hours of backup on each earbud. During the testing period, I found that the earbuds delivered almost 4 hours of backup with the ANC turned on. With ANC turned off, you can get almost 6 hours of backup from each earbud.

With the charging case I got almost 30 hours of playback time, which is impressive considering the price. The charging time of the earbuds is also fast, with a full battery within 50 minutes of charging via the case. Charging the case was a bit slow though, with it taking over two hours to fully charge.

The earbuds offer up to 36 hours of playtime with the charging case.

Call quality is also good. The earbuds have dual microphones with AI-based ENC which provide good isolation from ambient noise but not from the busy roadside. The earbuds provide good clarity on both sides which is a good thing.

Redmi Buds 5C Review

To conclude, the Redmi Buds 5C brings a good package in the affordable TWS segment. For a price tag of Rs 1,799, the earbuds deliver effective ANC coupled with decent sound quality and impressive battery life. The segment also has some good competitors. You have Noise Buds Venus (Review), Honor Choice Earbuds X5 (Review) and more that deliver good performance under the Rs 2,000 price segment. That said, if you are one of those who loves bass-heavy sound and don’t want to invest much on earbuds, then you can consider the Redmi Buds 5C.