Xiaomi's Redmi Buds 4 Active review: No-frills wireless earbuds on budget

At Rs 1,399, the Redmi Buds 4 Active from the house of Xiaomi are among the cheapest in-ear type wireless earbuds with focus on the audio quality and wireless experience

Expanding its line of wireless earbuds under Redmi brand, Chinese electronics maker Xiaomi recently launched in India the Redmi Buds 4 Active. At Rs 1,399, these are among the cheapest in-ear type wireless earbuds in the country. The focus here is on the audio quality and wireless experience. Let us dive in to details:

Design

The Redmi Buds 4 Active come in Air White and Bass Black colour variants. These come placed in a pebble-shaped case, which is made of rough textured plastic with glossy strip covering the circumference. The case has a minimal design with barely visible Redmi badging on the rear side. The case has a USB type-C port and LED light indicator on the bottom side. Like other similar earbuds, the case has a flap on the top side that is easy to open and close. On the down side, the case has no pairing button. Resting inside the case are cheap looking pair of wireless earbuds.

Like the case, the earbuds wear rough plastic texture. The Redmi Buds 4 Active might not be the best-looking wireless earbuds, but these are lightweight and fit securely in the ear cavity – thanks to the in-ear design. The earbuds are IPX4-rated for resistance against water ingress.

Connectivity

The  Redmi Buds 4 Active support Google Fast Pair for easy pairing with supported devices. It essentially means the earbuds show up on the nearby Google Android-based devices as soon you flip open the case. There, you tap on the connect button and the buds pair with the device instantly using Bluetooth connectivity. While first time pairing is easy, the lack of pairing button on the case makes it difficult to pair the earbuds in subsequent tries with other devices. Besides, there is no multi-point connectivity. Therefore, you need to either reset them or put them back on pairing mode every time you plan to use them with a different device. Unfortunately, the process of initiating the pairing mode is not easy either – tap five times on each earbud simultaneously to enable pairing mode.

Audio quality and app

The Redmi Buds 4 Active boasts a 12mm dynamic audio driver, which is tuned for bass-heavy output. For the entry-level wireless earbuds, the sound quality is modest. However, compared with neckband-type wireless earbuds in the same segment, the earbuds sound dull and lack clarity. Besides, these have subdued volume levels. There is a supplementary app, named Xiaomi Earbuds, but it does not have features built-in. It shows battery and charging status of the case and each earbud. It has an option to access additional settings, but there you just see a setting to enable low latency. The low latency mode does not aid the performance and there is persistent latency issue noticeable especially while gaming.

Verdict

The Redmi Buds 4 Active are basic wireless earbuds on budget. These may not impress audiophiles but that is true for most entry-level wireless earbuds. That said, there are better neckband-type wireless earphones available in the market that offer better audio quality and on-battery time at about the same price. But, the Redmi Buds 4 Active are not bad either if you are out in the market for wireless no-frill earbuds on budget.