Since arriving in Israel almost a year and a half ago through the official bug importer, Rilmi has already launched a wide range of smartphones here, but not only.
A few weeks ago, the company's new TWS headphones, the
Buds Q2
-
arrived in Israel
- joining a quiet launch held a few weeks earlier for the company's new new TWS headphone models, the
Buds Air 2
and the
Buds Air 2 Neo
.
I received the three headphones for review and I am happy to announce that as with its smartphones, in the field of headphones Rilmi manages to surprise well, with an impressive sound and a host of features that can not always be found in more expensive headphones.
Realme Buds Q2, Giraffe
I reviewed Rilmi's original Buds Q headphones in the second part of the big headphone test and my conclusion was that they are not bad at all relative to the price and yet my recommendation was to invest a little more on better headphones, mainly because of the slightly jarring sound.
The Buds Q2
are very similar to the previous model, except for the touchpad which is slightly larger and comes in a kaleidoscope-like design.
The headphones I received for review came in lilac color - which at the time of launch was the only color in which the headphones are sold in Israel - but a bug color was recently added to Bug's website.
Thanks to their light weight Buds Q2 comfort in the ear even in prolonged use, they are also quite stable and I found myself tinkering with them, to improve grip, very few times.
The charging case is very similar to that of the previous model, but a bit more rounded and with a Micro USB connection for charging on the back.
I know these are cheap headphones and yet, the use of this so old-fashioned connection in 2021,
is more than out of place
.
At the sound level the new model is very reminiscent of the previous model with small but significant improvements;
The accuracy of the bass is better and in general the sound is much less jarring.
If in the original Buds Q I claimed they were fine, but my recommendation for those who like to hear a lot of music has always been to try to invest more, in the case of the new model, if
130 shekels
is what you have to invest, you will not regret, the Buds Q2 are good enough to use Intense, though they are still far from being headphones for audiophiles.
But not only does the sound have an improvement, Rilmi has also improved the lag time to just 88 milliseconds and this is noticeable when using headphones for watching videos.
Battery time has also improved slightly, with the Buds Q2 offering an average of 5 hours of use from a single charger, with about three more full charges using the charging case.
The last issue Rilmi has improved on in the new Buds Q2 model is call quality.
The headphones are equipped with ENC technology to eliminate noise during a call and the improvement is noticeable, but I still encountered some complaints about the fact that in noisy places it is difficult to hear me.
In this combined review I will compliment many Rilmi for having a headphone app and although the registration process for the app is particularly exhausting, once you sign up you have control over a wide range of features.
You can switch between the three built-in audio modes (in my opinion the Bass Boost is the most successful of all), turn the game mode on and off and you can even set the actions you can perform using the touch gestures in the headphones.
Unfortunately I did not find an option here to control the volume, but you can turn the music on and off and you can move a track back and forth.
Additionally, you can set up a voice assistant scheduler.
Touch gestures respond excellently by the way, when activation is through double, triple or long tap.
There is no single tapping option here, probably to prevent accidental activation.
Buds Air 2 Neo
The Buds Air 2 Neo
look almost exactly
like the Buds Q2, with one difference - instead of the kaleidoscope, the touchpad is decorated with glossy oval plastic.
Premium they are not visible, but they certainly have a section.
Due to the similarity in size and weight of the two models, the Buds 2 Neo also sit well in the ear and are comfortable even for prolonged use.
The charging case is also almost identical in both models, but fortunately in the Neo the charging connector is of the USB Type-C type.
The similarity continues with the call quality, the same as in Buds Q2 - good most of the time, but a little sensitive to noisy places.
Realme Buds Air 2 Neo, Giraffe
The Buds Air 2 Neo are sold for
NIS 200
, NIS 70 more than the Buds Q2 and for this addition you get an active noise cancellation. The truth is that I did not really expect the noise cancellation to be effective at this price, but I must take my hat off to Rilmi - in my office, where the air conditioner and fan were lit together and made quite a bit of noise, the Air 2 Neo managed to silence them
almost completely
. Outside, they managed to reduce traffic noise quite a bit, but did not mute the level of more expensive headphones. Where the noise cancellation is less successful is in the voices of people who have spoken to me, whom I have heard quite clearly, even when the ANC is on fire.
Most often, headphones that have an ANC also have a transparency mode.
The same goes for Buds Air 2 Neo and to their credit it can be said that the transparency mode works great and manages to take advantage of the microphones of the headphones to keep me completely awake to the environment.
I even managed to have conversations with people next to me, without taking the Buds out of my ears.
In the sound segment, the Neo are a significant upgrade to Buds Q2 with a fuller and more accurate sound.
At this price I have yet to hear headphones that sound that good, although it is not yet a model that will provide an average audiophile.
Rilmi's app gives all the good it provides to Buds Q2, with some significant additions: turning the ANC mode on and off and transparency, along with the ability to set the transition between them using touch gestures that also - as in the cheaper model - work well.
In a use that combines noise cancellation for about half the time, I was able to squeeze about 5 hours of use from the headphone battery, slightly less than the Q2, but one must keep in mind that the cheaper model has no noise cancellation at all.
There is no doubt that Rilmi's Buds Air 2 Neo
justifies every shekel from their price
and every shekel extra on the price of the Buds Q2.
If you are looking for extra cheap headphones, but can pull the budget up to NIS 200,
just go for it!
Buds Air 2
The Buds Q2 and the Buds Air 2 Neo are, as I already mentioned, very similar headphones to each other, the Buds Air 2 on the other hand, completely different.
Already with the opening of the box of the senior model of the three, it feels like Rilmi is addressing a completely different audience here, with a quality of materials and an opening that conveys quality.
Realme Buds Air 2, Giraffe
The ultra-round and compact charging case continues this line, with a glossy white or black finish that, while attracting a lot of fingerprints, feels quality and durable.
The hinge leaves the case lid open even when you hold it upside down and the magnets hold the headphones firmly.
The charging connector is, as expected, of the USB Type-C type, which is missing here and it's a shame (but this is forgivable in light of the price), it is a wireless charger.
The headphones themselves are designed completely differently from the Buds Q2 and the Air 2 Neo with an Airpod-inspired "tail".
The tail itself comes in a different color from the part that goes into the ear - in the white model the tail is silver and in the black model the tail is bright dark blue.
The design is quite nice, but the glossy finish gives the headphones, in my eyes at least, a slightly cheap look.
To the credit of the Buds Air 2, it can be said that they are particularly light and comfortable in the ear, in fact this is one of the most comfortable headphones I have reviewed and even with prolonged use, I hardly felt them.
The silicone adapters are elliptical and come in three different sizes, with the medium being the most comfortable for me.
The price of the senior model is
NIS 279
in the Bug chain, which is the official importer of Rilmi products in Israel.
At this price you get, more or less, the same features offered by the Air 2 Neo with the addition of sensors that detect the removal of the headphones from the ear and stop playing the music.
What the headphones refused to stop,
This is the connection to the phone when I put them back in the charging case.
This has happened to me in most of the times I have tried to disconnect from the headphones and in most cases I just had to go into the Bluetooth settings on the phone to disconnect manually.
I hope this is a matter that will be resolved in a future version update (and to a real credit it will be said that the headphones get version updates through the app) because it is terribly annoying.
The sound of the Buds Air 2 is very surprisingly good.
It is not the most accurate or detailed sound that can be found, but it is full, with a great combination of low, medium and high frequencies without any frequency feeling too dominant.
Undoubtedly, these are headphones that are hard to hear and as long as you are not a die-hard audiophile, you will not be disappointed with what these headphones have to offer in terms of sound quality.
In fact, at this price, apart from the Tribit Flybuds NC, which even cost a little less than the Rilmi, I have yet to come across headphones that sound better.
The noise cancellation and transparency mode of the Air 2 function just like in the Neo version - very good for the price, but do not compete with market leaders such as the Jabra 85T, the Galaxy Buds Pro from Samsung, Sennheiser, Sony and Bose.
The use of the app is also exactly the same as the cheaper model, except for the option to turn on or off the sensors that detect the removal of the headphones from the ear.
Here, too, you can set the touch gestures - which work perfectly - using the app, but even here you will not find the option to control the volume.
Battery life is reasonable and surprisingly in this respect, the senior model is the weakest of the three models in the review, with about 4.5 hours of use on average while partially using noise cancellation.
That should be enough for most users, but I was expecting more.
What I did like was the fast charging that allows for an additional use of just over an hour of just 10 minutes of charging.
The charging case adds another 4 full charge cycles.
Summary
If you are looking for headphones at prices ranging from a little over NIS 100 to NIS 300, Rilmi definitely has something to offer when especially in the two cheaper models in this review, it offers value that is currently unrivaled in the country.
The senior model - the Buds Air 2 - also offers great value, but unlike its smaller siblings, it has several competitors, the most notable of which is Tribit's Flybuds NC.
While the Rilmi offers a nicer design, a more compact case and a slightly more successful noise cancellation, the Tribit has almost double battery life and an even better sound, though not by a large margin, so deciding which is better is a matter of priorities.
In any case, it seems that as with its smartphones,
Rilmi offers a wonderful value for the price of its headphones.
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