Realme’s traditional ‘Master Edition’ is reserved for its smartphones and usually, it just means some extra RAM or a stylish and custom back panel. The latest to join the Master Edition brigade is not a smartphone but Realme’s TWS earbuds launched a couple of months back called the Realme Buds Air Pro. The product has been made in collaboration with French designer José Lévy of Hermés. Launched at Rs 4,999, here is an unboxing and first impression of the device.
Inside the box, you can find a top compartment with the usual warranty-related paperwork and the startup guide. Below that sits the Buds Air Pro in their case and just alongside that is a separate compartment that houses the replaceable silicone tips and the USB Type-C cable. That is pretty much it as far as the unboxing of the device is concerned. Usually, you do see some kind of paperwork pertaining to the collaboration with a designer but on the Realme Buds Air Pro Master Edition, it is missing.
The case itself is quite a work of art with its Space Capsule inspired design and a glowing silver finish which carries over to the earbuds on the inside. The case is very light, easily pocketable and Realme has said to employ a vacuum plating process on the body. For the uninitiated, it is a technique for vapor phase coating in a vacuum chamber filled with air or inert gas. Realme assures that this will allow the case to have a lasting shine although during my initial usage it has also been a big fingerprint magnet. Apart from that, there is no change from the original Realme Buds Air Pro.
In terms of features, you get ANC (active noise cancellation), 94mm of super low-latency, transparency mode, and quick charge capabilities. Apart from that, the earbuds are also IPX4 water-resistant and make use of Bluetooth 5.0 for connectivity. The earbuds have touch sensors to control the various functionalities like music play/pause, volume controls, and summoning your AI assistant. You can modify and control most of the features using the Realme Link app for Android and iOS.
As for sound quality itself, the Master Edition also features the same 10mm drivers seen on the normal Buds Air Pro. The listening experience, when looking at the price tag, is quite superlative. My initial impressions were that the earbuds produce a very enriching, bass-heavy sound signature with balanced mids. There is also a focus on vocals and surprisingly the instrument separation is also quite good. The ANC is not exactly the best but again for the price, you won’t find anything better. Talking about the battery life, the Master Edition offers up to 25 hours of music playback with the case included.
Based on my initial impressions, the Realme Buds Air Master Edition looks more and more like a steal deal for the price of Rs 4,999. It has the looks and the sound quality to back it up along with lasting battery life. The collaboration with José Lévy also lends a touch of class to the device as well. I personally feel that the device would be a very good buy considering the no other TWS in the segment offer the kind of features seen on the Realme Buds Air Master Edition.
