Earphones, wired or wireless, offer a great way to temporarily cut off from the world around you, whether you are listening to your playlist, watching your favourite show or movie, or taking an important work call. Wearable audio devices have become an integral part of our daily lives. You spot people putting on their earphones in the Metro, during their evening or morning walks, or just simply sitting at home, not trying to disturb anybody. True wireless stereo (TWS), among the two options, offers a more convenient, tangle-free experience. Brands are now rightly hyperfocusing on delivering their best, especially at the lower end of the price range.
Riding the wave, iQOO has also launched its new iQOO Buds in India at an extremely competitive price point of sub-Rs. 2,000. In this price range, many options are available, from counterfeit, non-branded TWS to entry-level models from various brands. However, it also means there are plenty of compromises to make. The best offering makes the right compromises while getting the basics right. And iQOO seems to have made the right calls with its new TWS.
iQOO Buds Design: A Mixed Bag
- Weight: 41.3g (charging case), 3.8g (each earbud)
- Form factor: In-ear
- Water and dust resistance – IP54 (Earbuds
- Colourways – Flame Yellow
The iQOO Buds ship inside a conventional pebble-shaped charging case. However, the hard, glossy plastics clearly give away the TWS price as soon as you pick it up. The charging case is extremely slippery, and if you do not grip it tightly, you can easily drop it. This also means the hard plastic scratches easily, no matter how careful you are. Further, the charging case gets grimy if you ever accidentally touch it with oily or sweaty fingers.
iQOO Buds are really compact
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On top of that, the top lid of the unit I received doesn’t sit perfectly flush on its bottom half. The lid is also quite flimsy and depresses under even light pressure.
With the negatives out of the way, let’s talk about everything that the iQOO Buds gets right. While the top lid seems low-quality, the closing hinge is definitely not. You can easily open and close the charging case with one hand, and beyond a certain point, the top lid goes in either direction with confidence. I never unintentionally closed or opened the lid. The open-and-close mechanism is extremely smooth, thanks to the high-quality hinge.
The iQOO Buds also get the form factor. Its charging case is really pocketable and compact. You can easily hold it in your palm, and its pebble-like shape makes it easy to hold for as long as you want. Weighing about 41.3g, without the earbuds, the charging case itself is really light. You would barely notice its weight in your pocket.
iQOO Buds are comfortable to wear for long hours
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Unlike the outside, the inside of the charging case seems to be made of higher-quality plastic, with a glossy texture where the earbuds stand vertically, making it easy to take the earphones out. The iQOO branding has been engraved on the front of the case, which is small enough to be subtle, yet large enough not to go unnoticed.
Below the iQOO branding, an LED indicator lights up green to show it has enough charge, orange while charging, and white when discoverable. The USB Type-C port sits under the case, which seems well placed and easy to reach.
iQOO Buds gets a dual-tone finish
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Moving on, the iQOO Buds earbuds are also made of glossy hard plastic. However, they seem to be significantly better built compared to the charging case. The in-ear style earbuds fit perfectly inside your ears, offering great comfort. No matter how much you shake your head when you are jamming to your favourite tunes, running, or working out, the earbuds will not budge out of your ears.
The silicone tips also seem to be of decent quality. The iQOO Buds have a short stem. As a result, they don’t jut out much, creating an overall comfortable experience. I was able to wear the TWS for over five to six hours continuously, without feeling any discomfort. I could also comfortably lay my head sideways while wearing the iQOO Buds.
iQOO Buds’ in-ear style earbuds
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iQOO’s new TWS comes in a single Flame Yellow colourway, with a black shade on the outside and a yellow finish on the inside of the charging case. The colourway looks fine overall, and the contrasting colours, ironically, complement each other well.
Overall, the iQOO Buds design is a mixed bag. However, I can easily ignore the negatives because, in my opinion, the positives outweigh the downsides. Depending on your preference, you might think differently.
iQOO Buds Sound Quality and Specifications: Gets Most Things Right, But There’s a Catch
- Driver – 10mm moving coil drivers
- Codec Support – AAC, SBC
- Gesture controls – Yes (tap)
- Companion app – vEarphones
- Connectivity – Bluetooth 6.1
- Range – 10m
- Other features – AI Noise Call Reduction, Dual Microphone Unit
Now to the most important part of any audio device: audio quality and specs. The iQOO Buds, for its price point, has its priorities straight. It makes the right compromises to hit the budget price point and deliver what any pair of earphones should: amazing audio quality. Hence, good sound comes at a cost. For this, you have to trade in a few very basic features, too.
iQOO Buds lack a few basic features
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The iQOO Buds lack active noise cancellation. However, thanks to the isolation provided by its silicone tips and in-ear form factor, the TWS doesn’t really need any noise cancellation. Talk-through functionality should have been included in the feature list. Regardless, I was most disappointed to find it also lacks wear detection, which is a necessity, and skimping on it should not have been an option for iQOO.
Every time somebody approached me to ask for something or just to talk, I had to pause whatever was playing and then take off the earbuds. Most of the time, I took off the earphones without hitting pause, and the song or video kept playing for hours before I realised I’d left something playing on my phone or laptop. However, if you put the earbuds back in their charging case, the iQOO Buds disconnect immediately and pause the media.
Despite these trade-offs, the iQOO Buds do what they are supposed to do and do it surprisingly well for a budget TWS. Equipped with 10mm moving-coil drivers, the iQOO Buds are among the best-sounding earbuds in this price range. The audio device offers a really balanced sound profile, neither too bass-heavy nor too flat, hitting the Goldilocks zone for me. Whenever required, the earbuds can deliver punchy bass, enough to let you enjoy it without hurting your eardrums.
iQOO Buds’ companion app is easy to use
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It also has a wide signature sound profile. The iQOO Buds separate each instrument well, allowing you to enjoy percussion, sustained chords, and pitched tones. I listened to a variety of music across Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music. On Spotify, it offered a good mix of quality and loudness, performing best with Punjabi Pop, Hip Hop, and Bollywood genres and getting the 808 beats just right.
I listened to Karan Aujla’s Low Fade, Navaan Sandhu’s Levels & Graphs, Prem Dhillon’s Backlash, 91FM’s Pickup, and the entire album of Musafir Cafe. Similarly, I binged the first season of Musafir Cafe on Netflix and Hustle season five on JioHotstar. The iQOO Buds were able to transmit dialogues (spoken word) with impressive clarity.
You can also tweak the EQ settings and other features in the vEarphones companion app, available on iOS and Android, which is easy to use. The TWS pairs up quickly with devices and enters discoverable mode as soon as you open the lid. However, I would have appreciated a dedicated button. I also want to point out that I couldn’t connect the iQOO Buds to my television, which kept me from testing the earbuds with my PlayStation 5.
iQOO Buds offers multiple customisation options
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The iQOO Buds also feature AI Noise Call Reduction, which works well most of the time. The overall calling experience is decent. However, people on the other side seldom complain about clarity issues. Moreover, the gesture controls work quite well, easily recognising all taps as intended.
Overall, the great audio quality of the iQOO Buds does help me ignore the lack of some basic features.
iQOO Buds Battery Life: Lasts Forever
- Battery – 53mAh (Earbuds); 525mAh (Charging Case)
In terms of battery life, the iQOO Buds also perform impressively well. With about six to seven hours of daily usage, I ended up with 31 percent battery life on the charging case after a week’s use. The earbuds themselves easily last a full workday, depending on the volume level. I was listening to music at around 60 percent volume and watching videos at about 50 percent.
iQOO Buds provides long battery life
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Eventually, I did manage to drain the charging case battery. However, it came back to life faster than I expected. It went from 0 to 100 percent in about 2 hours and 15 minutes, with the earbuds charging simultaneously.
iQOO Buds Verdict
Priced at Rs. 1,899, the iQOO Buds deliver what they’re supposed to. Since it lacks some must-have features, like wear detection, a dedicated Bluetooth button, and transparency or talk-through mode, some users might call it too bare-bones. However, for users who value superior sound quality, a no-nonsense experience, long battery life, and wear comfort, the iQOO Buds become one of the best contenders in this price bracket.
While there is an obvious lack of it, whatever features the iQOO Buds get, it delivers on them successfully, with minimal glitches. It offers a better experience and more bang for your buck than rivals that offer gimmicky features like AI Translate, which rarely works, while compromising audio quality. However, if you are a basshead, the Moto Buds 2 offer more features and similar comfort, making it a better choice for you. Similarly, you can also consider the OnePlus Nord Buds 4, which are slightly more expensive.
