One of the biggest pet peeves of modern smartphones is that most of them either don’t come bundled with a good pair of earphones or don’t have them at all. The other hit on the gut has been the fact that most smartphones are forgoing the 3.5mm headphone jack for wireless solutions. The modern dynamics of the smartphone industry have started to rid the old school earphone almost extinct. Well, that’s not true. For audiophiles, wired headphones or earphone always provide the optimal balance between sound quality, adaptability and affordability and that’s what Xiaomi is betting on. It Mi Dual Driver earphones aren’t cheap Apple iPod earphone knock-offs, but instead these are bad ass earphones that don’t hurt the pocket at all — they are potentially the ultimate lifesavers especially if you’re picky about the quality of audio and you’re on a budget.
What’s warped
- These are very nicely built ergonomic earphones. You get a braided cable and the ear tips are offered in different sizes which makes this just not a very comfortable set of earbuds, but also very reliable as these buds don’t get cluttered with dirt very quickly.
- At the end of the day, it all boils down to sound quality — they sound fantastic. The highs are not uncomfortably sharp, there is ample bass so that you can feel a thump while everything is acoustically balanced with a creamy mid-range. It sounds very decent for all kinds of music.
- These earbuds also shine through with video content. There is great stereo separation for videos on streaming services like Netflix you can watch shows like Altered Carbon and everything sounds incredibly moody.
- Their incredible price of Rs 750 has to be their biggest USP. There simply isn’t an audio product from a mainstream consumer electronics brand that delivers such high performance at such low cost.
What’s not
- They aren’t the most attractive looking earbuds. They are designed in a functional way, but they look quite ugly which may not be to the liking of fashionistas.
- The microphone could’ve been better which could’ve made for better call quality.
To buy or not to buy?
Ignore the price for once, and just judge the Mi Dual Driver earphones on the basis of their performance. They will almost always surprise you with a very high standard of sound, working across different genres of music, movies and even calls. At the same time, they may not look very attractive but they are built to last. Combine all of these traits with its unbeatable Rs 750 price, the question isn’t of should you buy them but when.
Words by Sahil Mohan Gupta
Originally published at https://warpcore.live on March 26, 2020.
