The budget truly wireless earphones space is unnerving to navigate because of the sheer number of options. It is one of the most crowded and cutthroat product categories in India with choices ranging from a mere ₹500 up to ₹5,000. Brands across the audio and accessories space have offerings in this price segment, some with numerous skews within the same price range.
The budget segment is full of extremes – on one end you have subpar products with poor build quality, minimal features, and bad sound tuning, while on the other end, you have some gems in the making boasting premium features and fantastic sound for the price. The best earphones in this space often punch way above their weight, offering an excellent blend of features and value.
Also read: Digit Zero1 Awards and Best Buy Awards 2023: Best Performing Premium Smartphone (Over ₹50K)
We’re also seeing high-quality codecs, Active Noise Cancellation, app support, customisable EQs, and other such nifty features making it down to this affordable price point. The winner of this category is truly special though – it breaks conventions and opts for a more audiophile-friendly sound profile. Let’s find out which TWS came out on top.
Digit Zero1 Award 2023 Winner: OPPO Enco Air3 Pro (Buy now)
Price: ₹4,999
In July 2023, I called the OPPO Enco Air3 Pro the best-sounding TWS under ₹5,000 in my review, and that statement stands true even today. It blows the competition out of the water because of its honest representation of frequencies across the board. There are very few earphones in this price range, especially consumer-grade ones, that can appeal to beginner audiophiles. The OPPO Enco Air3 Pro is one such pair of TWS earphones. Sporting the world’s first bamboo fibre diaphragm, the OPPO Enco Air3 Pro knocks it out of the park in the sonic department, with the most clean-sounding highs I’ve ever experienced at this price point. Moreover, you get LDAC codec support which allows 990 kbps transmission speeds, allowing for superb high-res sound. Vocals are clear, have great timbre, and sound detailed. The highs are nice and sparkly as well.
The earbuds have excellent passive isolation, and when you add up to 49 dB Active Noise Cancellation to the mix, you’ve got yourself a fairly immersive auditory experience. The battery life isn’t at par with competition though, which is one of its only cons. That aside, the OPPO Enco Air3 Pro also comes packing other niceties such as extension customisation via the accompanying HeyMelody app, low latency mode, fast charging, and much more. A truly deserving winner of this year’s Digit Zero1 Award!
Digit Best Buy Award 2023 Winner: Realme Buds Air 5 Pro (Buy now)
Price: ₹4,999
The Realme Buds Air 5 Pro is a “bass lover’s dream”, as my colleague Satvik aptly opined in his review of this product. The product employs co-axial dual drivers in these earbuds – each handling a different part of the frequency spectrum and it does a fairly good job at doing that. There is some auditory masking in the mids and low-highs, but it isn’t unpleasant. No one but audiophiles will take offence to this bass-forward sound signature approach because at no point does the Realme Buds Air 5 Pro sound too muddy or dark. Moreover, the Realme Link app provides plenty of EQ presets to play around with if you aren’t a fan of the default sound signature.
Also read: Digit Zero1 Awards and Best Buy Awards 2023: Best Performing Camera Smartphone
More than the sound, it is the feature set that makes the Realme Buds Air 5 Pro such a stellar purchase under ₹5,000. Believe it or not, this one actually packs far more features than the OPPO Enco Air3 Pro which already scored really high in our features section. You’ve got ANC, app support, and such features which have gotten fairly common at the ₹5K mark. What sells these earphones for me is the addition of things such as 360-degree spatial audio and Personalised Audio. The kicker is that the spatial audio feature is implemented extremely well for a product this affordable! Additionally, there’s LDAC codec support, Hi-Res audio certification, low latency mode, Google Fast Pair, Dual Device Connection and much more. A feature set like this is often absent even at the ₹10K price point, which is why the Realme Buds Air 5 Pro easily snags the Digit Best Buy Award in this category.
For more information on Digit Zero1 Award winners across various categories of products, please visit: https://www.digit.in/zero1-awards
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Dhriti Datta
Perpetually sporting a death stare, this one can be seen tinkering around with her smartphone which she holds more dear than life itself and stuffing her face with copious amounts of bacon. View Full Profile
