Redmi Buds 6 Pro review

If you’re in the market for a new pair of wireless earbuds and your budget is under €100, then the Redmi Buds 6 Pro are a worthy pick. At €70, these offer triple drivers, hi-res streaming with LDAC support and active noise cancellation (ANC) rated at 55dB. You’re also getting spatial audio support, dual device pairing, and Xiaomi claims you can expect up to 36 hours of battery life from the buds and their case.

Design

Our review unit comes in Glacier White, which gets a glossy finish. Xiaomi is also offering the Buds 6 Pro in Space Black and Lavender Purple, with a more interesting satin finish that’s less prone to smudges.

There’s nothing standout about the Buds 6 Pro's design at first glance. They are entirely made from plastic with relatively short stems and gold Redmi branding. These buds are of the in-ear variety with the old reliable silicone tips. The retail package includes sizes S, M and L as well as a USB-C charging cable.

Xiaomi has nailed the in-ear fit on the Buds 6 Pro. The nicely contoured lines around the speaker assembly fit this reviewer’s ears perfectly without causing any discomfort, even after several hours of use. The silicone tips are soft and easy on the ears without causing any ear fatigue, and they helped the Buds 6 Pro stay locked inside my ears even at the gym, which is not usually the case for most earbuds I’ve tested.

Each earbud features three microphones to help with noise cancellation and voice pickup. The buds are also IP54-rated against dust and water.

The oval shape of the charging case makes it easy to slide in and out of pockets and it’s compact enough to fit inside the coin pocket on your jeans. The case lid closes with a firm snap, which is a well-established mark of premium build quality.

There’s an LED strip on the front of the case that flashes when you put them in pairing mode, and it also doubles as a battery indicator, which is a neat way to keep track of when you need to recharge.

Features and software

Factoring in their price range, the Buds 6 Pro offer an impressive set of features that rival flagship earbuds that are several times more expensive. Each earbud gets an 11mm dynamic driver with a titanium diaphragm and two 6.7mm Piezoelectric ceramic tweeters. Xiaomi claims this setup should translate into a noticeable gain in treble details and an overall richer depth of sound.

Redmi Buds 6 Pro feature custom coaxial triple drivers

The Buds 6 Pro pair over Bluetooth 5.3 with support for the Bluetooth LE, HF, A2DP and AVRCP protocols and the LDAC codec for high-bitrate streaming. You also get improved adaptive noise cancellation, which claims to drown out up to 55dB of noise around you.

Xiaomi’s new ANC algorithm boasts an improved sampling frequency rate which scans surrounding noises 16,000 times a second to ensure optimal noise cancellation. The buds can also adapt the ANC to your specific ear canal shape and adjust noise cancellation accordingly.

In addition, the Buds 6 Pro feature wear-detection sensors, dual device pairing and head tracking. The latter worked flawlessly across iOS, Android, Windows and Mac. Xiaomi also added Google Fast Pair and the ability to link your Google account so all your Android devices will work seamlessly without pairing the buds individually.

Xiaomi’s Earbuds app is your one-stop shop for navigating the Buds 6 Pro’s extensive feature set. The app is available on both iOS and Android and worked flawlessly during our review. Xiaomi phones won’t need the app as all of the features will appear in your phone’s Bluetooth settings tab.

Redmi Buds 6 Pro features inside the Xiaomi Earbuds app

Once paired and signed in to the Earbuds app, you can toggle between the ANC and transparency modes, remap the touch-sensitive controls and toggle between the four built-in equalizer profiles. You can also fine-tune the sound output using the ten-point custom EQ mixer.

Performance and sound quality

Redmi Buds 6 Pro sound great out of the box without any tweaks to the equalizer. There’s an ample amount of bass, but it does not overpower the mid and high frequencies. The vocals come in clear and there’s a sense of balance with the lows and highs. Most affordable earbuds have a V-shaped EQ sound profile, which prioritizes bass, but that’s thankfully not the case here. The default sound stage on the Buds 6 Pro feels lively, instrument separation is great, and you’d be hard-pressed to find better-sounding wireless earbuds at this price point.

Xiaomi’s Earbuds app offers four built-in equalizer (EQ) options, including Standard, Enhance bass, Enhance treble, and Enhance voice. You also get a full 10-band custom EQ setting, which allows you to fine-tune sound output to your preference.

We have to admit that the buds sound better with ANC off, which seems to be a common theme for most wireless earbuds. The ANC system is good for drowning out low-frequency sounds like ACs and fans, and fares okay at isolating the unpleasant sounds associated with public transport commuting.

We can say the Buds 6 Pro’s ANC capabilities are on par with rivals in the midrange segment but fall short of flagship offerings like the Sony WF-1000XM5 and Pixel Buds Pro 2, which offer class-leading noise cancellation. Stronger winds are a particularly tough opponent for most earbuds, and the Redmi Buds 6 Pro took several seconds to adjust.

Transparency mode features a three-stage control with regular mode, Enhance voice and Enhance ambient sound. The latter was the best one out of the three, bringing in the right amount of outside noise and having the ability to isolate voices much better while also sounding the best when playing music.

The touch controls work well as you have a pretty large area along the stems to work with. You have your standard single, double, triple and hold gestures as well as swipes, which are exclusively used for volume control.

Buds 6 Pro’s dimensional audio with head tracking is a nice addition that’s rarely seen in this price range. The feature is supported on iOS and Android devices, and it also worked well enough on a 14-inch MacBook Pro. It managed to simulate a spatial audio effect for some added immersion when watching videos.

Bluetooth connectivity on the Buds 6 Pro was superb during our review period, with no drops even when connected to two devices at a time. Call quality was great in quieter environments and managed to isolate my voice during calls in noisier environments, though it was accompanied by a hissing sound.

Battery life

As per Redmi’s claims, the Buds 6 Pro should last you for 36 hours of combined usage between the buds and their charging case. In our testing, we got 8 hours and 20 minutes from the buds with ANC turned off and four full recharges from the case for a total of just over 33 hours.

Switching ANC and head tracking on was taxing on the battery life, and we achieved 6 hours of use from the buds. Charging is done via the USB-C port on the bottom of the case. A quick 5-minute charge will be good for up to 2 hours of playback. The LED indicator on the case also shows a charging animation during the process, which is a nice touch.

Verdict

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better pair of earbuds under €100 than the Redmi Buds 6 Pro. From their balanced audio profile and neat features like dual-device pairing, LDAC support and head tracking Buds 6 Pro are a worthy pick in the crowded TWS market.

The in-ear fit was great even during workouts and longer listening sessions, the touch controls worked flawlessly and the case is solidly made and features a useful status LED that shows your charge. Our only gripes are that sound quality with ANC enabled was a bit underwhelming, and the noise cancellation was comparable to midrange earbuds.

Circling back to the €70 asking price, Redmi Buds 6 Pro are among our top recommendations for wireless earbuds in early 2025. While cheaper options like the Redmi Buds 6 exist, we feel that Buds 6 Pro add the right amount of additional features to justify their higher asking price while still undercutting most competitors.

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