The Xiaomi Mi AirDots Pro Are Incomplete

Last year, Xiaomi became a new competitor in the ever growing business of truly-wireless headphones, as any first generation product however, the device had more a few flaws that we wished could be fixed with its sequel. With the sequel here, we are sad to report that after spending a few days with this device however, we’ve come to realize that it is oddly missing many features from its sales pitch - making it impossible for us to bring you our full review.

During its unveiling, Xiaomi discussed how amazingly their new pair of headphones would connect with their new software, showing pop ups and offering an always on-assistant just like Apple’s AirPods. Though this excited us, we have been greeted to the rude awakening that not only does the popup not currently show any visual of the earbuds, but that its always on AI is only available in mandarin, not offering any settings for English speakers to use an alternative such as Google Now.

On a more technical level, Xiaomi offered the ability to access a settings option for the earbuds, which would not only allow for users to setup control gestures as they see fit, but for the earbuds to enable a new audio codec, which should in theory sound a lot better than its previous generation. Despite running Xiaomi’s latest software, MIUI 11, we were not able to access either of these services, which Xiaomi’s promises will be fixed through a software update. 

Because that update has not yet arrived, the device also features less than optimum delays, making the viewing experience not as comfortable as was promised. Using the previous codec, the earbuds still sound as average as they used to, which at a price-tag of $60, makes for a unappealing purchase. 

For a device so readily advertised as Xiaomi’s answers to AirPods - a device that would bring a lower price, great audio, but most importantly convenience, the Xiaomi Mi AirDots Pro 2 are currently very lacking - and given Xiaomi’s track-record with updates, we are left with little hope that it may be what it was promised to be one day. 

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Xiaomi Redmi AirDots Vs QCY T1C // Cheap Bluetooth Headphone Comparison

The Xiaomi Redmi AirDots Are Xiaomi’s newest attempt at winning the TWS headphones battle that manufacturers are currently waging. But is Xiaomi competing with itself? We are going to compare the Xaiomi Redmi Airdots with the QCY T1C.

Case

QCY T1C:

What I Like:

• Feels extremely durable in hand even though it is made with cheap materials.

• No lid means less to break and better longer lasting durability.

• Magnets do a great job holding the headphone in place

• Case holds and extra 3-4 charges for the headphones

What I Don’t Like:

• No indicator of how much battery is left on the case

• Micro USB SUCKS! USB-C The world

• The plastic for the case feel cheap

Xiaomi Redmi AirDots

What I Like:

• Case is small

• Case is lightweight

What I Don’t Like

• Case feels extremely cheap

• Lid feels like its going to break

• Soft touch plastic means the headphones are more difficult to charge

• No battery indicator

• Micro Usb

Can you guess what headphone this is?

Headphones

QCY T1C

What I Like:

• Seal in the very very securely and block outside noise very well

• Button provides good feedback when it is pressed

• Small and can be worn under a hat, turban, hijab, etc.

• Lightweight and do a good job staying in ear

What I Don’t Like:

• Slightly larger than the Redmi AirDots

• Button can be difficult to press compared to Redmi Airdots

• Terrible microphone quality for taking calls

Redmi AirDots

What I like:

• Smaller than the QCY headphones

• Button has a nice feeling click that is easy to control

• Seal very nicely in your ear and keep out background noise

What I Don’t Like

• Terrible microphone quality for taking calls

Features

QCY T1C

What I Like:

• AAC audio codec give slightly better sound than SBC audio codec on the Redmi AirDots

• Between 3.5-5 hours of battery life per charge

• QCY has the BEST playback controls for their true wireless headphones

• Bluetooth 5.0 provides great range and latency

What I Don’t Like

• Nothing

Redmi AirDots

What I Like:

• 3.5-4.5 Hours of music playback

• Bluetooth 5.0 provides great range and latency

What I Don’t Like

• Bad playback controls, Using assistance to change tracks sucks and takes too much time

• SBC Audio codec generally performs worse than AAC

Sound:

QCY T1C:

Lots of bass and a lot of thump. They do a great job with Hip Hop, Electronic music and some rock. Overall these do an acceptable job for their price. While these headphones don’t sound amazing, given their price and overall user experience I would say the sound it great.

Redmi AirDots:

These headphones have overwhelming bass. Much of the highs and mids are cut out and they are extremely narrow in the type of music that sounds good. When listening to rock music a lot of the definition of the music is lost. The mids are slightly better but the music has a very compressed sound.

Conclusion:

Overall for the price there is no comparison. The QCY deliver slightly better sound overall but the real standout is the user experience. The case feels durable and there is no cheap lid to break. The user experience in pairing, and battery life is very similar toe the Redmi AirDots and its the user experience of changing songs that makes the QCY better in my opinion

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Don't Buy The Xiaomi Redmi AirDots, Buy These Instead, QCY T1C In Depth Review

A lot of people have been asking me about my favorite budget true wireless headphones. Because of my previous videos about the Xiaomi Mi AirDots being a great value option. People in my telegram group immediately started asking me to to reviews these, the QCY T1C headphones.

Design

What I Like:

• Case is small and fits in your pocket

• Magnet’s in the case confidently secure the headphones

• Headphones have great sound isolation

• Buttons are tactile and provide a definite “click

What I Dislike

• Micro USB Charging

• Headphones are slightly larger than Redmi Airdots

• Buttons can provide too much resistance to pressing

• Due to design the microphone quality is pretty bad

Features

What I Like

• Bluetooth 5.0 provides great range

• AAC Audio Codec provides slightly better sound than the Redmi Airdots

• Battery life of the headphones is more than 3.5 hours at 2/3 volume and battery life with the case is over 13 hours

• Amazing control layout means you don’t need to take your phone out to change songs

• Headphones recharge in under 20 minutes with a fully charged case

What I Dislike

• No APT-X codec support

User Experience

For a pair of headphones costing less than $20 USD in most places you have to have reasonable expectations. That is truly why I am so impressed with these headphones. They provide nearly the same experience of the QCY T1 Pro for LESS money. The overall convenience of these headphones is part of what is so impressive to me. You get an incredible user experience with a very entry level price.

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How To Use The Xiaomi Redmi AirDots In Mono Mode

Using the Xiaomi Redmi AirDots in Mono mode is really simple.

Step One: Remove the left headphone from the case

Step Two: Pair Redmi AirDots_L with your phone

Step Three: Now your left headphone is paired with your device and you can use the left headphone independently.

It’s important to remember: Now that you have each of them paired individually you need to take your right headphone out first and make sure it pairs with your device before the left. If you take the left headphone out first the left will pair and they will not be paired together.

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Xiaomi Mi AirDots, After Three Months

Xiaomi Air Dots, my thoughts after two months of extensive use.

There is no beating around the bush, the Xiaomi Mi AirDots have stunned the market by being able to bridge the gap between aesthetically clean and unoffensive and not being an Apple Airpods clone.

Upon First inspection you will see that the Xiaomi MI AirDots come packaged in a flimsy cardboard box which was easily beaten and dented during shipping. Inside the actual box we are greeted by the Xiaomi Mi AirDots, Case, Micro USB Cable, and extra ear tips for customized fit.

Here are my initial impressions from them. Cheap feeling case, with premium feeling headphones. The headphone earpieces themselves are quite solid feeling and feel like they could take quite a bit of use. The case on the other hand feels incredibly cheap. The magnetic lid is less than stellar, and the micro usb connection does not inspire confidence. We will get to more of this later.

The sound these units produce is quite bass heavy and very "thumpy". They sound great with electronic music while Hip-Hop vocals can be often overshadowed and muddy. Much of this can be changed with a simple change to the EQ and you can clean up sound. Once you have tweaked the EQ the Xiaomi Mi AirDots are capable of producing a very pleasing sound. Although the Xiaomi Mi AirDots might not be the most accurate sounding headphone it doesn't make them any less pleasant.

From this point I'd like to talk about how they have handled over 2 months of strenuous use. This is to say that by and large they didn't survive. At least the case didn't survive more than a month. Aseries of minor drops onto tabletops, out of pockets and onto carpets killed my battery case. Tha's right, with regular use i was able to kill the case of my Xiaomi Mi AirDots in LESS THAN A MONTH.


At this point I decided to take the case apart and use my misfortune to fuel more Youtube videos on the subject. Needless to say i was slightly disappointed by the over the design of the case. It's clear Xiaomi was making a budget product when they engineered these. This is unfortunate since the charging case is an integral part of using truly wireless bluetooth headphones.

With the case quality aside you might be thinking that there is some type of hugely redeeming quality in the Xiaomi Mi AirDots and this is where you'd be wrong. They have horrendous touch controls as outlined in my youtube videos, their microphone is atrocious and can't be relied on for calls or even voice commands, and the playback controls are far behind their competitors. The reality of living with these headphones is that they ultimately fail have a quality that puts them ahead of other comparably priced offerings.

In a vacuum the Xaiomi Mi AirDots aren't a bad product. They sound good, fit in your ears well, offer a secure fit and ultimately are a 5/10 on most categories. Here is ultimately where the problem lies. The Xiaomi Mi AirDots do enough things competently enough to be an entertaining purchase but they fail to be astounding at the nearly $40 pricepoint they are available for outside of China.

The QCY T1 Pro is a far better option and I will do a follow up review on it on my blog.