With a bunch of options from both local and international brands in the TWS segment, it becomes difficult for a company to offer a unique selling point for its product. However, Truke wants to play on Active Noise Cancellation at a budget of Rs 1,999 with Truke Buds Pro TWS. It already has Realme Q2 as its competition in this segment but can it beat it is the question to answer.
Truke Buds Pro: Design & Comfort
The Truke Buds Pro has a case that has a usual cobble shaped design but then the differentiating factor is the LED-based battery indicator which shows how much juice is left in the case. Once you put the earbuds in the case, there’s a green indicator showing that the left and right earbuds are charging with a percentage in between.
Now, the LED indicator definitely looks cool with plastic-based leather patches on the right and left sides of the case. The plastic case doesn’t feel very premium in quality mainly because of the flimsiness. Because of this, the LED charging indicator automatically turns on if the case moves even a little bit as the buds inside it also move. While the percentage of the case doesn’t go down, the LED can be a bit distracting at times. At the bottom, there’s a USB-C port for charging and a button to reset the pairing status of the buds.
The design of the buds themselves seems inspired from Apple AirPods and fortunately, it also brings a good level of comfort in ear. Truke also provides two extra ear tips of different sizes in the box so you can choose the one that fits you the best. The default one that came with the earbuds was fine for me. In the ear, it does make a good seal and is very comfortable. I couldn’t feel if I was wearing it and that is one of the best signs of comfort for longer periods of time.
Read More: Truke BTG Alpha TWS Review: Is the light show enough?
Truke Buds Pro: Audio, Call Quality & Battery Life
Talking about the features first, the Truke Buds Pro TWS come with a Hybrid-Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) with up to 30db noise cancellation along with Quad-MIC ENC which, as per the brand, suppresses 90% background noise for clear calls. They have 12.4mm real Titanium Speaker drivers and feature a Dedicated Gaming Mode with Ultra Low Latency up to 50ms. It connects with devices over Bluetooth 5.2. What I do feel is lacking in this impressive set of features list is the App support.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about how the Truke Buds Pro sounds. While I wouldn’t say they are balanced, the sound is leaned more towards the higher- and mid-range frequencies. This means that you’ll get a very clear experience in terms of vocals and the instrumental sounds. The bass, on the other hand, is on the weaker side. It’s not like the bass is completely absent, but the Truke Buds Pro aren’t made for bass lovers. However, you can tune your equaliser settings to slightly tweak and increase the intensity of the bass.
As for active noise cancellation, the Truke Buds Pro TWS are slightly ahead of Realme Buds Q2, at least on-paper if not in experience, as the former support noise cancellation up to 30db while the latter supports up to 25db. The ANC on Truke Buds Pro is effective but as expected, not very much. You cannot expect Nothing Ear (1) level of ANC from these earbuds but yes, it can reduce background noise to some extent such as fan noise, car horns (that are at a distance), and more. It may not be very effective if you are travelling in a crowded place such as in a metro or a bus.
You can switch between ANC, ANC Off and Transparency mode with a long press on either of the buds as they have touch controls. The transparency and ANC Off modes do not have a lot of difference as to how clearly you can hear the ambient noises. The former does make the background noise a little bit more clearer but again, there’s not a major difference between the two.
The touch controls work fine for play and pause as well. There’s also an LED indicator on the earbuds as well which can turn Red or Blue depending on the pairing process. Further, I didn’t face any issues with connectivity and the game mode that can be enabled with a triple tap also makes a noticeable difference in terms of latency when playing games. Overall, it was a pretty good experience while gaming with these earbuds on.
As for battery life, Truke claims up to 48 hours with the case and 10 hours of playtime on a single charge. The USB-C fast charge is claimed to provide 2 hours of playtime with just 10 minutes of charging. With ANC ON, we were able to get close to these stats with almost 6 to 6.5 hours of playback time. However, if you are on calls for longer periods of time, the battery life reduces. With over 1 hour of calling and ANC ON, the battery came down to 60%. While charging the buds from 70% to 100%, the case lost about 10% of charge as per the LED indicator on the front.
Lastly, the buds have a quad mic setup with support for ENC and it does convert well in practical use. The person on the receiving end could hear me clearly even when there was some amount of background noise at my end. The volume of my voice did fluctuate at times but that happened rarely. Overall, the calling experience was mostly loud and clear.