Redmi Buds 8 Review: Xiaomi Quietly Made a Winner

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When a new set of budget earbuds hits the market, I often brace myself for the same old routine.

You know the drill: a flashy design, a few buzzworthy features on the packaging, and then, once you start using them in real life, they turn out to be just average.

But the Redmi Buds 8 really caught me off guard.

After spending several days jamming to music, making calls, gaming, binge-watching YouTube at night, and even taking them on outdoor strolls, I found myself thinking one thing: Xiaomi really nailed the essentials here.

And it’s not just the essentials — they’ve included features that you’d typically find in earbuds costing twice as much.

At around $40, these are dangerously close to being my go-to recommendation for anyone on the hunt for budget-friendly wireless earbuds in 2026.

And yes, they’re genuinely that impressive.

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Also see: Redmi Buds 8 Pro Review: Smarter, Better, Still Affordable

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Redmi Buds 8 – Specifications

Driver	11mm Dynamic Driver
Noise Cancellation	Up to 50dB Active Noise Cancellation (ANC)
Audio Codec	LHDC 5.0, AAC, SBC
Hi-Res Audio	Hi-Res Audio Wireless Certified
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 5.4
Battery Life	Up to 6.5 Hours (ANC On)
Total Playback	Up to 44 Hours with Charging Case
Fast Charging	10 Minutes Charge = Up to 4 Hours Playback
Water Resistance	IP54 Dust & Splash Resistant
Microphones	Triple-Mic AI Noise Reduction
Special Features	Multipoint Connection, Transparency Mode, Spatial Audio
Charging Port	USB Type-C

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Look & Feel

One thing that really caught my eye is that Xiaomi has decided to give the Redmi Buds 8 a pretty big jump over the Redmi Buds 6, essentially bypassing the normal Redmi Buds 7 model and going straight to the next generation.

And believe it or not, this actually feels like a brand new product.

The first noticeable change is the charging case and it’s a big improvement over what we got with the old Redmi Buds 6.

Remember how those looked like a bit of an afterthought with their flat horizontal design that was starting to show its age? The new Redmi Buds 8 takes a page out of the Pro model book.

Now the case looks and feels a lot more modern – it’s more rounded, more premium in every way – and the blue version I tested, I have to say, looks fantastic in person. The glossy finish really does grab your attention.

However theres a catch.

The problem is that that glossy finish is a real fingerprint magnet and it shows – within minutes of use the case starts looking a bit grimy and it scratches more easily than I’m comfortable with.

So while it looks really good from a distance it’s in daily use its probably not going to stay that way.

Still I’d still rather have the new design than the old Redmi Buds 6 case, it just looks way nicer.

Xiaomi has also added a few nice little touches to the new case to make it feel like a more mature product.

That includes a USB-C charging port down at the bottom, a pairing reset button, and a little LED strip on the front that lights up as you charge the thing.

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Comfort and Controls

The earbuds themselves are pretty much the same look as the previous generation – and to be honest, i think Xiaomi could have gotten away with not totally re styling them.

They are super comfy to wear – and that might just be my new favourite thing about these earbuds.

After using them every day Ive got to say they stay put nicely in my ears once theyre in.

Whether Im walking out the door, moving around the house or do a quick workout – I never had that annoying feeling that they were on the verge of falling out.

They actually remind me a lot of the Redmi Buds 8 Pro when it comes to fit – spot on.

The touch controls are also spot on here, they respond right away, and Xiaomi lets you tweak them to your liking through the app.

You can change the gestures for playback, call control and all sorts of other actions with no real trouble at all.

They’ve also got automatic pause and play, which is a nice touch – it even works consistently, not randomly like some of those dodgy cheap earbuds that would have you pulling your hair out.

The one thing I do miss from the Pro version is being able to control the volume by swiping my finger up & down the stem – that was one of my faves.

Here though you’ll have to use taps instead – which is not a disaster, but I did notice the difference.

The earbuds are also covered in a decent amount of water resistance , so you can sweat all you like, or pop out in a light drizzle – and not have to worry.

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Connectivity and App

This is probably one of the biggest improvements over older Redmi earbuds.

The Redmi Buds 8 come with Bluetooth 5.4, LHDC 5.0 support, and Hi-Res Wireless Audio certification, which is honestly impressive at this price.

Older Redmi Buds models simply didn’t feel this complete when it came to connectivity features.

The version I tested is the Chinese model, so Google Fast Pair isn’t available yet, but that should change once the global version launches.

Xiaomi’s earbuds app is available on both Android and iPhone, although with the Chinese version you currently need to switch the app region to China for the earbuds to appear.

The app itself is actually very good.

Clean layout, simple controls, no confusing menus.

You can adjust ANC intensity, transparency mode strength, customize touch controls, run ear fit tests, and tweak the equalizer settings.

One small thing missing is AI features.

Some competing brands like realme are starting to add assistant features or AI tools even on affordable earbuds. Xiaomi hasn’t really done that here.

Personally though, I’d take reliable performance over gimmicky AI features every single time.

I didn’t experience random disconnects, weird pairing issues, or audio dropouts during testing.

Multipoint connection is also included, so you can connect the earbuds to two devices at the same time and switch between them easily.

Latency is another area where these surprised me.

Watching videos feels perfectly synced, and gaming performance is honestly excellent for the price.

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Microphone Quality

I honestly didn’t expect the microphones to impress me this much.

Usually this is where budget earbuds start cutting corners, but Xiaomi did a fantastic job here.

Indoor call quality is genuinely excellent.

One thing I noticed immediately is how well they control echo indoors. A lot of earbuds struggle in echo-heavy rooms and make your voice sound distant or hollow, but the Redmi Buds 8 handle it surprisingly well.

Voices sound clear, natural, and properly balanced.

Outdoor performance is also impressive. During testing there was some light wind outside, and the earbuds still managed to reduce wind noise without completely destroying voice quality.

Honestly, for phone calls alone, these are among the best earbuds I’ve tested anywhere near this price range.

If you take lots of calls, record voice notes, or spend time on Telegram, WhatsApp, or Discord, you’ll probably appreciate these microphones more than anything else.

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Noise Cancellation

This is the part that really surprised me.

Xiaomi says the earbuds can cancel up to 50dB of noise, and while marketing numbers are always a little exaggerated, I have to admit the ANC performance here is seriously impressive.

Walking outside with music playing feels noticeably quieter than with older Redmi Buds models.

Traffic noise gets heavily reduced, people around you become less distracting, and once music starts playing, you almost stop paying attention to your surroundings completely.

No, it’s not quite flagship-level ANC.

But honestly, for around 40 euros, this is ridiculously good.

I kept ANC on Deep Mode almost the entire time because that’s where the difference becomes most noticeable.

Transparency mode is also surprisingly natural. Voices come through clearly, and there’s very little delay or weird robotic effect when listening to outside sounds.

Again, this feels much more refined than what you normally expect from earbuds this cheap.

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Sound Quality

At the end of the day, sound quality is what matters most.

And thankfully, this is another area where the Redmi Buds 8 perform incredibly well.

On paper, the setup doesn’t sound revolutionary. Xiaomi uses a single 11mm dynamic driver with a multilayer diaphragm.

But honestly, real-world sound matters more than specs on a box.

What impressed me most is how balanced these earbuds sound.

Bass hits with good power and depth, but it doesn’t completely overpower vocals. Mid frequencies are cleaner than I expected, especially for male and female vocals, and treble avoids becoming sharp or fatiguing during long listening sessions.

That’s important because some budget earbuds try too hard to sound “exciting” by boosting treble aggressively, and after an hour your ears start getting tired.

That doesn’t really happen here.

The default Balanced sound profile actually ended up being my favorite because everything feels properly tuned.

Compared to the Redmi Buds 8 Pro, you can still notice the Pro model has slightly better mids and overall detail, especially at very high volume levels around 80 or 90 percent.

But at normal listening volumes, the difference honestly becomes much smaller than you’d expect.

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Battery Life

Xiaomi claims you can get about 6.5 hours of use with ANC on and the volume at 50%, plus a total of up to 28 hours when you include the charging case.

In my real-world testing, I found the battery life to be a bit shorter, but still quite impressive.

I mostly had ANC set to the highest level and kept the volume around 40 to 50 percent, and I consistently enjoyed around five and a half hours of listening time.

That’s actually quite good for earbuds in this price range.

If you ease up on the ANC a little, reaching six hours seems totally doable.

There’s no wireless charging, but honestly, I wasn’t expecting it here anyway. Even the Pro model doesn’t have that feature.

Charging is done through USB-C, and the speed is quick enough that I never found it frustrating.

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Final Thoughts

The Redmi Buds 8 are one of those products that just keep impressing you the more you use them.

At first, you’re drawn in by their sleek design and wallet-friendly price.

But after a few days, you start to notice how fantastic the microphones are, the active noise cancellation is surprisingly effective, the battery life holds up well, and the sound quality is genuinely enjoyable.

That’s what makes these earbuds stand out.

They don’t rely on just one flashy feature; they manage to do almost everything quite well.

Sure, there are a few minor drawbacks. The glossy case can scratch easily, there’s no wireless charging, and the swipe volume gesture from the Pro model didn’t make the cut here.

But when you remember these are only around 40 bucks, it’s hard to find much to complain about.

For the price, Xiaomi has really hit the mark this year.

Best Deal: View on AliExpress

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