Dizo Buds Z Pro Review: Can Budget ANC Really Be Good?
Dizo, a sub-brand of Realme focused on affordable audio products, has been making waves with its budget-friendly offerings. The recent launch of the Dizo Buds Z Pro true wireless earphones, boasting active noise cancellation (ANC) for a mere Rs. 2,599, piqued our interest. With the promise of a rich feature set, including app support and up to 25 hours of battery life, we were eager to discover if this budget-friendly headset could truly deliver on its promises. Read on to find out if the Dizo Buds Z Pro is worth your hard-earned money.
A Look That’s Good for Its Price
For around Rs. 2,500, a pair of true wireless earphones with active noise cancellation still feels like a steal. Dizo, following in the footsteps of its parent brand, Realme, successfully offers this key feature (ANC) at an incredibly affordable price.
Visually, the Dizo Buds Z Pro are quite appealing. Available in two colors, ocean blue and orange-black, the review unit we received was ocean blue. The dark blue charging case complements the inner sides of the earpieces, while the outer sides sport a reflective blue finish, which adds a touch of sophistication. The black-orange variant, however, seems to have a somewhat awkward contrast with the reflective blue, leading us to recommend the ocean blue variant.
While there are a few tell-tale signs of these earphones being affordable, like the two-piece molding, the Dizo Buds Z Pro feels well-built and pleasant to the touch. Each earpiece weighs a mere 3.9g, ensuring a comfortable and secure in-canal fit, thanks to the inclusion of customizable ear tips. The charging case, although a bit larger than some comparable options in this price range, is still pocketable and conveniently features a USB Type-C port for charging.
The Dizo Buds Z Pro earpieces feature touch control surfaces on the outer sides, allowing for customization through the Realme Link app (available on both iOS and Android). This app allows you to personalize various functions, including playback controls, invoking your phone’s voice assistant, cycling through ANC and transparency modes, and activating Game Mode for low-latency audio.
The specific functions are triggered by double-tapping, triple-tapping, or touching and holding the sensitive zone on the earpieces. While the tap controls functioned well, the touch-and-hold gesture proved less responsive, often requiring a slightly longer touch than expected, leading to occasional misinterpretations.
Beyond touch control customization, the Realme Link app also displays battery levels of the earpieces (though not the charging case). You can easily switch between ANC, normal, and transparency modes, choose from three equalizer presets, activate the 88ms low-latency Game Mode, and update the firmware. As previously noted in other reviews, the Realme Link app is excellent and performs well with the Dizo Buds Z Pro.
The Dizo Buds Z Pro earphones are equipped with 10mm dynamic drivers and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, supporting the SBC Bluetooth codec. The active noise cancellation promises noise reduction of up to 25dB, and the earphones feature environmental noise cancellation for enhanced call quality. They are also IPX4 rated for water resistance, making them suitable for light workouts and gym sessions.
Battery life on the Dizo Buds Z Pro is decent for its price point. The earpieces lasted a little over four hours per charge, and the charging case provided just over three full charges to the earpieces, resulting in a total runtime of around 18 hours per charge cycle. With ANC on and the volume at around 60 percent, you can expect slightly longer battery life when ANC is turned off. Fast charging is also supported, adding two hours of listening time with a 10-minute charge.
Decent ANC, Average Sound: A Case of Trade-offs
Active noise cancellation on true wireless earphones under Rs. 3,000 remains a key selling point, and the Dizo Buds Z Pro definitely stands out in this category, offering a significant edge over much of the competition. However, Realme itself poses a considerable challenge, with the Buds Air 2 and Buds Q2 offering comparable features and specifications at similar price points.
The Dizo Buds Z Pro truly shines with its active noise cancellation, which is a pleasant surprise for a headset in this price range. However, while sound quality is acceptable and largely inoffensive for an affordable true wireless headset, it is far from exceptional. This can be partly attributed to the support for only the basic SBC Bluetooth codec. For this review, we used the earphones with an Apple iPhone, listening to music, audiobooks, and taking phone calls.
We began with “Music Makes Me High” by The Avalanches, and while the sound was comfortable, we found it a bit "cloudy" and muffled, almost like listening to a live band through a thick curtain. The earphones struggled to capture the nuances of this sample-based disco track, resulting in a basic, budget listening experience that might be suitable for around Rs. 1,500 or less.
Even with more exciting tracks like “Butterflies” by Skrillex, there wasn’t much detail or character. The bass felt a bit subdued, the mid-range was dull and unexciting, and the treble lacked any punch. This is what we’d describe as a “vanilla” listening experience; there’s nothing wrong with the Dizo Buds Z Pro’s sound, but there’s also nothing particularly exciting about it.
The Dizo Buds Z Pro earphones are reasonably loud, reaching a comfortable listening level at around 50 to 60 percent volume indoors and around 70 percent outdoors with ANC on. The sound remained comfortable up to around 80 percent, after which some harshness became evident in the mids and highs, and hints of distortion could be heard.
Active noise cancellation on affordable wireless earphones is typically basic, and the Dizo Buds Z Pro is no exception. However, its performance surpasses similarly priced alternatives, offering a noticeable reduction in ambient noise, both indoors and outdoors. A reasonable level of wind-noise reduction, particularly useful outdoors, makes listening to music and audiobooks much more comfortable, even at low volumes. Transparency mode works decently well and doesn’t sound too artificial or distorted. Although significantly better ANC performance can be achieved with a budget of around Rs. 5,000, the Dizo Buds Z Pro manages to justify the presence of this feature at its price level.
Connection stability was decent at distances of around 4m from the source device, and call quality was acceptable both indoors and outdoors. The low-latency Gaming Mode didn’t seem to make much of a difference with basic or even fast-paced, multiplayer titles; we still noticed some latency issues even with the mode enabled.
Verdict: Good Value with a Sound Tradeoff
Dizo’s newest pair of true wireless earphones is its most expensive and advanced yet, but remains firmly rooted in the affordable price category that has defined the company. Focused on offering the best value for money, the Dizo Buds Z Pro is a good-looking pair of earphones with decent active noise cancellation, app support, and acceptable battery life. However, the area where it falls short is unfortunately the most crucial one – sound quality.
The Dizo Buds Z Pro has a very ordinary sonic signature with no real redeeming qualities, except for the fact that it isn’t bad. This makes the overall experience somewhat disappointing. As mentioned, the sound is inoffensive and might be suitable for casual listening, particularly for budget buyers looking for an affordable headset with decent ANC for commuting or outdoor listening. If you are looking for a more balanced experience, consider the Realme Buds Q2, which offers a similar overall package for a slightly lower price.
