What to know
- Boat Airdopes 311 Pro look incredibly premium and stylish.
- The earbuds offer 6-7 hours of playtime; a total of 45 hours including the case. Fast charging and pairing works well, and mic performance is decent.
- Sound isn’t great. There’s not much bass and the highs can get screechy at high volumes. There are no volume controls either.
Sound quality should be the last thing budget earbuds should compromise on. But that isn’t always the case, especially since it’s often the paintjob and the premium looks that get them bought. Considering how most users don’t get a chance to try out the earbuds until they’ve arrived, it’s a strategy that has worked for many companies before.
Boat’s Airdopes 311 Pro appear to be in a similar vein. To my eyes, they are one of the most beautiful earbuds in the budget segment. But are they any good compared to other cheaper alternatives. It’s a valid concern. Because once the shine wears off, you need to know if there’s any substance to them to be your daily companions.
👍 What’s good
- Good looks, compact case.
- Fast charging, pairing; 45-hrs total playtime
👎 What’s not so good
- Flat sound, not for bass lovers
- No volume controls
- Putting the earbuds in the case can take some getting used to.
Related: Boult W10 Review | Boult K10 Review
Boat Airdopes 311 Pro: Beauty, but not a Beast
Although the Boat Airdopes 311 push beyond the thousand rupee mark, they are regularly available for sale under 900 (often even under 800). They’re one of the more premium-looking earbuds in the market, but some of the features can leave you wanting. Here’s my complete assessment of the Boat Airdopes 311 Pro:
Build
I usually start my reviews with discussions about sound. But for these exceptionally gorgeous earbuds some exceptions need to be made. The case has a clear chrome glass design and the earbuds look very premium and jewel-like sitting in the case. The earbud stems are on the longer side of things, but only very slightly. Unsurprisingly, the construction is all plastic and they’re made all the more lightweight because of that. They’re rated IPX4 for splash and sweat resistance, which is the standard on budget earbuds.
Boat Airdopes 311 Pro comes in four colors – Black, Blue, Pink, and Grey. They’re not particularly bright or shiny but have a self-assured premium look that sets them apart from the crowd. The LED lights on the earbuds and the case are arranged symmetrically and provide clear indications of pairing and charging status in red, blue, and white.
The case is sleek enough to slide right into any pocket, compartment, or purse. What doesn’t slide in properly are the buds inside the case. You really have to make sure the bud stems fit inside the grooves for the magnets to line up and start charging. It’s not a snap and shut case. But that’s the price you’re paying for beauty.
Do note that they’re not made in India, but in China – if that matters to you.
Sound
Where the Boat Airdopes 311 Pro excel in their looks, they let down in terms of audio quality. The 10mm drivers are merely okay, because the overall sound profile is geared towards mids and treble. But there’s not a lot happening with the bass. In fact, I found them a little underwhelming across genres where bass plays a significant role (think rock, EDM, bass and drums, metal, etc.). For acapella singing and acoustic music, it does a decent enough job. But for songs that require that bass punch and movies that cannot do without good bass, the Boat Airdopes 311 Pro are a touch too flat.
There is no other sound mode available so you can’t get away from the default profile. It’s a real shame because I really wanted to like the Boat Airdopes 311 Pro and, at least in terms of sound, the compromised lows just don’t float my boat (ha!).
Battery
The claimed battery life for the earbuds and the case together is 50 hours. But if you’ve used TWS before, you know that’s rarely the case. To get real world numbers, shave 10-15% off whatever the claimed numbers happen to be. With this formular, you should get about 42-45 hours playtime (total). And that’s exactly what we get with the Airdopes 311 Pro.
A single charge will last the earbuds for 6 hours playing on full volume. But unless you have ears made of foam, the cutting highs without the cushion of the bass will prevent you from listening to music at high volume. When listening for long hours, I could not bring myself to take the volume anywhere above 85-90%. The sound just won’t let you.
A quick 10-min charge gives 100 mins of playback, which is much lower than the 150 mins advertised by Boat. But in terms of raw numbers, it’s still a lot.
Mic
The dual-mic with the ENx technology on the Boat Airdopes 311 Pro seem like a drop compared to other budgets earbuds with a quad-mic setup. Indoors, at least, calling and voice recording works well enough without much disturbances. Outdoors, you may have to contend with some noise especially if you’re in a crowded market or the wind is a-howling. Excepting these, the mic works well enough for normal daily use.
Gaming, Latency, and Connection quality
On paper, the Boat Airdopes 311 Pro have a 50ms low latency BEAST mode. Although some cheaper earbuds can go even lower (to 45ms or 40ms), this doesn’t translate to any game-hampering difference in the real world.
In terms of the connection quality, I do have to give Airdopes 311 Pro some credit. In all my testing, I never once had issues with the earbuds losing connection or being dodgy in any way – which is great for uninterrupted gaming and media playback.
The buds steer clear of higher-end features like dual pairing which anyway end up being problematic when not done right. Fortunately, Bluetooth 5.3 ensures fast pairing. So the lack of dual pairing doesn’t feel that big a loss.
Controls
The controls on the Boat Airdopes 311 Pro are basic at best with no option to adjust volume. You’ll have to take care of that from your device. Other than that, here are the controls for the Boat Airdopes 311 Pro:
| Left | Right | |
| Music |
|
|
| Calls |
|
|
| Beast Mode/Voice Assistant | Tap and hold for 3 seconds for Gaming BEAST mode | Tap and hold for 3 seconds for digital assistant |
It would have been good to have an app that could provide additional sound settings like EQ. But without it, you’re left with the sound on the earbuds as it is.
How I use Boat Airdopes 311 Pro
Truth be told, Boat Airdopes 311 Pro are not my regular-use earbuds. They do turn heads, especially when they’re lying there in the case looking all pretty. So they’re pretty good at parties. But for my listening habits, Airdopes 311 Pro just aren’t as bass-driven as I would’ve liked. This limits the types of songs that I can actually enjoy listening on the earbuds, instead of just hearing them passively.
If these are the only TWS earbuds at hand, I can improve upon the sound slightly by tinkering with the music player’s EQ. But even with a bass-heavy EQ, you’ll find the bass floor a little too shallow. The buds serve as a decent backup with a reliable connection and a large battery. But little else.
Verdict
Boat Airdopes 311 Pro are one of the better looking earbuds in the market, hands down. But looks alone can be deceiving. Because in every other way, Airdopes 311 Pro are as average as average can be. From sound to latency to controls, there’s nothing much that sets them apart.
But if you’re smitten by the Boat Airdopes 311 Pro, and don’t mind a little less bass in your songs, one could make a case for them. In my book, at least, there are way better TWS earbuds in the market, like the Boult W10, that have a lot going for them and at a much lower price.
