4 sourced reports, with what to check before you buy. Each one links to the page it was reported on.
Worth checking
Redmi Buds 5 / 6 Lite lose A2DP connection and one earbud drops sound on Linux BlueZ 5.83+
Primary source: a real owner's GitHub issue report on the Redmi Buds 5 / 6 Lite family. It documents a concrete Bluetooth failure mode: the earbuds fail to auto-connect to the A2DP profile and one earbud intermittently loses sound until reconnected. Caveat: this is specific to Linux/BlueZ 5.83+ on a PC, not a phone, so it is a connectivity quirk rather than a universal defect, and it names the 5 and 6 Lite siblings, not the exact 5 Lite.
What to check. If you pair these earbuds with a Linux PC, expect the A2DP auto-connect to fail and one earbud to drop audio until you manually reconnect or downgrade BlueZ. On a phone this specific regression does not apply, so weigh it accordingly.
Redmi earbud one side silent may be a hardware fault (driver or internal wiring)
Owner-forum guidance for the Redmi TWS family: if one earbud stays silent even after re-pairing on another device, the likely cause is hardware (damaged driver or internal wiring) rather than a software/connection issue, and the fix is a warranty repair. It is a general Redmi-family troubleshooting thread, not a 5 Lite-specific defect report.
What to check. If one earbud goes permanently silent and survives a reset and re-pairing on a different phone, treat it as a hardware fault and use the warranty rather than buying a replacement part. This is the family-wide failure mode, not proof the 5 Lite specifically suffers it.
Redmi Buds 5/6 Lite audio instability with one earbud losing sound (Linux BlueZ regression)
An owner reports the Redmi Buds 5 and 6 Lite (the 5-series/6-series family this pack covers) dropping one earbud's sound and failing to auto-connect. Caveat: this is a Linux BlueZ 5.83+ software regression, not a defect of the earbuds themselves, and it names the Buds 5 and 6 Lite, not the exact 5 Lite. For a phone buyer in TR/EU this is low relevance; it matters mainly to Linux desktop users.
What to check. If you pair these earbuds with a Linux PC on BlueZ 5.83+, expect possible one-earbud sound loss and manual reconnection; downgrading to BlueZ 5.80 resolved it. On phones this finding does not apply.
Right earbud of budget Redmi TWS drains faster than left (master-slave power draw)
Explains that in budget Redmi TWS models the right earbud acts as the Bluetooth master and therefore drains faster than the left; a charge difference of 15-20% after a full case charge can indicate battery degradation rather than normal architecture. This is a general Redmi-family explanation, not a 5 Lite-specific owner report.
What to check. Expect the right earbud to run down a bit faster than the left; that is normal TWS master-slave behavior. If the gap exceeds roughly 15-20% after a full case charge, treat it as a possible battery fault worth a warranty check.
These reports come from the pages linked under each item: owner forums, repair guides and workshops. They are not a diagnosis of any one unit, and a careful check of the one you are buying still applies.
Text from the Kriko Wireless earbuds catalog, version 0.1.4, under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license.
