The Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro are the first wireless earbuds to deliver on Qualcomm's promise regarding Wi-Fi technology.
The Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro feature Wi-Fi technology and are equipped with Qualcomm's S7 Pro chip.
Xiaomi has presented its new Buds 5 Pro in Europe, being the first headphones to incorporate Qualcomm's S7 Pro chip, which allows audio transmission over Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth, without an increase in energy consumption. Qualcomm announced this technology in October 2023, and the Buds 5 Pro are the first hardware device to use it.
The presentation of these headphones took place in China last Thursday, alongside the launch of the 15 Ultra phone, which will also be available in Europe. There are two versions of the Buds 5 Pro: a standard model with Bluetooth and another that utilizes Qualcomm's expanded personal network (XPAN) technology, capable of providing lossless audio at 96kHz/24bit with a bandwidth of up to 4.2Mbps, offering superior quality compared to any Bluetooth connection. Additionally, users will be able to move away from their phone without degrading the connection, as long as they remain within the range of their Wi-Fi network.
However, there are some considerations. It is evident that you will need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network to fully take advantage of the audio quality, meaning the benefits of this technology would be primarily limited to home networks. When Qualcomm announced XPAN, it mentioned that the phone would transfer Wi-Fi credentials during pairing, but it has not yet been confirmed whether the headphones can connect to multiple networks, which would be useful in office environments. It is worth noting that, in the absence of Wi-Fi, the Buds 5 Pro can use the Bluetooth connection in the standard way.
For now, these headphones are only compatible with the Xiaomi 15 and 15 Ultra models. This may change in the future, but hardware limitations imply that they will only work with high-end devices featuring a compatible Qualcomm chip, such as the 8 Gen 3 or 8 Elite. This means they will not be usable over Wi-Fi with iPhones or any other Apple devices.
The battery life of the Buds 5 Pro is 10 hours of use (up to 40 hours including the case), which exceeds the eight hours of the Bluetooth-only model, thus supporting Qualcomm's claim that it can deliver lossless audio over Wi-Fi with the same power consumption as Bluetooth.
These headphones utilize a triple-driver system, with an 11mm main driver, complemented by a PZT tweeter and a planar driver. Additionally, they feature active noise cancellation support and a variety of artificial intelligence capabilities, such as call recording, transcription, and translation.
The price of the Wi-Fi Buds 5 Pro is £189.99 (approximately $240) and they are available only in black. This price is slightly higher than the Bluetooth version, which costs £159.99 (around $200) and is available in white or gray.
