The market for headphones is crowded with options, but Xiaomi’s latest wireless earbuds, the Buds 5 Pro, have an important feature for audiophiles that you won’t find anywhere else: WiFi connectivity. Your average wireless headphones connect to your phone (or other device) via Bluetooth, a protocol supported by all modern mobile devices, making it easy to connect to anything. But Bluetooth has limited bandwidth, which reduces the audio quality, a major reason many audiophiles prefer wired headphones. By using WiFi instead of Bluetooth, the Buds 5 Pro can play lossless audio at up to 96kHz/24-bit for superior sound quality.
This is made possible by Qualcomm’s S7 Pro chip, which supports streaming over Bluetooth or WiFi without draining any more battery power than its Bluetooth-only predecessors. The earbuds promise a full 10 hours of battery life (40 with the charging case) for long-time listening. WiFi also means these earbuds have excellent range: they’ll play whenever you’re in range of your WiFi network, so you can walk away from your phone and keep listening. When a WiFi network isn’t available, the Buds 5 Pro will fall back to Bluetooth for seamless listening (though at a lower quality).
The Buds 5 Pro are high-end earbuds with a triple-driver system featuring an 11mm main driver as well as a separate tweeter and planar driver. They also offer active noise cancelation at up to 55 dB to block out background noise. It’s certainly enough quality to be able to hear the extra sound quality they offer via streaming over WiFi, though be aware that you'll also need a high-quality lossless audio source to get the benefit.
Beyond simple sound, these earbuds can also be used to easily record, transcribe, and translate audio. A triple tap on the case will start recording, and AI will transcribe and translate for you. It’s a quick way to take a voice memo or record a meeting. These are the sorts of tools you can find in premium smartphones, such as Live Translate on Samsung Galaxy devices, but it’s an interesting addition to headphones – and seems well-suited for using these at work or in the classroom.
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These earbuds offer a great set of features in a premium package, but there are some significant limitations. The WiFi technology is only compatible with phones with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon chips and will (for now) only be available when used with the Xiaomi 15 or 15 Ultra smartphones. That’s a significant snag for potential US buyers, as Xiaomi’s phones are only available in Asian and European markets – as are the earbuds themselves. Though you could import an unlocked phone and set it up on a US carrier, it’s a sizable hurdle. The need for a Qualcomm-powered phone also means iPhones and Google Pixel phones won’t work with this WiFi technology, though it’s possible the Samsung Galaxy lineup, which also uses Qualcomm chips, might be compatible in the future. The earbuds will work with all phones via Bluetooth, but the WiFi audio is the real selling point of these earbuds.
The Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro WiFi will be available for €219.99 (approximately $230), while the Bluetooth-only version will be available for €199.99 (approximately $210). There’s no word on availability in North America, and the limited lineup of phones that support the feature may keep these earbuds out of the American market for now.
[Image credit: Xiaomi]
Elizabeth Harper is a writer and editor with more than a decade of experience covering consumer technology and entertainment. In addition to writing for Techlicious, she's Editorial Director of Blizzard Watch and is published on sites all over the web, including Time, CBS, Engadget, The Daily Dot, and DealNews.
