Wi-fi earbuds are now a thing. Qualcomm might have announced its S7 Pro chip back in 2023, to enable audio streaming to headphones over wi-fi as well as Bluetooth, but the first pair packing it has only just arrived. Meet the Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro, the first of a new breed of wireless earbuds.
They actually come in two versions: one that's Bluetooth-only, and one that uses Qualcomm's Expanded Personal Area Network (XPAN) to deliver 24-bit/96kHz lossless audio at a bandwidth of up to 4.2Mbps. That's more than double the bandwidth of Bluetooth 5.
So what are the advantages? They're more versatile – you don't have to stay within reach of your phone to keep streaming, you can roam away from it as long as you stay on the same wi-fi network.
The higher bandwidth should make for superior sound quality, as more information can be relayed wirelessly to the headphones.
And they're more power efficient – they actually have a slightly longer battery life than the Bluetooth-only version.
Exciting stuff. But let's not get carried away until we know full details.
It's not known whether the earbuds can support more than one wi-fi network, and if so, what the pairing process will be. So the dream of wandering through a city hopping from one free wi-fi hotspot to another as you go to enjoy higher-quality streaming might be a way off yet.
Rather, you might be constrained to your home or office wi-fi network. And who wears wireless earbuds at home? (Audiophile headphones, on the other hand...)
Of course, where wi-fi is unavailable, they will still work over Bluetooth, just like other wireless earbuds.
For wi-fi use, they also require a smartphone with a compatible Qualcomm chipset, which at the moment is limited to the Xiaomi 15 and 15 Ultra. No iPhones for you, though we're willing to bet Apple is working on its own version of the tech.
The Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro have 10 hours of battery life, which is very respectable, and up to 40 hours including the carry case. That's higher on both counts than the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4, Sony WF-1000XM5 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds.
Active noise cancellation (ANC) comes as standard. Inside is an 11mm main driver, joined by a PZT tweeter and planar driver. Artificial intelligence features include call recording, call transcription and translation.
The Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro Wi-Fi cost £189 (around $240 / AU$385). They're only available in black, whereas the Bluetooth-only version (£159, around $200 / AU$324) come in white and grey.
Sonos is also said to be working on wi-fi for headphones (at the moment the Sonos Ace headphones can only pair with certain Sonos soundbars over wi-fi). Could it be the next big thing in personal audio? Watch this space...
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I switched from the Sony WH-1000XM5 to the Sonos Ace and was surprised
