Qualcomm caused a ripple in the audiophile universe back in 2023 by revealing XPAN, a mobile sound platform that made use of Wi-Fi instead of Bluetooth. Now the first wireless earphones rocking XPAN have been announced.
For most mobile music lovers, Bluetooth provides enough bandwidth for music listening on the move without needing to plug in. In fact, Xiaomi's regular Buds 5 Pro earphones feature aptX Lossless technology for a transmission speed of up to 2.1 Mbps supporting wireless playback of high-resolution audio up to 24-bit/48-kHz.
If that's not enough to satisfy the audiophile in you, then Xiaomi has some good news. The Buds 5 Pro earphones can also be had with Qualcomm's S7 Pro platform, which uses Expanded Personal Area Network (XPAN) technology. Though it's designed to support "up to 192-kHz lossless music quality," the Wi-Fi Buds deliver 4.2 Mbps and 24-bit/96-kHz "for an unmatched, high-fidelity sound experience."
This should also allow listeners to wander farther away from the music source, and a more stable connection will be on the cards too, along with more efficient battery usage. The Buds are good for 10 hours per charge, and there's up to 40 hours of listening is available in total via the charging case – which can be topped up using the Qi wireless charging.
Elsewhere, the Buds are built around Xiaomi's dual-amp, triple-driver setup featuring an 11-mm dual-magnet driver, a planar driver and a ceramic tweeter. Active noise cancellation is cooked in too, which can be tuned by the user and is reported able to tackle more everyday noise so you can focus on the music. Xiaomi also reckons that the Buds could double as a portable microphone, with 4-hour recording in the ears or the charging case. The Buds feature touch controls, are IP54-rated for dust- and water-resistance, and can tap into "specialized EW profiles" via the mobile app.
And now for the bad news, for now at least. Currently the Buds 5 Pro Wi-Fi edition earphones will only work with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra smartphone, but the company promises that more models will be adapted for 4.2 Mbps lossless audio in the future.
The regular Buds 5 Pro earphones are priced at €199.99. The Wi-Fi edition comes in at €219.99 (which converts to around US$230 – though there's no word on an official US release)
Source: Xiaomi
