Xiaomi is a long-time player in the wireless earbuds market, and the Buds 5 Pro are its latest flagship offering. As such, they bring a jam-packed set of features, including triple drivers, adaptive noise cancellation, aptX Lossless streaming, dual device pairing and head tracking, just to name a few.

We’ve already reviewed the semi in-ear Xiaomi Buds 5, which impressed us with its sound and rich feature set, and we are now turning our attention to their Pro counterpart.

The visual resemblance between the two Buds 5 models is striking. The obvious difference is that the Pro go for the traditional in-ear design with good old silicone tips. This addition plays a major role in the fit and seal around your ear canal, which was one pitfall on the regular Buds 5.

As you’d expect, the Pro moniker suggests a more capable device, which is the case here. Buds 5 Pro offer better sound, improved call quality and better battery life. So, is the higher asking price worth it? We’ve spent the last two weeks with the Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro and these are our findings.

Table of Contents:

Design

Our Buds 5 Pro review unit comes in Titan Gray. This colorway was also available on the Buds 5, and it also features a highly reflective case lid that can double as a small pocket mirror. The bottom half of the case features a matte finish, which does a much better job of fending off fingerprints.

Buds 5 Pro gets a more rectangular-shaped charging case compared to the square one on the vanilla variant. The overall footprint is wider than the case on the Buds 5, though it’s still slim enough to slide into smaller pockets comfortably. The buds stay upright in the case, with the lid acting like a helmet visor.

Each earbud weighs 6.5 grams, with the case adding another 40 grams for a combined weight of 53 grams. Buds 5 Pro feature a nearly identical design to the Buds 5, with the only difference being the silicone tips that go in your ears. You still get the same pinch gesture pad at the bottom of each stem, which performed well enough in our testing period.

Jumping to the in-ear fit, we are delighted to say that the Buds 5 Pro deliver a great seal. They stay in place without wobbling, and the contoured shape of the speaker assembly is easy on the ear concha area even after longer listening sessions.

This reviewer spent over two weeks with the Buds 5 Pro as his main work and gym earbuds without any complaints in terms of comfort. The Buds 5 Pro stay in place even during runs and other fast-paced activities without any problem. Xiaomi also retained the IP54 dust and water resistance, meaning the Buds 5 Pro can handle sweat and light drops of rain without any hassle.

Features

Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro bring coaxial triple drivers with 11mm dynamic drivers, an additional planar driver and PZT tweeters. The buds also feature dual DACs and cover a frequency response range of 15Hz to 50kHz, which is wider than the Buds 5.

Buds 5 Pro pair over Bluetooth 5.4 and support Snapdragon Sound with aptX Lossless high-bitrate (48kHz/24bit) streaming at up to 2.1Mbps. They also get custom sound tuning from Harman’s Golden Ears team. Xiaomi is also offering a special edition of the Buds 5 Pro, which connect to newer Xiaomi phones via Wi-Fi for 96kHz/24-bit lossless audio and a bitrate up to 4.2Mbps. Sadly, our review unit offers Bluetooth-only connectivity.

As for noise cancellation, Buds 5 Pro are rated to drown out up to 55dB of noise thanks to the updated triple microphone system inside each earbud. Xiaomi also claims the Buds 5 Pro can pick up your voice in noisier environments at up to 100dB, thanks to its new AI noise reduction algorithm. The buds are also advertised to cancel out high wind speeds of up to 15m/s during calls. Newer Xiaomi phones also get HD calling for clearer-sounding calls.

Buds 5 Pro get the standard array features found on most earbuds of this class, like wear detection sensors, dual device pairing, and Google Fast Pair, all of which worked flawlessly in our testing across multiple phones and laptops.

Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro features inside the Xiaomi Earbuds app

Xiaomi’s Earbuds app is your one-stop shop for tweaking all aspects of the Buds 5 Pro. You can assign single, double, and triple squeeze presses on the stems as well as a press and hold gesture. In terms of media playback, you get play/pause, next/previous song as well as volume controls via swipes. Xiaomi has perfected this squeeze control setup, though we’d still prefer single-tap controls instead of squeeze gestures.

The app home screen features toggles for the adaptive noise cancellation and ambient modes while the sound equalizer settings are buried under the Audio balance toggle.

Buds 5 Pro also support dimensional audio with head tracking, and the feature works regardless of your device’s operating system. We tested it on both an iPhone 15 Pro and Redmi Note 14 Pro+, as well as a 14” MacBook Pro, and it worked equally well. The feature did provide added immersion for movies, though we’d still consider it more of a gimmick than something we’d use on a regular basis.

Like the Buds 5, the 5 Pro also feature built-in audio recording functionality, which means you can use either of the buds as a dedicated voice recorder. This worked well enough in our time with the buds though you’ll have to export your recordings from the Xiaomi Earbuds app each time. You can also use the feature to record calls, and the Buds 5 Pro will play a warning message to inform the person on the other side.

Another new addition is the improved low latency mode, which now drops to 50ms when connected to a Xiaomi 14 series or newer phone via Bluetooth LE.

Sound quality

While bass was never a weak point on the non-Pro Buds 5, it is in another league on the Buds 5 Pro. That’s not to say that we’re dealing with V-shaped tuning here. The default soundstage on the Buds 5 Pro is favorably balanced between tonalities compared to most earbuds.

It exudes a punchier feeling, and you definitely feel more engaged when listening to music or watching videos compared to the Buds 5. Not only that, but the lows feel airier and more direct without overpowering the mids and highs.

The default sound profile is already pretty decently tuned, though a bit of EQ tweaking inside the Xiaomi Earphones app can bring out slightly more detail in the higher-end range.

We also have to mention the hardware advantage of the silicone ear tips, which can properly seal your ear canals. The improved seal also directly translates to superior sound quality and better noise cancellation. As expected, this is arguably the one area where the Buds 5 Pro holds its biggest advantage over the non-Pro model.

Without any media playback, the Pro model was able to keep lower-frequency noises at bay without any struggle, which was not the case on the Buds 5. Add in some tunes, and the ANC system takes care of the usual annoyances associated with public transport and overcrowded gyms.

There’s an adjustable transparency mode, which lets you toggle between regular mode, enhance voice and enhance ambient sound modes. This setup was similar to the Redmi Buds 6 Pro and the enhance sound mode was the best option out of the three.

The triple mics on the Buds 5 Pro did a great job during calls, which sounded great on my end and people on the other side reported clear reception of my voice. Stronger winds coupled with busier street noises proved challenging for the Buds 5 Pro, but they still managed a respectable job at picking up my voice.

Connectivity was stellar during our review period. We tested the Buds 5 Pro across Android, iOS and macOS with no limitation across all three and zero connectivity drops. The wear detection sensors worked as expected and the low latency mode delivered a noticeable improvement when connected to Xiaomi and Redmi phones.

Battery life

Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro feature 53mAh batteries inside the buds, while the case boasts a 570mAh battery. Xiaomi claims you can expect 8 hours of battery life on a single charge from the buds with ANC off, while the case extends total playtime to 40 hours.

In our testing period, we got slightly better results with 8 hours and 15 minutes from the buds with ANC off. If you turn ANC on and opt to stream via the aptX Lossless codec, the battery endurance takes a noticeable hit, and we only managed just over 6 hours of playtime.

Buds 5 Pro also feature a quick charge feature which gets you over 4 hours of playback from a 10-minute top-up. A full recharge of the buds and the case from 0-100% takes roughly 70 minutes via the USB-C port. You can also opt for wireless charging on any Qi wireless pad.

Verdict

The Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro are the best wireless earbuds from the brand to date. They offer excellent sound quality, support for high-bitrate streaming and a diverse feature set. The in-ear fit was great, and this alleviated our main gripe with the Buds 5. Battery life is noticeably better, though it’s still not class-leading.

The onboard voice recorder is a nice touch, and we also enjoyed the expansive of features inside the Xiaomi Earphones app. Call quality is noticeably improved over the Buds 5 and wireless charging on the charging case is another overdue addition.

At €200 for the Bluetooth version and €220 for the version with Qualcomm XPAN Wi-Fi connectivity, the Buds 5 Pro are not cheap. You could easily opt for the Redmi 6 Pro, which bring nearly identical set of features at a much lower price point.

We’d prefer single-tap control gestures instead of the squeeze implementation found here but other than that we don’t have other gripes. If you’re in the Xiaomi ecosystem, then the Buds 5 Pro are an easy recommendation that brings the best of the brand’s audio ambitions.