You may not have heard as much about its earbuds.
As Xiaomi only sells its Redmi earbuds in the US, the Buds 5 Pro arent on sale there.
Its a neat way to let you avoid the downsides of passthrough modes while still enjoying the benefits.
This can all be changed in the Xiaomi Earbuds app, which brings a few extra features.
The Buds connect to your phone, tablet or laptop via Bluetooth 5.4.
Theres also a model which supports Wi-Fi connectivity to your phone, which I didnt test.
I appreciate buds that reduce the time taken faffing with the case.
The addition of tips removes this issue.
They weigh 5.6gwhich is pretty svelte for earbuds.
Its not the end of the world, but its a slight regression.
IP certification is a nice reassurance that your chosen gadgets can withstand a dose of mother nature.
But I can see this being a deal-breaker for some buyers.
Perhaps compensating for this issue is the Buds 5 Pro’s eye-watering max volume.
So its not for everyone.
Thats why, as I said in the introduction, these are great in a deal or bundle.
But its harder to recommend picking them up on their own.
Should I buy the Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro?
3.5/5
Design
They’re lightweight, reliable and easy to tote around in their case.
4/5
Sound quality
They lack bass clout but make up for it in a few other ways.
However they don’t sound as good, have worse ANC and don’t fit in the ears well.
Best of all, they undercut the Xiaomis.
They were mostly paired with my Android smartphone although I did use them on a Windows laptop too.
It was mostly done on music but I did listen to some podcast too.
