Adaptive Noise Cancellation (ANC) used to be limited to earbuds with silicone tips.

However, brands have developed and made the feature available to wireless buds with an open-ear design. That includes Apple’s newest AirPods 4 with ANC and even Samsung with their non-Pro Galaxy Buds3.

Xiaomi, being one of the world’s biggest tech brands, would not miss the opportunity and show their latest and bestest open-ear ANC contender just yet — the Xiaomi Buds 5.

Stand-out sleekness

In a crowd full of AirPods and AirPods copycats, I love how Xiaomi delivered this stand-out design.

I’m more enticed to see this Titan Gray colorway instead of the basic Ceramic White and Graphite Black options.

The shiny lid against the overall matte casing gives it an elegant, premium touch. Although IMHO, I just don’t like how it captures fingerprints easily.

But compared to the stealthy case of the Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo, this is, hands down, a lot more stylish with its “Space Capsule” aesthetic.

Opening the lid reveals the open-ear type of buds in its true beauty. The stem, just like the lid, has a shiny touch which I still admire.

Each pair wirelessly charges through its teeny-tiny pogo pins on both sides.

Light and Right

Wearing the Xiaomi Buds 5 instantly felt comfortable. The buds are noticeably light and barely felt sore even after several continuous hours of usage.

I’m the type of user whose ears can easily adapt between open and close-type designs.

Regardless, I totally love the “semi in-ear” design as the earbuds fit perfectly and stay firmly to my ears whether I rock, tilt, or even bang my head hard — most especially during my K-Pop music sessions.

The stem design is pretty much expected. Quoting my colleague in his review of the Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro, the earbuds stem is the “optimal design” where you can put every piece of sound driver possible in order to make the sound quality fuller and the experience more immersive.

Props to Xiaomi though for that circular stereo speaker-like element that adds more uniqueness to the ever-increasing number of earbuds that look like clones of one another.

Easy Compatibility

Whether you are using a Xiaomi device, any other Android smartphone, or even Apple’s iPhone, the Xiaomi Earbuds app works for both platforms.

That’s not to say it doesn’t work in other devices such as tablets (or iPads) and laptops (or MacBooks) because it does — just without the app companion.

In my case, the non-Xiaomi phone I’ve used automatically detected the new pair of buds and redirected me to its app page in Google Play.

Once installed, the Xiaomi Earbuds app displays the basic stuff: battery level, some toggles, and plethora of settings.

P.S: You need a Xiaomi account before you can actually update the firmware of your earbuds. Other brands don’t force you to do so.

On a brighter side, this lets you sync all your modified settings in other devices.

Swing Into Action

With the app already introduced, it’s the best time to unravel all the hidden settings within.

Unlike other earbuds manufacturers where they restrict controls and certain gestures for both buds, the gestures options on the Xiaomi Buds 5 are completely customizable.

Instead of relying on sensitive touch sensors placed outside the stem, the Xiaomi Buds 5 has a force touch sensor in its inner side.

This type of sensor is more favorable as it hinders the earbuds from doing gesture functions whenever you accidentally touch it — or when you use the buds for playing sleep sounds to let you achieve your beauty rest.

Furthermore, swiping that sensor up and down increases or decreases volume — something other expensive buds don’t even offer.

Additionally, there are settings such as pausing playback whenever you remove one of the earbuds, taking calls automatically when the earphones are worn, and being able to connect to two devices simultaneously and seamlessly switch whenever needed.

Playing a loud sound whenever one of the earphones gets lost also exists.

I think this should be a mandatory feature as I already experienced losing some of my earbuds (due to aging and self-diagnosed short-term memory loss 😬).

Get Loud

If some of you have read my previous product reviews, I always say I’m not the biggest audiophile. Still, I can determine and differentiate a great audio quality over something that sounds straight out of a tin can.

Going gaga over KIOF’s Get Loud

On paper, the Xiaomi Buds 5 boasts an 11mm dual-magnet driver for that powerful bass — and they weren’t lying.

Aside from those crystal clear highs (treble) and mids, its bass is just deep. Metaphorically, not the deepest as the Marianas Trench (a la AirPods Pro 2) but still deep like the Philippine Trench at third place.

Case in point: I often use the HONOR Earbuds 3 Pro (for its ANC) and HUAWEI FreeClip (open-ear design) right before the Xiaomi Buds 5 arrived. Shockingly, after testing all the three buds, the sub-US$ 75 audio product from Xiaomi delivered the best oomph against the two despite being placed in the premium price segment.

If its standard and classic sound EQ aren’t your cup of tea, you can head over to the app’s Audio Effects page and adjust audio balance settings depending on your liking — whether that’s enhancing voice or treble, minimizing bass, or even sticking to Harman’s AudioEFX.

As for myself, I chose the custom preset and adjusted according to my ears’ liking.

And as previously indicated, its harman/kardon partnership via software and intricate tuning contributes to the already great audio hardware — bringing an unparalleled sound quality.

Spatial Audio-like features are possible through Dimensional Audio settings. Under it are immersive sound and track head movement for a full-on immersive experience.

Personally, I prefer my playback without those features enabled as it sounded like I’m in a cave no matter how I fine-tune every audio effect.

Yes to Lossless

The Xiaomi Buds 5 supports Qualcomm aptX. For audio nerds, this enables 16bit/44.1kHz HD lossless audio as well as high-fidelity audio with up to 1.2Mbps of transmission rate and a low latency of just 73ms.

The only caveat is that, support is still limited to newer Qualcomm phones like the Xiaomi 14 series, POCO F6 series, and even the MIX Flip. Xiaomi says more devices will be added over time. Hopefully that includes my Xiaomi 13 Pro.

Xiaomi 14 Pro | 2024

I just find it weird that buying a pair gives you 3-months worth of free Spotify subscription when the Hi-Res and Lossless Audio codec support don’t even work in that particular streaming platform.

XG’s IYKYK playing in Lossless format is a true gift from the gods

Qualcomm’s aptX support paired with my long-time loyalty to Apple Music solidifies this experience even further. By downloading all songs in either Lossless or Dolby Atmos audio codec, I can use the earbuds to its fullest extent.

Editor’s Note: There are many variations of Qualcomm’s aptX including the regular aptX, aptX-HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, and more confusing terms in the list but I won’t get into the specifics of ’em — neither the differences between aptX versus Sony’s LDAC and Apple’s ALAC, nor aptX against AAC.

What you should all be aware of is that, the Xiaomi Buds 5 possesses the better Bluetooth audio codec as it does NOT have the most basic SBC codec with the lowest bitrate found in most TWS earbuds.

Block That Noise

The ANC feature of Xiaomi Buds 5 is one of the reasons why I accepted to try out the device in the first place.

Cutting to the chase, its ANC capability is not the best in class, but gets the job right most of the time.

In less noisy areas such as a quiet bus ride going home, its ANC performs very well. I was even able to enjoy the music without hearing the traffic outside nor the engine noise below my seat to the point where I fell asleep halfway through the trip.

However, I’ve tried using the buds when I did my work backlogs in a crowded café. Even if I tried tuning up the volume all the way to 100%, it doesn’t totally cancel out the background noise as I still hear all the bee-like chatter.

It even became my habit to squeeze the force sensor twice just to check if I actually turned on its ANC feature or not.

I believe the open-ear form accounts for that ANC inconsistency. The audio drivers can only cancel out so much high-frequency noise with such design.

Before I forget, the Xiaomi Buds 5 possesses triple microphones with AI-based call noise cancellation algorithm to reduce that unwanted noise whenever you answer important phone calls, do presentations in online meetings, or just yap all-day long.

Xiaomi’s claim of up to 6.5 hours of usage on a single charge only applies when you use the buds around 50% off with ANC turned off.

As for my use-case with loud volume around 70~100%  and ANC turned on most of the time, it can only last around 2.5 to 3 hours max. Good thing the case gives an overall use of a day or two before everything gets empty.

BONUS: Built-in Recorder

One more thing that astonishes me with this pair of earbuds is none other than its voice recording capabilities baked into the device.

To activate this, you just have to change one (or two) of your gestures to voice recording. Once used, it can save up to 90 mins worth of voice notes per bud. If it’s about to get full, you can save it to your phone afterwards.

I wasn’t able to capture the prompt but Xiaomi reminds users to use this with utmost precaution as they never wanted to invade someone’s privacy (nor be associated with spying 👀).

Is the Xiaomi Buds 5 your GadgetMatch?

The Xiaomi Buds 5 has a very surprising price tag of just PhP 4,199 (around US$ 73 / EUR 67 / GBP 56 / SG$ 95 / INR 6140).

Samsung Galaxy Buds3 | 2024

I can justify that wow factor as Samsung’s non-Pro Galaxy Buds3 retails more than double at PhP 8,990 (US$ 179.99 / EUR 249 / GBP 159 / SG$ 258 / INR 19,999).

Meanwhile, Apple’s AirPods 4 with ANC costs as much as PhP 11,490 (US$ 179 / EUR 199 / GBP 179 / SG$ 249 / INR 17,900).

Definitively, the Xiaomi Buds 5 is simply one of the best earbuds you can purchase right now. The price-to-performance ratio is just unmatched.

All that topnotch audio hardware and quality combined with its wallet-friendly price makes it one of (if not) the best recommendation for people who want a new pair of great-sounding earbuds this 2024 without going over your US$ 75 budget.

Its stand-out design, great open-ear comfort and fit, excellent highs and mids, deeper bass, adequate ANC, alongside its fascinating software feats are something you would not expect in a wireless earbuds categorized under the less-competitive price bracket.

The Xiaomi Buds 5 is a worthy recipient of the GadgetMatch Seal of Approval.