These new wireless earbuds also work over Wi-Fi, but without Qualcomm's help

Qualcomm announced XPAN technology a few years ago, enabling wireless audio transmission over Wi-Fi instead of Bluetooth. The Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro is the only high-profile audio product with this tech, but it turns out vivo just announced its own pair of Wi-Fi-enabled earbuds. However, these don’t use XPAN.

Vivo announced the TWS 5 Pro alongside the X Fold 6, and these wireless earbuds offer Wi-Fi transmission in addition to Bluetooth connectivity. More specifically, the manufacturer says it uses a custom Wi-Fi solution for audio instead of Qualcomm XPAN.

The company explained to Android Authority that its take on Wi-Fi connectivity enables a major bandwidth boost:

The Wi-Fi codec delivers a 4.6Mbps bandwidth (effective on both earbuds when the phone is not connected to Wi-Fi, or when connected to 2.4G/5.8G Wi-Fi), which breaks through the bandwidth bottleneck of Bluetooth. It uses the Wi-Fi protocol for a direct point-to-point connection between the phone and earbuds, carrying more than three times the data volume of Bluetooth solutions

By contrast, vivo says its earlier TWS 5 earbuds top out at 990Kbps for LDAC, and 1.4Mbps for LHDC Lossless. The company says the Wi-Fi codec consequently enables 96kHz/24bit audio.

How does this compare to Qualcomm XPAN?

The manufacturer’s statement also suggests that it’s using Wi-Fi Direct rather than connecting to a Wi-Fi router. That could explain why vivo isn’t making any explicit claims about improved range, short of telling us the Wi-Fi codec uses “robust link-adaptive technology” across various environments. By contrast, Qualcomm’s XPAN connects to a Wi-Fi router, with the firm saying your earbuds will stay connected as long as you’re within range of your Wi-Fi network.

Vivo’s Wi-Fi solution also seems to consume significantly more power than Bluetooth. The TWS 5 Pro specs page lists five hours of Wi-Fi playback with active noise cancelation (ANC) off and four hours of Wi-Fi playback with ANC on. Meanwhile, the firm says you should expect 11 hours of Bluetooth AAC playback with ANC off and six hours of AAC playback with ANC on.

There’s no word on battery life when using a higher quality Bluetooth codec, though. That’s a shame, as this would’ve been a more appropriate comparison given the Wi-Fi codec’s emphasis on lossless playback. For what it’s worth, Qualcomm says XPAN uses more power than Bluetooth for low-bandwidth use-cases (e.g., voice calls), but less power for lossless audio.

In other words, it sounds like vivo’s custom Wi-Fi codec is purely meant for higher-quality audio rather than improved range or more efficient lossless playback. Furthermore, the feature only works on the vivo X Fold 6, X300, X300s, and X300 Pro in China right now.

Don’t get your hopes up just yet for a global release or availability on non-vivo phones, though:

The Wi-Fi feature is initially being introduced on select devices in certain markets. As for global models and non-vivo devices, we’re always exploring ways to bring the best experience to more users, but we don’t have any specific details to share at this moment.

Vivo also didn’t have any plans to share regarding XPAN-enabled products. But Qualcomm previously told us that new XPAN-enabled products are in the works, along with new XPAN versions. So our fingers are crossed that most people can actually buy Wi-Fi earbuds later this year.

The vivo TWS 5 Pro seems like a pretty decent pair of earbuds otherwise. Expect LDAC codec support, four microphones, up to 60 decibels of ANC, 42 milliseconds of latency, two hours of playback off a five-minute charge, and an IP54 rating. The new earbuds start at 999 yuan (~$147) in China.