Forget Bluetooth — these new earbuds use Wi-Fi Direct to enable lossless audio
- vivo has launched the TWS 5 Pro earbuds in China, utilizing a proprietary Wi-Fi Direct solution rather than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound XPAN.
- The custom Wi-Fi Direct-like connection offers a massive 4.6Mbps bandwidth, enabling uncompressed 24-bit/96kHz lossless audio playback.
- However, the high-fidelity audio pipeline comes with a major battery penalty, cutting playback down to four hours compared to 11 hours on Bluetooth.
When we talk about high-resolution wireless audio through TWS earbuds, we are almost always talking about the bandwidth limits of Bluetooth. Qualcomm ushered in a new era with its Snapdragon Sound XPAN technology, which integrated Wi-Fi into TWS for a solid, high-bandwidth connection. While the tech hasn’t gotten too popular just yet, vivo has now launched its new TWS 5 Pro earbuds that also use Wi-Fi, but without Qualcomm in the picture.
As confirmed to our sister site Android Authority, the vivo TWS 5 Pro uses a proprietary, custom-developed Wi-Fi Direct solution to connect the earbuds to your phone. The company claims this architecture breaks through existing wireless bandwidth ceilings, delivering a massive 4.6Mbps throughput. For context, this is more than triple the data volume of high-end Bluetooth codecs, far eclipsing the 990Kbps limit of LDAC and the 1.4Mbps ceiling of LHDC Lossless. According to vivo, this 4.6Mbps pipe from its Wi-Fi codec enables 96kHz/24-bit lossless audio without any compression artifacts.
However, moving past Bluetooth limits demands a significant trade-off in power efficiency. vivo’s technical specifications reveal a significant drop in battery life when Wi-Fi audio is enabled. With Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) turned off, the TWS 5 Pro yields up to 11 hours of playback over standard Bluetooth (AAC), which drops down to just five hours over Wi-Fi. With ANC activated, the Wi-Fi playback window shrinks even further to four hours.
To offset this, vivo has equipped the TWS 5 Pro’s charging case with rapid charging capabilities, giving users an extra two hours of playback after a brief five-minute top-up. The case also supports wireless charging.
Note that the Wi-Fi features are currently exclusive to select host devices in China, specifically the newly launched vivo X Fold 6, X300, X300s, and X300 Pro.
Aside from its headline Wi-Fi capability, the vivo TWS 5 Pro claims to be a high-performing conventional true wireless earbuds option. The earbuds feature up to 60dB of active noise cancelation, an IP54 dust and water resistance rating, a four-microphone array, and a low-latency mode targeting 42ms.
vivo TWS 5 Pro pricing and availability
The vivo TWS 5 Pro is currently retailing in China for CNY 999 (~$147 USD) in Black and White colors. When questioned about compatibility expansions, vivo PR stated, “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.”
