Credit: Provided by Xiaomi
- Xiaomi has introduced the Mi Neckband Bluetooth Earphone Pro in India.
- The headset offers IPX5 support and active noise cancellation.
- Xiaomi has also introduced a new portable Bluetooth speaker.
Neckband headphones have recently played a second fiddle to true wireless earphones and premium over-the-ear headphones, but they still deliver an excellent balance between price and battery life. Xiaomi earlier unveiled its Mi Neckband Bluetooth headphones last year, but it’s booming in a big way with a newly announced Pro model.
Xiaomi India has unveiled the Mi Neckband Bluetooth Earphone Pro, and it features a number of improvements over last year’s product. To begin with, the Pro variant offers active noise cancellation (ANC), and the company says the solution can reduce noise by 25 decibels.
The Mi Neckband Bluetooth Earphone Pro also has an IPX5 rating, which makes it splash and sweat resistant. It was not lacking in last year’s model, so there is some peace of mind here if you are caught in the rain or exercising.
What else should you expect?
The new headset also offers up to 20 hours of playback compared to the standard model which is rated up to eight hours of endurance. It is noteworthy, however, that the endurance of the Pro variant is based on the volume which is 50%, while the standard model’s version is based on the volume which is 80%. There was also no word on the playing time of the Pro model with ANC activated. Furthermore, the new headset has a slightly larger battery compared to the old one (150mAh versus 140mAh).
Other notable features include voice assistant support via the phone assistant, low latency sound and a 10mm bass driver. Another notable feature (though not in a good way) is the charging of microUSB, which in 2021 is a bit disappointing. The price happily makes up the choice of the loading gate.
Expect to pay R1799 (~ $ 25) Rs for the Mi Neckband Bluetooth Earphone Pro. This puts it under the OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z, although the two devices have a similar battery life and the same IP rating. Xiaomi’s device does serve ANC, which is missing the OnePlus earphone. Meanwhile, the OnePlus device delivers fast charging (ten minutes of charging gives you ten hours of playback), while the Xiaomi accessory takes up to 1.5 hours to fully charge.
This is not the only product Xiaomi announced today, as the company also unveiled the Mi Portable Bluetooth speaker (seen above). This device has 16 W audio, the ability to connect two of these speakers for stereo sound, and support by voice assistants via the phone assistant.
The speaker also has an IPX7 water resistance rating, which makes it possible to immerse up to 30 meters in a meter of water. And you get up to 13 hours of endurance on paper while charging via a USB-C port.
The Mi portable Bluetooth speaker is available for Rs 2,499 (~ $ 35) and is available in black and blue color options.
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