Test: Xiaomi Buds 3T Pro – Best with Xiaomimobil

When I start testing the Xiaomi Bud’s 3T Pro, it’s with a Samsung mobile. There is no app to download to the phone and I will soon lack one. Not because there are any major problems getting started. I go into the Bluetooth menu as I usually do and find the headset immediately. If I want to pair it with another mobile, there is a pairing button on the bottom of the case, and I can have the headset connected to two phones at the same time.

It comes with rubber studs for the ears in four different sizes. I think the biggest ones fit best, and could probably have imagined another number bigger, it often feels as if they do not block out as much of the surrounding sound as they could have done with a pair of denser rubber puppets.

The manual is brief, but it appears in any case that the side of the pins are printing surfaces where you need to press a little harder for them to respond. A bit like 3D touch on older Iphones. Or they are simply ordinary blister buttons with a skinny name, it is not entirely easy to decide which one. With short presses I play or pause music. The music also pauses when I remove the headset from the ear, but this function has its own ideas and it often happens that I stop playback and remove the headset, after which it instead resumes playback when I remove it. In any case, it’s not because I have access to the touch control for the headset does not have standard touch panels. The button control works decently anyway, even though I feel I have to press a little hard to get results. Long press is used to toggle between noise reduction on, noise reduction on and crosstalk mode. I calculate this without much help from the manual or the not very explanatory audio signals that indicate that I have changed position. A speaker’s voice would have been more helpful here.

Varying noise reduction

The headset has what Xiaomi calls adaptive noise reduction that must be adjusted to the environment. I notice it especially when I’m out and it’s windy. Then because the noise reduction, which is so often the case amplifies wind noise, it changes position when it blows and the wind noise then disappears at the price of me getting significantly more traffic noise. I wish this was something I could control myself.

The noise reduction is clear over the cut with a noticeable effect, even if it is not as magically quiet as it is with Sony’s and Bose’s lures. This may be partly due to the fact that the passive noise reduction is not as good. As I said, I have the feeling that the rubber pads do not close completely tightly for me.

The music sound is not bad either, but the base is a bit thin, is it the rubber plops that haunt again? In addition, it feels a bit weak dynamics, that is, when a lot is going on at the same time in the music, what sounds loudest tends to disturb the weaker sounds.

Mediocre conversational sound

I get a bit mixed reviews about the conversation sound. My mother, who is probably a little more picky, thinks it sounds like I’m talking in a jar. My partner, who at the moment is one of Sweden’s most experienced call quality assessors in headsets, agrees that my voice sounds a bit compressed but still okay. What the headset is good at during calls is to remove background noise. Kitchen machines and traffic are almost not heard at all at the other end, and if I fiddle with bags and the like, it is heard, but not so much that it bothers.

When I read about the headset on Xiaomi’s website, I see several functions mentioned that I can not find any way to access, for example that I should be able to set so that voices are amplified in the crosstalk mode. I therefore borrow a Xiaomi 12 to test against. When I connected the headset to the Xiaomi mobile and go into the bluetooth settings for the headset, I find exactly what I would need an app for. For example, I can see what noise reduction mode the headset is currently set to and select manually. This is also where I find the function for amplifying voices in the crosstalk. The purpose is therefore that I can, for example, talk to the cashier in a store without taking off my headset. I can not say that I notice any major difference with the function turned on or off, but even a small difference is useful here.

More features with Xiaomi

In the Xiaomi settings, I also find a function for measuring the fit of the rubber studs, and then finally get to know that at least as far as Xiaomi is concerned, the rubber studs are as they should be.

Other features that I need a Xiaomimobil to access are the ability to play a loud sound if, for example, I have dropped an earpiece in a sore hole and can not find it, and support for higher sound quality with LHDC technology, an alternative to Sony’s LDAC and Qualcomm’s AptX HD for high definition audio, but an option supported by fewer manufacturers.

Another bragging feature that I get access to when I pair the headset with the Xiaomi 12 is spatial sound. This means in this case that the headset senses how I have my head and if I turn my head, the music is adjusted accordingly. The idea is that it will create a feeling that I am in a room with the music, and the function is a direct copy of a similar function that Apple has in their headsets.

When I try, I am not very impressed. First of all, it is not entirely obvious that you actually want all the music in one ear just because you turn your head. Secondly, this happens with a slight delay, so I do not get any feeling that the music is coming from the room, rather the feeling of a stereo test function, “my voice should now come from the right side of the room…” The nail in the coffin is that I also notice that the music is distorted by the treatment, and when I listen to a classical symphony, for example, the wind instruments sound cracked. This bonus feature lacks value in my opinion, but if you still want to know more, it works even if you watch movies, for example, and if you change position and sit for a while, the headset realizes it and adjusts the sound so that your current position is it is normal.

Otherwise, you can say that the case is small and flexible, but lacks wireless charging. The headset has IP rating for rain and sweat protection, and a battery life of 6 hours with three recharges in the case. this is turned on without noise reduction, I do not know what it will be with noise reduction, but it is in any case not an impressive battery life by today’s standards.

The price tag of 1900 kronor is quite juicy for a true wireless headset, and I do not think it lives up to it, at least not if you do not have a Xiaomimobil. The features that the connection to the Xiaomi 12 provide add value, at least some of them, but I still wanted better sound for the price.