Wi-Fi is superior for music streaming compared to Bluetooth, at least theoretically. But how does it hold up in real life?
In 2025, wireless headphones and earbuds are everywhere, yet they rely on an imperfect standard: Bluetooth. There are numerous elements of Bluetooth that make it an ideal option for wirelessly linking various devices, including audio equipment. It is adaptable, compatible, and continuously advancing, incorporating new features with every update, such as Bluetooth 6 and Low Energy (LE) Audio.
Nonetheless, there are some significant drawbacks associated with Bluetooth for audio playback on headphones, earbuds, and speakers. Two major concerns are range and quality. The typical range for standard Bluetooth devices (Class 2) is around 33 feet, which is limited and can be affected by interferences, whether digital or physical, such as walls or floors. Moreover, achieving lossless sound quality for music through Bluetooth is nearly unfeasible, even though new codecs like AptX Lossless are striving to realize this goal.
This leads to an essential question: should we enhance Bluetooth or transition to Wi-Fi? Qualcomm is taking both approaches by developing AptX Lossless over Bluetooth and working on XPAN (Expanded Personal Area Network) over Wi-Fi. It’s an exciting development, yet Sonos has been implementing Wi-Fi in its speakers for years, while Qualcomm revealed XPAN some time ago.
So, what’s the status of Wi-Fi in consumer audio products like headphones and earbuds? It’s a complicated situation, but the outlook appears promising.
The necessity of Wi-Fi over Bluetooth (and its functionality)
Many casual audio fans ponder why Wi-Fi headphones and earbuds haven’t become mainstream, as highlighted in various Reddit discussions. After all, Wi-Fi speakers are quite popular, and Sonos boasts a strong ecosystem of such devices. It should be straightforward to adapt that technology for headphones and earbuds, right? Not necessarily.
The perceived ease of this objective often stems from a misunderstanding of how Wi-Fi speakers like Sonos function. When you connect a pair of Bluetooth headphones to your phone, it is your smartphone that streams the music from a service and then communicates it to those headphones separately. Your phone accesses a streaming service via Wi-Fi or cellular data (or plays stored content), then transmits the audio to a wireless device through Bluetooth.
This is different from how Wi-Fi speakers such as Sonos work. In this context, your phone acts essentially as a remote control for your Sonos speaker, which streams music from a service over Wi-Fi independently. This is why you can control playback on Sonos speakers from virtually anywhere, while a Bluetooth connection typically requires you to be within 33 feet.
To implement this technology in headphones and earbuds, these consumer audio devices need the capability to link to Wi-Fi networks and stream audio without relying on an intermediary device, like a smartphone. This presents a challenge because you’d need to incorporate additional hardware into smaller devices. This could explain why Sonos’ debut headphones, the Sonos Ace, chose Bluetooth instead of Wi-Fi, contrary to the rest of their ecosystem.
However, Wi-Fi clearly offers several advantages over Bluetooth, which is why many audiophiles desire it. The connectivity protocol essentially eliminates the range constraints of Bluetooth—given sufficient networking hardware and access points, Wi-Fi earbuds could function anywhere that captures your network’s signal—and elevates audio quality.
Qualcomm’s XPAN technology introduces Wi-Fi audio
This technology is not fictional; it exists now through Qualcomm XPAN. It’s available in select headphones and earbuds, such as the Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro, and extends the typical range offered by Bluetooth by integrating your home Wi-Fi network. Consequently, your earbuds won’t disconnect if you wander too far from your Bluetooth device, as they will revert to Wi-Fi.
Built on the Snapdragon Sound platform and the S7 series of chips, Qualcomm XPAN aims to popularize Wi-Fi headphones and earbuds. There is still much progress to be made, but the initial consumer audio products with XPAN support launched this year, including the Buds 5 Pro.
Beyond the extended range, Qualcomm XPAN provides superior audio quality by utilizing a Wi-Fi connection. The mode’s maximum specification is 96kHz/24-bit, which surpasses CD-quality standards. In other words, XPAN technology along with compatible devices like the Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro offers genuine wireless lossless audio that exceeds what traditional Bluetooth can deliver.
While 96kHz/24-bit is accessible with XPAN today, the future envisions 24-bit/192kHz lossless audio. So, what hinders that future from coming to fruition?
The sluggish uptake
In some respects, Wi-Fi as an audio connectivity standard has its own set of challenges comparable to Bluetooth, which could be impeding its adoption. The additional hardware required for functionality may be costly or introduce a range of new issues in research and development. Moreover, using Wi-Fi consumes more
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