Most recently, we recognized the Xiaomi Mi In-Ear Headphones Pro (aka Xiaomi Hybrid) best headphones-plugs costing up to 2000 rubles. Last year, the manufacturer updated its line of headphones, and Mi In-Ear Headphones Pro went on sale HD(aka Xiaomi Hybrid Pro) and today we’ll try to figure out whether it’s worth paying the extra 300-500 rubles for this update. Looking ahead, I can immediately say that the changes turned out to be very ambiguous. But first things first.

(update from 01/21/2019):At the end of 2018, another update to the Xiaomi Mi In-Ear Headphones Pro 2 model appeared, which is easily distinguished by its black color. Unfortunately, the sound in them has become worse and we still suggest choosing from two old models: simply Pro and ProHD.

We deal with the zoo of names of the same models

Before going ahead, it's worth understanding the names of the headphones. Xiaomi loves to create confusion in its lineups, and in the case of headphones in general, it took and at some point renamed the models a couple of times. Now, not only do they have almost the same names, but they also echo the old names. The situation is aggravated by the fact that in different stores, headphones can be called both new and old. As a result, it is not always easy to understand what kind of model is in front of us and how much it actually costs.

So, for the sake of order. First there was the Xiaomi Hybrid model (aka Xiaomi Hybrid Dual Drivers, as this name reflected their design feature, plus sometimes they were also called Piston 4). Then the model was slightly updated and renamed Xiaomi Hybrid Pro. Later they were renamed as Mi In-Ear Headphones Pro. And when it came out radically updated version, an HD console was attached to it. As a result new model is now officially called Xiaomi Mi In-Ear Headphones ProHD.

The most interesting thing is that on both models, on the body of the headphones themselves there is the inscription HD Audio, which further confuses uninitiated users. Therefore, some sellers sell the old model as simply Hybrid Dual Drivers, and the new one as Hybrid Dual Drivers Pro, rightly believing that the Pro prefix reflects the essence of the changes much better.

Confused? Still would. Therefore, the easiest way to understand what kind of model is in front of us is to look at the control panel. The remote control with three separate buttons is a new and improved model. If these are three solid black buttons, we have an old model.

What's good about the old model?

The first Xiaomi Mi In-Ear Headphones Pro (let's forget about all the renamings for a moment) stood out for their very good price/sound ratio. Sound quality was achieved through the use of two so-called hybrid drivers (essentially two speakers). If you are uncomfortable reading a large text, then below is a 10-minute video that talks about the same thing, only shorter. If text is more convenient for you and/or details are important, then welcome below.

A little theory, as they say, on your fingers. Frequencies are high, medium and low (bass). As a rule, a high-quality driver can work well only with two sets of frequencies out of three. Those. either high and mid, or mid and bass, etc. Drivers can be dynamic or reinforced. Reinforcing bars produce more high quality sound, however, due to the peculiarities of the technology (which, by the way, came from hearing aids), it handles high and medium frequencies well. But the bass is very bad there. Therefore, armature headphones, as a rule, are made with two drivers, so that a separate driver handles the bass.

But two drivers are very expensive. Therefore, Xiaomi (even with the correct pronunciation of the company there are obvious problems, because even the top officials at presentations manage to call it by different names), instead of the second armature driver, installed a cheaper dynamic one. As a result, theoretically, high and mid frequencies are audible in detail, and the bass is good due to the dynamic driver. Well, the price turned out to be nice. That's why we called them the best headphones under 1,500 rubles.

However, these headphones also had drawbacks - in terms of sound, they were not very balanced: high and low frequencies seemed raised, which is why the sound fell into a mess. Let's see if these problems are fixed in the next version.

What has changed in the new model

First of all, the price has changed. New headphones now cost 500 rubles more, i.e. very close to 2000 rubles. We will now see whether such a rise in price is fair. Well, let's start with the appearance and equipment.

The packaging of the new headphones has become larger (in the photo they are on the right and the contents of the box are pulled out).

Inside the box was a small plastic case, inside which were the headphones themselves and replacement ear pads. A plus for the new model is now a simple carrying case with the logo of 1More Design, a company that develops designs for Xiaomi. Having another brand on the package also creates confusion, which is why people often search for xiaomi headphones 1More. This is not entirely true.

Thus, the equipment has noticeably improved - the old model in the box only had the headphones themselves and silicone tips sealed in a bag.

Now about the headphones themselves – they have remained virtually unchanged in appearance. The only exception is that the wires are connected to the headphones themselves slightly differently, the housing of the speakers has become matte instead of shiny, and the weight has increased a little - they began to use more metal in the headphones.

LeftoldheadphonesXiaomi Headphones Pro (theyor Hybrid Pro or Xiaomi Pro) . On right– new Hybrid HD

If you don't know, you will hardly notice the difference. Only the remote control has changed noticeably - finding individual buttons by touch has become much more convenient. Another change (for the worse) affected the cable itself. Previously, it was in a nice braid, now it is ordinary rubber. By the way, just as the volume up buttons didn’t work on the iPhone, they still don’t work on the new version. Those. functionally nothing has changed.

LeftoldXiaomi Hybrid Dual Drivers, also known as Mi In-Ear Headphones Pro. On the right - new ones with an attachmentHD

About the main thing, about the sound

As you can see, external changes are minimal (except for the package itself and the remote control). The main changes took place “under the hood”. Judging by the presentation of the Mi In-Ear Headphones Pro HD model, Xiaomi has done a lot of work on the dynamic driver. According to the authors, the headphones use a kind of double graphene membrane, which significantly improves playback low frequencies.

I must say that the bass has really improved. The old (or now it would be more correct to say, the younger model) bass was quite strong, and the bass was quite booming. Now the bass has become much less noticeable, and it seems that the detailing of other frequencies should have increased. However, in fact this did not happen. The sound now looks as if the bass was severely cut and the mids were turned up halfway. The same first Hybrid Dual Drivers have a richer, I would say, more colored sound. Which, damn it, comes through the booming bass.

In order not to be unfounded, I will give the so-called AFC (amplitude-frequency response) - a characteristic that clearly, without any subjectivity, shows the real capabilities of the headphones. First, let's look at the ideal frequency response for headphones of our type and sign in which part of the graph the bass, mid and high frequencies are located.

The top graph shows how ideal headphones should behave, playing music as is. The yellow dotted line is headphones for bass lovers, and the blue dotted line is “ears” that stick out vocals. For more detailed information, you can follow the article on doctorhead.ru, where these graphs were taken from.

Now let's look at what similar frequency responses look like for Xiaomi Mi Headphones Pro and Pro HD

The graph clearly shows how the bass in the first Xiaomi Pros was raised, and that in the new Pro HD they are reduced, and reduced along with the mid frequencies, which in previous HDs were responsible for subjectively pleasant vocals. Well, the graph clearly shows how any Xiaomi headphones behave at high frequencies, raising them to an unpleasant squeak. However, alas, this is a disease of almost any budget headphones.

I could stop at this point and simply advise you to buy old version headphones, however, this booming bass leads to the fact that on compositions that are difficult in terms of distinguishing low frequencies, such as “This is the new shift” by Marilyn Manson, the music generally merges into an indistinguishable mess. And here the HD version sounds objectively better. However, on jazz compositions like “Who will comfort me” by Melody Gardot, in the old “ears” we hear quite pleasant highs and mids, while the HD version of the headphones clearly cuts them.

Fortunately, there is a solution to this problem. The point is that in the version Pro HD There is a small hole under the tips that releases air in front of the low-frequency driver.

If you seal it, the headphones start to sound just like regular Mi In-Ear Headphones Pro. It is clear that in this case there is no point in overpaying for HD. However, the trick is that this hole is oval. And by partially sealing it (for example, halfway) or completely sealing it, but pricking 1-2 holes with a needle (precisely pricking so that the needle does not go inside and damage the membrane), you can achieve an increase in the bass level and a slight increase in the mids. In other words, you can physically, without an equalizer, adjust the sound of the headphones to suit you. In this case, the headphones sound quite decent.

By the way, if you pay attention to the photo, you can see how people are trying to solve the problems of ultra-high frequencies by partially covering the headphone output with adhesive tape. The effectiveness of this method personally seems doubtful to me. However, everyone's ears are different, it helps some.

Why you shouldn't buy Pro2 (updated 01/21/2019)

At the end of 2018, Xiaomi introduced an update to its Pro headphones, adding the index “2” to them. The headphones are black and have an L-shaped plug. Otherwise, appearance has practically not changed, and the main difference now lies in the sound. It’s interesting that from now on the headphones are made not by a third-party company, 1More, which was previously responsible for hybrids, but by some internal division. And apparently this unit still has to learn and learn.

So, what happened to the sound? Imagine taking a song and using equalizer to stretch out the vocals. As a result, the voice sounds great, but the music is background loses some detail. Moreover, this seems to be the same Pro series, characterized by strong bass. However, it got worse here too, because the bass became noticeably “dirtier” and less detailed.

Thus, these headphones should be considered not as a step forward, but as marking time and even half a step back. Therefore, if you are just looking at purchasing, it is better to prefer older models. We categorically do not recommend the new Pro 2 and in the following article we pretend that they simply do not exist.

Additional improvement in ear fit and sound quality

Since both models are budget, the included ear pads (silicone tips) are of very, very mediocre quality. As a result, the headphones stay in my ear very poorly. Because of this, both comfort and sound quality suffer.

Luckily, there is such a thing as replaceable memory foam tips. You take the earphone in your fingers, squeeze it, and while it slowly straightens back, you stick it into your ear. As a result, the nozzle is shaped exactly to fit your ear canal, providing excellent sound insulation.

The most famous manufacturer of such foam ear pads is Comply. There is a section on their website that allows you to choose the size of the nozzles to suit your needs. specific models. From it we learn that our model is suitable for attachments with index 200 and that such a set will cost $20 for three pairs.

Fortunately, foam tips are not the most difficult thing and a search on Aliexpress for t200 (4 mm diameter) makes it easy to find an offer of 60 rubles per pair. Since our headphones are Chinese, we will also take the tips from China.

What do we get for 60 rubles. The tips fit perfectly and work exactly as they should - expanding in the ear and “sealing” the ear canal.

As a result, the headphones hold up very well. And musical details become audible much better. On forums of other headphones they often say that such foam tips change the sound somewhat (allegedly the upper ones are slightly cut), but I did not notice this. All the advantages and disadvantages of both headphones are heard in the same way. Except that now they can be heard better.

As for the disadvantages of the foam tips themselves, they only have one - the ear pads quickly get dirty and fail. The lifespan, depending on the intensity of use, is about 2-3 months. In fact, these are consumables with a very low cost.

conclusions

Both models, Pro and ProHD, are far from ideal, but for such a price you can forgive them a lot. All that remains is to choose which model is right for you. So if you are a fan of heavy or electronic music, if you like bass, you really really like it, buy simple Mi In-Ear Headphones Pro for 1000-1200 rubles (now it’s a sales period and you can get them for a completely ridiculous 800 rubles). In addition, you will receive clearly distinguishable and uncut frequencies of other ranges (problems only with the midrange). Well, the price is more than reasonable.

Pro2 - as already mentioned in the corresponding section, we do not recommend it, unless you are a fan of audiobooks. This is where voice highlighting comes in handy.

If your phone is Android and has Root

If your phone is Rooted, then the sound of the device can be “adjusted” to the headphones. To do this, firstly you need to install ViPER4Android FX (V4A), global system equalizer. Then install the profiles from this message on the 4pda website.

Greetings, Muskovites! Approaching New Year and it's time to give gifts to loved ones. Today is my first review of new three-driver headphones from the well-known and beloved company Xiaomi. The model is called Hybrid Pro HD. If anyone is interested, please see cat.

Let's start with the background: Xiaomi Hybrid Pro HD is the second “hybrid” from Xiaomi. Why did the company decide to do this? This is because the Hybrid Pro had a failure in the middle, so Xiaomi decided to work on the bugs and added another dynamic driver. Now we will check whether they succeeded.

Characteristics:
- Wire length 125 cm
- 3.5 mm jack
- Sensitivity 98 dB
- Hybrid driver (2 dynamic drivers and 1 armature)
- Resistance 32 Ohm
- Frequency range 20Hz-40000Hz
- Plug straight

Packaging and accessories


Xiaomi, as always, pleases with the packaging of its products. The design was handled by 1More. White, matte and pleasant to the touch cardboard. On the outside is the inscription HI-Res Audio, on the back are the specifications (mostly in bourgeois language).

The packaging opens “like a box” and a rich set awaits us inside. Here you have a plastic case for storage, a bag made of pleasant material and nozzles of 4 sizes (XS, S, L and M on the ears themselves) not very good quality, IMHO. There is a QR code on the headphones to check for originality.

Design and convenience


As I already wrote above, the attachments are useless. But they fit quite tightly in the ears (size M).
A three-button control panel and a microphone are attached to the right earpiece. The interlocutors do not complain about the quality of the voice.

The case is metal, with plastic inserts on the front and bottom, smooth, not very heavy, and does not fall out of the ear.

The cord is silicone, in cold weather of about -20 the wire becomes slightly dull. The plug is straight, also made of metal.

Personal opinion about the sound
Since this is a review through the eyes of an ordinary user (and also since I don’t have a normal player:) I used my Xiaomi Mi4c with a small correction in Viper FX as a source.

These are my first headphones, more expensive than 6$ =)

Low Frequencies
The lows of these headphones are clear, fast and “not arrogant” bass. They are not suitable for lovers of hard and powerful bass, because... he is not significant here. For such cases, take Urbanfun HiFi.

Mid frequencies
The vocals just break records in my head. There is no haze here, the voice can be heard down to the last detail. Xiaomi has clearly managed to make a good combination.

High frequencies
Everything is great here too. There are many of them, they are cool. Personally, I liked it, but again, not everyone will like it, for some people the tall ones will “drill into the brain”, it all depends on your preferences.

Conclusions:

Pros:
1. Sound
2. Convenient remote control
3. High quality microphone
4. Beautiful design
5. Rich equipment

Minuses:
1. The included attachments are of poor quality.
2. Straight plug (some people won't like this)

Thank you all for reading, wish you all the best and a happy new year!