Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face a situation where quality wireless headphones sound worse on their device than on other gadgets. This is not always a hardware problem, most often it lies in software limitations or incorrectly selected parameters of audio transmission. MIUI and HyperOS have many hidden settings that can be turned off by default for the sake of battery saving or connection stability.
In this article, we will discuss all the available ways to get the most out of your acoustic system, you will learn how to activate advanced codecs, configure the system equalizer and eliminate common software conflicts that prevent you from enjoying clean and detailed sound.
Activation of Advanced Audio Codecs
The first and most important step is to check the codecs supported.The standard SBC codec provides basic quality, but for Hi-Res audio, you need to switch to more advanced compression algorithms such as AptX, AptX HD or LDAC. On Xiaomi devices, codec selection often happens automatically, but the system may prefer connection stability to sound quality while remaining on low bitrate.
To force you to change the settings, you will need access to the developer menu. Go to Settings → About phone and quickly click on the MIUI build number seven times. Once you have become a developer, go back to the main settings menu, select Additional → For developers. Find the Bluetooth Audio Codec section and select the highest quality option that your headphones support.
⚠️ Note: Use of high resolution codecs (LDAC, AptX HD) can significantly increase the battery consumption of the smartphone and the headphones themselves, as well as reduce the radius of a stable connection.
Not all headphone models support the same set of codecs. If you choose an unsupported format, the sound may disappear completely or switch back to SBC. Check the current active codec from the same developer menu where the connection status is displayed.
Table of comparison of codec bitrates
SBC codec provides up to 328 kbit/s, AptX up to 352 kbit/s, AptX HD up to 576 kbit/s, and LDAC up to 990 kbit/s.> Setup system equalizer and sound effects The second level of optimization is to work with software processing of the signal. In the shell Xiaomi is responsible for this section Settings → Sound and vibration → Sound effects. Here is a graphical equalizer that allows you to adjust the frequency balance. By default, it is often the profile "Normal" or "Disk" is used, if you need to manually to avoid noise, you need to pick up the "frequestation" (to hear more detailed sounds, especially if you are always to listen to high) and to the "to hear" (to hear more often, to get high noise, to get the "to hear the sound). Also available on this menu are Dolby Atmos and Dirac (on supported models), and the inclusion of Dolby Atmos creates a surround sound effect, which is great for movies, but can blur the stereo panorama when listening to music. Dirac, in turn, optimizes the sound for a specific headphone model, if it is defined by the system. Using the developer menu to fine-tune the developer menu hides parameters that affect not only the codec, but also the process of data transfer. You can find settings that directly affect the latency and flow stability. LDAC", where you can choose priority: sound quality, balance or stable connection. Selecting the "Sound Quality" mode in the settings LDAC It will allow you to transmit audio at maximum bitrate, but in noisy air conditions (for example, in a subway or an office with many Wi-Fi routers), artifacts may appear, in which case the system will lower the bitrate itself, unless a strict priority is set. Another useful feature is to turn off absolute volume. If the volume on the headphones and phone is out of sync, try to find the item "Switch off absolute volume" and switch its state, which will cause the system to recalibrate the volume levels the next time you connect. Optimizing energy saving for audio services Aggressive energy saving system MIUI often "kills" background processes responsible for sound processing, which leads to cracking, stuttering or complete disappearance of the sound some time after the screen is turned on. You need to manually configure Bluetooth services and your music player. Go to Settings → Applications → All applications. Find the player you use (Spotify, Yandex Music, PowerAmp) and the Bluetooth system service in the list. For each of them, go to Battery and select No Limits mode. This will prevent the system from limiting their work in the background. It is also worth turning off the option "MIUI Optimization" in the developer menu if you see critical problems with the sound, although this action may affect the operation of some third-party applications and themes. Before this step, you choose the right format for the complete code for the popular music. For example, for classics and jazz, a wide frequency range is critical, and for electronics, a stable bass. The table below compares the main characteristics so you can estimate the potential quality gain when switching modes on your Xiaomi device. Bitrate Discretion Frequency Best Use SBC 328 kbps 48 kHz Podcasts, AptX calls 352 kbps 48 kHz Pop music, AptX video HD 576 kbit/s 48 kHz Hi-Res audio, jazz LDAC 990 kbit/s 96 kHz Audiophile listening AAC 256 kbit/s 44.1 kHz Streaming services It is worth noting that for work LDAC or AptX HD Both devices -- both smartphones and headphones -- must support the standard, and if one component of the circuit doesn't support the technology, the connection will drop to the nearest common denominator, most often to the nearest common denominator. SBC. The quality of sound depends on the purity of the radio channel. Bluetooth operates at 2.4 GHz, which is heavily congested with signals from Wi-Fi routers, microwave ovens and other wireless devices. Interference can cause digital distortions that users often perceive as poor sound quality.Try to switch your Wi-Fi router to only 5GHz mode if possible.This will free up the ether for a Bluetooth connection. It's also worth checking if you're in the direct range of powerful radiation sources, and sometimes the problem is the cache of a Bluetooth module, and cleaning up Bluetooth data through the app menu can solve problems with the devices' incorrect handshake. After cleaning, you'll need to re-connect the headphones to the smartphone. MIUI missing? Often, after a firmware update, the developer menu settings are reset or the Bluetooth drivers change. Re-activate the developer mode and recheck the selected codec, since the system could return the default values. Does the case affect the sound quality of Bluetooth? Yes, thick protective cases with metallic intersperses or dense texture can shield the smartphone antenna, usually located at the top or bottom of the case. Try to remove the case and check if the connection stability has improved. Can you improve the sound through third-party applications? Applications like PowerAmper or Neutron Music have support for its own high-powered systems and bypassing the Player systems.