Air Fryer Noise Test: Xiaomi MAF01 Measured in dB (Empty vs Loaded)
Quiet — even with a full basket. I measured a Xiaomi MAF01 (3.5L) air fryer at 1 meter with a phone dB meter. Empty basket averaged ~49 dB; fully loaded averaged ~52 dB. For reference, a quiet office is ~40 dB and normal conversation is ~60 dB. The surprise isn't the level — it's that a full basket adds almost nothing: only about 2–3 dB.
The numbers, exactly
Three runs per condition, phone fixed 1 m in front of the vent. Each run is a 10-second average; the mean is below. Background in the room was ~36–37 dB (measured with nothing running).
| Condition | Run 1 (dB) | Run 2 (dB) | Run 3 (dB) | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Empty basket | 48 | 52 | 48 | ~49 |
| Fully loaded | 48 | 54 | 54 | ~52 |
Peak hits during start-up and ramp reached ~66–71 dB for a few seconds, then settled back down. Preheat to 200 °C took ~2 min 11 s on average (three cold-start runs: 2:16, 2:07, 2:11).
Who's "quiet" actually matters for
Xiaomi MAF01 — the unit we measured
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FAQ
Is this air fryer loud?
At 1 m, empty it averaged ~49 dB and fully loaded ~52 dB — below normal conversation (~60 dB) and only a bit above a quiet office (~40 dB). Peak bursts to ~71 dB happen briefly during warm-up.
Is 48–52 dB loud for an air fryer?
No. Most small air fryers run in the 50–65 dB band; this one sits at the quieter end. And notably, loading the basket added only ~2–3 dB, so it stays quiet while actually cooking.
Did you use a professional dB meter?
No — a phone app, which we say plainly. It's ±3–5 dB so treat absolute numbers as approximate, but the A-weighted method at a fixed 1 m distance is consistent, so comparisons between conditions here are reliable.
How does it compare to Ninja or Cosori on noise?
We haven't measured those brands, so we won't quote their dB. Use the same protocol on the model you're considering — fixed phone at 1 m, A-weighted — and compare against the reference levels here.
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