Embodiments may be implemented to take codec quality into account when helping to manage the active set of a wireless communication device (WCD). An illustrative method may involves a radio access network (RAN) component determining a comparative signal-strength measure for a candidate sector as compared to at least one active sector in the active set of a WCD, determining a comparative codec-quality measure for the candidate sector as compared to the at least one active sector in the active set of a WCD, and based at least in part on both (a) the comparative signal-strength measure and (b) the comparative codec-quality measure, making a determination as to whether or not to add the candidate sector to the active set.