Huawei Freebuds 3: Bittersweet headphones
The Freebuds 3 are good at some things and bad at others. I tested the headphones for a month while commuting and in the office.
Huawei has developed in exactly the opposite direction to Apple's Airpods with the Freebuds 3: From in-ear headphones to earbuds. The predecessor model of the Freebuds 3 was an in-ear model, now Huawei comes with buds. The buds come without attachments and look like Apple's Airpods. Except that they are also available in black.
With buds, it's a lottery for me whether they fit. Because they only come in one size. They either fit or they don't. However, they don't go as deep into the ear as in-ear headphones and are therefore perceived as more comfortable by some users.
Loose in the seat
The Freebuds 3 fit well in my ear, they don't hurt. Because I'm used to in-ear headphones, it felt strange at first that the earbuds sit quite loosely in my ear. Like the Airpods 2, the Freebuds 3 are more of a clip-on than a plug-in. They hold surprisingly well and don't pinch anywhere in the ear.
Like the case, the buds are coated with a shiny lacquer. This makes them quite slippery; in the ear and also when you hold them in your hands.
I didn't go jogging with the Freebuds 3, they're too loose for that. However, the seat is good enough for walking around the city. Even when I sprinted onto the bus, none of the buds fell out. If I turn my head to the side, the buds slip a little, but stay in my ears.
The buds can be worn well under a cap, headband or helmet. With a headband, they stay in my ears even better, but don't press into the ear.
Sound: they have bass
Because the buds sit so loosely in my ear, I'm amazed that they have so much bass. Otherwise, the bass is lost with headphones that don't seal well. Compared to the new In-Ear Airpods Pro, the Freebuds 3 sound worse to me. This is because the bass drowns out vocals and the mids on the Freebuds 3. The Airpods Pro are more balanced in this respect.
If you like your music booming and with as much bass as possible, you will definitely like the Freebuds 3. Everyone else probably won't. If you want to reduce the bass with an equaliser, you have to do this with a separate app; Huawei doesn't offer any customisation options.
Calling with the Freebuds works surprisingly well. My colleague understood me well, even when I was on the train. The only problem I had was when I was walking and the Freebuds came into contact with my earrings. My colleague commented that I sounded as if I had a horse with me walking on a road.
Noise cancelling is not cancelling
Huawei has installed active noise cancelling. However, this hardly works as the buds do not seal well enough. The "earplug effect" for passive noise cancelling is completely missing. The active noise cancelling is also far too weak to pass for noise cancelling.
I keep reading in various reviews that the noise cancelling of the Freebuds 3 is supposed to be good. My experience is completely different. Noise is only minimally reduced with the Freebuds. If you sit on the train with the Freebuds, you can hear every fart. Really everything. Only the noise is reduced very slightly. I understand noise cancelling to mean something else.
In addition, the Freebuds 3 only have one ANC level. Apart from the off mode, there's nothing else.
In the Huawei AI Life app, which is only available for Android, you can adjust the noise cancelling with a dial. However, I find it a little difficult to find the optimum performance. One minute I have a loud noise in my ear, the next nothing. You can only turn the dial very slightly, but this is difficult to do with the app. According to Huawei, this is to customise the "personal hearing channel".
I much prefer the apps from Libratone and Sony, which simply provide you with noise cancelling at different levels.
Connection good, battery not so good
Every time I take the Freebuds 3 out of the case and activate Bluetooth on my Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro, the Freebuds connect more reliably and quickly than I've ever seen with any other headphones. I also never had a connection interruption or latency when watching videos. The connection is great.
The Freebuds 3 only have the SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs installed. I can switch my Xiaomi mobile to AAC. I'm not quite sure why Huawei didn't add AptX to the Freebuds 3. AptX is the Bluetooth standard for high-quality sound on Android mobiles.
If you use the Freebuds 3 with a Huawei mobile with Emui 10, you will benefit from a better Bluetooth connection with Huawei's A1 chipset. Pairing should also work in the same way as with Apple: Simply hold the case next to the phone and the devices will connect automatically. Because I have a Xiaomi phone, I was unable to test the functions.
Huawei claims a battery life of 4 hours for the Freebuds - which is quite short compared to other true wireless headphones. With noise cancelling activated, I ran out of juice after around 3 hours. The case can keep up with the competition: 20 hours of additional runtime and the case is recharged within an hour.
Control: Well
Unfortunately, the auto-stop function does not work as soon as you take the handset out of your ear without a Huawei mobile. Sometimes the handsets continue to buzz for me even when they are already in the case.
You control the Freebuds by tapping on the receiver. This didn't work for me at all at first, but at some point I knew where to knock. From then on, the controls work well, you just have to hit the exact point on the receiver.
In the app, you can specify what should happen when you tap the left and right handset.
If you turn on noise cancelling on the handset, an unpleasantly slow computer voice tells you that noise cancelling is on. Unfortunately, the voice cannot be switched off.
Conclusion
You will enjoy the Freebuds 3 the most if you use them with a Huawei mobile phone. This gives you all the functions. Using them with other Android phones is fine, but there are better alternatives such as the Sony WF-1000XM3.
The Freebuds 3 are always connected quickly, which is very practical. Making calls also works great. They would actually be perfect for travelling. But the noise cancelling is too weak for me. For me, the headphones are bittersweet; it's bitter that the noise cancelling is so weak, but nice that the other functions such as making calls and the connection are so good.
I don't like the sound of the buds, as the mids are too low for me. But that's a matter of taste. People who like a lot of bass will like the Freebuds 3.
If you don't mind that the noise cancelling is so weak and you like headphones with bass, then the Freebuds 3 are the earbuds for you.
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Testing devices and gadgets is my thing. Some experiments lead to interesting insights, others to demolished phones. I’m hooked on series and can’t imagine life without Netflix. In summer, you’ll find me soaking up the sun by the lake or at a music festival.
