Are the Huawei FreeBuds Pro and FreeBuds Studio worth it?
During the global launch event for the Huawei Mate 40 Series handsets, Huawei also revealed its latest true wireless earbuds, the FreeBuds Pro and Huawei's audiophile-quality headset, the FreeBuds Studio. Let's take a closer look at all the features – there's a lot more going on here than just using them for listening to tunes.
FreeBuds Pro
Of course, any set of earbuds have to lead with their audio quality. The FreeBuds Pro cover the full human perceivable range from 20Hz to 20kHz. For your music and for your phone calls, the FreeBuds Pro are ideal for comfortably hearing and enjoying your audio within the fuss of cables.
One of the less obvious uses for the FreeBuds Pro is not just for taking calls but also for shooting video. For those who shoot vlogs on selfie sticks, your camera and its microphone are just too far from your face to capture what you're saying in a crisp, clear way, especially if you're in a busy or windy location. This makes the FreeBuds Pro an excellent solution to the problem.
Looking a little deeper, the FreeBuds Pro use a 3-microphone array to capture and process recording in the clearest way possible and the Bluetooth connection to your smartphone ensures a high-quality data feed into the camera.
This isn't just a question of microphone quality and placement, either. FreeBuds Pro include intelligent dynamic noise cancellation will also help to ensure that the sounds that are reduced are just the background noise, while keeping human voice sounding crisp and clear.
So whether it's for the enjoyment or putting them to work, the FreeBuds Pro have plenty to offer.
FreeBuds Studio
Taking it to a more professional level, the FreeBuds Studio deliver one of the best quality audio experiences you can get your hands on.
For enjoying music, the FreeBuds Studio is a full over-the-ear headset, encapsulating your ears fully to immerse you completely in what you're listening to. They deliver an amazing 4Hz to 48kHz audio range, far beyond the edges of human perception. This actually ensures that at those highest and lowest ends of audio you get a complete experience into those ranges where you're almost "feeling" more than you hear. Those deep, deep rumbles. Those crisp, clean highs.
These are delivered by big 40mm drivers which help to really emphasise the wide frequency delivery and sensitivity. Huawei runs the audio across its own L2HC HD wireless audio codec, which push audio data at up to 960kbps – giving plenty of headroom to support the latest 96kHz/24bit Ultra Hi-Res audio formats, which is not found widely amongst wireless headsets and is exactly what any audiophile on the go would be looking for.
The FreeBuds Studio also feature dynamic noise cancellation, which along with the passive sound isolation design create an incredibly powerful reduction in the sound environment around you. A six-microphone array is used to accurately reduce environmental audio and is also delivered with three separate active noise cancellation modes to let you choose a level that suits your needs best.
You can also choose an Awareness Mode which turns those microphones into a delivery system to ensure you hear everything around you. Have a conversation or just know what's happening around you on a busy street without taking off your FreeBuds Studio headset. There is also a Voice mode, which uses an intelligent process to reduce background noise while allowing voices to flow through to the wearer so you can buy a ticket at a busy train station or hear announcements without being bombarded by every other noise in the location.
Volume, next/previous, play/pause, voice assistant activation and call connections can all be managed with touch controls on the surface of the right ear cup with simple tap and swipe gestures.
Lastly, the FreeBuds Studio can also connect to two separate devices seamlessly, so you can listen to a movie on your tablet and then answer a call on your phone without skipping a beat. This includes connection to non-Huawei Android and iOS devices, too. A dual 360-degree antenna system also ensures you don't have weird little dropouts if you turn your head the wrong way, which many people may have experienced with other Bluetooth headsets.
Battery life is rated to 24-hours of continuous playback, with 5 hours of charge possible in just 10 minutes and just one hour for a full charge. With active noise cancellation on the battery life will still achieve 20 hours of playback.
When paired with the latest Huawei smartphones running EMUI 11.0, the battery life is also enhanced further, achieving 22 hours with ANC on and 32 hours with ANC off.
And if you ever manage to lose your FreeBuds Studio, Huawei handsets include a 'Find my headphones' feature to help you track them down again.
The FreeBuds Studio is a wonderfully comfortable design, with strong sturdy arms and soft, comfortable ear-pads. They look incredibly understated, with a clinical, clean industrial design with crisp oval and circular shaping. They come in black and gold colour options.