Huawei Freebuds Pro 3 review: Dual-driver dynamite

Huawei has been in the in-ear audio game for some time, delivering a number of different styles and shapes in the true wireless bud market. Earlier this year it launched an unusual bean-shaped Freebuds pair, but for its flagship range – the Freebuds Pro – it stuck with a more conventional shape.

I’ve been testing the Freebuds Pro 3 for a few weeks, and they offer a lot of high-end capabilities in a product that doesn’t cost the earth. They’re not perfect, but they do sound great.

Huawei Freebuds Pro 3

Huawei’s latest flagship buds produce excellent sound across all frequencies thanks to their innovative dual-driver system. With the dual Hi-Res audio certification onboard, they’re a very versatile pair of buds. They’d be exceptional with better ANC and battery life.

Pros

• Audio performance is superb, great detail across all frequencies
• Lightweight and splash-resistant design
• Easy to remove from the case
• Hi-Res audio support

Cons

• Battery life is just okay
• Noise cancelling could be better

Price, specs and availability

Huawei’s latest flagship in-ear headphones are available for purchase now, with prices starting from around $220 in the US/North America, or £169 in the UK. There are three colours to choose from: Ceramic White, Silver Frost (dark grey) and Green. The green model is the version photographed for this review, which you’ll see is a very subtle shade of green, and more silver/grey.

Design and comfort

From a pure design standpoint, not much has really changed when comparing the Freebuds Pro 3 to their predecessors, the Freebuds Pro 2. That means you still get that same curved, rounded shape that fits well inside the ear, the same silicon tip for sealing off the ear canal and the cuboid stem sticking outside the ear.

It’s the Freebuds Pro look and means they stand out at least a little among the sea of very same-looking earphones from other companies. The stem also features a touch-sensitive area that you can swipe to adjust volume, tap to play/pause and press and hold to activate/deactivate the noise cancelling or transparency features.

Even the charging case is pretty much the same as it was last time out. It’s predominantly made from plastic, and forms a pill-shaped form that’s comfortable and pleasing to hold.

Huawei Freebuds Pro 2 review: Buff up

Huawei’s product page – quite unusually – describes it as a ‘glass case’ which it very definitely isn’t, unless my senses are way off. The case is plastic, and as far as I can see, there’s one small square of glass where the Huawei logo is on the back, but I cannot imagine why the brand decided that was worth such a mention.

It’s still a well-designed case because it’s easy to open and – more importantly – easy to remove the buds from. It takes no effort or concentration to lift the buds from their silos. They’re also IP54 splash and dust-resistant, so they can cope if you get caught in the rain or get a little sweatier.

For the most part, the buds are comfortable to wear. I could wear them for 2-3 hours at a time listening to music without too much trouble. Saying that I did feel something of a sensitive spot developing on the inside of my ear after a little while. It wasn’t so comfortable, then, that I could ignore them. I was always aware that they were in there.

The buds are light though, at just 5.8 grams each, and they sit easily without any feeling of weight dragging them down. I’d sometimes have to adjust them as the silicon tip slipped a little, but it wasn’t a major problem. But it does mean that I wouldn’t recommend them for working out or running.

Battery life, connectivity and performance

Better, but not market-leading

It’s hard to get too excited by the battery life of the Freebuds Pro 3. Not because it’s terrible, but more because I’ve tested earbuds recently that can go much longer on a full charge than what Huawei’s buds can manage. These particular buds will do a maximum of 4.5 hours of music playback when full, outside the case, when you’re using the ANC. If ANC is switched off, that increases to 6.5 hours, but – obviously – means you’re sacrificing the noise-cancelling abilities of the buds.

Compare that to the Master & Dynamic MW09 – which can do more than 12 hours outside the case before needing to be placed back again – and it’s really nowhere near market-leading. It’s not particularly bad either though. In fact, it’s pretty standard performance, considering AirPods Pro do around 5-6 hours on a full charge as well. And also considering, there’s rarely a time when you would want to listen to music for more than 2-3 hours in one sitting. It’s not a big deal, but it’s not the best.

General performance and connectivity are solid enough too. I’d often walk a couple of rooms away from my source device, and the buds kept their connection and kept streaming music without any breaks. Similarly, the in-ear detection works well, pausing and playing music almost instantly.

One other issue, is that if you want to control any of the features of the earphones – like EQ, checking battery levels and such – you need to download the AI Life app, which isn’t available on the Google Play Store for Android devices, but is on the App Store for iPhones. However, with the added convenient features you get from using AirPods with an iPhone – like easy connection and pairing, ‘Hey Siri’ support and personalised Spatial Audio – it’s hard to imagine anyone buying Huawei’s buds over the Apple-made option if they use an iPhone.

Sound and noise-cancelling

What I really liked about the Freebuds Pro 3 in my testing – done mostly with them set to Huawei’s ‘default’ EQ setting – was how remarkably versatile they are. It doesn’t seem to matter what type of music or arrangements I play through them, it seems to get the brief, and deliver the sound you’d want to hear thanks to some canny driver engineering and EQ balance.

By ‘canny driver engineering’ I mean, ‘these aren’t your typical in-ear drivers’. The Freebuds Pro 3 have a dual-driver system which Huawei calls an ‘ultra-hearing dual-driver’ system. What it means, is that because Huawei has combined an 11mm bass driver and a second treble driver, the buds can respond to sound as low as 14Hz and as high as 48kHz.

For reference, a human ear can typically hear between 20Hz and 20kHz. And while this might seem like having a supercar able to reach speeds of 200mph on roads limited to 70mph, it actually means that when it comes to delivering sound at the higher and lower ends of the human limit, it delivers them clearly, easily and without issue. The hardware isn’t straining to push those frequencies out, and so you end up with really low and high notes that still have lots of texture and detail, delivering precise audio across the spectrum, consistently.

There are so many great tunes you can listen to, to hear the strengths of the Huawei buds. One, perhaps obscure, is 20 Seconds to Comply by Silver Bullet, which has a really powerful, but low bass note and bass drum pounding through the song, and Freebuds give it the full low-bass treatment. Despite being one of those bass frequencies you might usually want a powerful subwoofer or speaker system to feel in your chest, the Freebuds seem to bring that full feeling to the fore.

And it’s not like the bass takes over the entire track, the Freebuds do a superb job of separating all the layers of the track out and making all of them easy to hear. So in that same song, the snare loop track and guitar elements cut through cleanly.

Loser by Beck – has a really low-volume bass riff in the background, with some string play in the foreground, and even twangy sitar looping – but it’s like the Freebuds Pro 3 understand the different frequencies, what’s needed to get the most out of them and lets them shine. The bass – although low – is very clearly there all the way through the track adding flavour, while the string instruments are bright and crisp.

Similarly, the classic, legendary Cherry Bomb by The Runaways might have always seemed like something of a noisy, detail-less, grungy tune, but even here the Freebuds manage to peel away the fog, still giving the over-driven guitars and slightly distorted vocals that dirty texture, but the drum symbols and snare have a clean bite.

For a full sense of Huawei’s audio offering, I found it even better to find tracks with expansive, multi-layered background instrument arrangements. Find Another Reason Why by Judah And The Lion has a backing track full of swelling strings and synth with strumming guitar and plucking banjo strings, and Freebuds make all the layers easy to hear and keep the texture detailed regardless of which frequency they happen to sit on.

As for precision, I listened to Low by Foo Fighters which has some very busy drum work throughout, yet I could clearly hear every fast-paced strike of the toms or snare. My only complaint about the sound – at least the default mix – is that there are some notes and frequencies that could do with toning down a tad. The higher impact treble sounds often seem to get a little harsh – the bite is just a bit much and so I’d find myself in some instances turning the volume down so that it wasn’t an uncomfortable listen.

There are other EQ modes you can choose from in the Huawei AI Life app. There’s a Bass Boost option, as well as mixes designed to highlight vocals or treble notes. There’s even a ‘Symphony’ setting for multi-instrumental orchestral works.

The detail can be cranked up a notch further with compatible audio files. Huawei’s flagship earbuds support LDAC and L2HC2.0, gaining it a dual Hi-Res certification.

Having the ANC switched on doesn’t seem to make too much of a difference – if any – to the sound quality either. Saying that, the ANC itself isn’t the strongest I’ve tested. The Freebuds Pro 3 do cut out most of the droning noises from cars on the road or train engines while travelling, but it didn’t feel like I was locked away in my own bubble like I would be with a pair of Bose QC Ultra earbuds or AirPods Pro.

As for voice calls, I have no complaints at all. They effectively cancel out background noise using the quadruple mic system to make sure my voice is clear at all times, even with a little noise around me. Similarly, I could always hear the person on the other end very clearly.

Verdict

There are some real high points with the Huawei Freebuds Pro 3. They’re a great, convenient pair of buds that deliver really enjoyable, detailed sound across high and low frequencies. They’re some of the best-sounding in-ears on the market, especially at this price point. The benefit of wireless Hi-Res is there for audiophiles as well.

To me, they weren’t the most comfortable buds to wear for long periods, and the battery life and noise-cancelling could be improved further to better compete with the likes of Bose, Apple and Sony, but otherwise, they’re pretty great buds. You get conveniences like auto in-ear detection, the ability to pair with more than one device and splash/dust resistance.

In the end, it’s a solid offering, and definitely one for music lovers – thanks to the sound quality and dual-driver system – and it doesn’t cost the earth either.