In plain black or gold with clean lines and state-of-the-art features, the FreeBuds Studio from Huawei are, first of all, a real eye-catcher in terms of shape and technology. They target the same market and are in direct competition with other Bluetooth over-ears like those...
There is a group of wireless in-ears with neckbands, which are more of a “necklace” in style. Into this group, Huawei delivers a quite convincing product, the FreeLace Pro, which includes some good ideas.
Huawei positions their FreeBuds 3i between their own FreeBuds Lite and FreeBuds 3. We will find out if these new in-ears are also in the middle when it comes to functionality.
The Huawei FreeLace Pro are good wireless in-ears with a neckband that include some clever and useful approaches to pairing, charging and switching connections between devices. Unfortunately, some of these features only work in the Android world and only with Huawei devices, which is not ideal, but other providers have similar limitations.
All in all, the FreeLace Pro offer a solid package with long running time, decent ANC and quality workmanship with good sound.
The FreeBuds Studio are impressive in terms of workmanship, runtime, features and sound, although the latter is only really excellent and balanced if the ANC remains deactivated. Although the ANC does a solid job, especially due to the constantly adapting dynamics, it falls short of expectations and possibilities due to the strong background noise, especially in Ultra mode. The fact that the optimal performance of the FreeBuds Studio can only be unleashed with a cutting-edge smartphone from the same company is, in my opinion, a minus point for these headphones, they are thus probably a little too far ahead of their time, but this is not to say that the headphones sound dramatically worse when used with iOS or an older Android.
The Huawei FreeBuds 3 left us with mixed feelings about battery life, sound quality and noise reduction. Phone calls and lip-synced movies are really good with the FreeBuds 3, but the fact that there are only two control commands directly on the ear and that the active noise reduction is less effective than it could be – combined with noise – means that the FreeBuds 3 are not the leader in the True-Wireless category, but rather, somewhere in the middle of the field. They do however stand out due to their good workmanship, the pleasant feel and other qualities such as picture/sound synchronicity and the suppression of wind noise.
©2021 headphonecheck.com
