The Huawei FreeBuds 5 are the company’s latest pair of open-ear design earbud that come with a new and unfamiliar / creative shape, and are packed with tons of features.
Design and Build
Huawei denied this time around to leave its traditional design language and introduce something new, and different from anything we currently have in the market.
The new FreeBuds 5 bring a new, fresh, stylish design, with the upper part of the buds shaped like the hollow next to the ear canal, while the stems have more of a teardrop shape. As per Huawei, the design of HUAWEI FreeBuds 5 is inspired by the Prince Rupert’s Drop created during the development of Kunlun Glass. It’s seamless curves enhance its futuristic feel, and provides a uniquely stylish new look for earbuds.
Once you put them on, you’ll immediately notice that light weight of these buds, which you tend to forget they are actually in your ears.
Sine these are open-ear designed earbuds, Huawei has included silicone sleeves which you can wrap around the upper part and add extra grip to avoid accidental fall outs during sports activities.
Performance, Audio, ANC, and more
the Freebuds 5 are Hi-Res Audio Wireless certified (96 kHz/24 bit), and support ANC. Usually, as we all know, noise cancelling doesn’t tend to work well on open-fit designs, but Huawei has adopted a new approach with the FreeBuds 5, and added intelligent dynamic ANC with triple mics on each bud, which adjust the noise cancelling in real-time, resulting in comfortable yet immersive listening experience.
Additionally, the three microphones work in tandem with a 3A noise cancellation algorithm and deep neutral network (DNN) algorithm to adaptively cancel out noise during calls, allowing the person you are calling to hear your voice in crystal clarity.
The earbuds are equipped with an ultra-mag dynamic driver powered by dual-ring magnets, and an 11 mm diameter diaphragm, which work in tandem with the sound turbo technology to provide powerful driving force, large amplitude, surging bass notes, and crystal clear human voice reproduction. With L2HC and LDAC™ codecs.
Thanks to a built-in algorithm, the earbuds provide adaptive EQ from 100 Hz to 2000 Hz within 2 seconds, by accounting for the structure of your ear canal, wearing status, and volume level. This feature allows the earbuds to provide ultra-consistent sound quality for all users.
The side of the stems offer touch-sensitive controls for volume, skipping, pausing, etc, they work really well and are very responsive. In addition to the controls on the actual earbuds, the AI Life app, for both Android and iOS provides additional ways to tweak the equalizer, sound quality, and other options.
Overall, the FreeBuds produce superb, and detailed audio and sound across different genres and across different levels, but do not expect heavy bass on this type of earbuds.
Battery and Charging
The battery life is more or less on par with what Huawei claimed. We got around 3 hours + with ANC turned on during the test. Of course, you would get around an hour more of juice if ANC is off.
The charging case was able to fully charge the Freebuds 5 around 4 times before it died out. The case supports wireless charging, and there’s also an LED light on the front giving you a look into both the case and earbuds battery with a green, amber, or red light.
Verdict
The HUAWEI FreeBuds 5 provides a comfortable listening experience and excellent acoustics packaged in a stylish design with a seamless exterior. While the design itself may not be appealing for the mass, it definitely will attract people who are young, dynamic and eager to showcase their personality and style.
See the full specs here.
