What has always aroused great interest in me, apart from smartphones, tablets, laptops and other gadgets, is backpacks and headphones. Some of them always turn out to be different, even if they seem to be the same. I'm not a fierce fan of audiophile sound, although I understand something, but in everyday life I use JBL, Harman Kardon, and even AirPods Pro, although lately I like the Bose QC35II the most. I have been using them for two years now and I always have compact plugs with them. Now I'm trying to use the new Huawei FreeBuds 3i and have already accumulated enough impressions to answer all the questions regarding these headphones point by point.
In general, the headphones turned out to be interesting, but not without 'but' …
Headphone experience Huawei FreeBuds
When the Huawei FreeBuds headphones first appeared, they immediately became interesting to me. The fashionable form factor at that time, compact size, charging via USB Type-C – everything seemed very cool until I started using them in everyday life.
There were no complaints about sound and ergonomics, and everything worked perfectly. Questions were only about how the headphones fit in the ears. They were somehow very loose and were constantly falling out. I remember how one day I had to go for a run, and one earpiece fell out of my ear and almost “galloped off” under a car parked nearby. That would be laughing at him. For comparison, even with the first generation AirPods, I did not experience such problems. I talked about all this in the review that came out last year.
It was all about thin and very mediocre ear pads. The fact that they do not stick in the ears was not the only one who complained. The solution to the problem was to use thicker ear pads. I chose the ones that were on the JBL Everest 110 and everything just sparkled with new colors. The sound improved, the fit became more comfortable and tighter, but a new problem appeared – the case did not close. There was no room at all in it.
There is plenty of headphone space in the new case. You can experiment with ear pads.
But the headphones in the case lay as they should. The right earpiece was on the left and the left one was on the right. On the one hand, this is illogical, but when you hold the case with your left hand, it is much more convenient to reach the right earpiece with your right hand by the leg and put it in your right ear. Then change hands and again everything is convenient.
Disadvantages Huawei FreeBuds 3i
The first thing that I noticed from the shortcomings was the case. When you hold it with your left hand, and with your right you take the earpiece, which itself lies in your hand, it turns out that it is left. This is generally illogical and looks very strange.
Charging via USB Type-C.
Another disadvantage, I would note the insufficient opening angle of the lid. On the one hand, everything is not so bad, but when you hold the case in your hands, you realize that there is not enough space on the back side to hold the case. I would like either a larger opening, or a more rigid fixation (the lid falls under its own weight), or just more space for a grip. Rather, it's just nit-picking, but since we are honestly discussing everything, then we need to say about it.
I also didn't like that you can't switch songs. I loved this possibility, but in these headphones, a long touch switches the noise canceling mode, and a double short touch switches play and pause. Maybe it can somehow be updated with firmware, but so far there are no other control options.
No need to bang on the headphones – just touch.
Why headphones Huawei FreeBuds 3i
The most important thing in any headphones, namely the sound, I cannot attribute to either the strengths or the weaknesses of the product. He's good, but somehow I wanted more. For myself, I compared it with wired headphones for 4-5 thousand rubles. Given the manufacturability and the fact that wireless headphones are always more expensive, perhaps this is normal.
For my taste, the sound turned out to be too spatial, but with a slight bias towards low frequencies. It feels like we tried to squeeze everything out of the 10 mm driver. At the same time, the middle is more or less balanced. The best part is that the sound is generally clear and lacks the noise that is often found in inexpensive or relatively inexpensive headphones.
The body has all the sensors for ear tracking. When the headphones are removed from the ears, playback stops.
The headphones are equipped with a noise cancellation system that must cope with sounds up to 32 dB. In fact, this is not such a great importance, but the noise reduction partly does its job. You just need to understand that in the “plugs”, purely constructively, there is not enough passive protection against noise for the active one to work normally. Therefore, the monotonous hum will dim a little and will not be as annoying, but it will not completely remove it. Even full-size headphones cannot always do this. Harsh sounds and voices nearby will not be removed at all by any active noise reduction system.
There are no big questions about the sound of the headphones.
As usual, the sound becomes more meaty in noise canceling mode. I like it and I recommend using it. Moreover, in Huawei FreeBuds 3i the noise reduction is not so pronounced as to cause discomfort that people sometimes encounter when using this function. In any case, it can be turned off by long touching one of the headphones. This is how the operating mode of this function changes.
The claimed battery life is 3.5 hours. I did not specifically check, but even if it takes 3 hours, it will still be enough. We rarely listen to headphones for longer. Then you still put them in the case and they are charged there.
The case closes with a pleasant, slightly muffled click.
Huawei FreeBuds 3i comes in white only, but it looks pretty. I also liked how the lid closes. The click is as pleasant as the AirPods, which are widely accepted as the benchmark in this regard.
And this case also has a quick pairing function. True, this only works with devices running EMUI 10 and higher.
The connection is very easy. If you have EMUI 10, just open the case next to the phone.
The main features Huawei of FreeBuds 3i are as follows:
- Operating time – up to 3.5 hours only headphones, up to 14.5 hours taking into account charging from the case.
- Driver size – 10 mm
- Control – touch (touch and hold)
- Noise reduction – yes
- Bluetooth – 5.0
- Set – headphones, charging case, 4 pairs of ear pads, charging cable
Should you buy Huawei FreeBuds 3i
If you have Huawei and want everything to work clearly, these headphones are definitely your choice. If you buy them for another smartphone model, you should think about it, because you may not get that effect.
I did not hear myself, but the interlocutors did not complain.
In general, they give out a good sound in their category, but there are other decent models. for example Samsung Galaxy Buds (especially white). However, I like them less because of their shape, which looks like an earplug. But the sound they have is really good and I can't say in which of these two types of headphones I like it more. But the possibility of pairing with Huawei I like much more in Huawei FreeBuds 3i.