Huawei has officially decided to enter the over-ear headphones business , going beyond what has been done in the past in terms of earphones (who said Freebuds Pro ?). The first product of this type is called FreeBuds Studio and in Italy it can be purchased for 229 euros through the official portal of the Chinese company (in reality the price would be 299 euros, but at the time of writing, a promotion is active).
Huawei's ambitions are certainly high
and entering "with a straight leg" in a market like that of over-ear
headphones is not exactly for everyone. In recent weeks, we have therefore put
the FreeBuds Studio to the test, trying to understand if they can carve out a
good place within the sector.
Design and ergonomics
The FreeBuds Studio come in a sales
package that contains a classic carrying case , as well as manuals and a USB
Type-C / USB Type-A cable for charging. Huawei has therefore decided to go
straight to the point, aiming to highlight the highlight: the headphones. The
latter are available in the Gold color, or the one we have had the opportunity
to try, or in the most classic of the Black shades.
In both cases, the design is very
similar to many other products of this type, even if the "gold" color
does not exactly fit our tastes, while the Black one is a bit too anonymous. In
short, we would have preferred something more "lively", but here we
enter the field of subjectivity.
What convinces is the comfort ,
guaranteed by a good padding of the headband and the sliding metal rods that
allow you to adjust the headphones. Convenience is therefore at home, also
considering the weight that is not exaggerated: 260 grams. We used the FreeBuds
Studio for sessions lasting several hours and never felt the need to take them
off due to too much pressure on the head. In general, these are headphones that
can be used in almost any context, also given their distinctly wireless nature.
In fact, the absence of the audio jack does not allow the user to use the
headphones in a wired way, not even going through a USB Type-C / Type-C cable:
the port is designed only for charging.
This could potentially make a certain
type of user turn up their noses, but in reality the support for the Bluetooth
5.2 standard guarantees excellent satisfaction, also allowing you to be able to
move a little from the smartphone or from the source device. Speaking of
pairing, we have never had any problems, if not a small bug related to the
indication " Connected " made explicit by the "internal
voice".
The latter sometimes did not work with
some Android smartphones, despite the correct connection. In any case, this is
a secondary aspect, which is set aside by the quality of the product. The
FreeBuds Studio have a sensor that detects when they are worn, allowing the
user to simply take off the headphones to pause the content being played, as
well as put them back on to restart it. In most cases, this has worked well.
For the rest, one aspect that leaves
something to be desired is the build quality. Don't get us wrong: the FreeBuds
Studio are well made overall, but the plastic used for the pavilions does not
guarantee that "premium feel" that a discerning user looks for in
headphones sold at a list price close to 300 euros. Net of this, the left
pavilion has the button for noise cancellation, while on the right there is the
button for Bluetooth pairing (up to two devices at the same time), the power
button and the USB Type-C port for the recharge. There is no lack of touch
controls, which can be carried out through the right pavilion, which allow you
to manage the volume, change tracks, play / pause music, answer / reject / end
a call and activate the voice assistant. The "gestures" must be made
in the area where the Huawei logo is located, everything works as it should and
is supported by internal sounds, making this possibility quick and convenient
to use. As for calls, there are six microphones capable of reducing background
noise, allowing the voice to reach the interlocutor in a "clean" way.
The FreeBuds Studio aren't actually perfect at instantly isolating background
noise, but the quality is good and you won't have any particular problems
during calls.
Noise canceling and audio quality
Noise canceling technology stands out
mainly in terms of listening. There are 3 modes that can be activated using the
appropriate physical button: deactivated, active noise cancellation and
awareness mode . Noise canceling is excellent, since the latter manages without
problems to eliminate the continuous sounds, classic of public transport, a
context in which the FreeBuds Studio can be particularly useful. As regards,
however, the Awareness mode, the latter does nothing but amplify the external
sounds through the microphones of the headphones, so as to clearly hear what is
happening outside.
It is possible to pair the headphones
with the Huawei AI Life application , available only for Android. Although the
latter is not actually required to use the FreeBuds Studio and is a secondary
addition, so much so that it is only mentioned in the margin of the Quick Start
Guide, it is good to let you know that from here there is the possibility to
manage some extra option. However, the version of the app on the Play Store is
not updated, probably due to the usual ban issue. For this reason, you need to
go through this special link , which we found by scanning a QR Code in the
documentation, and download the APK via browser. In short, not exactly one of
the best business cards for high-priced headphones. Of course, this is nothing
complex, as you simply need to download an APK, install it and log in with your
Huawei account, but you understand that for the average user this could be a
potential annoyance.
Among other things, once paired with
the application, it turns out that the latter is sparse and simply allows you
to use a few more options. The most interesting settings are probably those
related to ANC modes. In fact, through the app you can choose four presets:
Dynamic, Comfort, General and Ultra. In the first case, everything is based on
the environment, while in the others it works in a "manual" way
according to the noise of the context. It might be an interesting addition for
some, but in reality, you won't miss out on practically anything without the
app, other than software updates.
The codec used is L2HC (no aptX) .
Beware, however, that the latter is exclusive to Huawei smartphones with EMUI
11 or higher. Furthermore, there are also other features available only on
Huawei devices, in this case starting from EMUI 10.1. For example, there is a
low-latency mode for gaming. Surely the Chinese company has every interest in
pushing its ecosystem, but these "software exclusives" limit the use
with different brands.
Net of this situation, the FreeBuds
Studio guarantee high-caliber audio quality. The lows are well tuned even if
not exactly bombastic, while the mids are detailed. The highs are instead ringing,
although you begin to notice some imperfections at high volume, but nothing
excessive. Considering the limitations mentioned above, we are in any case
facing a very good product.
Another interesting aspect for Huawei's
headphones is to be found in the autonomy guaranteed by the 410 mAh battery:
about 20 hours in normal use, without going through noise cancellation. The
manufacturer's estimates are these, but in reality the results are a bit on the
downside, especially if you want to use all the features guaranteed by the
product. In any case, a value that many will probably reach is that of 15
hours, while charging takes about an hour and a half. We are therefore faced
with an overall good autonomy, even if not at the top of the market.