At a glance
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Comfortable and secure fit
- Impressive sound & ANC
- Wireless charging
- Hi-Res support
Cons
- Temperamental touch controls
- Awkward case
Our Verdict
They might look weird, but the FreeBuds 5 are excellent open-fit wireless earbuds with a lot going for them at a reasonable price.
Price When Reviewed
Unavailable in the US
You might know Huawei for its phones and laptops but it makes various other tech products including plenty of pairs of headphones. The FreeBuds 5 are the latest wireless earbuds and come with an unusual out-of-this-world design.
The wireless earbuds wouldn’t be out of place in sci-fi films such as Flight of the Navigator and if that reference is too niche, they just look very futuristic with no straight lines allowed anywhere near.
Apart from the curvy shape, the FreeBuds 5 offer up a surprisingly impressive range of specs and features for their modest price.
I was dubious but they are extremely comfortable, especially for an open design
Design & Build
- ‘Optimal Fit’ design
- Three colours
- Egg-shaped case
Curved in just about every direction possible, the FreeBuds 5 look like some mercury dripped off a table and solidified in mid-air, especially in the Silver colour I’ve tested – Ceramic White and Coral Orange are also available.
It’s not just to look different, but to ensure they fit more comfortably than rivals. I have to admit I was dubious but they are extremely comfortable, especially for an open design (ie with no silicone ear tips).
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
As well as being comfy for long periods they are also very secure in my ears, which can’t be said for that many pairs due to my small ear canals. It’s like they defy the laws of physics somehow.
There are downsides though and for me that includes somewhat flaky touch controls that refused to register taps and volume swipes even less so. I also, for some reason, repeatedly put them in the charging case the wrong way around.
The case itself feels nice and looks like a tiny UFO, but the rounded shape makes it awkward to put down on surfaces with any stability.
With an IP54 rating, they are suitable for wearing in light rain and should also cope with a sweaty gym session. Note that the case doesn’t have an IP rating.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
It means you can really feel the bass, not just hear it, but Huawei has been careful not to let that dominate
Sound Quality & ANC
- Hi-Res Audio Wireless
- 16Hz sub bass
- Adaptive EQ
- Open-Fit ANC 3.0
I was pleasantly surprised about the fit of the FreeBuds 5 and this trend continues with the sound quality. The buds are equipped with Bluetooth 5.2 and 11mm dual-magnetic dynamic drivers with an impressive frequency range of 16Hz to 40kHz (beyond human hearing at both ends of the spectrum).
It’s particularly the lower end that stands out as it means tracks with eardrum wobbling bass like James Blake’s Limit To Your Love sound excellent as does essentially any bassy dance music – try Pendulum Tarantula – or similar.
It means you can really feel the bass, not just hear it, but Huawei has been careful not to let that dominate.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
The tuning overall is nicely balanced so in that same track the vocals and piano come through clearly and the delicate tinkles of cymbals are bright and detailed. It would be easy for the FreeBuds to only really suit EDM (electronic dance music) but they sound equally good for listening to soft indie folk music such as Nick Mulvey where you can hear every individual pluck of an acoustic guitar while also recreating the medley of sound from the Foo Fighters and other genres very well.
The FreeBuds 5 don’t even need the volume to be pumped to sound good and largely avoid distortion if you do want to raise it up – though I found them perfectly good at middling levels.
Huawei has more strings in its bow here with some other impressive features for earbuds this cheap. They offer Triple Adaptive EQ meaning they can adjust the sound based on ear canal, wearing status and volume. This can’t be toggled by the touch controls or the AI Life app so I can’t comment on how much it’s doing to the sound.
The wear sensor means playback is automatically paused when you take the earbuds (or just one) out and resumes ones at least one is back in place. For me it works very well but you can switch it off in the settings if you prefer.
What you can control is the ‘sound effects’ with four profiles to choose from: Default, bass boost, treble boost and voices. Which you prefer will be a personal choice, but you can also create your own profiles with a 10-band graphic EQ which is nice to see.
The AI Life app also allows you to prioritise the connection quality or the sound quality with the latter using more power and with the possibility of delays in some scenarios.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Also in the settings, you might notice ‘HD Bluetooth audio codec’ which doesn’t do anything when you tap it but says LDAC. This is Sony’s Hi-Res Audio codec and means you can listen to higher-quality audio if you have a compatible device and streaming service/subscription.
The last element to talk about here is active noise cancelling, aka Open-Fit ANC 3.0, which I find very impressive, even without factoring in the open design. You may well use it in the Dynamic mode most of the time where it can automatically adjust based on your surroundings or, if you prefer, manually switch between Cozy for quieter places like home or General for when you’re out and about.
You can switch ANC on and off with the touch controls, but the mode has to be selected in the app.
Battery Life & Charging
- 5 hours from earbuds
- 30 hours total
- Wireless charging
Huawei touts a reasonably if not remarkable five hours of battery life from the buds themselves and a total of 30 hours when you factor in the case. You can get wireless earbuds that go longer but this sort of performance should be enough for most users.
It won’t get you through a full workday or a long-haul flight without charging but that’s the case for most wireless earbuds. The caveat with those figures is that they don’t include noise cancelling so switching it on means the total battery life drops to 20 hours.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
After an hour of playback with ANC on, I found the buds typically dropped 25% battery so you should be around 4 hours of use unless you’re in a particularly noisy environment the whole time. Oddly, the left earbud dropped lower than the right in that space of time, possibly due to me using it for touch controls but I can’t be sure.
You can charge the earbuds fully in the case in 20 minutes and charging the case itself will take 40 minutes via USB-C but you can charge wirelessly, too. Far from a given at this price so it’s nice to see but it will take four hours total so it’s really an overnight option.
Price & Availability
The FreeBuds 5 aren’t quite budget when it comes to price, but they’re not too far over our limit of $100/£100 for that category.
You can pick them up for £139.99, making them almost half the price of many premium flagship rivals from the likes of Sony and Apple.
Huawei sells the FreeBuds 5 on its official store, but you can also buy them from the likes of Huawei, Amazon, Currys and AO. They’re not officially available in the US.
Sitting in the middle of Huawei’s range means you can spend less or more if you like – look for the FreeBuds 5i or FreeBuds Pro 2 respectively with both being solid options in their field.
If you are looking for cheaper wireless earbuds with an open-fit design, then you should check out the Nothing Ear (Stick) for $99/£99.
Check out more options in our best wireless earbuds and best budget wireless earbuds charts.
Should you buy the Huawei FreeBuds 5?
Considering their bizarre shape, I was more than pleasantly surprised by the FreeBuds 5, impressed, in fact.
These are one of the best pairs of open-fit earbuds I’ve tested and there’s loads to like about them including the comfortable and secure fit. Then the impressive sound quality with Hi-Res support and decent ANC.
The touch controls aren’t the best and battery life is nothing special but neither are awful and getting things like wireless charging is not a given at this price, even though it is very slow. I’m not a big fan of the slippery and awkward case but I can live with it.
Overall, these are excellent mid-range wireless earbuds if you’re looking for an open-fit design with plenty of flagship level features.
Specs
- 11mm dual-magnetic dynamic drivers
- Open-Fit ANC 3.0
- Supported codecs: Sony LDAC, AAC and SBC
- Bluetooth 5.2
- Multi-device connectivity
- Proximity sensors
- Touch controls
- IP54 certified
- USB-C
- Wireless charging
- Headphone weight: 5.4g
- Case weight: 45g
- Up to 5 hours of battery life
- Up to 30 hours with the case