Huawei FreeBuds 4 review (Wired Charging Case) – Open-Fit for Purpose

The market for wireless earbuds made by a major player in the telecoms space means that pricing breakthroughs and performance innovation are both common feats. Huawei FreeBuds 4 does both. The €139 price-tag is closer to their reduced-cost i-Series than their previous generational upgrades and FreeBuds 4 offers ear matched ANC along with improved audio performance.

Dental Gloss

Huawei FreeBuds 4 strongly resemble their predecessor. Our Ceramic White review model even had a complementary colour scheme in the FreeBuds 3 range. The look is classic, though and FreeBuds 4’s premium materials show off Huawei’s build skills.

The solitary Huawei logo resides in a printed silver square that covers the hinge on the case. The USB-C charging inlet doesn’t have a metal or faux-metal surround, just that solid outer meeting the socket snugly.

The buds themselves lack any branding – a silvered bottom on each bud’s stalk are the only details on show while in use. A user will find tiny letters ‘L’ and ‘R’ on the user-side of the stalk at the bottom. The only other markings or disturbance to the all-white buds are also functional; sound holes and grilles, sensors etc..

One thing a user may or may not notice is the reduced volume of the case. At 21.2mm deep and 58mm in diameter, Huawei FreeBuds 4 is barely a palmful and probably the smallest we have reviewed yet. At 46.2 grams for the lot, it’s also the lightest. Each buds weighs a measly 4.1g while the case itself is just 38g.

Competent, Improved Sound

Huawei FreeBuds 4 sound excellent in almost all use cases. In ideal conditions, with ANC and in a quiet environment, the user will appreciate the clarity and precision of the din. The slight u-shaped voice give the buds a musical sound that benefits greatly from the open-fit’s extra room.

The 14.3mm drivers bluff bass with some missing fundamental magic but it’s a smooth, rounded low-end. That bass never washed out the slightly de-emphasised midrange nor did it dull the bright and sharp high-end.

Wireless earbud audio performance has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, mostly thanks to the aforementioned fierce competition. Huawei FreeBuds 4 holds its own in this respect against other premium branded buds at this price and a little above.

Matching Expectations

Huawei made much of their adaptive ear matching system in their marketing of FreeBuds 4. A quick blast of inaudible ultrasound in your ear canal allows the AI to contour the active noise cancellation signal to your ears. This ear matching is done automatically when enabling ANC and it takes less than a second. AEM is seamless to a point of not knowing it was on.

Active noise cancellation performance is excellent for open-fit buds and I often forget I was wearing such a pair. It must be noted though that ANC performance will vary according to the size of a user’s earholes and hence the degree in which the buds can seal them; mine might just be perfect size.

Of course, it won’t match strong ANC and a perfect silicon seal. Huawei will likely release a silicone-tipped AEM ANC 2.0 follow-up and it’s exciting to think how it will perform with that natural advantage of a tight seal.

Usability

Having experimented with other form-factors, Huawei seem to have settled on the ‘dental floss’ style for their FreeBuds range. While FreeBuds 3i had plenty to offer and stood out for their ‘robot pirate chest’ form, Huawei FreeBuds 4 are easier to manipulate and probably more pocketable. The buying public has chosen the floss style, in general, for those reasons.

The stalks have a symmetric touch system by default which is easier to get used to than an asymmetric setup. Symmetric layouts tend to have fewer functions but Huawei have somehow squeezed in most of what you would expect from the asymmetric style. Users can swipe up and down to change volume as well as play/pause, skip/rewind, enable/disable ANC and hail your digital assistant.

For those who don’t mind setting it up themselves, the device can be set to an asymmetric mode but with most of what you need already available by default on both ears, I doubt many will delve into AI Life to do so.

22 hours total stamina is about par for the course in the premium buds category though this figure takes a significant hit with that excellent ANC running. 14 hours isn’t awful but that means running ANC will almost halve your stamina.

The buds themselves are good for a solid four hours on their own with ANC disabled. With ANC on, they’ll go for around 2.5 hours – a decent commute and you’ll hear the dreaded ‘charge me’ beep. This run-time is also starting to seem a little short against the competition, including some of their own offerings. To offset this, you’ll get around 2.5 hours of non-ANC playback into the buds with a 15-minute nap in the case.

Specifications

Price is Right, Sounds Good

Huawei’s decision to offer a wired and wireless charging varieties of Huawei FreeBuds 4 seems like a good choice. Our wired model is s full €80 cheaper than FreeBuds 3 at launch, lacking only wireless charging for the case while gaining in terms of sound quality, ANC, fit and function. While FreeBuds 4 isn’t huge step forward in terms of look or feel, those gains are a worthy upgrade.

Huawei FreeBuds 4 are available from 24th June 2021 with an RRP of €139 (Wired Charging Case)

Review unit provided by PR