Review of Huawei FreeBuds Pro 2 wireless headphones - one of the best for Android

Often new models of headphones please with a more pleasant design, but technically they are not much different from their predecessors. Changes come down to loud marketing slogans and a couple of dubious improvements that you might not notice with daily use. With the replacement Huawei FreeBuds Pro 2 the first "bugs", things are different - the upgrade turned out to be tangible in all respects. Let's talk in order.

Table of contents

• Specifications
• Design and equipment
• Control and landing
• Connection and application
• Sound and noise reduction
• Headset mode
• autonomy
• Results

Specifications

Design and equipment

In the box, in addition to the headphones, there are two pairs of silicone tips and a short cable from USB to USB‑C for charging. The FreeBuds Pro 2 themselves are already equipped with medium-sized ear pads.

We had a glossy white model on the test. There is also the original Pearl Blue and Silver Gray versions.

Headphones are developed together with the French company Devialet, which specializes in speakers and amplifiers. The brand name is emblazoned on the chrome nameplate of the charging case. He scratches with a bang.

The case has a pebble shape already familiar to the series. Below is a port for wired charging and an LED recharge indicator, on the right is a button for switching to pairing mode.

The case is easy to open with one hand, but the magnetic closure of the lid is secure. Headphones inside are arranged vertically, with the leg down - it is on it that the charging contacts are located.

Between the headphones in the case there is an LED pairing activity indicator - they are connected to your gadget when you open the lid, and this light turns green.

The headphones themselves are completely glossy, as is the case. The plastic, of course, is easily soiled, but the prints are not very noticeable on white, so the gadget does not lose its premium quality with daily use.

Each headphone has two pairs of microphones - on the bottom of the stem and on the top, as well as a proximity sensor. It pauses the music if you take the earpiece out of your ear. It works flawlessly.

The sound guide of FreeBuds Pro 2 is oval with a metal mesh. The silicone tips also have a number of micro-holes that hold back earwax. Rinsing the nozzle is much easier than extracting sulfur from the mesh.

Control and landing

The headphones sit comfortably: they do not hang out and do not strive to fall out when walking, although, depending on the shape of the auricle, they can bristle a little. This is a purely individual question.

As part of the management, several actions are available:

• Squeeze the leg once - play / pause.
• Squeeze twice is the next song.
• Squeeze three times - the previous song.
• Squeeze the leg and hold - switch to transparency mode, enable ANC, or disable special mode.
• Swipe up or down the leg - adjust the playback volume.

Despite the small size of the leg itself, FreeBuds Pro 2 is convenient to manage. There is no feeling that the next time you touch the earphone will fall out. The main thing is to choose the right silicone tips.

Comfort will also depend on the nozzles for prolonged use. In our case, with medium-sized ear pads, it was pleasant to listen to music for 4-5 hours of battery life. There was no feeling of excess pressure or full vacuum, and this is an absolute plus.

Connection and application

As we already wrote, there is a pairing button on the right side of the case. You will only need it if you will be connecting the headphones to a second device. With the first connection occurs automatically - you only need to confirm it on the sound source (smartphone or tablet).

An application is required for full control of the device Huawei AI Life. It will allow you to download and upload new firmware, as well as track the charge of each earbud, disable control gestures and activate audio effects.

Separately, it is worth noting the presence of an equalizer, which was missing in the previous version of FreeBuds Pro, and the headphone search function - left or right. When it is activated, a signal is sent to the earpiece, which allows you to detect the loss, for example, in a room. The sound is not loud, but in complete silence it can be recognized.

Sound and noise reduction

The headphones have two drivers: a dynamic driver with a diameter of 11 mm, which is responsible for low and medium frequencies, as well as a planar diaphragm driver for high frequencies. The reproducible range has become much wider - from 14 Hz to 48 kHz.

The manufacturer claims that headphones "capture all the nuances of the sound and deliver deep bass and clear highs." Taking into account the declared 14 Hz “bottoms”, we expected a pronounced emphasis on bass from the headphones, but in practice it did not turn out to be.

Instead, the FreeBuds Pro 2 surprised with the detail and softness of the low frequencies. Some tracks played in a new way, especially rap, techno and chill-out music. With noise reduction (ANC) turned on, the effect is slightly reduced, but not lost.

The sound will become even more expressive and detailed if you use the new top-end LDAC codec. To do this, in the Ai Life application, you need to enable the "Sound Quality Priority" option, it is located in the "Audio Effects" section. But in this mode, delays are possible, and the battery of the headphones runs out faster, especially if you use noise reduction.

As for the ANC mode itself, it is the flagship one here, up to 47 dB. All office noises and even some street noises are cut off when you walk next to a busy road. The app also allows you to choose the degree of noise reduction, ranging from a pleasant "comfort" to an almost "vacuum" ultra mode. The difference is really felt.

Transparency (sound transmission) is also available, and also works fine. You can turn on the voice boost so that the words of others do not lose volume while using the headphones.

Headset mode

Noise cancellation is also felt in headset mode. To evaluate it, you can simply record a voice message in the messenger and listen to it. Even if you do it somewhere on the street, your voice will sound in almost complete silence. And this is a big plus for those who are used to communicating with voices.

Since FreeBuds Pro 2 supports pairing with two devices at the same time, you can get the hang of listening to music, for example, from a laptop, and when there is an incoming call, quickly switch to a smartphone, communicating through headphones in mode headsets.

autonomy

The manufacturer claims more than 6 hours of battery life without ANC and 4 hours with noise reduction. We usually got a little less, about 5 and 3.5 hours, respectively. Moreover, the left earpiece was always discharged first, and the right one had a charge for about another half an hour.

Autonomy is far from top-end, but sufficient for most use cases - on the way to work, during walks or training in the gym and so on. In addition, a quick recharge often helps out: after 10 minutes in the case, the headphones can work for about an hour and a half.

The case itself provides three to four recharges and supports Qi technology. You can also recharge it from a smartphone with reverse recharge.

Results

The first FreeBuds Pro model had one dynamic driver, supported only AAC/SBC codecs, and the reproduced frequencies were limited to the standard range of 20 Hz - 20 kHz.

The second version of Pro added an additional high-frequency driver and support for the Hi-Res LDAC codec, greatly expanded the frequency range - from 14 Hz to 48 kHz. Noise reduction has also improved, an equalizer has appeared, the headphones themselves have become more secure - the predecessor did not even have IP54.

All these upgrades are noticeable, and they compensate for a small lack of autonomy. We can say with confidence that FreeBuds Pro 2 are one of the the best TWS headphones for Android smartphones. Especially considering their price - 12,990 rubles. You will hardly regret this purchase.

Buy

The author thanks Huawei for the device provided for testing. The company had no opportunity to influence its result.