Huawei FreeBuds 4 review: can clearly do better

After its in-ear headphones, Huawei has launched new wireless models with noise reduction, but with an open format, the FreeBuds 4. Can they compete with the best headphones on the market? This is what we will see in this complete test.

Huawei FreeBuds 4 headphones // Source: Frandroid

While Huawei has already launched its FreeBuds 4i at the start of the year, as well as FreeBuds Pro headphones at the end of 2020, the Chinese manufacturer has not forgotten wireless headphones with an open format. The Huawei FreeBuds 4, the brand's latest additions, are open-fit headphones that succeed the FreeBuds 3 of 2019. But will they be able to convince in the face of an increasingly competitive market? This is what we will see in this complete test.

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Huawei FreeBuds 4 data sheet

This test was carried out with headphones provided to us by Huawei.

A comfortable design

We take the same and start again. At first glance, this is what we could say when discovering the Huawei FreeBuds 4. It must be said that the case and the format of the headphones is a direct extension of what Huawei has accustomed us to for a year and a half. . The case is thus still round, pebble-shaped, very similar to that of the Huawei FreeBuds 3 launched at the end of 2019. However, it turns out to be a little lighter than that of the brand's previous headphones, and a little more compact. We pass for example from a diameter of 5.9 mm to a diameter of 5.8 mm. It doesn't change radically, far from it, but it's still a win to store it comfortably in a jeans pocket.

The Huawei FreeBuds 4 case // Source: Frandroid

In use, the FreeBuds 4 case is also very easy to transport. It also opens very easily thanks to a lid held by a simple spring hinge. In any case, it is much more intuitive than with many manufacturers using a button clasp that is not always easy to manipulate with one hand. On the ease of taking the headphones out of the case too, Huawei has made progress. While the FreeBuds 4i and the FreeBuds Pro were criticized for not leaving a step to slide a finger in order to have a good grip on the head of the headphones, this is now the case with the FreeBuds 4 and that's good more pleasant, especially if you have sweaty palms from the summer heat.

Huawei FreeBuds 4 headphones in their case // Source: Frandroid

In terms of buttons and connectors, Huawei is still doing as much in simplicity. The case has a simple USB-C socket for charging on the contour, an LED on the front to indicate the battery level or the pairing status, and a button on the side, precisely to start the pairing. Last point to underline, the rather thin hinge allowing to maintain the cover on the case. We would have liked it to be wider and with a little less slack to reassure as to its solidity.

The other big point in common between the FreeBuds 4 and the FreeBuds 3 obviously lies in the format of the headphones themselves. It must be said that, like their predecessors, the newborns of the Chinese manufacturer are wireless headphones, of course, but with an open-fit format. Concretely, this means that the headphones do not have tips to enter the ear canal. The advantage of this formula is to avoid both physical and auditory discomfort with a blockage effect for users, since the channel is not blocked. On the other hand, the sounds can tend to escape on this type of earphones and the passive isolation is non-existent, the external sound waves being able to bypass the earpiece to reach the eardrum.

The Huawei FreeBuds 4 are open headphones // Source: Frandroid

This choice is perfectly assumed by Huawei. According to figures from the manufacturer, 52% of users prefer open headphones of this type, in particular because of their comfort. This is why the firm wanted to keep this type of product in its catalog alongside the FreeBuds Pro and the FreeBuds 4i, two pairs of in-ear headphones.

It must be said that the comfort sold by Huawei is part of these FreeBuds 4. Like Apple with its AirPods – whose design of the FreeBuds seems clearly inspired – the headphones are particularly comfortable and they stay in place thanks to their stem. The headphones never tire the ear, and their lightness – 4.1 grams on the scale – allows them to be forgotten quite easily. Even when running, shaking your head or chewing the headphones stay in place. As such, note that the headphones are IPX4 certified and are therefore resistant to both rain and sweat. So we can go running with it without fear.

Reduced noise reduction, but multipoint Bluetooth

As with all its wireless headphones, Huawei offers a range of features on its FreeBuds 4. There are obviously touch controls, but also function management via a dedicated application and an active ambient noise reduction mode. For the pairing of the headphones to the smartphone, it is done automatically by opening the case the first time to a Huawei smartphone or tablet with at least EMUI 10. For other smartphones, PCs or tablets, simply open the case and press the pairing button for a few seconds so that the FreeBuds 4 can be found in the Bluetooth menu.

Touch controls

Like the vast majority of wireless headphones on the market, the FreeBuds 4 can be controlled using touch surfaces. In the case of Huawei's earphones, it is all of the stems, in their entire length, which are tactile. We can therefore press wherever we want to control the headphones.

Huawei FreeBuds 4 headphones are touch-controlled // Source: Frandroid

By default, Huawei thus offers rather simple controls with a double-press to pause the music or restart playback, a swipe up or down to manage the sound volume and a long press to activate or deactivate noise reduction. . By default, the same controls are offered with the left earphone and the right earphone.

Overall, if we appreciate the possibility of adjusting the volume with the touch functions of the FreeBuds 4, this therefore has a cost: it is not possible, by default, to use the FreeBuds 4 to go to the next track. or to go back. Nevertheless, this option can be activated in AI Life. Huawei's application – which we will discuss later – indeed allows you to modify the touch controls… at least in part.

It is indeed not possible to modify the sliding up or down, just like the long press. On the other hand, you can assign the double press to several functions depending on the earpiece, left or right. For example, it is possible to choose that a double press on the left retains the play/pause function, but that the same gesture, on the right earpiece, allows you to go to the next title. Unfortunately, we only have two ears and, as you will have understood, it is unfortunately impossible to choose the pause, the next title and the return to the previous song at the same time.

The Huawei AI Life app

As always, Huawei's AI Life application will allow you to manage the FreeBuds 4 functionalities more finely. As always, pay attention to the version of the application you download: the Google Play Store application does not is no longer updated. You will need to download the application from Huawei's AppGallery store or scan the QR Code on the packaging of the headphones. Suffice to say that it is rather frustrating to discover that Huawei's main application for managing its headphones and earphones is no longer maintained on the main Android store on the market. Especially since AI Life is now available – and up to date – on the Apple App Store and the FreeBuds 4 can be used without any problem on an iPhone or iPad.

Once downloaded and installed, the application will allow you to modify the touch controls, as we have seen previously, but also to update the firmware of the headphones. A few other functions are present such as sound quality management for voice calls – if you want to improve it even if it means reducing the battery of the headphones – activation of noise reduction, automatic pause or emission a sound on each earphone to find them if you have lost them.

It is also from AI Life that you will have access to the "Connection Hub", the list of all the devices to which the FreeBuds 4 have already been paired, and those to which they are currently connected.

Overall, the application does not revolutionize the genre and is far from what Sony, for example, can offer, but apart from a few shortcomings – such as the absence of an integrated equalizer – the essential is present.

Active noise reduction

Like all FreeBuds headphones since the FreeBuds 3, the Huawei FreeBuds 4 have an active noise reduction function. However, if it was to be welcomed on the FreeBuds 3i, the FreeBuds 4i, the FreeBuds Pro or the FreeBuds Studio headphones, this is less the case on the FreeBuds 4.

It must be said that due to the lack of passive isolation, the FreeBuds 4 have a hard time filtering out ambient noise. It's mechanical, the headphones may try to analyze the outside noise to offer a phase inversion – opposite sound frequencies – the sound will always manage to reach the eardrum.

Microphones for the noise reduction of Huawei FreeBuds 4 headphones // Source: Frandroid

On the FreeBuds 4, this noise reduction function is rather anecdotal and clearly struggles to convince. Certainly, we will hear a slight difference once the function is activated, but it is quite subtle. In fact, it is mainly distant sounds, such as the noise of traffic in the distance, that will be filtered, and not close noises, which are more present. Noise canceling will therefore reduce overall noise pollution, but certainly won't isolate you in a bubble like in-ear headphones can. Don't count on it to enjoy your music without hearing the noise of motorcycles, the discussions around you or the sound of a fan, which is much needed in this hot weather.

Huawei may announce a noise reduction of up to 25 dB as well as various parameters to adapt the noise reduction according to the shape of the ear or the position of the headphones, but it is impossible to detect a significant difference. After the FreeBuds 3 or the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live, Huawei again fails to offer convincing noise reduction on open-fit headphones.

Bluetooth connection

One of the main novelties of the FreeBuds 4 comes from its Bluetooth 5.2 connection. If the manufacturer already offered multipoint Bluetooth on its FreeBuds Pro, the function was however missing. That's not the case here. Not only can the FreeBuds 4 be paired to multiple sources at the same time, they can also connect to two devices simultaneously. In concrete terms, you can listen to music on your computer and answer your phone if it rings, all without taking off your headphones. Better still, unlike Samsung, Huawei allows this functionality including with smartphones from other manufacturers.

The Huawei FreeBuds 4 Bluetooth pairing button // Source: Frandroid

The only slight drawback with this feature is the management of the two sources. Indeed, while several headsets give priority to the source emitting the most recent sound, the FreeBuds require you to cut the music on one source before enjoying a second source. Moreover, this function is not without causing problems in terms of Bluetooth stability. Concretely, it is not uncommon to have brownouts if you watch a streaming video on your PC while the headphones are connected to your smartphone at the same time.

It's all the more unfortunate that, when connected to a single source, the FreeBuds 4 offer very good stability of the Bluetooth signal. Even with the smartphone in the jeans pocket and the hand over it, the headphones manage to pick up the signal perfectly and not suffer from microcuts. In a week of testing, my connection losses can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Finally, note that the FreeBuds 4 work individually from each other. You can thus store one of the headphones in its case and continue to enjoy the second without problems. In this type of use, the earphone that continues to be worn will then recover the two stereo channels and transform it into a mono sound signal so that you do not lose half of the audio experience.

Disappointing audio quality

For the management of audio on its headphones, Huawei has integrated rather large transducers, 14.3 mm in diameter. The headphones are also capable of going up to a frequency of 40,000 Hz in the treble.

Huawei FreeBuds 4 headphones // Source: Frandroid

On the codec side, however, the FreeBuds 4 are rather limited. We will find support for SBC and AAC, the most commonly supported codecs, but no aptX, aptX Adaptive, aptX HD or LDAC. As a high quality codec, Huawei does not communicate either on the presence of a particular codec, whether it is the LHDC or the L2HC, two codecs however long put forward by the Chinese manufacturer on its helmets, earphones and smartphones.

To test the Huawei FreeBuds 4, I connected them to an Oppo Find X2 Pro using the AAC codec. The titles listened to for the test were offered on Spotify in “very high” quality, i.e. ogg vorbis at 320 kbps.

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From the first titles launched with the FreeBuds 4, the observation is simple: the headphones largely highlight the mids and highs. This is particularly obvious on a track like Bad Guy by Billie Eilish where the background bass pad is usually very strong, but where it is above all the snaps of the singer's fingers and voice that are highlighted. by the FreeBuds 4. Especially since, on the whole, the bass offered by Huawei's earphones is quite runny and far from pleasant… and unfortunately the same goes for the rest of the soundstage.

The FreeBuds 4 lack nuance in the treble // Source: Frandroid

The highs, for example, are particularly dry and too pushed, with a lack of sharpness. So much so that the sound signature of the headphones can tend to cause hearing fatigue. Not only is the signature not neutral, but it is also tiring. The voices are of better quality, except at high volume and a slight tendency to saturation in the mediums and rather unpleasant sibilance, audible in particular on Come Away with Me by Norah Jones.

If you don't like this signature sound… too bad for you. Huawei does not allow you to modify it using an equalizer in the AI ​​Life application. You will therefore necessarily have to go through that of your smartphone or your audio player application.

Fortunately, the FreeBuds 4 make up for it on the sound stage, which is rather wide and appreciable, with good spatialization effects. The same applies to the dynamics of the headphones, which are rather high. In other words, the headphones do a good job of differentiating between loud sounds and softly played sounds…at least in the treble. It is indeed above all the mids and highs that will be pushed in the fortissimo, which increases the effect of auditory fatigue.

The Huawei FreeBuds 4 manage to filter noise well for your interlocutor // Source: Frandroid

For voice calls, the FreeBuds 4 perfectly manage to filter out ambient noise – including that of the wind – for your interlocutor. On the other hand, this is not without consequence for the quality of capture of your voice which will be particularly muffled at the other end of the line. To remedy this, Huawei offers an "HD calls" option in the AI ​​Life application. This will significantly improve the quality of the capture, to the detriment however of the autonomy of the headphones. The result is however not perfect, but our interlocutor noted a considerable gain after the option was activated.

Too little autonomy

On the battery side, the FreeBuds 4 case has a 410 mAh battery while the headphones themselves benefit from 30 mAh batteries. According to Huawei, this would allow you to enjoy 4 hours of listening time with the headphones, and up to 22 hours with the charging case.

For my part, by starting to listen on the FreeBuds 4 with a volume of 75% and noise reduction activated, I was able to use them for 3h49 before running out of battery. Admittedly, this is close to the manufacturer's promises, but currently many headphones offer much longer autonomy, sometimes approaching six to seven hours of use, even with noise reduction.

The FreeBuds 4 case // Source: Frandroid

For charging the headphones in their case, Huawei announces that one hour is enough for a full charge and that is indeed the case. Starting from headphones with 0% battery, it only took 32 minutes to fully charge them to 100%. After this charging session, the case – initially charged at 100% – had only 87% battery left. This suggests that the case will allow the FreeBuds 4 to be powered six to seven times on a single charge.

Finally, note that, for charging, the FreeBuds 4 are supplied with a USB-A to USB-C cable, but without an AC adapter. The case is also compatible with wireless charging.

Huawei FreeBuds 4 price and availability

The Huawei FreeBuds 4 are already available. They are available in two colors, black or silver, at a price of 149.99 euros.

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