Huawei FreeBuds Pro 5 Review

Huawei has spent several generations close to the top of the premium earbud market without quite reaching it, and the gap has always been noise cancellation. The FreeBuds Pro 5 close it. These sit in the company of the Apple AirPods Pro 3, Sony WF-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra on silencing the world, while costing considerably less than any of them.

The review unit came in a sand finish — white, grey and blue are also offered — with a matte gold shell that is genuinely impeccable. The plastic is thick and well finished, and the hinge closes flush without any play, forming a visible ring inside the case that speaks to the attention paid to detail.

The stems have been redesigned against the previous generation: rounder, softer to the touch and slimmer, which makes them more discreet. At 4.6 g per earbud they disappear in the ear quickly. The semi in-ear design holds securely without generating the unpleasant pressure sensation that plagues sealed designs, even after several hours of continuous use.

The oval charging case weighs 43 g, light enough to carry without thinking about it, and carries an IP54 rating against splashes and dust. The earbuds themselves are rated IP57, which is well suited to exercise — running in the rain is not a concern.

A LED ring on the front of the case signals status in four colours: green for a full battery, yellow for low, red for excessive discharge and white when pairing. It is both elegant and genuinely informative.

Huawei has implemented a hybrid control system combining pinches on the stems with taps. The available gestures cover single, double and triple taps, single, double and triple pinches, a long hold, and a vertical swipe for volume.

That is comprehensive — arguably too comprehensive. Memorising every combination and performing it without thinking takes real acclimatisation. Everything is reassignable in the app, which helps, but the system is more complex than it needs to be.

One regression worth noting: where the FreeBuds Pro 4 shipped with four pairs of silicone tips and three of memory foam, the Pro 5 include only four silicone pairs in XS, S, M and L. That covers most people, but the foam option is missed by anyone who prefers it for comfort or seal.

Wear detection works flawlessly, pausing music when an earbud is removed and resuming the moment it goes back in — fluid and responsive, which is not a given.

Huawei Audio Connect is the control centre, and it is unusually deep. On Android it must be installed manually as an APK, a consequence of the US restrictions imposed on Huawei, rather than through the Play Store. On iOS it is available normally through the App Store. Anyone uncomfortable with sideloading an application should factor that in before buying.

Once installed, the feature set is generous. Noise cancellation offers three manual levels plus an automatic "dual sensor" mode that adapts intensity to the environment. A conversation detection function switches automatically to transparency as soon as you start speaking — consistently one of the more useful implementations of that idea.

Spatial audio comes in fixed and head-tracking forms with four presets: default, theatre, cinema and concert hall. As is usually the case, the effect is something of a gimmick and adds little, particularly since the natural spatial presentation of these earbuds is already excellent.

Equalisation deserves attention. Huawei worked with the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing on four Huawei Sound presets — balanced as the default, plus voice, bass and classical — alongside four use-case modes covering film, podcast, game and impact, the last pushing the rhythm section forward. A 10-band manual equaliser sits underneath for anyone wanting to shape the signature themselves. It is thorough to the point of being mildly intimidating for a newcomer.

Multipoint connection works without fuss across two devices, switching automatically between, say, a phone and a laptop, and handling priority sensibly: an incoming call interrupts music, and audio returns to the first device once the call ends.

This is the headline, and it delivers. Huawei describes the system as Dual-Engine AI Noise Cancellation, built on an acoustic architecture pairing two distinct transducers with active cancellation processing up to 400,000 instances per second. The company claims a 220% improvement over the FreeBuds Pro 4.

The effect is a complete bubble of silence. On public transport or in a noisy open-plan office the FreeBuds Pro 5 erase very nearly all ambient noise. Low frequencies — the vibration of metro rails, for instance — vanish entirely. Voices and keyboard noise are heavily suppressed, with only some residue remaining on the highest and most sudden sounds.

That performance genuinely places Huawei alongside the AirPods Pro 3, Sony WF-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra. Given how far behind those references the brand previously sat, it is a significant achievement.

Transparency mode deserves its own mention. It reproduces external sound very naturally and preserves the spatial positioning of what you hear, so you can tell where voices and noises are coming from — which makes brief conversations possible without removing the earbuds.

Three microphones per earbud work alongside a voice vibration sensor and neural processing algorithms, and the result is excellent. Speech is captured clearly and naturally while surrounding noise is heavily suppressed. In a crowded cafe or walking down a windy street, the person on the other end hears you perfectly.

This is where the FreeBuds Pro 5 surprise most. The dual-transducer architecture divides the work: a dynamic driver with a dual linear magnet handles bass and midrange, while an ultra-thin planar micro-diaphragm transducer takes the treble. Samsung uses a comparable split on the Galaxy Buds4 Pro, but it is better managed here.

Bass is present, precise and punchy without ever crowding the mix, adding body to electronic and hip-hop material while staying in its place on acoustic recordings. Mids are warm and detailed — singers' breaths and the vibration of guitar strings both come through. Treble is precise and airy, giving sparkle to cymbals and piano without turning aggressive.

Spatial presentation is the standout. Instruments occupy distinct positions without overlapping, and on live recordings or orchestral works the different instrumental sections are clearly separable. That width of stage is remarkable for in-ear designs.

Codec support covers SBC, AAC and LDAC. Huawei's own L2HC 4.0 carries Hi-Res 48 kHz/24-bit audio up to 2.3 Mbps — but only with certain recent high-end Huawei handsets, specifically the Mate X7, Mate X6, Pura 80 and Nova 14 Pro. Everyone else falls back to LDAC, which is excellent but capped at 990 kbps. That is frustrating, because it puts the full technical ceiling out of reach for most buyers.

Against the competition the comparison is genuinely close. These beat the AirPods Pro 3 on richness and spatial presentation, match the Sony WF-1000XM6 with a warmer, fuller signature where Sony favours clinical neutrality, offer noise cancellation comparable to the Bose QuietComfort Ultra with better audio, and outclass the Galaxy Buds4 Pro on every front except ecosystem integration for Galaxy phone owners.

Huawei quotes 6 hours of listening with noise cancellation and connection-priority mode active. Measured in real use at around 70% volume, the earbuds ran 6 hours 29 minutes — slightly ahead of specification, which is unusual and welcome. It is honest rather than exceptional endurance: the Sony WF-1000XM6 and AirPods Pro 3 both manage 8 hours.

Each earbud carries a 60 mAh cell and the case holds 537 mAh, giving roughly four full recharges and total autonomy approaching 30 hours. That is a week of moderate use, or a few days of heavy listening.

The case charges over USB-C or wirelessly by induction, and a 10-minute fast charge delivers around 3 hours of additional listening.

In the UK the FreeBuds Pro 5 are listed on Amazon UK in Silver, under model number Sax-T100, and are in stock at the time of writing.

The FreeBuds Pro 5 are the most convincing premium earbuds Huawei has made. Sound quality is exceptional and well balanced, noise cancellation has finally reached the level of the category's best, build quality and comfort are exemplary, the call performance is excellent, and the app offers more genuine control than most rivals provide.

The reservations are practical rather than acoustic. The best codec is locked to recent Huawei phones, the Android app requires manual APK installation, the control scheme takes real learning, fewer tips are supplied than before, and battery life is ordinary.

Well below the premium models it now matches on noise cancellation — the value case is strong. Buyers on Android should simply be certain they are comfortable installing the companion app manually before committing.