- The FreeBuds Pro 5 have landed, advertised as having Huawei’s ‘best ANC’
- 10% smaller; 6% lighter; New dual driver acoustic system.
- …and after four days with them, I really like them for £179 (global price TBA)
After a 16-month hiatus (Huawei retired its FreeBuds Pro 4 in November 2024), the brand is back with the Huawei FreeBuds Pro 5.
It’s too early to give a full verdict, but my first opinion should be good news for the company, whose Pro-suffixed lineup dates back to September 2020 with the inaugural Huawei FreeBuds Pro (followed by the FreeBuds Pro 2 in summer 2022 and the FreeBuds Pro 3 in late 2024), but which has so far failed to surpass a four-star rating.
My hunch is that’s about to change.
Huawei FreeBuds Pro 5: what you need to know
So, some key facts. There’s a new “diamond-etched star oval” on the bar (or stem) that has a touch sensor, but you can also squeeze the stems and slide them up or down on the stem. internal edge of said stems, to control the volume. The pinch, press or hold gesture commands can be modified and adapted in the new Huawei Audio Connect app, which I found slick and intuitive, with easy menu access to quickly find what you want to modify.
Huawei also tells me that the new internal antenna provides a 38% improvement in Bluetooth range and is twice as good at eliminating Bluetooth interference. I have yet to try them in a truly challenging or built-up area, but given what I’ve heard so far, I’m inclined to believe the claim.
Its color options are white, grey, a blue and sand vegan leather finish (my game), and the slim case is a real highlight. It closes with powerful magnets and features a halo light ring on the front that can glow red, green, or white to inform you of battery life, pairing status, etc.
One thing about pairing: there is a small button on the right side of the case when you look at the halo light, which you press on initial pairing. However, once I consulted the quick start guide and the app to figure this out, the connection with both Bluetooth and the companion app never failed.
The earbuds are, Huawei says, 10% smaller, 6% lighter and “comfort evolved” using more than 10,000 ear profiles. I can confirm that they feel smaller over the antitragus and are not tiring, even on my smaller ears.
Despite its smaller and lighter dimensions, the audio output end is supposedly larger thanks to a new dual-driver acoustic system. It uses a redesigned 6mm planar magnetic tweeter and circuit woofer that delivers 45% less distortion and promotes independent airflow between the speakers, in the head. This, Huawei says, means clearer and more accurate audio across all frequencies.
If you use a Huawei phone (I don’t), the company tells me you’ll get access to 24-bit/48kHz audio, which is definitely high resolution, but even without one, the brand claims you’ll still get close to 16-bit/44.1kHz CD audio quality.
Something Huawei calls “unlimited spatial audio with head tracking” is also listed as built-in, which essentially means device-independent immersive audio that doesn’t require a Huawei source device. At the time of writing this article (which is before its release), I can’t find this within the app, but maybe it’s incoming.
Better noise cancellation, stellar battery life? Yes and yes
You’ll get three microphones per earbud on the FreeBuds Pro 5 to help with what Huawei calls the “world’s first earbuds with a dual-engine ANC architecture.” Basically, the dual-driver system works in unison but as independent noise cancellation motors, where the low-frequency driver addresses lingering noises while the high-frequency driver eliminates those sudden, high-pitched sounds.
A new MIMO AI Sensing model is at the helm, processing noise data up to 400,000 times per second. And the result? It’s a big claim: Huawei says the noise cancellation of the FreeBuds Pro 5 has improved by up to 220% compared to the previous generation.
Specifically, because effectiveness differs depending on the environment (i.e., the specific noise that the algorithm and audio architecture are trying to cancel out), I’m told its improvements are up to 204% in the gym, or 220% in an airplane cabin. The ANC can also reach higher frequencies than before, up to 6kHz (up from 4kHz on the previous model).
I haven’t taken a flight with them yet, but I have to tell you that based on my short time with the FreeBuds Pro 5, the ANC is very good. I use it and the low-level noise in my house (neighbors, cars outside, the news headlines that we keep on loop because my partner is also a journalist) just fade away. Is the level of AirPods Pro 3 good? I’ll need more time… but like I said, it’s good!
One last thing about the ANC before we move on to the resistance: in addition to the usual ‘Noise Cancellation’, ‘Awareness’ and ‘Off’ options in the app, the noise cancellation implementation allows you to choose between ‘Dual Motor’ (the solution described above, which I really like), ‘Cozy’ (for low noise places), ‘General’ (your everyday noise) and ‘Ultra’ (for very noisy places). Within Awareness, you can also select “Standard,” “Voice Awareness,” and “Adaptive Awareness.” And refreshingly, I found that neither of these made my music tinny or leaked too much ambient noise into my poor shells, but they did allow me to hear my surroundings well.
Ok, what about the battery life? It’s also good on paper, nine hours (without ANC deployed) or 38 hours including the case. Although initially comparable to the AirPods Pro 3, which offer eight hours with ANC activated or 6.5 hours with additional whistles and chimes such as the heart rate sensor activated, the Apple product only offers 24 hours with the case.
Obviously I need to test these claims, but as someone who takes long train rides but has a very poor game for charging devices, I appreciate the extra resistance in my listening equipment.
Other benefits
In no particular order, also on the menu are multipoint for two devices, eight equalizer presets to prioritize certain frequencies, such as ‘Voice’, or for specific use cases, including ‘Movie mode’ (all developed by experts at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music, no less), or the option to create your own using a 10-band EQ tab.
Speech recognition is also here (albeit somewhat hidden behind the ‘adaptive audio’ tab, next to Adaptive Volume), which is similar to Sony’s Speak to Chat, and although I found it didn’t lower the volume level of my music as much as the recent Sony WF-1000XM6 rival, I still like it.
You also have the option to answer and reject calls by nodding or shaking your head, wear detection to pause playback if you remove a button and resume when you replace it, a fit test for the ear tips, and a switch to optimize tuning if you’re using memory foam tips (which is interesting since only silicone options are provided, although you get four in total and the pre-installed medium set fit me just fine).
There’s also a nice ‘Search’ feature that plays a sound from any earbuds you’ve left under the couch to help you find it, a low latency switch for gaming, an option to get ANC on a single earbud, and finally, the option to turn case sounds on or off.
This may seem silly, but the case tones are great! And I stand by that statement. Once activated, you can select from a variety of tones such as ‘Fountain’, ‘Pixies’ and ‘Dewdrop’, but ‘Whistle’ is my favourite. It’s something you should turn off if you’re trying to surreptitiously put music in your ear to make lectures go a little faster, of course, but it lifted my spirits every time I opened that little case and received a cheerful whistle for my trouble.
And the sound?
There are no hearing tests here to create custom sound profiles or improve your hearing, but I found the sound punchy and assertive yet clear, neutral and able to uncover detail in frequencies that other headphones for this money struggle to achieve.
the one from bad bunny UNFORGETTABLE DANCE It was expansive, but it showed female choruses in my right ear, rarely polished and celebrated by friends of this level. The trumpets sound textured and real and the timing is very crisp, with the leading edges of the notes all due diligence in a zealous blend. It was a similar story with Perfume Genius. Glorywith rhythmic percussion faithfully supporting Michael Alden Hadreas’ central, soulful vocals, while high, playful glockenspiel notes resonate through the treble.
For £179 (which is around $240 or AU$340, although these are estimates as official pricing for the US and Australia has yet to be announced), the sound value per pound is strong, for me.
Check back soon for a full review though…
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