Huawei FreeArc: One minute review

With audio brands and tech companies announcing open-ear earbuds left, right and center, it was no surprise that Chinese giant Huawei got in on the action too.

 

It was only minutes into the testing for this Huawei FreeArc review, though, that I understood these to be some of the best open-ear buds on the market right now. Huawei’s onto something here!

 

The reason for this is simple: as of their release, the Huawei FreeArc are the best-sounding examples of this form factor, and that’s a really impressive selling point given how earbuds like this work.

 

 

Design

  • Mid-sized charging case
  • Comfortable and reliable bud fit
  • Temperamental touch controls

 

The case measures 67.8 x 67.8 x 26.5mm and weighs 67g, and it has basically what you’d expect from an earbuds case: place to lay each bud, a pairing button, and a USB-C port for charging.

 

The buds themselves weigh 8.9g so they’re not the lightest open-ears I’ve ever tested, but the difference is just a gram or so and they are by no means heavy.

 

 

Features

  • Battery life is 7 hours (only 23 for case)
  • App has convoluted installation process
  • Could do with extra features

 

Firstly, the battery life isn’t amazing. At 7 hours of listening per bud, it’s not bad, as such, though plenty of other buds (especially open-ears) beat it. But the charging case isn’t any better, because it only gets you 28 hours of listening, a stat that’s got to be among the lowest I’ve seen in buds like this.

 

 

Sound performance
  • Large 17mm x 12mm drivers
  • Impressive sound stage
  • Could have done with ANC

 

The core selling point of the Huawei FreeArc is that they’re the best-sounding open-ear earbuds I’ve tested to date. That’s not the biggest compliment in the world, given that the form factor naturally leads to worse audio (the speaker is dangling away from your ear, of course, and bass clout is usually the first casualty), but I was still impressed with how the FreeArcs sound.

 

 

 

They’d be decent value if they only had ‘good’ sound quality, but the fact that they sound great really helps cement the Huawei FreeArc as one of the best-value open-ear buds you can buy right now.