FreeBuds 5i: Huawei presents its new Hi-Res Wireless certified headphones

Often suggested as the unbeatable value for money for a pair of headphones true-wireless, the FreeBuds 4i had surprised us in many ways, especially thanks to good sound performance and excellent comfort. The FreeBuds 5i naturally take over by making a few minor design changes, but also by acquiring new on-board features.

The FreeBuds 5i retain the semi-in-ear format of their predecessors with silicone tips and stem facing the user’s mouth. However, this seems a little more planed than that of the FreeBuds 4i. The case retains its dimensions and its shape of a small pebble, but takes on a new appearance with a grainy finish to the touch. The FreeBuds 5i are also very light (4.6g per earphone) and IPX4 certified, demonstrating resistance to splashes of water and sweat.

Inside are hidden 10 mm speakers supported by an automatic equalization system supposed to counter the effects of leaks, external noise and adapt to the morphology of each. The FreeBuds 5i can be connected to two devices simultaneously and are compatible with Sony’s Bluetooth LDAC codec, capable of going up to 990 kb/s.

As usual, Huawei promises mountains and wonders as to the effectiveness of onboard active noise reduction. It would thus be able to achieve an attenuation of 42 dB at best, enough to crush the AirPods Pro and WH-1000XM4 if this were to be verified (we highly doubt it). On the autonomy side, the FreeBuds 5i promise 6 hours per charge with the noise reduction activated and two additional charges thanks to the case. A low latency mode would also be included to reach 94 ms, where the average is generally around 200 ms.

For the moment, the FreeBuds 5i have been announced only in China for a price of 599 yuan. The FreeBuds 4i were released in February 2021 in China (499 yuan) and the following month in France (99 €). There is therefore almost no doubt that the FreeBuds 5i should be released shortly in our regions. It remains to be seen whether the price increase will also be reflected on French soil.