Huawei Freebuds 3i: These are good ANC earphones for 100 euros

The Huawei Freebuds 3i are exceptionally affordable wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation for around 100 euros. Ntv.de has tested whether they are as good as their much more expensive competitors.

With the Freebuds 3, Huawei could not quite meet the high expectations of being a real challenger to the Airpods Pro. While the wireless earphones offered effective active noise cancellation (ANC), they couldn't keep up with Apple's top seller. Because the Chinese did not use silicone attachments, the basses fell by the wayside with an otherwise very decent sound. That should be different with the Freebuds 3i equipped with plugs, which are also significantly cheaper. ntv.de listened carefully to whether Huawei is delivering this time.

The name is misleading

After unpacking, the first thing you notice is that despite the almost identical name, the new earphones are not improved Freebuds 3. They look different and have a completely different charging case. And a look at the package insert shows that they are not technically close relatives either. Among other things, the Freebuds 3i do not contain Huawei's strong Kirin A1 chip and the driver measures only 10 millimeters instead of 14.

There is no big difference in the comfortable fit. Despite the silicone attachments, you can hardly feel the Freebuds 3i in your ear and could easily wear them all day. However, the batteries are exhausted after 3.5 hours at the latest and have to go into the charging case, with the ANC activated they hardly last three hours.

Dominant bass

The new earbuds have little in common with their predecessors. Their basses are very pronounced, almost too dominant. The mids almost go against them and the highs are not as clear and fine as with the Freebuds 3. The newcomers also lack transparency. Despite everything, the sound for earphones is good in this price range and some users should like the warm, bass-emphasized sound. The Freebuds 3i can also be heard on calls.

As far as active noise cancellation is concerned, Huawei's new earbuds have the advantage of the plug shield. They filter out traffic noise in cities much more effectively and also cut a good figure on trains. You cannot adjust the ANC strength, you can only switch the function on or off.

Spartan decor

There is not much else for users to change either. When it comes to operation, you can only choose in the Android app what should happen to two taps on the touch surfaces of the earphones: jump forward or backward, play / pause or activate the voice assistant. ANC is switched on and off using a long tap. That’s it. It makes little difference whether you use a Huawei smartphone, because then the coupling is actually easier. Anyone who uses an iPhone has no choice at all, but has to deal with the default settings. You could also say that the earphones are very straightforward.

All in all, the Huawei Freebuds 3i offer a fair price-performance ratio, but they cannot keep up with the upper class of the ANC earphones, which is at least twice as expensive. The same applies to the identical Honor Magic earbuds, which were originally 20 euros cheaper. Meanwhile, Huawei has adjusted the price of the Freebuds 3i.