Huawei FreeBuds 6i test – no noise, no surprises –

Huawei’s designers didn’t sweat too much when designing the new FreeBuds 6i – at least not from work, because the design hasn’t changed much in the case of the new TWS-type earphones. However, this is not a problem, once something works, it is not worth changing it, however, some important advances have been made in terms of the internal structure and main components, which makes the FreeBuds 6i, released at an attractive price, interesting earphones.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate between today’s modern TWS headphones: the basic, not particularly good-sounding model looks almost exactly like the HUF 100,000 model. The choice is made difficult by the fact that you can only very rarely try these in specialist shops, so it is worth examining the technical parameters more thoroughly in addition to the external design, and of course looking for TWS tests, such as this one.

5-point development

In the small box, the oval-shaped headphone case, rounded on all sides, greets you like a “flat egg”. In addition, you will find only the most necessary things in the packaging, such as a Type-A-Type-C charging cable, as well as S- and L-sized replacement bells.

The white case, which weighs only 34 grams, has the charging port on the bottom, the pairing button on the side, and an LED on the front under the Huawei logo shows the current operation (charging, pairing, low-battery). You cannot use wireless technology for charging, only wired charging is supported, so you can fully charge the 510 mAh battery in about 1 hour.

A Huawei FreeBuds 6i the flattened stem earplugs are again slightly turned in the case, from which you can easily remove them. The only problem is that the earplugs are turned in the case in such a way that you have to change your grip on them before putting them in your ears, which is inconvenient and if you are running after the bus, they can easily fall out of your hands.

Weighing just over 5 grams each, the earplugs are ergonomically good, comfortable and sit firmly in the ear cup. This is partly due to the new, thicker-walled silicone bells, which also perform better in terms of passive noise filtering.

Inside, 11 mm, four-magnet drivers do their duty, and the internal chamber design has also been renewed. Huawei named the active noise filtering Intelligent Dynamic ANC 3.0 and created a new control chip for it – the same can be found in the company’s FreeBuds Pro 3 model. Both earplugs have 3-3 microphones working on effective noise suppression, which can be used in several modes. This can be full active noise filtering, simple, passive noise filtering, as well as the Vigilance mode. You can choose four levels for full noise filtering, so in addition to the default dynamic, you can also activate the comfortable, general and ultra options. According to the company’s data, the FreeBuds 6i has the best noise filtering available in its category, it can reduce unwanted noise by up to 27 dB.

Of course, the active noise suppression also affects the operating time, so the promised 8 hours is reduced to 5 hours. If you put the earbuds back in their case, they will be fully charged in about 40 minutes. If we count on such resets, the operating time can be a maximum of 35 hours, which is reduced to 20 hours with active ANC. This can be considered roughly average, placing the FreeBuds 6i in the upper segment of the mid-range category.

Sound quality requires not only the construction and the speaker, but also the appropriate Bluetooth standard and codecs. Huawei’s new Bluetooth 5.3 headset supports LDAC and L2HC 2.0 in addition to the mandatory SBC and AAC. Unfortunately, there is no form of AptX on the list, but LDAC and L2HC are good codecs, with these Hi-Res Audio Wireless standards the TWS earphones also meet. You don’t have to give up modern services with the FreeBuds 6i either, so in addition to the multipoint connection, a low-latency mode and wear detection are also available. By definition, the case isn’t, but the earplugs are IP54 rated, which means you shouldn’t go swimming with them, but you won’t have a problem with sweat and you won’t have to put them in your bag immediately in the rain.

Music, games, movies

The Freebuds 6i naturally comes with an application, Huawei’s Ai Life app. It contains all the necessary settings, but installing it on Android is not easy. To do this, you need to sideload the application from the Huawei website or install the AppGallery store. The Huawei Health app is already available in the Samsung Galaxy App store, but unfortunately this is not yet true for Ai Life. The good news is that once you’ve installed the app, it takes care of its freshness from then on.

Pairing and setting up the headset is simple, you don’t have to prepare for any hassles. In the app, in addition to the charge, you can see the paired devices, the noise filtering method, and you can adjust the sound according to preset equalizer profiles or your own sound effect. In the application, you can change the control gestures, find your lost headphones, and run a fit test. The latter should be done so that the isolation is really effective. In addition to the update, you can also activate low latency and turn off wear detection. If your mobile phone supports HD BT codecs, you can see here which one FreeBuds 6i is using.

Not bad for that

As we already mentioned at the beginning of our article, the FreeBuds 6i are comfortable to wear. There are no complaints about the ergonomics of the earplugs, their mass is sufficiently low, and the stem-shaped plugs “sit” stably in your ears with the new silicone bells. The control is not difficult either, you don’t have to tap too hard for the commands.

The FreeBuds 6i is the company’s mid-range model, which is why it is such a big deal that it still received the most advanced noise filtering, and even new silicone bells, driver and interior design. These matter much more than the fact that the exterior hasn’t really changed, or that there’s no Qi wireless charging, for example. We also talked about the fact that at the beginning of the article, you have to turn the earplugs 180 degrees when you take them out of the case in order to fit them in your ears. Well, it’s really annoying, but you can get used to it, and you can take comfort in the Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification, plus the matching LDAC codec.

Getting the application is still inconvenient on Android, but once you’ve installed it, it’s easy to use and you’ll find all the important settings in it. All modern services can be found, and regulation of active noise filtering is now essential even in the middle category.

The technical parameters are therefore a given for success, the only question is the sound and the price. In terms of sound, no one should expect mind-blowing bass, but the middles have been highlighted with good sense by Huawei’s engineers so that all kinds of music styles can be heard well in general. The highs do not sound crystal clear, they can never completely separate themselves from the mids, but they achieve the average of the category without effort. The advantage of the FreeBuds 6i, in addition to the Hi-Res codec, is the freely adjustable tone control – with this you can adjust the sound to your taste. Of course, don’t expect a huge stage image, airy but powerful sound with the 11 mm drivers either, but you don’t have to prepare for unpleasant, bad sound either.

The noise filtering is really very effective, even the passive noise cancellation is surprisingly good, and the full noise filtering excludes most low- and mid-frequency noise. At the same time, higher sounds, such as the click of a mechanical keyboard, filter through, which the FreeBuds 6i could not deal with. When making a phone call, interestingly, with ANC turned off, the called party perceived a distant, muffled box tone, but with active noise suppression, this improved a lot – there were no problems with the received sound quality in either case.

The Huawei FreeBuds 6i has some small shortcomings, understandably not all comfort extras have been received, but overall it is a well-equipped, comfortable, pleasant-sounding TWS earphone that can be considered very good in its category with active noise filtering and useful services. Available in three colors (white, black, purple), FreeBuds 6i can be purchased for HUF 39,990.