There’s no question that open earbuds make a genuine difference; they deliver similar sound quality as regular buds, but are much more comfortable to wear. I’ve used a half-dozen open earbuds until now, and they’re now my go-to choice if I’m just listening to music or attending a briefing at home, where I don’t have to worry about noise isolation.
While there are plenty of choices in this category, Huawei has emerged as a leading player thanks to its focus on open earbuds. Last year’s FreeArc buds proved to be outstanding, and they’re ideally suited for workouts as well as daily listening. Huawei mentioned that it sold over 3 million earbuds globally, so it clearly knows what it’s doing in this category.
Huawei is now building on that foundation with the introduction of the FreeClip 2, its costliest buds yet. The FreeClip 2 are retailing for £179 in the U.K. ($244), and although the standard variant are pretty striking, Huawei sells a limited edition that comes with design house Les Néréides’ accessories, and that model is £319 ($435) (I know).
So, what do you get for that money? I used the standard FreeClip 2, and they just be the best-looking open earbuds around. Huawei went with a denim-style finish with the case that feels great, and the case itself is smaller and lighter than most other options around. As for the buds, they’re very light at just 5.1g, and the way the weight is distributed means you won’t even notice the heft.
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There’s no question that they’re the most comfortable earbuds I used yet. You just don’t get the feeling that you’re wearing anything, and if you’ve ever felt fatigue after wearing regular earbuds, I recommend trying these out — there’s a night-and-day difference between these and most other open earbuds, much less regular earbuds.
Unlike other earbuds, these are positioned outside your ear; a counterweight that Huawei calls the Comfort Bean goes behind your ear, and the Acoustic Ball sits outside your ear canal, delivering sound. The idea is to produce high-quality sound on par with regular buds, but without a sound tube that nuzzles into your inner ear. And in that regard, Huawei has done an outstanding job.
The design is unusual — even among other open earbuds — but the FreeClip 2 fit much better than just about any other earbuds I used. The C-bridge design that connects the two parts of the buds is made out of silicone, and is non-irritating. You can get the buds in four vibrant colors, and it’s evident that Huawei wants these to be lifestyle-focused as much as possible.
Another feature I like is that there’s no dedicated left or right channel; you can wear either bud in either ear without any issues. Because of the way the buds fit, you’re still able to hear ambient sounds — to a degree. There’s a feature to adjust the volume dynamically based on the noise in your surroundings, but you’ll need to enable it.
They’re built to last as well thanks to IP57 dust and water resistance. The case itself gets IP54 ingress protection, and that’s good to see; most manufacturers don’t pay attention to this. There are gesture controls around the rear, and while they’re decent enough, they take a second to register. Huawei has a new Audio Connect utility that brings all of its audio-focused products into a unified app, and you get the usual customization.
Coming to battery, the buds lasted just over eight hours between charges, with the case providing another 24 hours of charge. There’s fast charging as well, and you get three hours of music playback with just a 10-minute charge.
Now, the best part of the FreeClip 2 is the audio; the buds get a custom 10mm driver that delivers phenomenal sound. You don’t really need to pay this much to get great audio — even budget buds sound great these days — but it’s clear that Huawei paid a lot of attention to the tuning this year.
The buds have a much better low-end energy, delivering a decent amount of rumble and vibrancy. Mids have excellent clarity, and the treble has a nice extension as well, leading to a sound signature that lends itself well to all genres. Like most other buds, you can easily connect these to two different devices at once. Bluetooth range is decent too; I regularly wear these buds while doing chores around the house, and they get around 30 feet of range before there’s signal interference while connected to my Find X9 Pro.
On the whole, the FreeClip 2 are the best open earbuds I used yet; they’re highly comfortable to wear, have a stylish design that stands out quite a bit, and the audio quality is fantastic. There really isn’t much to fault with these buds, and Huawei is once again demonstrating that it understands this category better than its rivals.
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