I have tried the Huawei FreeClip 2, headphones with a still strange shape but surprising comfort

I’ve been using the Huawei FreeClip 2 for a couple of weeks. I put them on out of work obligation, but since then they have spent more time in my ears than I thought they would.

That says quite a bit about these headphones. But, as almost always in life, there are asterisks.

Huawei FreeClip 2 technical sheet

Design with personality and that requires personality

The design, officially “C cross-bridge design” and unofficially “two pairs of cherries”they no longer feel like as risky a bet as they did in their first version. That first generation It made me ask a legitimate question.: Who is going to want to wear spheres hanging from a cable over their ear?

Two and a half years later, after a wave of imitators of the format, it seems that the market has responded: people do want this. I personally still have my reservations: I don’t go through life hiding, but Yes, I like to go unnoticed, and with these headphones in my ears it is complicated. There is some look from someone who wonders if that is an earphone, a modern hearing aid, a piercing or what.

Huawei has reduced the weight to 5.1 grams per earbud. The bridge that connects both parts uses liquid silicone with shape memory. And the tension is just right: they don’t press, they don’t slip. I have bent down to pick things up from the floor, I have run with them and I have spent long periods of time cleaning the house with them in my ears. They usually don’t move. But there is some ‘but’:

• Sometimes, for some reason (I guess we all have different ears), my left one would slip a little and I would have to adjust it.
• Are you going to wear a hood? Problem. Will you take off your sweatshirt? Problem. These helmets are not designed to stay there with that type of friction.
• Running with them is acceptable, but it is clearly not their ideal use, and in fact I did not feel like repeating the play.

By the way, these headphones, like those of their first generation, They are exactly the same as each other, there is no left and right model.so it doesn’t matter how you put them on or how you store them in the case.

Open-ear comfort always sounded like an empty promise until now. These headphones fulfill it because they simply disappear. You really forget you’re wearing them. After hours with them I suddenly realized that they are still there. That’s how well they integrate, that’s how little they bother you.

The sound, without any big fuss, it fulfills for the day to day, without further ado. The bass has presence thanks to a drivers 10.8 mm double diaphragm. They do not give the punch of closed headphones, but for an open design it seems acceptable to me. Voices over the phone remain clear, but the treble at high volumes sounds a bit sharp. With the ten-band equalizer you can do something. In short: they deliver, but no one expects miracles in detail and dynamics.

What surprised me the most is controlling sound leakage at moderate volumes. Huawei incorporates a system that emits waves in inverted phase to cancel escaping audio. That is, the noise cancellation system, but towards the outside instead of inward. It works reasonably but not impressively. I listen to something with my wife and, if it is not at high volume, she assures me that she does not hear anything. I pass them on to her and confirm it. If I decide to increase the volume to around 80%, there is an obvious leak. I didn’t try the first FreeClipbut I remember seeing some complaints on this point. The problem has not disappeared but I think it has lessened.

The battery is one of its strong points. Lasts up to nine hours of continuous real use. Seven or so most of the time. With the case you can chain charges up to about 38 hours in total. Very good figures for those who travel or spend the day working outside. Fast charging is another detail: ten minutes in the socket gives you three hours of autonomy.

The touch controls work on the cable that joins both parts. At first I didn’t understand why a natural gesture produced certain behaviors. Then I failed several attempts because I forgot where that wire was exactly. Afterwards you get used to it, but it is not a perfect system, it is not completely reliable because it requires a lot of precision. Swiping your finger on the back dial adjusts the volume. That works better than touching them.

But I insist: it requires precision, and a gesture like this in a headset designed to be worn for hours should make things easier. I understand that it is technically complicated, but to say that it works perfectly and fluidly would be lying.

The adaptive volume does make a difference. The microphones detect ambient noise and adjust the output. You go from the noisy street to the inside of the subway and the audio is rebalanced without you having to touch it.

It’s not revolutionary or anything that Huawei has invented, but it’s mini-point because it eliminates that daily friction of manually changing the volume. Of course, the application clearly indicates that this is an experimental function. So I wouldn’t draw absolute conclusions about this either or guide my purchase by it.

The calls come out clean. Three noise-cancelling microphones filter the environment well. They have heard me perfectly in situations of autumn wind and traffic where other open headphones failed. They are not at the level of the best in-ear with ANCbut at least they exceed what I expected from this format.

The case is 17% smaller than the previous model. Really dwarf and with a more square shape, much better than the previous oval. It even fits in a shirt pocket. It supports wireless charging, which is a nice detail when you already have one of those chargers on your bedside table. The ‘should’: it is not Qi2so it is not magnetic, so it does not work on vertical or diagonal bases, like the ones some of us have to leave our mobile phone on. Argh.

What these headphones are not: a solution for those looking for active noise cancellation or total isolation. The open design is its advantage and also its limit. You hear the outside world. Always. For some this is a problem. For others (like those who spend a lot of time with headphones but need to be aware of their surroundings), it’s a godsend. If you are one of the latter, here you have a very interesting option, but its design and pasta have to suit you.

Because the price is around 200 euros. It’s not cheap. There are cheaper open alternatives such as Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro or the Honor EarBuds Openboth with better quality-price ratio in pure sound. But I think that none of them match the comfort of the FreeClip 2. And that, for prolonged daily use, perhaps weighs more than two extra decibels of bass. Question of priorities.

The app Huawei Audio Connect It works fine on iOS and the Samsung Store, but it’s not on Google Play. If you have a Pixel, you have to load the APK by hand or forego advanced settings. The headphones pair seamlessly via standard Bluetooth, but you lose the equalizer and some features.

After two and a half weeks, what strikes me most is how little I think about these headphones while using them. And that, paradoxically, is his greatest achievement. The FreeClip 2 do not ask for attention. They stay there, doing their job, without reminding you that they exist. For a product that you spend hours wearing, that invisibility is worth a lot.

Featured image | Xataka

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ANDThis device has been provided for testing by Huawei. You can consult how we do reviews in Xataka and our relations policy with companies.