Huawei is no stranger to experimenting with device form factors and its FreeClip 2 is a prime example. These are the successors to the original Huawei FreeClip earbuds, which brought a C-Bridge design that “clips” around your ear and transmits sound without contacting your ear canal.
The second generation FreeClips come with updated sound as well as a significantly smaller footprint for both the earbuds and the case, which Huawei proudly claims provides 100% robust volume output. Despite the sleek shape, Huawei still claims up to 9 hours of usage from the buds on a single charge, and up to 38 hours if you include their charging case into the equation.
Open earbuds aren’t everyone’s cup of tea as they tend to disappoint in terms of audio quality, but with the FreeClip 2, Huawei claims it has cracked the code for balanced audio, spatial awareness, and great call quality.
Table of Contents:
- design
- features
- sound quality
- battery life
- decision
design
Open earbuds come in a variety of shapes and sizes but the FreeClip 2 takes the “earring style” approach. Despite the clip feature in their name, these buds don’t actually clip onto your ears, but instead wrap around your ear, making them highly compatible with all types of ear shapes.
Even better, the FreeClip 2 are interchangeable as there is no difference between the left and right earbuds. This means you won’t have to worry about figuring out which is which and you can put them in either ear and they just work. This ambidextrous approach is truly a game-changer and further proof of Huawei’s extensive R&D efforts in hearables.
The main goal of open ear wireless earbuds is to provide you with spatial awareness of your surroundings while giving you fast access to audio playback, calls, and your digital assistant.
The FreeClip 2 are the most comfortable pair of wireless earbuds we’ve tested so far. This reviewer managed to consistently wear these buds throughout his workday without any discomfort, which is usually not the case with competing hearables. There’s absolutely no pressure built up inside your ear canal as with in-ear buds, which is a welcome change.
We should also find out what the FreeClip 2 looks like on your ears. The earring-style is definitely not for everyone, but we’ll honestly take the absolute class-leading comfort and ignore what others might say about the look of their earrings.
Huawei FreeClip 2 doesn’t look like traditional earbuds
Our FreeClip 2 review unit comes in trendy blue color. The charging case and C-bridge, which connects the two halves of the buds, feature micro molding plastic material for a trendy denim-like look. The actual earpiece that sits on top of your ear canal gets the same shiny treatment as the beanie that goes behind your ear helix.
Huawei FreeClip 2 and their charging case
The retail box is quite flimsy, and only includes the buds and their case, as well as a manual and warranty leaflet. The buds are IP57 rated, which protects them from water splashes and dust, while the case is only IP54 rated.
features
The FreeClip 2 is based on Bluetooth 6.0 and has a wide range of sensors, including infrared, gyroscope, and accelerometer. There are 6 microphones spread across both the earbuds with dedicated call noise cancellation.
You get standard touch controls, which can register a tap almost anywhere on the buds. You can tap the bean part of the buds, the C-bridge or the driver unit behind your ears – they all work. There are double and triple tap gestures as well as tap and hold gestures and swipe. You can reprogram them through the Huawei AI Life app, available on Android, iOS, and Harmony OS.
Huawei has also added head control like the FreeBuds 7i that allows you to answer or reject calls by shaking or shaking your head. It’s just as gimmicky here as it was on the FreeBuds 7i, but it’s still a nice alternative if you can’t use touch gestures.
For some reason, our review unit couldn’t connect to my iPhone 17 Pro and MacBook Pro 14″ simultaneously, but the FreeClip 2 supports multi-point pairing on other platforms. We did not face any problem in terms of connectivity. Pairing was fast and connection strength was quite good.
sound quality
The FreeClip 2 is equipped with 10.8mm dual-diaphragm drivers with Huawei’s third-generation audio chip and a dedicated NPU AI processor, allowing adaptive volume and voice enhancements.
Huawei claims 100% stronger volume and air displacement than its predecessors. And while marketing claims can only take you so far, the FreeClip 2 actually exceeded our expectations right from the start.
The default sound profile delivers warm audio with impressive detail and clarity in the mids and treble. There’s clear device separation and even powerful levels of bass, which is surprising on a pair of open earbuds.
While a regular pair of in-ear earbuds like the FreeBuds 7i will give you more detailed audio and better bass, the FreeClip 2 offers a different audio listening experience that doesn’t feel like you’re sitting in a different space.
This goes along with the excellent spatial awareness feature that comes with open earbuds.
The FreeClip 2 offers four default EQ profiles as well as a custom EQ option with a 10-band equalizer inside the AI Life app. We enjoyed our time with the Elevate preset but you’re free to tweak the output as you wish.
Call quality was as you’d expect from a pair of open earbuds. They perform well in quiet environments, but struggle in noisy areas with more instances of background noise.
battery life
Huawei claims that the FreeClip 2 can deliver up to 29 hours of playtime and 38 hours of total battery life. In our testing, we got about 8 hours and 30 minutes of usage before needing to recharge.
When you need to recharge, you can do so via the USB-C port on the case. With this approach it takes about an hour to fill the buds and case from 0 to 100%. You also have the option to go the wireless route, up to 3W speeds, but this approach takes more than 2.5 hours for a full charge.
decision
As it stands, the Huawei FreeClip 2 are arguably the best open earbuds we’ve tested to date. With their compact and lightweight design, class-leading comfort and audio that you’d expect from open earbuds, these odd-looking parts earrings, part earbuds are testament to how the OWS market is evolving.
It wasn’t so long ago that open earbuds were considered good only for jogging, with audio quality playing second fiddle to spatial awareness. The FreeClip 2 is a prime example of how you can get good audio quality without stuffing silicone tips inside your ears.
Huawei managed to bring out an impressive amount of bass, while also providing ample battery stamina and the option to tweak the EQ to your liking. We also liked the ambidextrous approach, which doesn’t differentiate between left and right earbuds.
huawei freeclip 2
€20/£20 off at checkout
€199 at Amazon DE £180 at Amazon UK
With all that said, we would like to see better microphone performance from future iterations and while we enjoyed our time with the FreeClip 2, their polarizing design is definitely not for everyone.
Huawei’s asking price is pretty high with some of the flagship in-ear buds offering active noise cancellation (ANC) and better microphone performance. But if you value all-day comfort with good sound quality and don’t rely on ANC, the FreeClip 2 is a worthy consideration.
