If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The new HUAWEI FreeBuds Pro 3 looks like another viable ‘AirPods Pro for Android’ candidate and is essentially a minor update of the FreeBuds Pro 2, which are excellent true wireless earbuds in their own right.
It looks to have a similar, if not the same, dual driver configuration featuring a dynamic driver and a planar driver, supported by a Halbach array with a high transient response. The FreeBuds Pro 3 has a similar dynamic range of 14Hz to 48kHz.
What’s new is that on top of LDAC support, the new earbuds also support the L2HC 2.0 standard. Apparently, only the Chinese version will ship with the L2HC 3.0 standard, which actually supports up to 1.5Mbps transmission, meaning that it is fast enough to play lossless music files without downsampling to transfer data between your player and your earbuds. It remains to be seen if Huawei will roll out the 3.0 standard globally in the future, though it seems that this standard is only supported by Huawei’s Mate 60 and Mate X5 at the moment.
Also updated are Pure Voice (v2.0) and Intelligent ANC (v3.0). According to Huawei, Pure Voice 2.0 performs 2.5 times better in terms of voice pickup, background noise cancellation is improved by 5dB, and wind noise cancellation is improved by 80% when compared to the original Pure Voice on the FreeBuds Pro 2. Meanwhile, the Intelligent ANC has been improved by up to 50% over its predecessor.
The FreeBuds Pro 3 also features Triple Adaptive EQ, which is an algorithm that detects volume level, ear canal shape, and wearing status in real-time and applies the optimal audio level and EQ settings for best results.
The only thing that doesn’t look quite as rosy is battery life, with only up to 6.5 hours of battery life (sans ANC) on a single charge and up to 31 hours with the charging case. The case also supports wireless charging (up to 2W). The earbuds and case, like its predecessor, are rated IP54 for resistance against splashes and dust. However, the case is 4.5% smaller, while the earbuds are 5% lighter.
The HUAWEI FreeBuds Pro 3 retails at SGD298 in three colour options (Ceramic White, Green, and Silver Frost). They are available at and HUAWEI Official Stores on Lazada and Shopee. Purchases at 313@Somerset will include a freebie worth SGD19 while stocks last. You will also enjoy up to SGD35 off for every purchase of HUAWEI FreeBuds Pro 3 on HUAWEI Official Stores at Lazada and Shopee.
