Huawei FreeBuds Pro 5 review: Premium refinement with subtle improvements

The plateau of premium wireless earbuds

Much like flagship smartphones, premium wireless earbuds have reached a plateau where refinement trumps revolution. The Huawei FreeBuds Pro 5 exemplify this trend, focusing on incremental improvements in audio tuning, noise cancellation, and battery life rather than groundbreaking new features.

After using them for over a week ahead of their global launch, these earbuds emerge as a refined option with superb sound quality, potent ANC, and top-notch build quality. But are they worth the upgrade if you already own last year's model? Let's dive in.

Design: Evolutionary refinement

The FreeBuds Pro 5 follow the same design language as their predecessors, featuring an in-ear design with silicone ear tips and short stems. The all-glossy finish with mirror-like stems gives them a premium appearance, though they're slightly more compact than before.

At just 5.5 grams per earbud, they're remarkably light. The charging case has also been refined - it's the same size as the FreeBuds Pro 4's case but slightly narrower and lighter at 43 grams. The satin texture prevents fingerprints, and the firm snap when closing the lid feels reassuringly premium.

A notable addition is the circular LED status bar with three modes: white for pairing, green when connected, yellow for low battery, and red when discharged. Our review unit in Sand colorway features light grey buds with a champagne-gold case.

Fit and comfort are exceptional. Huawei claims to have analyzed over 10,000 human ears and tested 1,000+ earbud designs to reach this final form. The soft silicone ear tips conform nicely to ear canals, making these among the easiest earbuds to wear for extended periods. Interestingly, Huawei didn't include foam ear tips this time - while silicone offers more comfort, foam typically provides better passive sound isolation for noise cancellation.

The IP57 rating (upgraded from IP54 on the Pro 4) offers solid protection against water and dust, with the case now IP54-rated as well. You won't want to swim with them, but they'll handle sweat, rain, and splashes with confidence.

Features: Smart controls and ecosystem integration

The FreeBuds Pro 5 retain most features from the Pro 4 while adding meaningful improvements. The standout hardware upgrade is Bluetooth 6.0 with dual-device connection and Huawei's latest Kirin A3 chipset, which enables improved ANC and lossless audio streaming at up to 4.6Mbps.

However, there's a catch: the high-bandwidth streaming requires Huawei's proprietary NearLink 2.0 protocol and a compatible Pura 80 series or Mate XTs tri-fold smartphone running Harmony OS 6. Without these specific devices, we couldn't test this feature.

ANC: Beamforming meets AI

The ANC system represents a significant upgrade, now capable of drowning out even more noise than before. Huawei's new counter-noise system beams inverted-phase sounds from both drivers in each earbud to counteract external noise. This works alongside a dedicated AI sensing model that adjusts noise cancellation in real-time, delivering a combined external noise reduction of 220% compared to the FreeBuds Pro 4.

With eight total microphones (three silicon mics per earbud plus a bone conduction mic for voice pickup), the system is comprehensive. During calls, Huawei claims the FreeBuds Pro 5 can reduce 100dB of surrounding noise while still picking up your voice even with wind speeds up to 10m/s.

There are four ANC modes: adaptive (smart dual-core), cozy, general, and ultra. The adaptive mode now adjusts not just based on surroundings but also according to your ear canal shape and wearing posture. The conversation awareness feature automatically enables awareness mode when it detects speech.

Controls: The full suite

One unusual aspect of the FreeBuds Pro 5 is their support for pinch, tap, and swipe gesture controls - virtually all competing earbuds opt for only one or two of these. Having all three on board is genuinely useful, and they worked flawlessly in our testing. You can also reassign controls through the Huawei AI Life app, available for Android, iOS, and Huawei's EMUI/HarmonyOS.

Other features include spatial audio with head tracking, wear detection sensors that automatically pause and resume playback, and head gestures that let you accept calls with a nod or decline them with a shake.

Performance: Dual-driver excellence

The FreeBuds Pro 5 feature a dual-driver setup with an 11mm main dynamic driver paired with a micro-planar tweeter. Redesigned magnets and upgraded dual digital signal processors (DSPs) handle bass and highs independently, reducing distortion. New dual air vents improve sound reproduction across the frequency spectrum.

Huawei claims the buds can reproduce bass down to 10Hz (compared to 14Hz on the Pro 4), with highs capped at 48KHz. The two independent drivers in each earbud can intelligently process different frequencies.

Codec support includes AAC, SBC, LDAC, and Huawei's own L2HC 5.0 protocol. When paired with a Mate X7, we achieved transmission speeds up to 2.3 Mbps at 48 kHz/24-bit rate.

Audio quality: Refined and balanced

The default audio profile on the FreeBuds Pro 5 is pleasantly tuned, offering a wide soundstage with bouncy bass, great instrumentation and vocal separation, and well-defined treble. Compared to the Pro 4, the new model offers richer bass with less noticeable distortion, plus more emphasis on upper mids and clearer highs.

The leap in sound quality isn't as stark as between older generations - a common theme in the premium earbud market. The soundstage feels familiar and slightly heavier than the Pro 4, though the difference is negligible. While I still prefer the Sony WF-1000XM6's wider soundstage and sharper audio reproduction, the FreeBuds Pro 5 are right up there with the best.

Huawei provides eight custom sound profiles and a 10-band custom EQ for fine-tuning.

Noise cancellation: Improved but not class-leading

FreeBuds Pro 5 offer noticeable improvement in drowning out unwanted noises in the lower frequency range (50-300Hz) compared to their predecessors. HVAC systems, washing machines, and fans are effectively muted as soon as you insert them.

The new model is more consistent across the frequency range, where previous generations tended to be harsher in the lows and less effective higher up. The white hissing noise common when ANC is enabled has also been toned down.

With stronger noise pollutants like car traffic and speech, the FreeBuds Pro 5 deliver subtler muffling than flagship competitors from Sony and Apple. While they're better than the FreeBuds 4 Pro, I'd still take the ANC on the Sony WF-1000XM6, which remains a clear step above just about any recent earbuds.

Call quality and connectivity

Voice calls see tangible improvements over the FreeBuds Pro 4. People on the other end reported clear and natural reception of my voice, even with mild winds and busy street traffic. Huawei still claims it can deliver clear calls in extremely noisy environments with up to 100dB noise.

We tested this at a crowded mall food court with plenty of commotion from noisy teens. The FreeBuds Pro 5 managed to isolate my voice, though the person on the other end did report some choppiness. Still, call quality is noticeably better than more affordable alternatives like the FreeBuds 7i.

During testing, we used the FreeBuds Pro 5 with an iPhone 17 Pro, Huawei Mate X7, and MacBook Pro 14. Connection remained stable even when paired to two devices simultaneously, with no unwanted interruptions or stutters.

Battery life: Solid endurance

The FreeBuds Pro 5 feature 60mAh batteries in each earbud and a 537mAh power pack in the charging case - minor improvements over the Pro 4. Huawei claims up to 9 hours on a single charge with ANC off and AAC playback, with the case extending total endurance to 38 hours.

With ANC enabled and L2HC/LDAC playback, the claim drops to 5 hours from the buds and 22 hours with the case.

In our testing, we achieved 8 hours and 25 minutes in AAC mode with ANC off while testing on iPhone 17 Pro and MacBook Pro 14. With ANC on and L2HC codec prioritized when paired with the Mate X7, that dropped to 4 hours and 20 minutes.

The FreeBuds Pro 5 support both wired and wireless charging, with wired being noticeably faster at around one hour for a full charge versus just under two hours wirelessly.

Verdict: Worthy contender in a crowded field

We've been fans of previous FreeBuds Pro models, and the Pro 5 are once again a worthy contender in the upper echelon of wireless earbuds. They offer a well-balanced approach across sound quality, noise cancellation, and battery endurance while delivering all-day comfort and all the smart features you'd expect from a flagship pair.

The call quality is among the best we've seen from wireless earbuds, even in noisy environments.

The jump from the FreeBuds Pro 4 isn't as drastic as between older generations, but that's the case for almost all premium TWS earbuds today. With a regular asking price of €199/£179 (currently discounted to €169/£149 at the time of writing), the FreeBuds Pro 5 are an easy recommendation regardless of your ecosystem of choice.

Pros:

• Excellent sound quality with balanced tuning
• Improved ANC performance
• All-day comfort
• Best-in-class call quality
• Solid battery life
• Premium build quality

Cons:

• Incremental upgrade over Pro 4
• ANC still trails Sony and Apple flagships
• Limited benefit from NearLink 2.0 without compatible Huawei devices

For most users, the FreeBuds Pro 5 represent a refined, capable option that won't disappoint, even if they don't revolutionize the category.