Huawei Freebuds Pro 4

A lot these days is about technology, preferably the latest at the right price, and that's where Huawei has always stood strong.

The latest offering on the audio front is Freebuds Pro 4, an Art Deco-inspired and very well-designed set of modern in-ears from Huawei's new audio-dedicated subdivision, Huawei Sound. In order to differentiate themselves in the market, they have chosen three beautiful colours. The one we tested was black with gold accents and small ceramic details, but there's also a delicate green and a white. All three have a strong Art Deco flavour, which for most people means a classic and very stylish design, especially with the small laser engraved patterns and quirky characters on each device. It's a very clean and classic design that most people will like.

The devices themselves are a little more advanced than what we usually see. An 11 mm driver delivers the bass, although I think "quad magnet" sounds a bit exaggerated. Far more importantly, a planar-magnetic device is used for the tweeter. These are extremely thin surfaces, almost like a piece of tin foil, that are able to move much faster than normal dynamic units and thus provide significantly better sound. A new type of adaptive EQ has been chosen to prevent your eardrum from being blown apart with tracks where there is a big difference in volume. My main concern is whether you're missing out on some extra dynamics, but it's hard to judge as the sound is already surprisingly dynamic, especially in the bass.

The new HWA codec is supported - even if it is a few years old - which is owned by Huawei. The idea is pretty good: You use an LHDC codec (Huawei's version of Sony's LDAC standard), which then has some guaranteed minimum specifications for both the DSP and DAC parts. It's a great idea, but the problem is that it currently requires you to have a Huawei phone. There's no AptX support, but LDAC is actually supported, as is L2HC 3.0, which offers a 50% higher bitrate, but again requires a Huawei phone. And it's not as good as HWA, which gives you an additional 50% more bitrate. Either way, 24-bit audio is only an option if you have a Huawei phone.

It's all controlled via Huawei's AI Life app. It's well designed and easy to use, but it's also clearly a control app and not a dedicated app for your in-ears. There are a few extra settings options and a "find them" button, something I've often needed. There's also the option to switch on special tuning for classical music, and it actually has pretty good battery life, over 30 hours even with noise cancellation. You can choose to prioritise connection or quality - that's fine - but scanning/optimising the ear canal didn't make any difference and I have my doubts about whether it's actually functional.

The noise cancellation is a strange thing. They offer pretty good passive noise cancellation, and there's customisation of both, but it's more aimed at constant noise. I found the maximum setting to be worse than the adaptive, but overall it's really good, except for loud conversations with shrill voices. If you're playing music, however, it drowns everything out, even at moderate listening levels. Similarly, the noise cancellation is significantly better if you're taking a phone call.

Call quality is a big deal for Huawei if you read their marketing material, and I have to agree that the call quality is pretty good both ways. Overall, the sound quality is good, significantly better than many other phones and more on par with something costing £300, which is impressive considering the price is £180. The comfort factor is excellent too, and even after a few hours they were still comfortable to wear.

But the best part is the sound quality. Despite not having AptX HD and being limited to a bitrate below 1 Mbps, this is probably one of the best sounding in-ears I've ever tried. The dynamic range, especially in the bass, is hugely impressive, especially for the price, and the treble is crisp and clear, but if you turn it all the way up, the sound overpowers it. If you're an audio snob who has hi-res streaming, it's recommended that you move away from acid rock and perhaps try new genres, such as the orchestral display of power in the musical number Defying Gravity, where you realise that Huawei's marketing talk about having made a product based on experience from classical music may not just be empty words. The sound is generally quite accurate and natural, airy, and everything I'd expect from a product that uses planar devices. The final resolution is missing but that's probably due to the lack of 24-bit audio.

Huawei's Freebuds Pro 4 just makes it into my current in-ears top five. I'm a little sad that they don't support Aptx HD, but even without it, the sound is significantly better than most, and even though it's not on offer, they still cost under £180.