The blingy Huawei Freebuds 6 blend an open fit with convincing noise cancelling – does it work? | Stuff

I really didn’t I’d like the Huawei Freebuds 6. I’ve been increasingly favouring headphones over wireless earbuds lately, and have never been a big fan of the semi-open fit; they rarely stay secure in my ears, and can’t match in-ears or IEMS for noise reduction, active or otherwise. Sound quality usually takes a hit, too. After trying them, though, I’m a convert.

At £120 (like all Huawei kit you can’t officially buy these in the US) they’re priced to challenge the AirPods 4 with noise cancellation and the Galaxy Buds 3, with an equally extensive feature list including active ANC. Dual drivers and high quality Bluetooth codecs bode well for audio, while the streamlined design aims for maximum comfort.

The buds use a tweaked version of the unique teardrop shape seen on the last-gen Freebuds 5, being a little smaller and a bit curvier to rest more naturally in your ears. The difference is dramatic; I didn’t need the rubber covers Huawei includes in the box to add extra grip, as they stayed in place just fine while sat at a desk or walking around the house. The semi-open design has given my ear canals a welcome break from testing multiple IEM-style earphones, too. Still, I wouldn’t work out in them – running bumped them loose fairly quickly.

They’re light enough I could leave them in all day, only having to take them out to charge. Battery life is merely OK, managing around four hours with ANC enabled or six hours without, but the egg-shaped charging case has almost enough juice for five full charges. A ten minute top-up would usually add another two or so hours; leaving them stowed during my lunch break was easily enough to get me through the rest of the working day.

Noise cancelling is definitely worth using. The semi-open fit means it can’t block exterior noise to anywhere near the same extent as a pair of in-ears, and there was a noticeable hiss when listening to spoken word podcasts, but it was harder to notice when I swapped to music. It was able to block out low-frequency drones like computers, cooling fans or my robot vacuum pretty effectively. Just don’t expect to ride the subway in silence with these in your ears.

I’m not sure I can pull off the eye-catching metallic purple colour in public, either. The pearl-like finish manages to avoid collecting fingerprints, and the double-tap gesture to play or pause your tunes mean adjusting the fit won’t accidentally stop playback. I’d rather have the black or white versions, which are a lot less shouty on the styling front.

As ever with Huawei headphones, if you’re not rocking one of the firm’s own smartphones (and let’s be honest, why would you in 2025 unless you live in China) installing the AI Life companion app requires a few more steps than usual. Most Android phones flash up a scary looking warning when installing third-party APKs, which can be off-putting if you aren’t tech-savvy.

Once you’re up and running it all works as expected, at least, with customisable gesture controls, plenty of EQ presets to play with, and handy extras like find my earbuds. A few more advanced features, like head-tracking spatial sound, are off limits unless you’re paired to a Huawei phone; personally I don’t miss it, as I’m not a fan of the artificially expanded soundstage.

What truly impressed me was the way the Freebuds 6 sounded. I was expecting a thin, treble-heavy tone on account of the semi-open design, but you’re actually getting the opposite. The 11mm dynamic driver and planar diaphragm work together to deliver a surprising amount of bass, resulting in a great overall balance. OK, you’re missing out on the sub-bass punch found from in-ears, but DEADLIFE’s Deviant still had a satisfying low-end.

You don’t have to crank the volume to achieve this, and there’s a good amount of instrumental separation on more delicate tracks. This was all on the default EQ preset, too; there’s room to push things in either direction if you want a sharper treble or more dominant low-end. They’re comfortably on par with other semi-open earphones.

There’s still a gap to the best in-ear alternatives, on both sound quality and noise cancelling. That makes these more suited to a second set, rather than your only earbuds – but it’s a role they fill very well.

Huawei Freebuds 6 technical specifications