Served: What the new headphones offer audiophiles

The new Huawei FreeBuds Pro 4 headphones are about everything at once. In peace and in feast, in public transportation, in cafes and restaurants, and in general in any noisy places. Izvestia made sure of it, having tested the novelty. Intelligent noise reduction system almost completely isolates the user from extraneous sounds, and modern technologies of playback and data transfer to wireless devices make listening to music and talking on the phone comfortable, the test drive showed. Additional headphone accessories and an advanced mobile app help. FreeBuds Pro 4 has a lot of options - but you have to get used to using some of them. Details - in the material "Izvestia".

How do the new Huawei headphones look and sound?

If the name of Huawei gadgets contains the word Pro - it means that it is expensive, rich and very high-tech. TWS-headphones Huawei FreeBuds Pro 4 are no exception. FreeBuds Pro 4 is an elite gadget for people with medium and high income.

An expensive thing should look expensive, which is what happens with FreeBuds Pro 4. The case with a black ceramic insert can look like a jewelry box or a perfume case for an old French brand. And the headphones themselves, with a very high-tech engraved image of strings and a treble clef, could pass for a bottle stopper. In general, look FreeBuds Pro 4 more impressive than, for example, Air Pods Pro from Apple, with which the novelty of Huawei, obviously, and will have to compete.

By the way, with the iPhone new headphones Huawei connected via Bluetooth "as native". Apple's desktop computer also found the new gadget - although not immediately. Huawei emphasizes in every possible way that the headphones can be connected to two devices at once - this, according to the manufacturer, is one of their main advantages. The option is even indicated on the packing box of FreeBuds Pro 4. At first iMac didn't want to "communicate" with the new headphones at all, which gave rise to suspicions about individual incompatibility of two specific gadgets from two specific manufacturers. But after several reboots of the iMac and pressing the side button on the headphone case, the devices became friends after all.

The headphones turned out to be "long-range" - in them one can calmly walk around the apartment, go to the stairwell and even meet couriers at the entrance to the entrance without disrupting music playback, conversations and online calls. And the smartphone they're connected to is somewhere in the back room. Air Pods Pro sip at much shorter distances. Perhaps this is due to Huawei's innovative sound transmission technologies - FreeBuds Pro 4 are the first headphones with Huawei's proprietary Huawei Sound technology. Without going into technical details like sampling frequency, bit rate and speed of sound data transmission over the wireless channel (and judging by the specifications given by Huawei these parameters of FreeBuds Pro 4 are high for headphones of such class) we can note that they sound good.

The author of this test drive, who is completely devoid of musical hearing, came to the conclusion that he has never encountered a smoother, richer and richer sound in headphones-"tablets". They transmit both high and low frequencies well - as if there is a subwoofer speaker in the room. That is, it is heard as in a home theater with several speakers (though not of the highest class). This characteristic of headphones, obviously, will infuriate many audiophiles, but, sorry, the perception of music is a very individual thing.

To achieve such, according to Huawei specialists, allowed the integration of two dynamic radiators in the headphones. One, with four magnets, allows you to get a deep sound at low frequencies. The other, with a flat micro diaphragm, is needed to extract ringing and clear high frequencies.

What Huawei is doing to combat extraneous noise

Stories of headphone manufacturers about how well they rid users of extraneous noise, how these gadgets do not let in unnecessary external sounds, and how noise reduction is turned off when the owner of the gadget is addressed by someone, the author of this test-drive has been hearing for years. Sometimes it works so badly, sometimes it doesn't work at all. But in Huawei's FreeBuds Pro 4, the fight against external unwanted noise is almost in the first place. When you put on these headphones (even with standard silicone ear pads), you find yourself in complete, ringing silence! It seems like these headphones can work as earplugs if you need them to.

This is largely due to the large selection of ear pads - the set comes with three pairs of simple silicone inserts and three pairs of triple-layer memory foam ear pads. These overlays interact with the headphones, smartphone and determine how to adjust the noise canceling system.

And it is quite comfortable - despite the use of sophisticated high-tech overlays, FreeBuds Pro 4 sit in the ears as a fit. You might even say they're a little bit stiff. But it's still much better than cheap TWS headphones that fall out of your ears when you're trying to catch a bus on the run, while biking, cross-country running, and the like.

In case of FreeBuds Pro 4, Huawei approached noise reduction very scrupulously. Thus, the headphones are integrated with the smartphone using a separate application Huawei AI Life. Part of the sections is devoted to the fight against extraneous noise and necessary settings. To begin with, the program tests the quality of their fit to the ears. In particular, it found out that the best fit for the author of the text is simple silicone ear pads. When using accessories with memory effect, the system considered that something was not sitting right in the left ear and the ear pad should be replaced (all this information is displayed in the same AI Life).

In the app (or by pressing the buttons on the headphones themselves) you can select noise canceling mode, soundproof mode or disable all. When noise reduction was selected while listening on one of the central streets of Moscow, the noise created by traffic was really minimal. When the mode was turned off, it increased. But when using any of the three modes during calls, the interlocutor's voice was invariably clear - the audibility was as if he was in the next room. The audibility did not change when traveling in the subway or visiting one of the food courts, which are usually quite noisy.

According to the interlocutors, in the subway, for example, one could hardly hear a train entering the station, and on the street - streetcars passing by. According to them, the voice of the user calling through the headphones sometimes became blurred, indistinct, but after a while came back to normal "as if something adjusted.

Using Huawei FreeBuds Pro 4 involves gesture control. In idea, it should look like this: on an incoming call, you nod your head to accept the call. And if you want to reject the call, you need to shake your head.

Much more interesting looks the control of headphones with the help of built-in buttons - by squeezing the headphones, touching them, or swiping them with fingers the user can adjust the sound volume, answer calls, turn on or off noise-canceling modes. Yes, watches from other manufacturers have similar features. But, unlike them, Huawei AI Life explains quite lucidly how to use these options and even offers the owner to take an interactive training course on how to use the new headphones.

In general, Huawei FreeBuds Pro 4 would be a great gift for music lovers, as well as those who often drive and talk on the phone in public transportation, cafes, restaurants, at public events and other noisy places. However, when using such gadgets with a quality noise canceling system, you should remember about safety and self-control.