Testing the Huawei Freebuds SE: cheap true wireless headphones without ANC

The Freebuds SE are about a third as expensive as the Freebuds Pro 2, Huawei’s flagship true wireless headphones. The price difference is noticeable in the build, as well as the lack of active noise cancellation. Still, the inexpensive earphones offer decent sound and battery life.

Headphones

EUR42,34

Huawei Freebuds SE

ANC, 6 h, Wireless

18

Headphones

−5%

EUR42,35 was EUR44,58

Huawei Freebuds SE

ANC, 6 h, Wireless

18

Cheap materials yet still comfortable

I can tell the Freebuds SE are a budget model when I pick them up. The plastic feels cheap. This makes them look lighter and less exclusive than other headphones. But honestly, I don’t feel the one gramme per earpiece shaved off from the Freebuds 2 Pro. Even my kitchen scale isn’t accurate enough, as it lacks decimal places.

What really bothers me is the mirrored arrangement for the earpieces in the case. It’s fine if I take them out one at a time, reaching across my head to put them back in the case. In practice, however, I always hold the left bud with my left and the right bud with my right hand. Requiring me to twist my hands when putting them away.

As soon as they’re in, the Freebuds SE are wonderfully comfortable, feeling light and slotting into each ear nicely. Huawei includes soft rubber tips in three sizes, adjustable to any ear. Sometimes I even forget that I’m wearing the buds. However, this is also due to their lack of shielding, but more on that later.

With an IPX4 certification, the Freebuds SE are protected from splashing water. That means a little sweat or rain can’t hurt them. Pairing via Bluetooth 5.2 works seamlessly at the push of a button, although the two earpieces have to be in the case, as is now common.

The Freebuds SE are the perfect headphones for casual users. They only understand double tapping. In Huawei’s AI Life app, you can specify what double-tapping the right or left earpiece triggers: play/pause, next track, previous track, or voice assistant activation. When removed, an automatic pause function is triggered. But that’s it for the operation. At least the controls are more reliable than in the Freebuds 5i, where I had a hard time tapping correctly. The Freebuds SE manage my commands perfectly.

Good sound – in quiet surroundings

Huawei has installed ten-millimetre drivers in each of the Freebuds. They provide improved sound quality. The bass is very weak, but trebles and mids are clear and well-defined. A stereo function is also present, providing an appealing soundscape. However, forget about 3D audio or spatial sound with such inexpensive headphones. Still, music is still fully audible and able to transfer its emotion. The sound of the Freebuds SE also convinces me when listening to podcasts or audio plays.

However, you’ll miss out on one or two practical tools with the cheap headphones. More expensive models sometimes offer measurement and automatic adjustment to your ear canal for optimal sound. What I miss the most, however, is active noise cancellation.

I always notice how amazing noise cancellation is on other true wireless headphones when my current model doesn’t offer it. With the Freebuds SE, volume is the only way to combat ambient noise – and I don’t want to do that to my ears.

The Freebuds SE can supposedly play music for about six hours when fully charged. However, I never had them in operation for that long at a time. The total runtime of 24 hours including the charging case is acceptable, but below average compared to other models. When making calls, the maximum runtime of the headphones is reduced to four hours before they have to be put back into the charging case. I almost never have conversations that long.

The Freebuds SE aren’t particularly speedy when charging in the case. If the earphones are completely spent, it takes an hour and a half to recharge them. Add to that another two hours for an empty charging case. It’s worth charging the headphones or the case regularly and not waiting until they’re completely empty.

Verdict: you get what you pay for

The Freebuds SE are great sounding headphones for users who still want to hear their surroundings or spend time in quiet environments. Bass is barely present, but the sound is otherwise okay. There’s no active noise cancellation, and the controls directly on the earpieces only offer a few options. The case and earpieces look cheap, but seem sturdy enough to me.

The Freebuds SE are more comfortable to me than the Nothing Ear (Stick). They’re on par with those buds without active noise cancellation in terms of sound. But with Nothing you pay for the design. If you want headphones with active noise cancellation, you’ll have to spend more money. Huawei’s Freebuds Pro 2 cost about three times as much. And they’re worth it to me to block out the urban chaos.