The Huawei FreeArc earbuds take the same clever “C-bridge” design found on last year’s FreeClip, except this time with a larger and more rugged design. They use a soft, silicone-coated, flexible titanium arm to gently hook around the ear like glasses, leaving the speaker section firmly in place and floating just outside the earhole.
The unusual three-part construction is more comfortable than it sounds. The springy arm adapts to the natural curve of the outer ear and the speaker is located at the earbud’s overall centre of mass, reducing wobbliness and helping to stop them shifting around on runs.
The FreeArc remained firmly and comfortably in place during my testing, without ever feeling like a tight clamp, even during intense workouts and windy bike rides. It’s all nicely coated in a smooth silicone too, so it won’t irritate your ear over a whole day of wearing them.
Because they don’t form a seal, open-ear designs sacrifice some sound quality – specifically bass notes – in the name of letting you hear your precious ambient noise. It’s safer of course, especially for outdoor use, where keeping tabs on oncoming cyclists, wandering dogs and passing vehicles is critical for staying alive. But with situational awareness comes compromise.
That said, I’m impressed by how good these open-ear earbuds sound. With a 17x12mm speaker driving the sound and all sorts of algorithms boosting bass, the FreeArc does an admirable job for what is basically a tiny speaker hovering a centimetre from your earhole. They’re worlds apart from the best wireless earbuds, which is to be expected, but you get clear mids and vocals, and just about adequate thump in the bottom register to not completely suck the joy from your tunes.
The “reverse sound waves system” limits bleed too, keeping your music tastes relatively private from strangers in the park. Use them in a quiet space indoors and some leakage is to be expected – at their loudest they’re about as noticeable as someone wearing original AirPods with the volume up.
They can be drowned out by heavy traffic noise – on runs with them on particularly busy London streets I found it hard to hear podcast voices – but generally they’re powerful enough to be heard over most ambient sounds. They’re essentially useless on a clattering, screeching tube train, but the FreeArc earbuds aren’t really designed to be used on noisy public transport.
The IP57 rating means they’re sweat-proof, rain-proof and will survive an accidental dip in water. I’m not a fan of capacitive touch controls on earbuds in general, and on open-ear designs they’re especially tricky to get to grips with. The speaker section moves slightly when you tap the earbuds to pause or skip tracks, making it easy to accidentally double tap or swipe, especially when you’re running.
Otherwise, battery life is lengthy at seven hours, heading up to 28 overall with the included charging case. A 10 minute charge gets them up to three hours of battery life, which is handy if you forget to recharge them before a workout.
The Huawei FreeArc earbuds are available in three colourways, black, grey and – for reasons known only to Huawei’s design team – a nauseating shade of lurid green.
