This battle is going to be a rough one. Huawei looking a lot like a certain fruit logo’d company headphone. Samsung looking like we might have just traded the family donkey for them.
Each unit come with its ups and downs. Lets see who will be the victor.
Disclaimer. Freebuds were provided by Huawei and Buds live were not. Also sound and fit it relative to user and my opinion is just that MY PERSONAL OPINION. ?
Look and feel:
Huawei Freebuds 3
Well Freebuds look a lot like Airpods. Let’s be honest Huawei seen a top selling headphone and wanted to put their own spin on it. There are some slight differences but very little at first glance. The stem comes up higher…that is pretty much it lol. But if you see something that works do not need to reinvent the wheel. The Battery case in actually really nice. I had the white ones, and they are clean looking they also come in red and black. Case is round form, but flatter dimensions make it smooth to take in and out of the pocket. The lid is solid. Decent enough hinge. Does not flop around so that made me happy. I also have a pretty metal square on the back that has Huawei etched on. It will pair with any phone. It links right to the P40 Pro. But for other devices super easy if you can find the one and only button on the case to out in pairing mode. By the way this was harder than you think. The button is smooth and has been engineered to Death to make it a gapless button. I do not like reading manuals, so I spent about 10 minutes staring at this case bewildered on how to do this. Eventually I decided to get the book out and swallow my neanderthal pride and read. The small button located on the side near the bottom. USB-C charging on bottom. Also has wireless charging
The Fit wasn’t for me. I have smaller ear even though I have a massive skull. They did not fit well into my ears and would fall out often. A friend tried them and said they were comfy. He owns them now. ?
Samsung Galaxy Buds Live
Speaking of looks. These are 100% odd in design. Your brain has a hard time processing it. “How do those bean things go in my ear (come back to that in a minute)?” They have no traditional shape or even feel for that matter. There is no stem or ear bud. Do I just jam the whole thing down my canal and hope it does not get stuck? No btw you do not do that. Like Freebuds and most matched branded headphones you just open them to connect to the phone. Once connected to the Note 20 ultra it launches the wear app and shows you how to put them in your ears. Thank goodness for that, my brain was melting at how these worked. The app integration with the wear app allows for a decent amount of tweaking for sound. The charger is a high gloss black (I wanted mystic bronze (pink) but wasn’t an option for free pair). They come in Mystic Bronze, Mystic Black, and Mystic White. Should be called Chromy pink, Chrome not black and Ugly White. After a month of pocket use it is pretty scuffed up. This is common with gloss black anything. Freebuds did this as well but does not show nearly as much because they were white. USB-C and wireless charging for case.
These beans are at least unique looking and fit pretty good even for my tiny ears. I can only ware these for about an hour before my left ear starts to hurt.
Sound Quality: As normal I go through a series of songs from my spotify playlist from rock to classical to various current top 40
Freebuds 3:
As they did not sit in my ears well to create any kind of seal, I will have to go by one of my fellow writers Andrew. They fit him amazing so his sound experience will be more suiting.
The sound had decent volume. I did not become distorted and scratchy at higher volumes. Low were solid and had some punch even with the lack of a strong rubber seal like an airpod pro or a bose truly wireless. Mids were flat nothing to brag about I like a flatter mid and highs were soft. Nothing to piercing but would have liked a little more out of them. Active noise canceling were surprisingly good considering the style. The hard ear bud does not normally do well in sound isolation because it does not create a strong seal, so a fair amount of sound leakage does occur.
Overall, very pleased with performance.
Galaxy Buds Live:
The beans are an unusual bread of headphone. They do not use any orthodox design. That is a plus and a minus. But sound wise it is a clear discussion.
When it comes to highs, they are tight not overbearing. Mids are rich and lows are meh. Problem is this unique design messes with the sound a lot. If they are fitting in the ear, they are very nice, if they shift in your ear it destroys the sound. I found I spend to much time trying to find the right fitting to get the best sound. When I do find it, I love it. Problem is to get the best sound also applies a lot of pressure in the ear. After about 30 minutes of listening to them there is a fair amount of pain on my ear. Active noise cancelling might as well not be there. It is junk. Less seal then the Freebuds 3 so there is almost no ability to notice the change of sounds around you.
Great sound and comfort…sometimes. Feels great but sounds is meh or Sound is great and comfort hurts.
If I were to recommend either one it would be Freebuds 3 mainly because they will be most well rounded of the 2 without all the pain that come with the Samsung’s.
Freebuds have good sound, good comfort, good ANC and good color options.
