Table of Contents
They look a lot like Apple’s AirPods Pro, and no Honor Earbuds 3 Pro review worth its Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity can ignore this fact. But instead of adding to the ever-growing pile of bad copies, the newer Honor earbuds have taken what was good about Apple’s AirPods Pro and made them even better in many ways. And not just for people who own Honor smartphones.
So, the promised health monitoring tech with a temperature sensor never came to be. Honor didn’t beat Apple to the punch there. But so what? If you look past this, there’s a lot to be happy about.
- Honor Earbuds 3 Pro specifications
- Honor Earbuds 3 Pro review: Design
- Honor Earbuds 3 Pro review: Comfort
- Honor Earbuds 3 Pro review: Sound quality
- Honor Earbuds 3 Pro review: Call quality and connectivity
- Honor Earbuds 3 Pro review: Battery Life
- Honor Earbuds 3 Pro review: Price and availability
- Final Words
- FAQs
Even though the Earbuds 3 Pro have a familiar headshell and toothbrush-style head, Honor took a risk by making them with the world’s first coaxial dual-driver design with an 11mm dynamic driver and a piezoelectric ceramic tweeter. Basically, it’s a situation where the tweeter is inside the driver.
The two separate drive units are built so that they radiate sound from the same point, or axis. And it could have turned out badly. Only, it’s not true at all. It’s a huge success, so we added it right away to our lists of the best true wireless earbuds and best wireless earbuds.
Honor Earbuds 3 Pro specifications
Speaker drivers | 11mm coaxial dual-driver design |
Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.2 |
Battery & Charging | ANC on: Up to 16 hours, ANC off: Up to 24 hours |
Honor Earbuds 3 Pro review: Design
The easy-to-use, sleek, and well-made Honor AI Space app is only for Android. And the super-iOS-like quick-pairing feature, in which you just open the box and a picture of the Honor Earbuds 3 Pro appears, is only available if you’re using an Honor device.
But we tested these earbuds with an Honor Magic 4 Pro, a Samsung Galaxy S22, and an Apple iPhone 11. Even without Samsung’s quick-pairing feature or Apple’s app support, we found that in other ways, these earbuds were more than a match for the competition.
Still, this is a clear sign that these earbuds were made for Android. Even though you don’t need an app to switch between the “noise cancelling,” “off,” and “awareness” profiles—you can just long-press either earbud—the Honor AI Space app gives you access to four more “noise cancelling” profiles.
When you tap on “noise cancelling” in this Android-only app, you can choose from four “modes”: “intelligent,” which is supposed to adjust the level of noise cancellation to your surroundings; “cosy,” which is good for quiet places like an office; “moderate,” which is for noisier places; and “ultra,” which is for places where you need constant noise cancellation, like on a plane. You can buy this earbuds form its official website.
Honor Earbuds 3 Pro review: Comfort
The Earbuds 3 Pro have a very high level of comfort. The case opens and closes with a satisfying snap, and the strong hinge lets it stay open while leaning on the lid. The buds themselves are easy to grab and pull out, and if you have any problems at first, they will go away quickly after a day or two.
Honor gives you three sets of rubber tips that fit easily and comfortably in your ears. We were blown away by how light the buds feel and how easy it is to keep them in your ear for a long time. The trail runner who lives here wore them for a long run and didn’t have any problems with comfort or with either bud falling out.
Honor Earbuds 3 Pro review: Sound quality
The Honor Earbuds 3 Pro sound great and are comfortable to wear for long periods of time. If you want to hear what I’ve been listening to most with these earphones, you can check out the playlist I’ve been using here on Spotify. Songs like EDEN’s “Modern Warfare” have a great balance between the low end and the rest of the mix.
Honor manages to avoid the cheap earphones’ tendency to focus too much on the low end. One of my all-time favourite songs, “Float On” by Modest Mouse, is also done a huge favour and sounds as good as ever. When it comes to sound quality, Honor is a clear winner.
The Honor Earbuds 3 Pro sound great and are just a good pair of headphones in general. The bassline isn’t too loud, but it’s very clear, and the highs and mids don’t get out of hand. For a pair of earphones, they do a good job of not having a completely narrow sound. The soundstage seems a lot bigger to me than it does on the Galaxy Buds 2 pro.
Honor Earbuds 3 Pro review: Call quality and connectivity
The shiny appearance might suggest trouble with smudges or general handling, but once you get the hang of it, getting the buds out of the case becomes a non-issue. Each bud has a stem, which is short enough to not be in the way of a facial mask, but still has plenty of room for a touch controller. The trio of microphones is strategically placed to pick up outside noises and cancel them while capturing your voice, but we still felt the in-call quality left something to be desired.
Honor Earbuds 3 Pro review: Battery Life
When it comes to design, the HONOR Earbuds 3 Pro are one of my favourites. Even though the case is very small, the battery inside is big enough. Even the clasp at the top is well-made, so it doesn’t feel cheap at all. On the front, there is a status LED that tells you how the case is doing.
Depending on how much charge is left, the battery status light can be red, yellow, or green. It will also let you know when the case is being charged and will blink white if you put them in pairing mode. You can do that by holding down the single button on the side of the case. Now, there’s an LED status light on the inside of the case that shows you how charged the earbuds are.
Honor Earbuds 3 Pro review: Price and availability
HONOR’s new top-of-the-line truly wireless earbuds are the HONOR Earbuds 3 Pro. HONOR’s previous earbuds were great, but most of them were made for a completely different market segment. With a price of €200, they’re pretty much going for the high-end market.
So, because of that, we have higher hopes. Do the HONOR Earbuds 3 Pro sound good enough to be worth the price? They’re great, but they’re not perfect. With the HONOR Earbuds 3 Pro, HONOR did a great job in almost every way. The bad news is that these earbuds look and sound great, but not everything is perfect.
Final Words
The Earbuds 3 Pro look a lot like Apple’s AirPods Pro, which isn’t a bad thing. These are grey instead of white, and I like the way the Earbuds 3 Pro look better. But if you really want to, you can get them in white. Both the charging case and the earbuds are small and light, which makes them easy to carry around when not in use and comfortable to wear for long periods of time.
When it comes to charging, 5 minutes of charging in the charging cases gives you 2 hours of charge. This is done with 5C fast charging, which takes about 10 minutes for 65% charge. Basically, you charge the case, and when you’re not using the earbuds, they’ll charge in the case until you’re ready to use them again.
Honor Earbuds 3 Pro Ratings
Pros
- Detailed, spacious, exuberant sound
- Plenty of AirPods-like features for Honor users
- Excellent sound quality
Cons
- No iOS app
- No ‘Find My’ feature
FAQs
Is Honor earbuds good?
Verdict. The Honor true wireless earphones are a great pair because they sound good and are comfortable. They are more interesting than their AirPods Pro-like look would lead you to believe. They’re great, but they could have better battery life and less wind noise.
Is Huawei earbuds pro good?
The FreeBuds Pro is a big success for Huawei. The active noise cancellation is cleverly done and works very well, and the sound is punchy, lively, and well balanced. The touch controls work well, and the earbuds are also comfortable to wear for a long time.
What are Pro 3 earbuds?
The EarFun Air Pro 3 are a great pair of affordable true wireless earbuds from a brand that most people haven’t heard of. They have good audio codecs, a long battery life, are comfortable, and have a well-designed app for iOS and Android smartphones.