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I spent three hours last weekend trying to figure out if a pair of earbuds was worth buying. Not three hours of enjoyable research. Three hours of wading through a swamp of sponsored content disguised as real reviews.

I wanted the Huawei FreeClip 2. They have an OWS design, which means they sit on the outer ear and do not seal the canal. I like this concept because I can wear them for calls and still hear my kid or the doorbell or whatever is happening in the room. I also was prepared to sacrifice some sound quality given the nature of the design. I just wanted to know about the microphone quality, whether the Bluetooth connection was stable, and how they performed in real-world scenarios.

YouTube was useless, and I was kind of expecting that. I watched a couple of review videos. All of them had the same script. They started with the same unboxing sequence, the same “the company sent me this unit, but this is an unbiased review” shit, the same “oh, this is the best earbud I have ever listened to” B.S., and, of course, their affiliate link in the description. Not the really important things like technical specs, comparisons with similar products, the pros and cons, and so on.

So I went to written reviews. Tech blogs, audio sites, mainstream publications with gadget sections. Here the language was more polished, probably AI-generated content, but with no substance. Every article had the same specs listed in the same order, but nothing outside of what could be found at the official product page. Then a conclusion that was always some variation of a great option for those looking for an open-ear design. No shit. That is like saying a car is a great option for those looking for four wheels. It communicates nothing.

In other words, companies basically send review units to outlets and channels that are large enough to matter. It generates clicks, affiliate revenue, and the continued relationship to get the next review unit. This is how PR apparently works.

I ended up finding good answers on a Reddit thread, especially from users who had actually used them in real-world scenarios like cycling or in loud environments.

I bought them anyway, and I can say I’m pleasantly surprised. I have many good pairs of headphones and in-ear earbuds, but these are different. I can say this is the most comfortable pair I’ve ever worn. They’re extremely lightweight, and I can easily forget that I’m wearing them.

Regarding sound quality, it’s good enough. Given the open design, you should not expect the best sound quality, but they are perfectly fine for casual listening, and for calls, they isolate background noise quite well. Codecs are limited, but let’s be honest, for a pair of earbuds transmitting data through Bluetooth, you are not going to get the best sound quality anyway, besides the fact that most people won’t even be able to tell the difference between a song transmitted through AAC 256kbps or a lossless file. If you want the best music experience, you probably should be looking at a good pair of wired headphones and a DAC.

An important note is that if you’re one of those people who don’t care about your eardrums and want to blast music louder than 85dB, you may hear some distortions. This is the only con I can find. The sound quality degrades significantly at high volumes, and the distortion is pretty bad. So if you like to listen to music at high volumes, these are not for you.