UGREEN HiTune T3: noise cancellation for less than 50 $

We tested UGREEN’s HiTune T3 “True Wireless” headphones, which offer excellent battery life and noise cancellation for less than 50$ with a very elegant design.

The wireless headphone market has changed dramatically since the AirPods first appeared, and it’s becoming increasingly easy to find headphones at excellent prices with features that were previously reserved for much more expensive segments. The new HiTune T3 earphones from UGREEN are an example of this, and although we must never lose sight of the fact that they cost less than 50 $, offer features that will convince those looking to spend little and have enough.

Features

• Active noise cancellation up to 25 dB
• Operation with a single earphone
• Bluetooth 5.2
• Autonomy up to 7 hours, 24 hours with charging case
• USB-C charging (no wireless charging)
• IPX5
• 4 silicone pads of different sizes

Design

These HiTune T3s have a very sleek design, with a glossy black finish that’s a real fingerprint magnet, but looks really nice. The charging case is quite small, perfect to put in any pocket, and the earphones have the typical “AirPods” type design with the stick. The earphones are of the “In-ear” type, with silicone plugs (several sizes in the box) that adapt perfectly to your ear and are also quite comfortable. They make a good seal which helps to passively cancel outside noise.

Leaving aside the design, which I quite like, I have to admit that the feel of the charging case isn’t the best when you’re holding it in your hand. It is light, “too light” to feel fragile. I’m not saying yes, but the impression when opening and closing the lid is that they could have added a bit more plastic to make it sturdier. That said, the truth is that after testing a lot there is no reason to have any doubts about its durability, but that feeling is there. It has three LEDs on the front that indicate the remaining charge of the caseand also when you insert the headphones they tell you that they are charging.

controls

The headphones have touch controls, no physical button. You can start or pause playback, skip or rewind songs, accept or reject calls and summon the virtual assistant as well as turn noise cancellation on and off. There are no possible controls for the volume, which you can still control via Siri, your Apple Watch or directly on the iPhone. The controls are pretty responsive, which is fine most of the time, but sometimes you can accidentally touch them by touching your hair or ear. Each time you press it, you receive a sound that tells you so.

Pairing with the iPhone (or any other Bluetooth-enabled device) is done using the button on the charging case, similar to AirPods. They have no memory so if you want to pair it with another device you will have to do it manually every time you change. It is a quick procedure and does not cause any problems.

Sound

UGREEN made a Bet clearly on these headphones for serious sounds, and it shows from the first moment you use them to listen to music. If you like this type of headphones, you will appreciate them very much, but if you are a fan of music richer in mids and highs, they may not be the most suitable. They are perfect for podcasts, calls or watching movies and series on your iPhone, iPad or Mac. For music, it will depend on the type of music you listen to the most or your sound requirements. Most users will appreciate the powerful, high-volume sound of these headphones, but some will notice its shortcomings.

We have no possibility to equalize the sound, there is no application that allows it, so the sound offered by the headphones is what you have from the moment you take them out of the box. This will be an advantage for those who want to avoid complications, but you miss being able to touch the EQ a bit and reduce the bass a bit for the benefit of the rest of the sounds. As I said before, the volume is quite high, no complaints about that, although at maximum volume you will notice some distortion, something that is anecdotal because at this volume you will never use them, or least you shouldn’t for your health hearing.

During calls, the sound is good and the microphones behave correctly, although if there is a lot of ambient noise, your interlocutor will notice it. Under normal conditions you will be able to answer a phone call without any problem and you will hold the conversation perfectly with acceptable sound quality.

Noise cancellation

Finding headphones at this price with active noise cancellation is surprising. But don’t expect cancellation on par with high-end headphones. Between the silicone cushion and the active cancellation, you isolate yourself well from the outside, but you’ll still hear what’s going on around you. It dramatically reduces gym or street noise, so you can listen to music or podcasts without having to turn up the volume, but you’ll still hear noise. Let’s not forget their price, they do pretty well for what they cost. Of course, there is no transparency mode or ambient mode.

Autonomy

The manufacturer promises up to seven hours of battery life on a single charge, slightly less if you use noise cancellation. I haven’t been able to check it for so long, but due to the use I’ve given them, if they don’t hit seven hours they’ll stay pretty close. There’s no fast charging and the case takes about two hours to fully chargethe headphones needing a little over an hour to charge, which is quite acceptable.

The reloading of the box is done via USB-C cable which is included in the box, and there is no wireless charging option. With normal use, you’ll need to charge them more or less once a week, so that’s not a big deal either.

Editor’s review

The UGREEN HiTune T3 are very cheap headphones with good features considering their price. Active noise cancellation, 7 hour battery life (24 with the case) and very powerful sound in headphones of this price you won’t find from many manufacturers. It is true that they have some flaws, such as wireless charging, or that the sound has bass that is too prominent for my taste, as well as the absence of an application to adjust the equalization, but we are talking about headphones that cost less than 50 $, so these little “sins” are easy to forgive. You can find them on Amazon for $49.99 (link)

Versus

• Very salient bass
• no wireless charging
• no equalization