UGREEN HiTune T3 Review

UGREEN HiTune T3 is an ambitious product that brings active noise cancelling tech below $40 but forgets to nail the basics.

Active noise cancellation below $40? UGREEN is bringing otherwise premium features into a dirt-cheap territory. But at what cost?

On paper, the HiTune T3 should’ve cost more. Earbuds offer ANC, ambient sound mode, and Bluetooth 5.2 connection.

They’re built quite decently and come in a neat packaging with 4 pairs of ear tips.

However, UGREEN focused on features and forgot to master the sound. More on that later.

But hey, you can get them for around $40 which is super cheap. Are they worth getting if you’re on a tight budget?

Learn all the strengths and weaknesses in the full review below.

We test and evaluate headphones using a standardized 9-point methodology. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a commission. Learn more.

UGREEN Hitune T3 ANC Wireless TWS Bluetooth Earphones Active Noise Cancelling

UGREEN Hitune T3 ANC Wireless TWS Bluetooth Earphones Active Noise Cancelling

$70.08

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UGREEN HiTune T3 Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds Bluetooth 5.2, AI-Enhanced Clear Calls…

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• Relatively natural midrange
• Great battery life (7h with ANC)
• Comfortable fit
• Good transparency mode
• Okay-ish active noise cancelling
• Boomy, muddy sound
• No IP rating
• No Qi wireless charging

Editor
rating 2.8

By HeadphonesAddict

User
ratings 2.8

User Ratings: 5

Category

• Sound
• Comfort & Fit
• Durability
• Battery
• Features
• Noise Isolation
• Noise Cancelling
• Bluetooth
• Value

Our rating

• 
  2.5
• 
  4.0
• 
  2.5
• 
  4.0
• 
  3.0
• 
  2.5
• 
  2.5
• 
  2.5
• 
  2.5

User rating

• 2.5
• 1.5
• 0
• 4.0
• 0
• 0
• 3.0
• 3.0
• 0

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Sound

2.5 Average

Earbuds have an enormous bass boost that goes into the midrange, making the overall sound quality excessively muddy. Fortunately, the overall smoothness saves them from being unbearable to listen.

UGREEN HiTune T3 Sound Comparison

Learn how to understand sound comparisons.

UGREEN HiTune T3 could be a fantastic budget product, but the sound tuning was probably too rushed. What you end up with are uneven frequency response and too much bass.

Bass: Too much quantity and extension

Lots of people like loud, punchy bass. That’s why UGREEN tuned the HiTune T3 to sound just like that.

However, you can make the bass boost the right way and the wrong way. Unfortunately, with HiTune T3, you get the latter.

The biggest mistake is that the boost extends too far in the lower mids. Consequently, it makes them muddy and lacking in definition.

Furthermore, the bass has little control, so you can’t properly enjoy fast-paced genres with lots of drumming and double pedal kicks.

I sometimes get headaches if the bass is too strong. Well, the UGREEN HiTune T3 gives me headaches after longer listening sessions.

Of course, lots of people love deep, loud bass, so if that’s you, you’ll probably enjoy the tuning.

UGREEN HiTune T3 Frequency Response

Midrange: Good but buried under the bass and warmth

The midrange generally doesn’t deviate too much from what I consider natural or at least natural enough.

Vocals, especially male ones, are good, albeit not very textured. Don’t expect to hear small nuances in music with these.

Moreover, the instruments sound good, as well. Not the most detailed, but you can’t expect that at this price range.

However, since the bass is too loud, it masks the mids and makes them sound overly recessed.

You have to bring up the volume a bit to hear the vocals and instruments more clearly. Sadly, that also brings up the bass.

Treble: Boosted at wrong frequencies

The HiTune T3 have two major peaks, around 7kHz and 16kHz. Otherwise, the sound very much lacks a higher end.

There’s no airiness, and the cymbals, while nice and shimmery, barely peeking out from the mix. A treble boost around 10kHz and above would resolve some issues with the sound quality.

Still, higher frequencies are relatively smooth and don’t cause sibilance.

The soundstage is on the smaller side, and the imaging struggles to place sounds between the left/right and the center channel.

It feels like UGREEN took the sound signature of the previously reviewed EarFun Air S and made their tuning slightly worse.

That’s a shame since these earbuds could be an absolute banger. Reducing the bass would let the sound breathe while balancing the treble would add air and some resolution. Maybe next time.

Nevertheless, people who enjoy heavy bass will surely love these. Due to their balanced midrange and inoffensive treble, they’re still okay to listen to if you don’t have anything else.

Comfort & Fit

4.0 Great

UGREEN HiTune T3 have a housing with a smooth finish that fits comfortably in your ears. Stability is great, too, but only for light workouts.

Earbuds adopt a familiar oval shape for the housing, which fits naturally inside your outer ear.

Since the housing is perfectly smooth, it doesn’t poke into the skin. Moreover, the size is just right, so it doesn’t create any pressure points that would start hurting after a while.

Another good thing is that the HiTune T3 also offer a stable fit. At least for regular use and light workouts.

Earbuds will endure outdoor walking easily, and the seal doesn’t break even if you smile. Smiling causes you to move your ears a bit, pushing the earbuds out. Thankfully, not in this case.

On the other hand, vigorous head shakes will make your earbuds to fly off your head.

Durability

2.5 Average

Despite neat packaging, the build quality of the product feels only decent. On top of that, earbuds lack an IP rating, making them a questionable choice for exercising.

While UGREEN wanted to cram inside the HiTune T3 as many features as possible, they forgot to include water resistance as well.

Granted, that doesn’t mean they’ll stop working if you get them sweaty. Plenty of earbuds that lack protection can work fine under moist conditions.

However, that doesn’t mean it can’t happen, so you’ll have to keep that in mind when using UGREEN HiTune T3 for exercising.

Moving to the build quality itself, it’s okay. The earbuds are relatively sturdy with no significant weak points.

The glossy plastic isn’t very flattering, making the earbuds look cheaper than they actually are.

A similar story continues with the charging case. It doesn’t scream confidence, it feels cheap, and it might crack quite easily when accidentally met with the hard ground.

Overall, the build quality is okay for the price, but you should be careful not to toss the case around too much.

Battery

4.0 Great

The battery life of around 7 hours with ANC enabled puts the HiTune T3 in the slightly above-average category. You get another 17 hours from the case, which lacks wireless charging.

UGREEN HiTune T3 Battery Comparison

ANC earbuds usually don’t last the longest in terms of battery life. The noise reduction chips consume a lot of energy, so it’s nice that even budget products can boast a respectable playtime.

In the case of UGREEN HiTune T3:

• You get 7 hours and 16 minutes on a single charge (ANC on).

Another 17 hours of juice is stored in the charging case, which supports fast charging.

• The case will add an extra hour of battery life in a 10-minute charge.
• The buds themselves need 1.5 hours to charge from 0-100%.

Unfortunately, there’s no Qi wireless charging.

Features

3.0 Good

Earbuds have some features you don’t expect from a budget product yet lack some features that are becoming normal in budget products.

The most notable features UGREEN HiTune T3 bring to the table are active noise cancelling and transparency mode. That’s a rarity under $40.

However, there’s where things stop. There’s no multipoint, Qi wireless charging, no extra Bluetooth codecs, and EQ presets.

You get a wide selection of command gestures that are pretty easy to learn. Earbuds give you audio feedback when using the controls, so you know how many times you tapped them.

Microphone Quality

Pretty good call quality in quiet but muffled in loud environments.

UGREEN HiTune T3 Microphone Test

If you do most of your calls somewhere quiet, these earbuds should do the trick. They’re fine for shorter phone calls and online schooling, with decent voice clarity.

Earbuds use a noise reduction tech to eliminate background noise. It works fine when the surroundings aren’t too loud but starts to muffle your voice when they do.

In that case, it might get harder for others to understand you, so try avoiding noisy places when making phone calls with the HiTune T3.

Noise Isolation

2.5 Average

Passive noise isolation is about average, only slightly reducing the surrounding sounds due to a fairly light seal.

Some earbuds are quite aggressive when sealing your ear canal, creating unpleasant pressure in the process. UGREEN HiTune T3 wireless earbuds aren’t like that.

They sit gently inside, ensuring excellent comfort but also not-so-strong passive isolation.

The HiTune T3 are pretty comparable to the EarFun Air S in isolation, meaning that unless you play music, you can still hear most of the ambient sound.

Noise Cancelling

2.5 Average

ANC works but doesn’t do much. It works best against lower frequencies, but even they aren’t fully canceled out.

UGREEN HiTune T3 Active Noise Cancelling Test

While seeing ANC in such a budget product is commendable, you should always keep your expectations at bay.

The active noise cancellation on the UGREEN HiTune T3 is a mixed bag. It works and can audibly reduce unwanted external noise but leaves a large portion of it intact.

Most noticeably, the bass. You can still distinctly hear the low-end hum, which is the most annoying part during commute or travel.

How is the ambient sound mode?

Earbuds are much better when doing the opposite and boost the surrounding sounds. Although, since the passive isolation isn’t the strongest, earbuds don’t have to do much to amplify the ambiance.

In general, you can hear the person next to you quite well and only slightly quieter compared to not using the earbuds.

Bluetooth

2.5 Average

The Bluetooth range is only average, and there’s a minor audio delay even when using YouTube mobile app.

Looking at the specs, UGREEN HiTune T3 use Bluetooth 5.2, which for the price, is pretty impressive.

However, a newer Bluetooth version doesn’t mean a better connection range. In the case of the HiTune T3, it’s about average.

The earbuds played fine for around 45 feet and completely stopped playing when reaching the second brick wall.

An okay range on its own, but I’ve seen better from other budget products. At least you get a stable connection without random audio stutters to speak about.

How is pairing?

• For the first time, you simply have to put earbuds out of the case, and they initiate the pairing mode.
• To pair them to some other device, you have to place them in the case, close and open the lid again, and hold the button near a charging port for 3 seconds.

These earbuds don’t support multipoint connection, but they will work in mono mode to save some battery.

What Bluetooth Codecs Do They Use?

UGREEN HiTune T3 support SBC and AAC, which covers Android and iOS users. Since they’re a budget product, they wouldn’t benefit from higher-end Bluetooth codecs like aptX.

Is There an Audio Lag?

There’s a small but noticeable delay between audio and video. It isn’t terrible, and you can get used to it if you aren’t looking directly into people’s mouths.

Strangely, the delay is also present in the YouTube app, which usually syncs the audio over Bluetooth quite well. Unfortunately, there’s no gaming mode to reduce the latency.

Should You Get UGREEN HiTune T3?

2.5 Average

The UGREEN HiTune T3 tried to be too different from the competition. They wanted to be one of the first true wireless earbuds to bring ANC under $40, which will undoubtedly attract some attention.

However, they forgot to master the basics in the process. Not that the earbuds are bad, but they could be much better at no extra cost.

While adding ANC and other features increases the cost, tweaking the sound to be less boomy costs precisely $0. And the funny thing is that the ANC isn’t that great either.

I genuinely hope UGREEN takes a bit more time with their following headphones to get the sound right and then attach other features later. If that happens, I will happily recommend them.

UGREEN Hitune T3 ANC Wireless TWS Bluetooth Earphones Active Noise Cancelling

UGREEN Hitune T3 ANC Wireless TWS Bluetooth Earphones Active Noise Cancelling

$70.08

in stock

Buy now

eBay

UGREEN HiTune T3 Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds Bluetooth 5.2, AI-Enhanced Clear Calls…

UGREEN HiTune T3 Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds Bluetooth 5.2, AI-Enhanced Clear Calls…

out of stock

Buy now

Amazon.com

Who should buy UGREEN HiTune T3?

If you’re really into heavy bass and would like to reduce ambient noise a little bit, these earbuds should satisfy most of your needs.

However, if the boomy sound isn’t to your taste, try opting for Anker Soundcore Life A1 instead.

How do UGREEN HiTune T3 compare to the competition?

UGREEN HiTune T3 Alternatives

Anker Soundcore Life A1

More V-shaped yet livelier and cleaner sounding earbuds with 3 EQ presets.

The Life A1 are equally as comfy but far more stable thanks to ear wings.

Around 7 hours of battery life is on par with the HiTune T3. However, they lack ANC and ambient mode.

On the other hand, they pack an IPX7 rating, making them fully waterproof.

Anker Soundcore Life A1 review

TOZO T10

A cheaper alternative that lacks ANC but offers more listenable sound quality. You still get a boosted bass, but the overall sound is much cleaner.

Battery life lasts only 6 hours, an hour less than the HiTune T3. However, you have to option to Qi wirelessly charge the case.

On top of that, the earbuds and the case carry an IP68, making them both fully water resistant.

TOZO T10 review

What’s in the Box?

• UGREEN HiTune T3 true wireless earbuds
• USB-C charging cable
• 4 pairs of silicone ear tips (XS, S, M, L, XL)
• Safety guide
• User guide

Specifications

Peter Susic

From a childhood fascination with sound, Peter’s passion has evolved into a relentless pursuit of the finest headphones. He’s an audio expert with over 5 years of experience in testing both audiophile and consumer-grade headphones. Quote: “After many years, I can confidently tell which headphones are good and which are terrible.” Find his honest opinion in his reviews.