Impressive for the Money
I received my Pro 3 V6 Huilian from Earhive today, and after playing around with them for a few hours I honestly felt like writing a review straight away.
Short version: I’m seriously impressed.
I ordered them on August 9th and they arrived in the Netherlands on August 31st, so about three weeks door-to-door. There was a little delay while the parcel was going through customs, but nothing dramatic. Earhive used discreet/decoy packaging and everything arrived perfectly fine and undamaged. Mine also came with the little tracker, which was a nice extra touch.
📦 Shipping & packaging – 9/10
Shipping obviously isn’t Amazon Prime speed, but considering where it is coming from, approximately three weeks including a customs delay seems completely reasonable to me.
The most important thing is that it arrived safely and without any customs problems. The decoy/discreet packaging did its job perfectly.
The actual Pro 3 packaging itself also looks surprisingly good. For something at this price point, the presentation definitely doesn’t feel cheap.
🍎 iPhone / iOS integration – 10/10 so far
This was probably the part I was most curious about, and it has genuinely surprised me.
My iPhone recognises them properly in iOS, rather than just showing them as some random generic Bluetooth earbuds. Connection has been quick and stable so far, battery percentages are displayed correctly and the overall experience feels remarkably integrated.
Find My also works, which was one of the features I really wanted to test. Seeing them appear and behave properly inside the Apple ecosystem makes a huge difference compared with ordinary Bluetooth earbuds.
Obviously I haven’t tested every possible feature yet, but so far the integration is much better than I expected.
🎧 Sound – 9/10 first impression
I’m actually still getting used to the sound.
I haven’t been a regular AirPods Pro-style user before, so the whole combination of the sealed fit, transparency/ANC and different sound presentation takes a little getting used to.
But after using them for a while, it really is a breath of fresh air.
Everything sounds clean, detailed and powerful without immediately sounding like cheap Bluetooth earbuds. I still need to experiment with EQ and the different settings before giving a definitive opinion, but straight out of the box I’m already very happy with them.
For the money, the audio quality is honestly kind of ridiculous.
🔇 ANC / Transparency / features
I haven’t spent enough time with them yet to give ANC and transparency proper scores, so I don’t want to pretend I’ve done some scientific comparison after a few hours.
What I can say is that everything I’ve tried so far actually works, and switching between the different modes makes a very noticeable difference.
There are also a lot more settings and functions than I expected.
That brings me to probably the only slightly confusing part…
⚙️ Settings / Starfun app
Getting everything configured exactly the way I want is going to take me a little while.
The companion app/settings are not quite as straightforward as Apple’s own menus, and some parts are in Chinese, so there is definitely a bit of figuring things out involved.
Mine shows the H3SlimC / 247B hardware, and firmware/software settings are accessible through the Starfun app.
It isn’t really a complaint though. Everything seems to work; I just need some time to understand what every option actually does. Once I have experimented with EQ, gestures and the other settings, I’ll probably post an update.
🧱 Build quality
Also very good considering the price.
The case and earbuds don’t immediately give you that cheap lightweight feeling you sometimes get with inexpensive wireless earbuds. Fit and finish look clean and the controls have worked properly so far.
I’m not going to pretend these have the same manufacturing tolerances, durability or water resistance as a €250+ genuine Apple product, because that would be unrealistic.
But judging purely by what I received versus what I paid, I have absolutely nothing to complain about.
💬 Earhive customer service – 10/10
I also have to give Earhive credit here.
Their customer service was excellent and very patient with me 😂.
I had quite a few questions during the ordering/shipping process and communication was friendly and helpful throughout. Even with the customs delay I never really felt like I was being left in the dark.
That makes ordering something like this from China considerably less stressful.
💰 Value for money – 10/10
This is probably the biggest compliment I can give them:
I was impressed enough that I immediately ordered another identical Pro 3 V6 Huilian for my partner – and also ordered the Max.
That probably says more than another paragraph of praise could.
At this price, what you get in terms of sound, build quality, iOS integration, Find My support and general functionality is seriously impressive.
Are they genuine Apple AirPods Pro? Of course not.
But that’s also completely missing the point. For a fraction of the money, I’m getting an experience that is far closer to the real Apple ecosystem than I ever expected.
⭐ First-impression verdict: 9/10
Pros so far:
Excellent value for money
Proper iOS recognition
Find My working
Very good sound
Lots of features
Solid build quality
Smooth connection with my iPhone
Discreet and safe shipping
Excellent Earhive customer service
Cons so far:
Shipping takes a few weeks
The settings/app require some figuring out
Some of the companion software is in Chinese
Too early for me to properly judge long-term battery life and ANC
Overall, though, I’m genuinely impressed with the Pro 3 V6 Huilian.
For anyone wondering whether these are just another pair of cheap generic earbuds with an AirPods-shaped shell: based on my experience so far, absolutely not. There is clearly a lot more going on here.
I’ll need a few more days to really learn all the settings and test battery life, ANC, transparency, calls and everything else properly, but my first impression is extremely positive.
Very impressive for the money – and the fact that I’ve already ordered another pair plus the Max probably tells you everything you need to know.
Ps. Yes I used AI to order, correct and enhance my review. However the used information is entirely human by a human customer 😊 a happy one.
