Cardo Freecom 2x Review: Audio Quality Fail?

Updated: June 7, 2025

I bought the Cardo Freecom 2x with two main objectives in mind: I wanted to make phone calls and I wanted to listen to music while going down the road. I wanted to do both of these things with something close to the quality that I’m accustomed to with my LG Tone platinum.

Versatile	Apple AirPods Pro 2 Wireless Earbuds 4.5 High-performance earbuds with personalized sound, noise cancellation, and hearing-enhancing features.	Check Price on Amazon
Full-Featured	Cardo Packtalk Pro 5.0 The King of motorcycle intercoms and Bluetooth headsets, the Pro comes with every top of the line feature Cardo offers and their stellar 45mm JBL speakers, the best helmet speakers money can buy.	Check Price on Cardo

Versatile

Apple AirPods Pro 2 Wireless Earbuds

4.5

High-performance earbuds with personalized sound, noise cancellation, and hearing-enhancing features.

Check Price on Amazon

Full-Featured

Cardo Packtalk Pro

5.0

The King of motorcycle intercoms and Bluetooth headsets, the Pro comes with every top of the line feature Cardo offers and their stellar 45mm JBL speakers, the best helmet speakers money can buy.

Check Price on Cardo

No Relationship With Cardo

Before we dive deep into this review, it’s important that I disclose my relationship with Cardo, the company that makes the Freecom 2x. There is no relationship. I bought this headset with my own money.

What I Expected vs. Reality

Going into this, I had a few unconventional thoughts about what motorcycle communication systems promise versus what they deliver, and my experience with the Freecom 2x only reinforced some of them.

First, spending more money on a Cardo unit primarily buys you more features (like wider intercom range or more riders), not necessarily a significant bump in core audio hardware quality like microphones or speakers.

Second, some useful functionalities, like accessing your phone’s virtual assistant (Siri or Google Assistant), seem locked behind higher-priced tiers for reasons that don’t appear to be technical limitations of the hardware itself.

And third, achieving usable audio quality for both music and phone calls while also adhering to common rider practices like using earplugs for hearing protection and potentially having louder aftermarket exhausts presents a significant challenge that, for me, the Freecom 2x didn’t fully overcome, despite many online reviews suggesting otherwise.

The Cardo Lineup Explained

Choosing the right Cardo can seem a little daunting at first, but let me try to make it real simple for you. When looking through the Cardo lineup, they use ladder tactics to get you to spend as much money as possible. The unit below the Freecom 2x is the Spirit. They list the Spirit as having a 600-meter intercom range compared to the 800-meter range of the Freecom 2x. Any unit above the Spirit is going to have the Live Intercom feature.

Live Intercom means that the headsets are automatically going to reconnect if you get disconnected out on the road. The step up from the Freecom 2x that I bought is the Freecom 4x, which has a 1200-meter range with the ability to connect to four riders, while the lower tier models are only able to connect to two riders. Spend even more money, and now you start getting the ability to be in a group of up to 15 riders with the Packtalk models.

It can be tempting to spend more money thinking that you’re going to get a bump up in microphone quality or speaker quality, but the fact is that the microphone and speakers on this thing are about as cheap as they come.

Software Limitations

My main problem with this is when software upgrades are locked behind a paywall. The worst example of this is when you try to use Siri or the Google Assistant. You don’t get the ability to use these assistants through the Cardo until you get up to the Freecom 4x.

I don’t believe there’s any reason why the Spirit or the Freecom 2x aren’t capable of using your virtual assistant other than Cardo is preventing that function from working. On top of this, ever since I installed the Cardo app, the Google Assistant doesn’t work right on my phone anymore. I can’t call certain people and all of a sudden certain functions just don’t work as well as they used to.

And don’t even get me started on the Packtalk Custom.

Why I Bought It Anyway

That being said, the two most popular options for making and taking calls while you’re riding a motorcycle are Cardo and Sena. I wanted that secret sauce, so I ponied up the $230 for the Freecom 2x.

I got it from Amazon on next day delivery. I wanted to use Amazon because the reviews online are pretty mixed, and I wanted to buy it from somebody with a good return policy.

Unboxing and Setup

The unboxing experience definitely inspired hope. They have good-looking packaging and pretty clear instructions on how to set it up. First, you charge your unit up. It’s a pretty small device with a small battery, so charging happens fast. Once it’s charged, you connect it to your phone and update it through the app. The app is nothing special; it has superfluous features that I would rather just leave for my phone to handle. If I had it my way, I would use the app to update your headset and nothing else.

Installing the Headset

Installing the unit is as simple as removing the cheek pads on your helmet. If you have an Arai like I do, then it’s going to be pretty easy. The unit attaches to the left side of your helmet with a very strong clip, and I never worried about it slipping off. You also have the option to use adhesive to attach the headset, but I ain’t sticking that to my helmet after I just paid $800 to get that beautiful flake. You think that’s peeling off clean? I doubt it.

Speaker and Mic Placement

Now you’re going to take the velcro for your speakers and place it in your ear pockets on your helmet. Don’t try to put them exactly where you think your ears are going to be. They need to be in the ear pocket where the helmet padding is going to be thinnest. They only give you one set of velcro, so you better get it right the first time. I recommend picking up some extra velcro at the same time so you can play with your speaker placement a little bit.

Now place the velcro for your mic and install your microphone. Make sure that it’s directly in front of your mouth. You should be able to make duck lips and touch this thing. Anything else is going to be basically unusable. Route your wires over to the left side of the helmet and put your cheek pads back. Be careful not to fold your wires too tightly because these wires are really thin, and you have quite a bit of excess. This is especially true for the microphone wire.

Overall installation is only as painful as your helmet makes it.

Fit and Controls

The first thing I noticed after installation is that my helmet was a little tighter in the ears than before. This can be a positive or a negative; it just depends on how your helmet fits.

The buttons on the Cardo are very nice. They’re mushy, but the most important thing is that you have these little tabs that stick up so you can tell when you’re on the button or not. I’m not a fan of the control scheme that they went with, but I’m going to give it a pass because it’s nothing too crazy and I can get used to it.

Battery Life Experience

Cardo claims a 13-hour battery life on the Freecom 2x. I don’t know where they get this number from, but I’m at about 50% battery after 2 hours of listening to music on full blast. If you had a different experience, leave it in the comments down below. In any case, if you plan on taking these on trips, you better plan on charging on the fly.

Audio Quality Disappointments

The audio quality on the Freecom 2x is where everything starts to fall apart for me. The speakers don’t get loud enough. At full blast, I’m not able to hear anything coming out of the speakers when I’m driving normally, and if I’m on the freeway, you can forget about it.

This is in stark contrast to what everyone else is saying on YouTube and to what many people say in reviews online. I have a few theories on why other people may be getting better results.

Number one, they have stock pipes. I don’t recommend anybody ride with stock pipes. The human brain has enough trouble recognizing a motorcycle driving down the road as it is, but if they suddenly hear a thunderstorm out of nowhere, many people start looking for the motorcycle that they don’t see. Loud pipes have saved my life countless times, and their importance can’t be overstated.

Number two, the people that are having positive results aren’t wearing earplugs. If you don’t wear earplugs while you’re riding, then you’re either ignorant or stupid. Even with stock pipes, wind noise will damage your hearing, and damaged hearing doesn’t come back. You owe it to the people in your life to prevent hearing damage as much as you can. When you willingly don’t prevent hearing damage, you put a greater burden on the people around you, and you set a bad example to the younger people in your life that look up to you. Do better.

Number three, maybe I have defective speakers. I sent an email to Cardo telling them that I couldn’t get the volume loud enough to hear through my ear plugs, and they didn’t say anything back. So if I do have defective speakers, I’m on my own to get another set. And the fact is, they don’t sound that good anyways.

Considering Alternatives

One solution I’m looking into are custom molded in-ear monitors. Basically, headphones with a custom little ear thing so that they fit tight enough to give you hearing protection. But now we’re talking about a huge extra cost that most people are not willing to stomach.

That being said, I am willing to stomach that cost if it weren’t for the next problem. When I make phone calls, the call quality isn’t even close to the quality I’m used to with my LG Tone Platinum. Everyone I call says that I cut in and out, and even when they can hear me, it just doesn’t sound that good.

Again, is this because my mic is defective? Is it because my pipes are too loud? I can’t tell, and customer support isn’t responding. I just wish that there were other options offered by Cardo for higher-end microphones, but unlike the standard connector for the speakers, the connector for the microphone is proprietary.

Final Thoughts

So now I have a glorified Bluetooth receiver with no call capabilities that I can’t hear through my earplugs for 230 bucks. What’s the point?

I’ll just use one of these Bluetooth dongles connected to some custom in-ear monitors if I want to have music. It costs way less money, and I don’t have to scuff up the paint on my nice helmet. I just tuck it in my shirt pocket and I’m good to go.

Versatile	Apple AirPods Pro 2 Wireless Earbuds 4.5 High-performance earbuds with personalized sound, noise cancellation, and hearing-enhancing features.	Check Price on Amazon
Full-Featured	Cardo Packtalk Pro 5.0 The King of motorcycle intercoms and Bluetooth headsets, the Pro comes with every top of the line feature Cardo offers and their stellar 45mm JBL speakers, the best helmet speakers money can buy.	Check Price on Cardo