It’s been less than six months since Samsung released its last pair of wireless earbuds. But now there is the Galaxy Buds Pro. By switching to a more traditional design, keeping the built-in ANC, and holding a $ 200 price tag, Samsung has finally created a worthy and more affordable competitor for Apple’s $ 250 AirPods Pro.
In many ways, the Galaxy Buds Pro is what you’d get if it was Galaxy Buds + and Galaxy Buds Live had nerdy little audio babies. Like the Galaxy Buds +, the Galaxy Buds Pro have soft silicone ear tips for passive noise cancellation and a snug, comfortable fit. And because the Galaxy Buds Pro are relatively light, their tight fit was more than enough to keep them from randomly falling out, even when you jump around during exercise.
Meanwhile, Samsung borrowed the built-in air vents (to keep air pressure from building up and becoming uncomfortable), extra microphones and active noise cancellation used in the Galaxy Buds Live and placed them in the Pros. The difference here is that because the Galaxy Buds Pros have a closed-back design, ANC is much more effective at drowning out ambient noise, which has certainly helped reduce the annoying rumble of nearby structures I dealt with while writing this one. review. Now if we’re picky, compared to Sony’s excellent but super bulky WF-1000XM3 wireless earbuds, Samsung’s ANC is not that powerful. But it’s pretty damn close, and given that the Galaxy Buds Pro costs significantly less and is much smaller, it’s a compromise that I’m willing to trade in a little bit of ANC performance for a more compact and make it easier to wear pair of wireless earbuds.
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And like all recent Samsung earbuds, the Galaxy Buds Pro still includes handy touch controls built into both earbuds, so you can easily pause, play or skip songs, or more easily control volume or ANC and pass-through audio. can enable or disable. . However, this is an issue I’ve had with Samsung earbuds for a while, you can only set the touch controls to adjust the volume or enable ANC, but not both, making a difficult choice to get to the app’s settings, which is quite annoying.
The Galaxy Buds Pro is more than a simple remix of Samsung’s previous wireless earbuds. Instead of a single driver in each button like on the Galaxy Buds Live, the Galaxy Buds Pro have an 11mm woofer and 6.5mm tweeter crammed into each side. And when the new drivers are combined with better ANC and passive noise cancellation, the Galaxy Buds Pro produces an even richer and more detailed sound. It’s just enough to make you appreciate the shine of a top hat or cymbal more than usual, and while the woofer means lows are more pronounced, I appreciate that the Galaxy Buds Pro still sounds relatively neutral and not overly bass-heavy. But if you want extra thump, you can always choose from one of Samsung’s other preset EQs (bass boost, soft, dynamic, clear, and treble). Just don’t look for a custom EQ setting, as it doesn’t exist.
Meanwhile, thanks to the inclusion of three different built-in microphones, the voice quality is also quite good. Now don’t get me wrong, no one will confuse the Galaxy Buds Pro with a high-end lav microphone, but even for amateur movies, the Galaxy Buds Pro can be a quick and easy replacement for more expensive audio equipment.
The other big new feature of the Galaxy Buds Pro is the addition of voice detection, which makes the earbuds automatically turn on the Ambient Noise feature (which amplifies nearby sound and directs it to the earbuds) when it hears your voice. Granted, this doesn’t sound like much, but it quickly became one of my favorite features as it makes it easier for me to have a conversation without having to remove my earbuds.
Now some boomers might say it’s a bit rude not to take off your headphones while talking to someone, and maybe they’re right if we were still living in 1965. But by 2021, I’m going to say that most people will understand if you don’t take off your headphones to order coffee, as long as you can communicate easily and politely with the store staff. And with voice detection that can automatically turn on the Ambient Noise feature, the Galaxy Buds Pro lets you do just that.
That said, the feature isn’t perfect. Currently, you can tell the earbuds to automatically activate Ambient Noise in 5, 10, or 15 second increments, with the latter two generally long enough to make a quick conversation. However, if the person you’re talking to is a bit chatty or has a long story to tell, it’s very possible that the Ambient Sound feature will be turned off mid-sentence. Samsung says the reason for this is that it’s much easier for the earbuds to tell when you’re talking, rather than guess which of the hundreds or thousands of nearby sounds you want to pay attention to. But that still means that if you don’t continue to keep Ambient Noise activated, you might be missing a beat.
Additionally, for those who often juggle audio from multiple devices, Samsung has also added a new Auto Switch feature that allows you to quickly connect the Buds Pro to a Samsung phone or tablet or Windows 10 PC when needed. It’s automatic, and in my testing it worked pretty seamlessly, although it refused to switch once out of the five times I tried.
All things considered, the Galaxy Buds Pro’s only real shortcoming is its somewhat mediocre battery life. Samsung says the Galaxy Buds Pro offers five hours of music playback with ANC on, or about eight hours with ANC off. That’s not terrible, but it’s not great either, and while I sometimes found the Galaxy Buds Pro to last up to five hours and 20 minutes with ANC activated, that’s not really enough to last a full day of work or school. go without strategic charging during breaks. Fortunately, the buds can soak up enough juice for an additional 30 minutes of play with just a five-minute nap in their charging case. And on the other hand, it’s important to remember that Apple’s AirPods Pro can only play music for 4.5 hours with ANC enabled.
Compared to rivals like the Sony WF-1000XM3 and Apple AirPods Pro, the Galaxy Buds Pro is really starting to show their worth. They have great audio quality, a comfortable lightweight fit, and slightly better battery life than Apple’s acclaimed alternatives. And while their ANC may be a little less proficient than Sony or Apple’s, I bet most people would have a hard time taking on the Pepsi Challenge. And as a new feature to make life with the earbuds easier, the Galaxy Buds Pro’s voice detection feature is a really welcome addition.
Especially for Samsung phone owners – where the Galaxy Wearable app is pre-installed – initial pairing couldn’t be easier. Other Android phone owners don’t need to download a few free apps before pairing is really that difficult. Most importantly, all of this comes from a pair of true wireless earbuds that cost $ 30 to $ 50 less than their biggest competitors. So even though I would generally like a bit more battery life and more control over the touch commands, the Galaxy Buds Pro are a great little wireless headset.
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- The Galaxy Buds Pro lasts about five hours on a charge with ANC on (or about 8 with ANC off), which isn’t great, but it’s actually slightly better than the 4.5 hours you get from AirPods Pro.
- Thanks to their lightweight design and the included three sizes of earbuds, the Galaxy Buds Pro are quite comfortable and easy to wear for long periods of time.
- Samsung’s charging case holds up to 13 hours of extra juice and can be charged both wired and wirelessly.
- Galaxy Buds Pro’s new automatic ambient sound is activated when it hears your voice, making it easier to have calls without removing the earbuds themselves.
- Samsung has created a new 360-degree spatial sound mode, but it is currently only available on the new Galaxy S21 phones, while Samsung is working on porting the feature to older devices.
- Samsung’s free Galaxy Wearable app is available on both iOS and Android, but you’ll need a Samsung phone if you want to take advantage of more experimental features like the low-latency gaming mode.