It’s less than six months since Samsung released its last wireless earbuds. But now there is the Galaxy Buds Pro. By switching to a more traditional design, keeping a built-in ANC and hitting a $ 200 price tag, Samsung has finally created a worthy and more affordable competitor to Apple’s $ 250 AirPods Pro.
In many ways, the Galaxy Buds Pro is what you would get if the Galaxy Buds + and Galaxy Buds Live had nerdy little sound babies. Similar to the Galaxy Buds +, the Galaxy Buds Pro has soft silicone tabs to deliver passive sound suppression and a comfortable, comfy fit. And because the Galaxy Buds Pro is relatively light, their tight fit was more than enough to make sure they did not fall out randomly, even if you were jumping around while exercising.
Meanwhile, Samsung has borrowed the built-in openings (to prevent air pressure from building up and becoming uncomfortable), extra microphones and active sound suppression that it uses in the Galaxy Buds Live, and put it in the Pros. The difference here is that because the Galaxy Buds Pros have a closed design, ANC is much more effective at drowning out the environmental noise, which certainly reduces the annoying rumble of nearby construction I was dealing with while writing this review. If we are now picky compared to Sony’s excellent but super bulky WF-1000XM3 wireless earbuds, Samsung’s ANC is not quite as powerful. But considering that the Galaxy Buds Pro costs significantly less and is much smaller, a compromise for which I am willing to trade a little bit of ANC performance is to wear a more compact and easy wireless earbuds. make.
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And like all of Samsung’s recent earbuds, the Galaxy Buds Pro still includes handy touch controls built into both earbuds, so you can easily interrupt, play or skip the tracks, or to adjust the volume more easily or to turn on the ANC and pass sound on or off. However, this is a problem I’ve had for a while with Samsung earbuds, you can only configure the touch control to adjust the volume or call ANC, but not both, and force you to make a hard choice to go to the settings of the app, which is annoying.
The Galaxy Buds Pro is more than a simple remix of Samsung’s previous wireless earbuds. Instead of having a single driver in each knob as on the Galaxy Buds Live, the Galaxy Buds Pro has an 11mm woofer and a 6.5mm tweeter on each side. And when its new drivers are combined with better ANC and passive sound suppression, the Galaxy Buds Pro pumps an even richer and more detailed sound. It’s just enough to make you appreciate the luster of a high hat or cymbal more than normal, and although the woofer means the low tone is more pronounced, I appreciate that the Galaxy Buds Pro still sounds relatively neutral and not too bassy. is not. Even if you want extra beat, you can always choose one of Samsung’s other predefined EQs (bass boost, soft, dynamic, clear and treble boost). Just do not go looking for a personal EQ setting because it does not exist.
Meanwhile, thanks to the inclusion of three different microphones on board, voice quality is also pretty good. Do not get me wrong now, no one is going to confuse the Galaxy Buds Pro for a luxury microphone, but even for amateur movies, the Galaxy Buds Pro can be a quick and easy replacement for more expensive audio equipment.
The other great new feature on the Galaxy Buds Pro is the addition of voice detection, which allows the buttons to turn on its Ambient Noise feature automatically (amplifying the noise in the environment and guiding it into the earbuds) when it hears your voice . It may not sound like much, but it quickly became one of my favorite features because it makes it easier for me to talk without taking off my earbuds.
Now, at the moment, some bums out there may say that it is not a little rude to remove your headphones while talking to someone, and that may be right if we were still living in 1965. But in 2021, I’m going to say that most people will understand if you do not remove your headphones to order a coffee, just as long as you can communicate easily and politely with the store staff. And with voice tracking that can automatically turn on the Ambient Noise feature, this’s exactly what the Galaxy Buds Pro allows you to do.
That said, the feature is not perfect. Right now, you can call the buttons to activate Ambient Noise automatically in 5, 10, or 15 seconds, while the latter is usually long enough to be able to chat quickly. However, if the person you are talking to has had a little conversation or has a long story to tell you, it is quite possible that the Ambient Noise feature will turn off in the middle of the sentence. Samsung says that the reason for this is that it’s much easier for the buttons to see when you talk, rather than trying to guess which of the hundreds or thousands of sounds in the environment is the one you want to pay attention to. But it still means that if you are not keeping Ambient Noise activated, you may be missing a rhythm.
In addition, Samsung has also added a new Auto Switch feature for those who regularly juggle audio from multiple devices with sounds, allowing you to quickly connect the Buds Pro to a Samsung phone or tablet or a Windows 10 computer if needed . It’s automatic, and during my testing it worked pretty seamlessly, though it refuses to switch once out of the five times I tried it.
The only shortcoming of the Galaxy Buds Pro is somewhat faint battery life. Samsung says that the Galaxy Buds Pro has five hours of music playing with ANC on, or about eight hours with ANC disability. This is not terrible, but neither is it amazing, and although I have sometimes noticed that the Galaxy Buds Pro lasted up to five hours and 20 minutes with ANC activated, it is still not really enough to have a full work or school day to keep without strategic recharging during break. Fortunately, the buttons can absorb enough juice for 30 minutes of playback with just a five-minute nap in their drawer. And on the other hand, it’s important to remember that Apple’s AirPods Pro only plays 4.5 hours of music with ANC functionality.
Compared to competitors like the Sony WF-1000XM3 and Apple AirPods Pro, Galaxy Buds Pro is really starting to show their value. They have excellent sound quality, a comfortable lightweight and a better battery life than Apple’s highly regarded alternatives. And while their ANC may be less skilled than that of Sony or Apple, I am prepared to bet that most people will find it difficult to disagree if they tackle the Pepsi challenge. And as a new feature to make its earbuds easier to live with, the Galaxy Buds Pro’s Voice Detection feature is a very welcome addition.
Especially for Samsung phone owners – where the Galaxy Wearable app is pre-installed – the initial pairing couldn’t be simpler. For other Android phone owners, it’s not like downloading some free apps before it’s really hard to connect. But most importantly, it all comes from a pair of true wireless earbuds that cost $ 30 to $ 50 less than their biggest competitors. Although I want a little longer battery life and more control over the touch commands, the Galaxy Buds Pro is a great little wireless headphone.
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- The Galaxy Buds Pro lasts about five hours on a charge with ANC turned on (or about 8 with ANC disabled), which is not good, but it’s actually slightly better than the 4.5 hours you get from AirPods Pro.
- Thanks to their lightweight design and three sizes of included earbuds, the Galaxy Buds Pro is fairly comfortable and easy to carry for long periods of time.
- Samsung’s drawer holds up to 13 hours of extra juice and can be wired or recharged wirelessly.
- The new, automatic Ambient Sound from the Galaxy Buds Pro is activated when it hears your voice, so you can have conversations more easily without removing the eyes yourself.
- Samsung has created a new 360-degree spatial sound mode, but currently it is only available on the new Galaxy S21 phones, while Samsung is working to transfer the feature to older devices.
- Samsung’s free Galaxy Wearable app is available on iOS and Android, but you will need a Samsung phone if you want to take advantage of more experimental features, such as low latency game mode.