Samsung has been on a roll lately, putting out 4 sets of wireless earbuds in less than 2 years,
each one with significant improvements than the last, including these new Galaxy Buds Pro.
If you buy them, most of you will be really happy, so why is it that I’m having a hard
time recommending them after using them extensively everyday for a week now,
and what are the 2 problems that I’ve personally experienced with them.
That's exactly what you’ll find out after watching this review, as well as which wireless earbuds I’d
recommend instead and why, which are also linked down in the video description below.
Let's start out with the good, and the first thing that really stands out is the sound quality.
Samsung is once again using dual drivers like in the Galaxy Buds+, but they’ve
redesigned them and you can definitely hear the difference listening to them side by side.
They promise balanced sound and wide frequency response with rich bass, silky treble,
and a wide sound stage. I would agree to almost all of that. The dual drivers
definitely provide deep rich bass and that treble stands out, particularly in songs
with a lot going on such as rock music, where great instrument separation and clear vocals.
The only thing I wouldn’t agree to is the claim of a wide soundstage, It's not bad but nothing
special, and Samsung's own galaxy buds live are noticeably better if you care about this.
These things sound fantastic for earbuds, and after using these for a bit it's tough
to go back to my airpods pro because of the lower sound quality difference. It's very noticeable.
With that, if you’re an iPhone or Mac user I had no problems using these.
They paired without any issue and connected constantly and quickly,
pretty much right away every time I pulled them out of their charging case.
Of course you won’t get all of the features on an iPhone, such as 360 degree sound which is
similar to apples spacial audio, or the ability to read out message and hands free assistant,
but if you don’t care about that these worked great with good range and the
sound quality was indistinguishable to when I listed to them using my Note 20 ultra.
Samsung still hasn’t updated their galaxy buds app for iOS,
but thankfully these earbuds sound the best in their default normal mode,
so no need for the app in order to change the eq like with the Galaxy Buds+.
For the gamers out there, these have about 300ms of latency which isn’t great
and is right at the line of being usable depending on the game and how picky you are,
but it's a good improvement compared to previous versions and surprisingly the
performance is the same on the iPhone even though you don’t have that gaming toggle.
What really stands out is watching videos and especially movies with these things, where of
course there is no latency. Because of the improved dual drivers, the deep rich bass is
much closer to a real surround sound system that most earbuds. All those really low sounds that
shake you in an action scene actually immerse and pull you into the film, and with that vocals are
still very clear and easy to understand instead of being muffled by the action.
Apple, please use dual drivers in your AirPods Pro 2,
it will take your excellent spacial audio to the next level.
With that, Apple please copy the voice detect feature. This is one of my favorite new features,
which allow you to keep active noise cancelling enabled and when you start talking they will
automatically go into ambient mode and stay there until you don’t talk for about 10 seconds.
In real world use, this usually worked really well, and 10 seconds was enough
of a buffer for most conversations. It does take about 2 seconds for them to switch from the time
you start talking, and I did have a few times where they would switch back too early so it
would be nice to be able to adjust this to say 30 seconds, but this feature isn’t just a gimmick.
With that, the ambient mode actually sounds pretty good,
being a big improvement compared to the Buds+ and the default normal mode sounds the most natural.
I think a big part of this is because of the much better microphones.
Take a listen for yourself how the mic compares to the galaxy buds+ and my AirPods Pro.
In real world use, I didn’t have a single phone call where the person on the opposite end
had a hard time hearing me even in louder environments, and each time I asked how
I sounded they responded that my voice was clear and easy to hear. Great job samsung!
Another strong point is battery life. Sure they can’t touch the crazy 11 or
so house with the galaxy buds+ but I don’t expect any earbuds with active noise cancelation to last
that long, and sasungs claims of about 5 hours with active noise cancelation
is spot on, and the buds charge really quickly when you put them into their charging case.
Together you get a total of up to 28 hours of use,
but that claim is based on use without active noise cancelation, with it its more like 18
hours which is still very good. I only had to charge twice in the last week, simply placing the
case on a wireless charging pad for a few hours while using the buds and they are good to go.
Speaking of the charging case, Samsung ditched the older longer style and are using a square case
like the galaxy buds live but with a few updates. The earbuds are easier to place, and the both
the magnets that hold the buds and the ones that hold the lid are quite a bit stronger.
Personally, I miss the older shape since it took up a bit less width in my pocket
which is nice if you also have a wallet in that pocket, but for most people it
won’t matter and the case is fairly small compared to many other brands.
One way the Pro’s stand out from samsung's older earbuds and most on the market are their
waterproofing rating. These are rated IPX7 which means they can be fully submerged in over 3 feet
of water for 30min and they should still work. That is way better than the previous ones which
are rated for splashes, but even though they have this rating samsugn still doesn’t recommend using
them on the beach or in pools and if they get damaged it doesn’t seem like they’ll replace them.
Still, having this rating gives way more confidence
that they will hold up great when working out or if your outside in the rain or snow.
So that was a lot of talk about the good things the new Pro’s offer,
but what are the two problems I talked about and why is it hard to recommend these?
The first issue I found with these is long term comfort. When I first tried them on they
were surprisingly comfortable because Samsung redesigned the silicon tips so they are much
thicker and with that it's mostly just the tips that go into your ears just like AirPods Pro, and
with that they also added an air vent to release pressure build up also similar to airpods pro.
These definitely improve the in ear comfort but that's not where I had an issue with. The
actually buds themselves increased in size quite a bit to filling in the space in your
ear fit all the tech in while having them not stick out of your ear any more than before.
Because of this, after about an hour and a half my ear start hurting where the buds pro touch,
and after about two hours I have to take a break from using them,
and I’m not typically someone who has issues with earbud fit.
Regular airpods work great for me, as do the pro’s, sony’s, and same thing with the Galaxy buds
live so its a bummer that these aren’t working and I can’t use them as long as other earbuds.
Now this might not be an issue for you, but since they are quite big,
if you have smaller ears i would definitely keep this in mind.
My next Problem is the active noise cancelation. It does work,
and it works better than the Galaxy buds live which are only useful in very select environments
which lead me to call their ANC more of a marketing thing than a useful feature.
My issue is that it doesn’t work well enough for earbuds that cost $200,
and it's only slightly better than using Galaxy buds Plus which have no cancelation whatsoever
and block out a ton of noise because of their sealed design without an air vent.
The Airpods Pro noise cancelation is noticeably better, and Sony’s are even better than that.
Because of this, if you’re looking at the Galaxy buds Pro for their noise cancelation
I wouldn't count on it being great, and if that's the main reason for buying them
over the galaxy buds+ I wouldn't do it.
With that, the main reason I can’t easily recommend these is because of how good
the Galaxy buds+ are, and because of the price you can currently get them for. $109
brand new, or under $80 refurbished is a shockingly good price for
these and I’ll leave links in the video description to those deals.
Sure, the Galaxy buds Pro sound better and they have better microphones, but is
it worth paying double for those improvements and slightly less noise in some environments?
Honestly, no I don’t think so, and with that, if you want comfort and even better sound quality
than the Galaxy buds Pro and don’t need to block out noise, check out the galaxy buds live which
are now $140 or possibly even less when you watch this video, I’ll link them down below as well.
Overall the Galaxy Buds Pro are great earbuds and I have very little complaints. If they
fit your ears and dropping $200 for them doesn’t hurt your wallet
you’ll really enjoy them, but seeing how fast Samsung is releasing new ones I’d bet we’ll
soon have some that are more comfortable with way better active noise cancelation.
Click there if you want to see my detailed comparisons and click above to subscribe
to see more videos like this one. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.