Less than six months have passed since Samsung launched its latest pair of wireless headphones. But now it exists Galaxy Buds Pro. Moving to a more traditional design, keeping the built-in ANC and paying $ 200, Samsung has finally created a worthy and more affordable competitor for Apple AirPods Pro for $ 250.
In many ways, the Galaxy Buds Pro is what you would get if Galaxy Buds + and Galaxy Buds Live she had some nerdy babies. Similar to the Galaxy Buds +, the Galaxy Buds Pro has soft silicone tips to help eliminate passive noise and a snug, comfortable fit. And because the Galaxy Buds Pro are relatively light, their tight fit has been more than enough to make sure they don’t fall randomly, even if you jump while moving.
Meanwhile, Samsung borrowed built-in vents (to prevent air pressure from rising and becoming uncomfortable), additional microphones, and active noise cancellation that it used in Galaxy Buds Live and put in Pro. The difference here is that because the Galaxy Buds Pro has a closed design, the ANC is much more efficient at drowning out ambient noise, which has certainly helped reduce the annoying noise of nearby buildings that I was dealing with writing this review. . Now, if we are pretentious, compared to the excellent Sony, but very bulky WF-1000XM3 wireless headphones, Samsung’s ANC is not as strong. But it’s pretty damn close and given that the Galaxy Buds Pro costs a lot less and are much smaller, trading a bit of ANC performance to create a pair of more compact and easier-to-wear wireless headphones is a compromise on which I am willing to do.
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And, like all recent Samsung headphones, the Galaxy Buds Pro still includes handy touch controls built into both headphones, so you can pause, play, or skip tracks, or control the volume more easily, or switch ANC and activate or turn off the audio sound. However, and this is a problem I’ve had with Samsung headphones for a while, you can just set the touch controls to adjust the volume. or switch ANC, but not both, forcing you to make a difficult choice to enter the application settings, which is a bit annoying.
Galaxy Buds Pro are more than just a remix of Samsung’s previous wireless headphones. Instead of having a single driver in each bud like the Galaxy Buds Live, the Galaxy Buds Pro has an 11mm woofer and a 6.5mm tweeter crammed on each side. And when its new drivers are combined with better ANC and passive noise elimination, Galaxy Buds Pro makes an even richer and more detailed sound. It’s enough just to make you appreciate the brightness of a high hat or chisel more than usual, and while the woofer means the low tones are more pronounced, I appreciate that the Galaxy Buds Pro still sounds relatively neutral and not too hard. Although, if you want an extra shot, you can always select from one of Samsung’s other preset EQs (bass amplification, soft, dynamic, clear and high rise). Just don’t look for a custom setting for EQ, because it doesn’t exist.
Meanwhile, thanks to the inclusion of three different microphones on board, the voice quality is also quite good. Now don’t get me wrong, no one will confuse the Galaxy Buds Pro for a high quality microphone, but even for some 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 buds to automatically activate its ambient noise feature (which amplifies nearby sound and introduces it into the headphones) when you hear your voice. Of course, this doesn’t sound like much, but it quickly became one of my favorite features, as it allows me to have a conversation more easily without having to take off my headphones.
Now, at this point, some boomers might say that not taking off your headphones while talking to someone is a bit rude and they might be right if we were still living in 1965. But in 2021, I have to say that most people will understand if you don’t take off your headphones to order a coffee, as long as you can easily and politely interact with the store staff. And with voice detection that can automatically turn on the Ambient Noise feature, that’s exactly what the Galaxy Buds Pro will allow.
That being said, the feature is not perfect. Nowadays, you can tell the buds to automatically turn on ambient noise in 5, 10, or 15-second increments, the last two being generally long enough to carry on a quick conversation. However, if the person you are talking to is a little talkative or has a long story to tell, it is very possible that the Ambient Noise feature will turn off in the middle of the sentence. Samsung says the reason for this is that it’s much easier for buds to say when you’re talking, rather than trying to guess which of the hundreds or thousands of sounds nearby is the one you want to pay attention to. But that still means that if you don’t connect to keep the ambient noise turned on, you might miss a beat.
In addition, for those who frequently experience audio juggling on multiple devices, Samsung has also added a new automatic switching feature that allows you to quickly connect Buds Pro to a Samsung phone or tablet or Windows 10 computer. when necessary. It is automatic and, in my testing, it worked quite perfectly, although it refused to pass once out of five times when I tried it.
All in all, the only real drawback of the Galaxy Buds Pro is a somewhat poor battery life. Samsung says the Galaxy Buds Pro offers five hours of music playback with ANC turned on or about eight hours with ANC turned off. That’s not awful, but it’s not great either, and even though I’ve sometimes noticed that the Galaxy Buds Pro lasts up to five hours and 20 minutes with ANC enabled, that’s still not enough to last a full day of work or school. without a strategic recharge during breaks. Fortunately, the buds can absorb enough juice for an additional 30 minutes of playback 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 are only rated for 4.5 hours of ANC-enabled music playback.
Compared to rivals like Sony WF-1000XM3 and Apple AirPods Pro, then Galaxy Buds Pro starts to show its value. They have excellent audio quality, a light comfortable fit and a slightly better battery life than the much-appreciated alternatives from Apple. And even if their ANC might be a less competent touch than Sony or Apple, I’m willing to bet that most people would find it hard to tell the difference if they took the Pepsi Challenge. And as a new feature to make the headphones easier to live with, the Galaxy Buds Pro’s voice detection feature was a really 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 you have to download a few free apps before pairing is that difficult. But most importantly, they all come from a pair of real wireless headphones that cost $ 30 to $ 50 less than their biggest competitors. So, even if I would like a longer battery life and more control over its touch controls, the Galaxy Buds Pro is a small pair of wireless headphones.
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- The Galaxy Buds Pro takes about five hours to charge with ANC on (or about 8 with ANC off), which isn’t great, but it’s actually a little better than the 4.5 hours you get from AirPods Pro.
- Due to their lightweight design and the three dimensions of the included ear tips, the Galaxy Buds Pro are quite comfortable and easy to wear for long periods of time.
- The Samsung charging case stores another 13 hours of juice and can be recharged either by cable or wireless.
- The new automatic ambient sound of the Galaxy Buds Pro activates when your voice is heard, allowing you to have conversations more easily without having to remove the buds yourself.
- Samsung has created a new 360-degree spatial sound mode, but is currently only available on the new Galaxy S21 phones while Samsung is working on porting the feature to older devices.
- The free Samsung Galaxy Wearable app is available on both iOS and Android, although you’ll need a Samsung phone if you want to take advantage of some more experimental features, such as low-latency gameplay.