Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro review - TechRadar

A huge step up from the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live, the new Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro offer better sound and microphone quality with multipoint pairing and spatial audio support.

They don’t offer the same level of noise cancellation as over-ear headphones or the sound quality of high-end earbuds, but for their price they offer just enough of both to be competitive.

But the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro goes far beyond that for folks who own a Samsung phone and tablet – for those folks these earbuds are the missing puzzle piece that ties everything in Samsung’s world together. .

To cater to that audience, the Galaxy Buds Pro offers multipoint pairing, hands-free Bixby support (but not Google Assistant) and the Samsung Galaxy Wearable app that’s only available on Android that you’ll need to use to unlock the Buds’ best features.

The double-edged sword of the Galaxy Buds Pro being so highly tailored to Samsung devices is that they don’t work as well with other devices, both other Android phones and iOS devices that currently don’t have an updated Galaxy Buds app.

The upside is that, if you’re looking for full-featured wireless earbuds that sound good, fit well and are going to work well with your Samsung smartphone – and don’t mind spending a bit more money on them than, say, for the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live – the Buds Pro are a significantly better option, and are worth recommending to your friends and family who absolutely love their Samsung smartphones.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro launched alongside the Samsung Galaxy S21 smartphone on January 14, 2021 (the day it was announced at Samsung Unpacked) on Samsung's website and became widely available starting on January 15, 2021.

That's pricey, but it makes sense that they'd cost a little more than their predecessors, the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live, which cost $169.99 / £179 / AU$319 at launch.

Of course, Samsung’s putting us in a weird position releasing these true wireless earbuds so close together – the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro's release date comes just five short months after the South Korean company launched the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live, and less than a year after the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro are available in three colors: Phantom Black, Phantom Silver and Phantom Violet to match the new Samsung Galaxy S21, and the color of the Buds will match the color of the charging case that comes along with them.

The outside of the Buds have a glossy, reflective plastic coating that is touch-capacitive and two more microphones with a wind guard that reduces ambient noise when walking outside.

The two big marquee features of the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro are its active noise cancellation and IPX7 waterproofing, the highest rating so far for Samsung earbuds.

The three built-in microphones definitely help the Galaxy Buds Pro do a better job of keeping out noise than the Galaxy Buds Live, but they’re not better at noise cancellation than, say, the Sony WF-1000XM4 or most flagship over-ear headphones with ANC. .

The flip side of active noise cancellation is audio amplification – also known as audio passthrough –  that can be accessed by pressing and holding the touch capacitive panel.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro also has a few Samsung-specific features worth calling attention to - there’s a hands-free Bixby mode, which works exactly like you’d expect, and a Find My Earbuds feature powered by SmartThings Find. .

The Samsung Galaxy Buds aren’t designed exclusively by Samsung – audio manufacturer AKG, a subsidiary of Harman (which is, in fact, a subsidiary of Samsung) – also helped tune these headphones to get the EQ just right.

That said, that could change when Samsung introduces 360 Audio support later this year, which it says will bring “theater-like, multichannel sound” to the buds – but that feature wasn’t available to us during our testing process. .

While that is another advantage the headphones have for Samsung smartphone owners, it really puts the earbuds in a bind when it comes to other platforms

That’s not a knock against the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro – as most earbuds don’t sound as good as a smartphone’s microphone – but it does mean you should be slightly cautious of buying these exclusively for taking phone calls. 

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro’s battery life is good for active noise-cancelling earbuds, but a real step down from the Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus that offered 11 hours of playback time on a single charge

If you live, breath, eat and sleep with your Samsung Galaxy phone, there should be nothing to dissuade you from buying the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro. 

It shows where the earbuds are – both left and right buds – regardless of whether they’re on or off

Noise cancellation really isn’t the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro’s strong suit