Galaxy Buds Pro: The perfect companion for your S21
Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro.
The Galaxy Buds Live, which were launched in August last year, have a unique design but Samsung’s latest earphones are a return to a more standard shape and form.
The Galaxy Buds Pro are stylish but not as unique as the kidney-shaped Galaxy Buds Live. Unlike the latter, the new Pro uses silicone ear tips and come with three different sizes. These are non-standard and have an oval shape that allows the ear tips to clip into speaker nozzle. This works similarly to Apple’s AirPod Pro’s.
The touch-sensitive outer part of the earbuds has a chrome-like finish while the inside is plastic with a matte finish. They’re available in a choice of three colours that match the new Galaxy S21 phones; violet, black and silver.
Two ambient microphones, a pinhole voice mic, and a slightly larger grille are built into the touch panel and enable the noise cancellation.
The charging case matches the colour of the Buds Pro and from the outside, it looks identical to the Buds Live.
Unlike the Buds Live which are a one size fits all style, the Pro has three size options. How well they fit is down to physics. I found the Buds Live fitted my ears well and I had no issues with them. However, the Buds Pro are a slightly better fit and feel a little more secure in my ears.
Too often people don’t test all the different sizes of ear tips for long enough to ensure they use the best fit for them. A good fit will improve passive noise isolation, ANC and overall comfort. Choosing the correct size for you will also optimise sound performance.
The control scheme is similar to the Buds Live and configurable via the Galaxy Wear app. Currently, there’s no support for the Buds Pro on the iOS version of the app but to be honest, Apple users are better off with AirPods Pro, which offer far more features for them.
Touch and hold can toggle between ANC and ambient sound controls, volume up (left) down (right), voice command or launch Spotify. It’s a pity this can’t be changed to launch other streaming services if you’re not a Spotify user. You can also control music playback or whatever you’re watching as well as answering/rejecting calls.
Due to the design of the Buds Pro, it’s easy to trigger unintentional controls while putting them in your ears. This can get annoying, especially if you have to take them in and out a lot during the day. One option which helps to negate this is the Voice Detect feature. When the Buds Pro detect you’re talking, it will pause for ten seconds. This works well most of the time for quick interactions. You can turn this off in the app if you don’t like it.
Once the Buds Pro are in your ears the touch controls work well and it’s nice to be able to control volume, something you can’t do on the AirPods Pro. If you don’t like touch then simply turn it off, but then you’ll have to control everything from your phone.
The Galaxy Buds Pro have IPX7 water resistance, which means you’ll have no problem jogging with them in the rain. Essentially, they can survive in a metre of water for up 30 minutes. Samsung doesn’t advise using them in sea or pool water and the charging case is not water-resistant.
The case has a USB-C port for charging but you can also charge them wirelessly. The Buds Pro last up to five hours with ANC on and eight hours with it off for up to 28 hours total with the charging case. This isn’t class-leading, but a quick five minutes of charge will give you an hour of listening time.
Only Galaxy users with One UI3.1 can use the hands-free Bixby voice assistant, Auto-Switching between devices, Gaming mode for reduced latency and 360-degree audio, which is similar to Apple's spatial audio on the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max, although I wasn’t able to test this feature because it isn’t available yet.
You can also track down your Galaxy Buds Pro using the SmartThings app and your buds will emit a beep to help with your search or use Bluetooth to find their exact location. It works with Maps providing directions to help you find them and Offline finding, to find the last location they were used, even if they’re no longer connected to your phone. Non-Galaxy phones can use the app to find the Buds via Bluetooth as long as they’re in range.
The Galaxy Wearable app lets you set ANC to High or Low. To see how effective the ANC performance is I ramped up my desktop PCs fans to the max. This is the closest test I can get to simulating the sound of jet engines on a plane journey. With ANC set to high, I could just about hear the low hum of the fans which were just beside me. However, I could clearly hear the higher pitch of the key taps on my keyboard. The ANC isn’t as good as the AirPods Pro but they’re a big improvement on the Buds Live.
The app allows for four levels of Ambient sound mode. Medium sounds like you’re not wearing any buds while Extra high is like you’re wearing hearing aids.
The Galaxy Buds feature a 6.5mm tweeter with an 11mm woofer that produces thumping bass with clear highs and distinct stereo positioning. The bass doesn’t distort or muddy other frequencies even at loud volumes. You can emphasis the bass even more if you use the Bass Boost EQ setting in the app but I found Dynamic best for my broad genre of listening during testing.
The Buds Pro are tuned by AKG, which is a good thing for most users but not for those who prefer a flatter sound signature. The Galaxy Buds Pros sound quality is an improvement over the already excellent Buds Live.
The market is flooded with excellent earphones but if you’re thinking of getting one of the new S21s then the Galaxy Buds Pro are a no-brainer.
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