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While they are not the first earphones by Samsung, the new Galaxy Buds Pro are deserving of being the best true wireless earbuds in its tier.
Introduced in January 2021 alongside the Samsung Galaxy S21 smartphone series, our video team were able to review the Galaxy Buds Pro. The team compared its worth with the previous generations (Galaxy Buds Live and Galaxy Buds Plus).
These pair of TWS Bluetooth earbuds promises to have all of your basics covered: active noise cancellation, crystal clear audio, high water resistance and good audio quality.
Needless to say, the video team gave the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro a thumbs up, especially for those who are looking to upgrade their Samsung earbuds or wants a solid, Android-geared wireless earphone with good ANC.
Want to know more? Here, we break it down further to help you decide in this Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro review whether they are worth it.
More: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G Review in Malaysia: Worth Upgrading To?
Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Design
Sporting a simple cubic case with a glossy, reflective-plastic finish, the Galaxy Buds Pro earphones are available in 3 'Phantom' colours: Violet, Black and Silver. Not surprisingly, the colours are designed to easily match the colours of the new Samsung Galaxy S21.
Overall, the case size is fairly compact, which is nice for slipping into your pocket easily. To know the charging case's battery level easily, there's a status LED on both the inside and outside of the case which will turn green, yellow, and red.
As for the Buds Pro themselves, they’re a far cry from their bean-shaped predecessors. The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro are actually back to their usual form as ear tip-equipped funnels of sound. We deduce that this is to possibly fit more ear shapes easily.
Should you want to optimise the fit better, the earbuds come with are two additional sets of ear tips to help you get a better seal. You’ll also find a USB-C charging cable but no charging brick.
Samsung Galaxy Bud Pro Controls
- Single touch - Play/pause your music
- Double touch - Plays the next song or answers/ends a call
- Triple touch - Plays the previous track
- Touch and hold - Activates your customizable feature (Default: switch between ambient and noise cancellation modes)
Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Performance & Sound Quality
Audio (In general)
As everyone is now focused on bringing their businesses online, Samsung has enhanced the Buds Pro to perform when it comes to calls. This version of Buds is equipped with three microphones and a Voice Pickup Unit (VPU) to separate voices from unwanted sounds. The Buds' mic also has a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to further eliminating background noises.
Not forgetting; the Buds Pro has Samsung’s proprietary Scalable Audio which supports UHQ audio streaming over Bluetooth at up to 24-bit/96kHz. Other features include support for SmartThings Finder and multi-mic recording which means you can use the Buds as a lapel mic stand-in for when you shoot videos on your Samsung phone.
- For calls: We definitely think that the Galaxy Buds Pro does a great job of keeping out noise than its predecessor - the Galaxy Buds Live. However, they’re not any better at noise cancellation. Moreover, the Galaxy Buds Pro offers multipoint pairing and hands-free Bixby support (but not Google Assistant) which is only accessible via the Samsung Galaxy Wearable app that's only available on Android.
- For music: The Buds Pro comes with 4 Ambient Sound and 2 Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) modes. Manufactured with an 11mm woofer for bass support and a 6.5mm tweeter, the Buds Pro are amazingly loud yet, able to maintain low distortions with sharp background audio details.
- Fit: Additionally, we think that they are one of the most comfortable earbuds to wear for prolonged music-listening sessions. You won't suffer from pressure build-up thanks to the external vent. However, they do stick out so wearing them to bed without needing to adjust the placement can be a challenge.
Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Battery Life + Features
Battery life
With ANC activated, battery optimization is well done here and should last about under 20 hours. If you're trying to stretch the battery out, you can turn off ANC and achieve up to 28 hours of usage from both the earbuds + charging case.
Still do be careful as both ANC and Bixby are quite the power hogs.
More features
The other two big marquee features of the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro are its active noise cancellation and IPX7 waterproofing, the latter of which is the highest rating so far for Samsung earbuds. This is perfect for freshwater immersion for 30 minutes at a depth of up to one meter.
In terms of the ANC performance; without any modes activated, you're able to enjoy your music without very obvious background noises or next-door conversations intruding in on your musical world.
Final Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Review
For the asking price: RM799; you get a comfortable fit, effective active noise cancellation, and good, punchy sound quality. These earbuds do improve on Samsung’s prior efforts with clever features like enhanced speech detection mode support which automatically lowers your music and lets you hear the outside world as soon as you start talking.
A point that we don't fancy is the lack of voice-assistant supports from other systems. This direction seems to be an emulation of Apple's AirPods for better control on quality in terms of audio optimization as well as the user interface of the Samsung Galaxy Wearable App which is only available on Android.
Get if: You love your Samsung phone because the Buds Pro's full potential can only be reached as it'll be fully optimised in the Samsung Galaxy Wearable app (such as more controls like audio latency for gaming). Otherwise, other Android phone users can still benefit from this pair of wireless earphones with the Android-exclusive app which still offers plenty of benefits.
Don't get if: You are not using an Android/Samsung phone. While you can still enjoy the Galaxy Buds Pro simply as a wireless pair of earphones, there are many other earphones that let you use them to the fullest with a lower price tag.
Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Specs
| Colour | Phantom Violet, Phantom Black, Phantom Silver |
| Dimension & Weight | Earbud: 19.5 x 20.5 x 20.8 mm, 6.3g Charging Case: 50 x 50.2 x 27.8 mm, 44.9g |
| Speaker | 2-way (11mm woofer + 6.5mm tweeter) |
| Microphone | 3 mics (2 outer + 1 inner) + Voice Pickup Unit + Wind Shield |
| ANC & Ambient Sound |
ANC: Cutting external background noise by up to 99%, 2 adjustable levels Ambient Sound: Amplifying up to +20dB, 4 adjustable levels |
| Battery | Earbuds: 61 mAh Charging Case: 472 mAh |
| Play Time | 5 hours / Total 18 hours (ANC on) 8 hours / Total 28 hours (ANC off) |
| Talk time | 4 hours / Total 14.5h (ANC on) 5 hours / Total 17.5h (ANC off) |
| Charging | 1-hour play time / 5-minute quick charging Qi-certified wireless charging |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.0® |
| Sensor | Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Hall, Touch, Voice Pickup Unit (VPU) |
| Compatibility | Android 7.0 or higher with more than 1.5GB of RAM |
| Water Resistance | IPX78 |
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