Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro review

Starting with the case, it’s now finished in a matte rubberized coating, sports a USB-C port for charging and will also show its love to a Qi-charger. Compared to the new Apple AirPods Pro, it does miss out on a speaker on the case that makes it easier to locate it via Samsung Things, nor does it have a lanyard loop. Oh and it won’t charge on Samsung Galaxy Watch’s puck-shaped charger either. But instead of doing an Apple, Samsung does a Sony by adding a voice detect feature which automatically puts the Buds2 Pro in transparency mode when you’re speaking to someone!

Fit is easy and secure, three additional tips are provided should you need to experiment. Once in, they showed no intention of dislodging themselves, even while running or working out. The IPX7 rating also helps in inspiring confidence around water bodies…or bodies with water. Although, the touch controls are a tad limited since the surface area for gestures is so tiny, all you can do is tap or long touch and that means no volume control option here.

Using the Galaxy Buds2 Pro with the accompanying Samsung Wearable app is almost imperative to get the most out of your purchase. It helps you get the best ear tip fit via a simple test, lets you toggle 360 audio with head tracking, voice detect duration can be customised between 5-15 seconds and you can also select from a bunch of EQ presets, amongst other things.

AKG, which is a Harman brand owned by Samsung has massaged the sound with its studio heritage and the 10mm drivers for bass and 5.3mm for treble stand out from the crowd with their 2-way design. How does that translate into the listening experience?

With the AirPods Pro 2 at hand, comparisons were obvious and while the Galaxy Buds2 Pro still undercut the AirPods Pro by a generous margin, if you’re invested deeply into the iOS or Android ecosystem, it might be worth considering the perfect match. On Be Your Man by Cub Sport The Galaxy Buds2 Pro dug a big deeper in the bass, but at the same time the vocals were more recessed and the overall dynamism and immediacy wasn’t as good as the AirPods Pro 2. It eventually boils down to personal preference and if you like your sound equalised  in a “V” curve, the Galaxy Buds2 Pro will do just fine. There’s an air of refinement and ease of delivery which lends itself to long periods of listening, if you keep the volume levels in check. 360 Audio is Samsung’s take on Dolby Atmos and it can widen the soundstage by some degree, but total immersion will depend on the quality of content and I found it more effective for video content than music. It can be used with head tracking on or off, and it sounded better with head tracking off.

Samsung’s voice-detect feature works extremely well too, switching instantly to transparency mode when you begin talking to someone and reverting to ANC in a few moments. The level of ANC itself is pretty good and I’d say almost on par with the AirPods Pro, but where Apple inches ahead is the naturalness of timbre. Both, for human voices in transparency mode and music during ANC mode. The Galaxy Buds2 Pro’s sound tends to come across as processed, but again, this is only under A/B comparison and on their own, owners needn’t pay much heed to it.

Audiophiles might want to try out the hi-res option via the Samsung Seamless Codec which preserves the signal in its original 24-bit resolution, should your streaming service allow it. Apple Music worked just fine with the Hi-Res tier but the difference in sound quality was minor enough to not start obsessing over a Hi-Res only playlist. The max bit rate you’ll get is 512kbps through this codec, which is higher than AAC but theoretically not as high as Sony’s LDAC. Although in the realm of wireless earbuds, these numbers shouldn’t matter as much as the final output.

Phone call quality is extremely important if you’re going to be wearing either of these for a long amount of time and the Galaxy Buds2 Pro seemed to have the edge here. Most of the people I called and checked with, found my voice more clear on the Buds2 Pro with its 3-mic array than on the AirPods Pro. This brings both the competitors neck and neck in terms of score.

Battery life is good for 5 hours with ANC on and about 8 hours with it off, with another additional 3-4 charges possible through the case.

Boiling down to the smartphone you use, it’s like splitting hair in terms of actual performance. But if you are an Android user, especially on Samsung, you will find extra value in the home screen widget for battery and ANC mode, seamless switching between Samsung devices the hi-res/360 audio support. Regardless of the perks though, the Galaxy Buds2 Pro represent fine value for money and add a little colour to your ears too!