Samsung Galaxy Buds + review - AirPods Pro competitors for Android smartphones

Table of contents

• Specifications
• Appearance and equipment
• Connection and communication
• Control
• Sound
• Autonomy
• Outcome

Specifications

Appearance and equipment

The headphone design is simple and functional. The cases are made of glossy plastic without logos, the outer sides have a mother-of-pearl tint. In addition to the white colors, there are also black, blue and red.

Along the perimeter there are silicone arms with protrusions - they are removable and are needed for a secure fit in the ears. On the back there are tactile sensors, charging contacts and compensation holes.

The charging case is equipped with a USB-C connector, a magnetic cover and two LED-indicators outside and inside (show the charge level of the case and headphones). It is significantly larger than the AirPods case, and it is also difficult to open it with one hand.

The earbuds themselves with ergonomics are in complete order. The bodies are light and smooth, the tubes are angled to match the anatomy of the ear canals. The set includes three pairs of silicone tips of different sizes.

Due to the shape of the "nose", the headphones are incompatible with most ear cushions from other manufacturers, so you have to make do with the ones in the box.

The earbuds come with a charging case, USB-C cable, and a set of earpieces and additional silicone temples.

Connection and communication

Samsung has worked hard to pair its devices. If Bluetooth is enabled on a Galaxy smartphone with One UI shell, just open the case and a window will pop up on the screen to connect the headphones.

To synchronize with smartphones of other brands, you have to act the old fashioned way: go into the settings and connect manually. It's good that next times this is done automatically.

Galaxy Buds + support is available in the Galaxy Wearable app, available for download from Google Play. It allows you to customize voice notifications, touchpad and sound.

There is also a "Sound background" mode, in which the headphones broadcast external noise over the music. But there is no active noise cancellation here.

Each earphone is equipped with three microphones. Voice transmission in the headset mode does not cause any complaints from the interlocutors.

Galaxy Buds + keep the connection well indoors. Interference begins only if you move more than 10 meters away from the smartphone or if there are interior partitions in the signal path. On the street there are no problems with the connection, and during the test there was no desynchronization between the left and right channels.

Control

The main control element is the touch panel on the outside of the headphones. By default, one touch is responsible for starting and pause, double accepts or ends a call and turns on the next track, and triple starts the previous one. A long press activates a function of your choice: start the voice assistant or reject a call.

Inconvenient controls are one of the disadvantages of the Galaxy Buds +. Instead of reliable physical buttons, you have to deal with a capricious sensor that does not always read the press correctly, especially on the go.

Sound

So we come to the most interesting part. Galaxy Buds + are equipped with two emitters, each of which operates in its own band: one at low and medium frequencies, the other at high frequencies. The sound of the headphones was tuned by the engineers of AKG, an Austrian company that produces audio equipment of the class Hi-Fi. While Samsung hasn't covered exactly how the Galaxy Buds + were set up, there is already resultsThe Audiophile's Perspective: Samsung Galaxy Buds + Review measurements. This is how their amplitude-frequency characteristic (AFC) looks like:

It is curious that the frequency response almost perfectly matches Harman standard. It was developed by an American headphone company and describes a sound that will satisfy most listeners.

What does this give us in practice? Galaxy Buds + do well in most genres of music, from jazz and soul to rap, electronics and rock. Don't be fooled, though: wireless headphones still have a number of limitations that make it hard for them to handle large-scale orchestral recordings or extreme metal.

Tonally, the headphones are rather light, with an emphasis on the midrange. Vocals and most of the live instruments are always in the foreground, while bass and treble are delivered smoothly and unobtrusively. The latter benefit from this: distortion from wireless transmission is not so noticeable.

Galaxy Buds + sound great for Pink Floyd, Green Day, Eminem, Massive Attack and most modern pop artists. However, bass lovers may not have enough bass. So, BONES tracks loaded with low rumble sound lightweight.

Also, when the volume is increased, the high frequencies begin to cut over the ears: when the slider is set to 60%, the sound is much more comfortable. It's good that the noise isolation in the headphones is excellent, so you won't have to turn the volume down in most cases.

Autonomy

The claimed battery life on a single charge is 11 hours, and with the case - 22 hours. In practice, the headphones lasted 4 days of active use: with music, talking on the headset and watching YouTube. The volume did not exceed 50%.

Galaxy Buds + can be charged via USB ‑ C or wireless Qi. In the first case, 3 minutes of charging provides an hour of music playback, and the headphones gain 100% in 1.5 hours.

Outcome

Samsung Galaxy Buds + are comfortable, self-contained, and pleasant-sounding. A separate plus is worth betting for the advanced Galaxy Wearable application. It is a pity that active noise cancellation was not added to the headphones, and there were also questions about touch control. However, this does not spoil the overall impression of the product. So if you're looking for wireless earbuds with long battery life and versatile sound, the Galaxy Buds + are worth considering.

Buy

The author thanks the company Samsung for the device provided for testing. The company had no way to influence the test result.