Samsung Galaxy Buds review: better Airpods

Together with the new line of Samsung Galaxy S10 (Check on Amazon), during the London event, Samsung unveiled its new true wireless earbuds, an update of the IconX (Check on Amazon). The Samsung Galaxy Buds (Check on Amazon.com) are Samsung’s answer to the emblazoned Apple Airpods (Check on Amazon).

Read more: Samsung Galaxy S10 review: finally complete

DESIGN

The new Samsung Buds are much smaller and lighter than the previous IconX, they weight just 5.6 grams which makes them very comfortable to wear and their special driver conformation allows you to wear them for longer. Bear in mind that they are still in-ear headphones, so they are not suitable for everyone.

However, in the package, there are 3 pairs of rubber tips of variable sizes, and three pairs of flaps of different sizes that keep the earbuds in position while relieving the pressure exerted inside your ear.

The particular shape of the Samsung Galaxy Buds, inherited from the previous generation, makes them very stable and extremely comfortable to wear even during training.

BUILD QUALITY

The two drivers are made of plastic, with an external touch-responsive pad that has a glossy finish and are rather discreet when in the ear. They also have an IPX2 certification, so they are not completely waterproof but still resistant to sweat, moisture, and rain.

The case is also made of plastic, weighs just 39.9 grams and measures 70×38.8×26.5mm. Its design is round, looks like a small egg, you can fit it in your pocket with ease and the plastic is of excellent quality. We also liked the fact that the matte finish will avoid highlighting the various scratches and dents due to normal use.

The lid has the right amount of rigidity, but the hinge, also made of plastic screeches too much, which doesn’t suggest good durability over time.

HARDWARE

The Samsung Galaxy Buds bring to its debut the Broadcom BCM43014 control chip, which manages the built-in connections and sensors.

Samsung has placed the emphasis on the energy-saving performance of the new wearable platform, thus it is no coincidence that the resulting autonomy is absolutely excellent.

The connection between the buds and the smartphone (they are compatible with all Android devices from version 5.0 onwards, with at least 1.5GB of RAM, and with the iPhone) is done via Bluetooth 5.0.

AUTONOMY

Each driver has an integrated accelerometer, proximity sensor, magnetic field sensor, and a 58mAh battery. There is an external microphone for capturing ambient audio and an internal microphone that captures your voice via the vibrations of the ear canal (a fantastic solution in order to capture solid audio quality while in noisy environments).

The case has a built-in 252mAh battery and is capable of wireless charging. Charging it from 0 to 100% takes about 1 hour.

The autonomy is really good, on average it will last 5 hours of playback with medium volume. The case is capable of recharging the buds one and a half times.

AUDIO AND CALL QUALITY

The audio quality is more than good, the isolation offered by the buds’ shape facilitates sound transmission and the same goes for the Dynamic drivers and AKG’s tuning.

You can perceive full-bodied bass and crystalline treble, but the most attentive listeners will also notice slightly closed mids and a sketchy separation of sounds when listening to complex tracks with a leading voice.

Altogether, for the average listener, the audio quality will be more than satisfactory and you will certainly notice that these earbuds have much better sound quality than the run of the mill true wireless Bluetooth headphones.

There are obviously better products in terms of audio quality, for example, the Sennheiser Momentum (Check on Amazon.com), but they cost double the price and are less convincing as an all-around everyday driver.

In fact, truly wireless headphones should be evaluated not only for their sound quality but also for all their associated functions, versatility, and operations in conjunction with a smartphone. In this case, the Samsung Galaxy Buds are a step above all other competitors and manage to perfectly balance price, versatility and sound quality.

We were really impressed by their phone call experience: the fast pairing with your smartphone, allows you to take these earbuds out of their case, wear them and respond to the call while the phone is ringing. During our test period, we made numerous calls under the most varied conditions of use and there was not a single time that we have encountered a problem.

Our interlocutor was able to clearly hear us even when we were walking in the busy streets of the capital. All this is thanks to the internal positioning of the microphone, which can capture our voice thanks to the vibrations of the inner ear canal, almost as if it was using bone conduction.

It is also important to note that the two earbuds are independent of each other, so you can wear them both or just one of them, indifferently if it is the right or the left one.

SMART FUNCTIONS

Thanks to the proximity sensor, the music or video playback will automatically stop as soon as you remove both earbuds from your ears.

There is also the “Find Personal Earphones” function that, when activated, will make the earbuds sound at maximum volume, so you can locate them as long as you are in a quiet environment.

Finally, the most interesting function is “Ambient Sound”. These earbuds can pick up ambient sounds via the external microphone and transmit them to your ear. This is very useful when you walk on the street and do not want to be completely isolated from the outside world, or if you want to talk to someone while listening to music without completely removing the earbuds.

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Buds (Check on Amazon.com) is just great, in everything. These are true wireless earbuds that combine a high but fair price, excellent audio quality, really smart functions, and enviable practicality when paired with an Android smartphone.