The Samsung Galaxy Buds are well-designed truly wireless earbuds. They have a comfortable yet secure in-ear fit that blocks a fair amount of noise without feeling too bulky. They’re very portable and come with a great hard charging case that’s compact enough to keep in your pockets. The Galaxy Buds sound decent and reproduce audio fairly accurately. They’re lacking a bit of bass, but Android users can boost this with the Samsung Wearable app. The app also provides button mapping to customize the touch-sensitive controls on the back of each earbud. Unfortunately, the app is not available for iOS, so iPhone users will have to make do with their neutral sound profile and default control scheme. The Galaxy Buds also have very poor wireless latency, and the connection stability of the unit we tested was rather finicky. That said, they’re still versatile earbuds and perform reasonably well overall.
Pros
+ Decent audio reproduction
+ Comfortable and durable design
+ Long single charge battery life for truly wireless headphones
Cons
- Very high latency
- Connection stability issues
- In-ear fit might not be comfortable for everyone
Design
Type: In-ear
Enclosure: Closed-back
The Samsung Galaxy Buds have a sleek, premium look and a low-profile design. The ear buds themselves are small and don’t stick out of the ears too much. They’re very comfortable for in-ear headphones since they don’t enter the ear canal very deeply, and they come with different tip and earbud sleeve options to help you find a perfect fit. Once you get them fitted properly, they’re very stable and stay put even during vigorous activity without putting too much pressure on the inner ear. This makes them a good option for sports; however, their touch-sensitive control scheme can be a bit tricky to get just right, especially while working out. They’re also not rated as being waterproof, so although they feel well-built in general, they might not hold up against your sweatiest workouts. That said, they’re super easy to carry around thanks to their great, compact hard carrying case that even supports wireless Qi charging.
Sound
The Samsung Galaxy Buds are decent-sounding closed-back truly wireless in-ear headphones. They have very accurate audio reproduction with very good bass, an impressive mid-range, and great treble. They have a relatively neutral sound that’s fairly well-balanced across the range, making them suitable for a wide range of music genres. However, they’re a little shy on bass and are lacking a bit of thump and punch. This can make more bass-heavy genres like hip-hip and EDM sound less exciting. The Galaxy Buds also have a spike in the treble range around 10kHz, which results in sibilants, like S and T sounds, that sound overly sharp and piercing. However, not everyone hears treble frequencies the same way, so this might not bother everyone equally. There are a couple EQ presets to choose from in their mobile app, so you can slightly tweak the way they sound, but they’re not as customizable as other wireless earbuds we’ve tested. That said, they still provide a satisfactory listening experience overall.
Isolation
Noise Cancelling: No
The Samsung Galaxy Buds have good isolation performance. They block a fair amount of noise passively and, depending on how good of a seal you can get with the different earbud tips, they can even block more noise than some noise cancelling headphones. They don’t effectively isolate low-end noise like the deep rumbles of bus or plane engines, but they do a great job at blocking out sounds in the mid and treble ranges, like office chatter or the noises A/C units make. Like most in-ear headphones, the Galaxy Buds also hardly leak any sound at all, even at higher volumes. This is great for office workers who don’t want to bother their colleagues or commuters who take the early morning train.
Microphone
Mic Type: Integrated
Like most truly wireless earbuds, the Samsung Galaxy Buds have an unremarkable integrated microphone. In quiet environments, like an empty meeting room, speech transmitted with this microphone will be intelligible but will also sound noticeably muffled, thin, and lacking in detail. Bluetooth microphones also tend to also have mediocre noise handling and the Galaxy Buds’ mic makes no exception. It struggles to separate speech from ambient noise in moderately loud environments, like a busy street. Overall, the person on the other end of the line should be able to hear you fairly well you if there isn’t too much background noise, but may have a harder time understanding you if cars are passing by or there are lots of people chatting around you.
Active Features
Battery Life: 7.5 hours
Charge Time: 1.6 hours
App Support: Yes
Passive Playback: No
The Samsung Galaxy Buds have a better battery life than most truly wireless headphones we’ve tested, providing over 7 hours of continuous playback on a single charge. This is great if you like to listen to music for hours during long flights or car rides. Their charging case provides an extra charge for about 14 total hours of playback, and the Buds charge in just over an hour and a half, which is great. The Samsung Wearable app allows you to map the touch-sensitive controls of the Galaxy Buds to different functions, like volume controls, and also provides some customizable features like EQ presets. Unfortunately, it’s only available for Android, so iOS users will have to be content with their default controls.
Connectivity
Bluetooth: Yes
Wired: No
Wireless Range: 54 feet
Latency: 372 ms
The Samsung Galaxy Buds are truly wireless headphones that connect to your devices exclusively via Bluetooth. They have a great wireless range, which is perfect if you like to listen to music on your work computer. Unfortunately, the unit we tested sometimes had issues maintaining a stable connection. The Buds also have terrible latency, so they’re not ideal for watching videos or playing mobile games since you’ll likely perceive a lag in audio. That said, if your device supports Bluetooth 5.0, your experience may be a bit better.
Who Should Buy Them?
If you own an Android device and are looking for comfortable, well-built truly wireless earbuds that sound decent and have a good battery life, get the Samsung Galaxy Buds. They have a versatile, balanced sound that lends itself well to music genres of all sorts, and those who don’t mind the fit of in-ears should find them comfortable enough to be suitable for longer listening sessions. The Galaxy Buds isolate very well, which can help bring some peace and quiet to your daily commute, and come with a great, compact charging case that’s perfect for use on-the-go. Unfortunately, they have very bad wireless latency, so they’re not ideal for gaming or watching TV. They may also not be sweat-proof enough to survive your toughest workouts. That said, their great, stable fit ensures they’ll stay in place if you need to sprint to catch your bus from time to time. Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Buds provide pretty good value and are a decent choice for most uses.
To see all our measurements and our test results of the Samsung Galaxy Buds, please go here.
