Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Vs. Apple AirPods Pro

Samsung introduced new Galaxy S21 smartphones in January and, alongside the new phones, introduced the $ 200 Galaxy Buds Pro, which is priced at $ 199 and offers active noise cancellation.

These new Galaxy Buds Pro are clearly designed to compete with Apple’s AirPods Pro, so we thought we could compare the two headsets in our latest YouTube video.

Designed, the Galaxy Buds Pro bears no resemblance to the irAirPods Pro‌, with a rounded, stemless ear design. They have silicone tips like the “AirPods Pro”, though MacRumors videographer Dan, who tested the Galaxy Buds Pro, found them much more uncomfortable than the “AirPods Pro.”

They need to be fitted well inside the ear for proper fit and sealing, both to make sure they stay in the ear and to allow the ANC functionality to work properly. Without proper adjustment, the headphones will not sound properly and the audio quality will suffer. Samsung offers several silicone tips to get a decent fit, but these headphones may not work well for some users.

Like the irAirPods Pro‌, the Galaxy Buds Pro offers an active noise cancellation (ANC), which is decent, but not as good as the ANC of the irAirPods Pro‌. It’s definitely better than last year’s Galaxy Buds Live ANC, but it’s still not up to par with the irAirPods Pro‌. There is an ambient mode that is the equivalent of Transparency mode to allow ambient sounds to pass through, but again, it is fine and does not work as well as Transparency mode.

There is one outstanding feature offered by the Galaxy Buds Pro that is not available in the irAirPods Pro‌ and is Voice Detect. Voice Detect reduces the volume and activates the ambient mode when you hear the sound of your voice, which is useful.

In terms of sound quality, the Galaxy Buds Pro is almost indistinguishable from the irAirPods Pro‌. The audio of both sounds great, and if you prefer one over the other, it will depend on individual listening preferences. Galaxy Buds Pro are warmer and heavier on the bottom, which some people prefer. You need a good fit to your ear to get the best sound quality, because if it’s turned off, they don’t sound as good.

The Galaxy Buds Pro comes with a small, pocket-sized case, with an additional 18 to 20 hours of battery life depending on ANC usage. The Galaxy Buds themselves have a five-hour battery life with ANC on and an eight-hour battery life with ANC off. Comparatively, the irAirPods Pro‌ last 4.5 hours on a single charge with ANC enabled and five hours without, but the case provides an additional 24 hours of listening time. Apple’s irAirPods Pro is charged wirelessly or via a Lightning port, while the Galaxy Buds Pro uses USB-C.

There are touch controls on each side of the Galaxy Pro headphones and the touches allow you to play / pause, skip tracks, and turn on and off the ambient sound feature. ‌AirPods Pro‌ offer similar controls, but on the stem instead of relying on taps, it works better.

Apple designs ‌AirPods Pro‌ for use with Apple devices and the Galaxy Buds Pro is designed for use primarily with Samsung devices. There are several features that only work when used with a Galaxy device, which is a bit new to Samsung. Earlier headset models have been more agnostic in features and have been easily combined with other Android devices or even iPhones, but with the Galaxy Buds Pro you’ll run out of features without a Galaxy smartphone.

There’s a one-touch sync feature to set up your Galaxy Buds Pro with a Galaxy smartphone (you’ll need to manually connect to an iPhone) and there’s a 360 audio feature that’s the equivalent of PAirPods Pro‌ spatial audio function. We were unable to test the 360 ​​audio because the update that activates it on Galaxy devices (other than the S21) is not yet available.

Along with one-touch pairing, the Galaxy Buds Pro supports auto-detection and fast-switching devices, but again only Galaxy devices. There is an app to adjust the equalizer and other settings, but it is only Android and there is no version for ‌iPhone‌ available.

All in all, the Galaxy Buds Pro are solid headphones if you have a Galaxy smartphone, but they’re not headphones you’ll want to pick up if you have an ‌iPhone‌ because you’ll run out of features. The price is also only $ 50 cheaper than irAirPods Pro‌, so it’s best to spend the $ 250 for ‌AirPods Pro‌ if you have an Apple device.