Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, with excellent sound quality, outstanding ANC performance, and 24-bit audio playback, is Samsung’s latest attempt to attract users to its ecosystem. Stay tuned with Buytronics for a review of these earbuds.

Samsung Galaxy Buds2 is Samsung’s second-generation flagship headphones, which were introduced alongside Galaxy Fold 4 and Galaxy Flip 4 at the Unpacked event earlier this year.

With excellent sound quality, one of the best active noise cancellation (ANC) experiences, and support for 24-bit audio playback and lossless sound, Buds 2 Pro aims to first attract users of Samsung’s ecosystem and, secondly, users of other Android phones with a headphone experience comparable to AirPods for Apple ecosystem users.

As technology becomes more exclusive and the walls of the ecosystem gardens get higher, it is expected that Samsung will not sit idle and watch its competitors like Apple and Google dominate this game. However, where rivals such as Apple and Google emphasize features such as easy setup, automatic device switching, and 3D sound to encourage users to buy their brand headphones, Samsung has focused on the ability to play 24-bit audio.

Design and Build Quality of Galaxy Buds 2 Pro

The appearance of the Samsung Buds 2 Pro doesn’t differ much from the previous generation, and only the egg-shaped earbuds now use a matte coating instead of a glossy plastic cover, which attracts more fingerprints and dust. However, they look more stylish and look modern. Each earbud has an air vent area to improve airflow and reduce ANC pressure. These headphones come in three colors: matte black, white, and gray, with the black color provided for review by Buytronics.

Samsung engineers always prioritize build quality and headphone comfort, and the Buds 2 Pro is no exception to this rule. The latest Korean headphones are so comfortable that you can listen to your favorite music without discomfort until the last moment when the earbuds are still charged. However, the fit of the headphones is limited only to the earbuds’ shape and the three silicone series of 11, 13, and 15 millimeters, and sometimes when running or talking, the earbuds may shake in the ear and need to be readjusted.

These headphones feature two AKG drivers, including a 5.3-millimeter tweeter for producing and executing high-frequency sound effects and a 10-millimeter woofer to cover the weakness of processing low-frequency sounds beneath the plastic surface of each earbud. In addition, three microphones are included to eliminate ambient noise and improve call quality.

The Buds 2 Pro are about 15% smaller than the previous model, and they are almost one gram lighter with a weight of 5.5 grams per earbud. These headphones also utilize the same IPX7 rating as the Buds Pro, providing sufficient water and sweat resistance, which means you can use them confidently during rainy walks and heavy workouts at the gym. However, their relatively large dimensions, protruding earbud design, and lack of a hook to secure them firmly in the ear might make using the Buds 2 Pro for running activities challenging.

The headphone case is also made of matte and soft plastic that matches the color and material of the earbuds. It feels very good to hold, although it attracts dust and grease and may be susceptible to scratches. Thanks to its magnetic properties, the case closes tightly, providing reliable protection for these delicate headphones. Additionally, the case design follows Samsung’s traditional minimalist style and only features an LED light that indicates the charging status of the case and the earbuds.

The Sound Quality

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro supports Bluetooth 5.3 with a range of 60 meters and standard codecs such as AAC, SBC, and Samsung’s proprietary codec called Samsung Seamless Codec, which, according to the Koreans, is capable of playing Bluetooth audio content with 24-bit depth, allowing them to send 256 times more data to these headphones when paired with Samsung phones based on One UI 4.0 and higher.

You are correct that in most Bluetooth headphones, the maximum bit depth is 16 bits, which reduces the perceivable noise level for the ear to the minimum. Therefore, 24-bit depth does not matter for ordinary users and is only useful for editing music in a studio. In addition, only a few limited streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Tidal, support playing music with 24-bit depth.

You are right that the bitrate is an essential factor in overall sound quality, and according to Samsung’s claims, the Buds 2 Pro can cover up to 2304 kilobits per second, equivalent to the lossless audio experience. For comparison, Sony’s LDAC codec supports up to 990 kilobits per second, which still needs to improve CD-quality lossless sound.

The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro drivers are about one millimeter smaller than their predecessors, but this difference has had no significant impact on the sound quality of these headphones. In general, the sound profile of the Buds 2 Pro is almost neutral, even more, neutral than the previous model, with exceptional accuracy in covering the low-frequency range and bass. These headphones cover the bass of the song “Stratos” by “Volkor X” to a pleasant extent, but they may not impress bass enthusiasts who prefer an exaggerated emphasis on this frequency range.

Indeed, the coverage of these headphones’ upper-frequency range and treble may seem weak to some listeners. However, this is a good thing for headphones that do not have professional equalizer settings because the excessive emphasis on the treble can make instruments such as cymbals sound very harsh and unpleasant.

I go for extreme songs to test this range and see if the sound of the instruments is so annoying that I want to immediately take the earbuds out of my ears and throw them in the corner of the room! Fortunately, the Buds 2 Pro successfully passed the test of playing “Ruins of Hope” by the Post Rock group Dying Serenade. The guitar lead sound of this song is so sharp and punchy that only high-quality headphones with a neutral treble coverage can play it well.

The headphones’ disappointing performance is in the mid-range coverage, where the singer’s voice and most of the main instruments are heard. The Buds 2 Pro performs weaker than expected in covering the mid-range, to the point that in crowded and instrument-centric songs like “Broken” by the band 12 Stones, the clarity of the singer’s voice is lost, and the sound of the instruments, especially electric guitar and drums, gets muffled behind.

On the other hand, the weak coverage of the mid-range in vocal-centric songs such as “Seven Days of Falling” by the jazz group Esbjorn Svensson Trio enhances the bass’s perceived strength. However, if the song’s bass is too high, like in the synth-pop song “Blue Monday” by New Order, the weak coverage of the mid-range negatively affects the perception of the bass.

Only when you listen to acoustic songs that emphasize the singer’s voice rather than the instruments, such as 3 Doors Down’s Let Me Be Myself, which has a clean mix and the singer’s voice is easily separated from the instruments, will you not notice the mid-range dip.

To test the performance of the Buds 2 Pro in playing crowded and heavily instrumented songs, you can try listening to melodic death metal songs such as “Nemesis” by Arch Enemy.

Samsung’s flagship headphones perform well in handling sound instrument separation and don’t distort or muddle distorted music. Still, the problem of weak mid-range coverage persists, causing vocals to be drowned out by guitar, drums, flute, and violin. The clarity and transparency of different instrument sound in the Buds 2 Pro allow you to enjoy listening to old punk songs that usually have bad mixes.

In the Samsung companion app, you can use equalizer presets to reduce or increase bass and treble coverage. However, there is no manual adjustment of the bands available, and none of the presets creates a significant change in mid-range coverage. These headphones also have excellent performance in preventing sound leakage to the outside, allowing you to listen to your favorite music at high volumes, even in quiet environments, without bothering those around you.

The ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) in Galaxy Buds 2 Pro.

The best feature of Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, which adds value to its purchase, is its outstanding Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) performance. Samsung claims that the ANC of its new flagship headphones has a 40% improvement compared to the previous model and can eliminate up to 35 decibels of environmental noise. In our tests, we also felt this improvement completely.

To test the ANC of the Buds 2 Pro, I used these headphones in a busy work environment and the hustle and bustle of city traffic and metro. The Buds 2 Pro can eliminate wind noise to the point that when you activate the ANC, it feels like you’ve suddenly entered a vacuum space.

Moreover, these headphones can also eliminate 60 to 70 percent of the train’s movement noise, car horns, and the metro hustle and bustle, allowing you to listen to calm and acoustic songs in crowded environments comfortably. However, the ANC performance could be more effective in reducing the sound of people’s voices. Additionally, the vent design on the earbuds helps to reduce the pressure caused by the ANC, but at the same time, it causes sound leakage from the outside to the inside, a problem that will not be noticed when listening to music.

In general, the ANC of the Buds 2 Pro will immerse you in your bubble to the point that when listening to music, you won’t notice the sound of car horns or metro announcements. To solve this problem, the Buds 2 Pro uses Ambient Sound mode, which amplifies the environmental sound similar to the Transparency mode of Apple headphones. The performance of the Ambient Sound mode on the Buds 2 Pro has improved significantly compared to the previous generation, and according to Samsung, it amplifies the environmental sound up to 25 decibels. However, it still has a long way to go to reach the quality of Transparency mode.

The Ambient Sound feature, which can be activated through touch commands or the app and replaces ANC, is acceptable in amplifying environmental sounds such as typing or paper rustling. However, it cannot amplify people’s voices to the extent that they become easier to understand. From the Accessibility section of the app, you can enhance the Ambient Sound mode; in this mode, its performance becomes closer to Transparency mode on Apple headphones. However, it is still challenging to accurately detect the conversations of people 10 meters away from you.

Other Features of Galaxy Buds 2

The touch commands of the Buds 2 Pro control system are consistent with other Samsung headphones and are accompanied by a beeping sound that informs the user that the command has been received.

For the touch control of Buds 2 Pro, four commands have been defined, including a tap to play/pause music, two taps/three taps to select the next/previous song, and a one-second tap and touch that can be changed from within the app, which by default is used to switch between ANC and Ambient Sound.

However, you can change it by calling the voice assistant Bixby, activating Spotify, or controlling the volume (decreasing the volume through the left earbud touch and increasing the volume through the right earbud touch).

If you do not want to lose the ANC/Ambient Sound option for controlling the volume, you can enable the Double tap earbud edge mode in the Lab section of the app so that you can increase or decrease the volume with two taps on the edges of the earbuds. This feature has been added to Samsung headphones for several years, but it still does not work as well as other commands, and you may prefer to skip it.

Unfortunately, Samsung has still not solved the problem of excessive sensitivity in the touch controls of its headphones, and it often happens that you accidentally play or stop the music when adjusting the position of the earbuds in your ears. If the high sensitivity of the control system of the Buds 2 Pro is bothersome for you, you can turn off the touch control through the app and use the options on your phone to control the headphones instead.

One of the attractive features of Samsung headphones is the various capabilities offered by their companion app, which is superior to that of Apple’s neckband headphones and is in close competition with Sony. However, downloading the Wearable app may only be possible for Android phones. For this reason, buying the Buds 2 Pro is not recommended for iPhone users, although you can still connect these headphones to an iPhone and use touch commands to control ANC/Ambient Sound.

Alongside common features such as firmware updates and turning on/off ANC and Ambient Sound (unfortunately, it is not possible to adjust their level), you can enhance the Ambient Sound through the Accessibility section and use the Voice Detect feature, which was previously used in Sony headphones and reduces the volume of music when you start talking. The Wearable app also provides many other features specific to Buds 2 Pro.

One of the interesting features of these headphones, which was also available in the previous generation and whose performance has now improved, is called Audio 360. It tracks head movements to simulate a three-dimensional and immersive sound. This feature is only available for Samsung devices with One UI 4 or higher. However, the Audio 360 experience is not particularly satisfying for music; you may only want to use it for watching movies.

Another feature called Neck stretch reminder is also available in the app. If your head is down for more than ten minutes, enabling it will alert you to lift your head up. Nowadays, when we tend to constantly bend our heads downwards due to smartphones or keyboards, this feature can be useful, and you may want to enable it.

By enabling the seamless earbud connection feature, also available on the Galaxy Buds 2, you can make connecting your headphones to different devices easier. All devices connected to your Samsung account will automatically connect to your Galaxy Buds 2 Pro without pairing. If you have previously paired a non-Samsung device with these headphones and want to connect to another phone, you don’t need to disconnect from the current device, as the headphones will handle this task.

If you ask Samsung what the most important feature of the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro is, they will likely mention support for 24-bit music playback. This feature, which we previously talked about in the sound quality section, is only available for Samsung phones based on One UI 4.0 and above and is only offered on a few limited streaming platforms, including Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music.

Despite all of these features and other options, such as gaming mode to reduce audio latency when playing mobile games or notifying notifications by Bixby, two important features are missing: one is the ability to connect two devices simultaneously, known as “Multipoint”, and the other is the ability to pause music playback by removing one of the earbuds from the ear.

In the Buds 2 Pro, both earbuds must be removed from the ear to stop the music, which may sometimes be delayed, and the music does not automatically resume when put back in the ear. I don’t know about you, but I prefer these headphones to take advantage of features like Multipoint and automatic music pause instead of Audio 360 or gaming mode.

Battery life of Galaxy Buds 2 Pro.

Although the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro is 15% smaller than its predecessor, its battery capacity remains unchanged. It was expected that the battery life would increase in line with competitors. Samsung has announced that the battery life of the Buds 2 Pro is 5 hours with ANC on and 8 hours with ANC off for continuous music playback. In a review by Buytronics, when ANC was on and the volume was about 70%, the battery lasted about 6 hours.

The headphone’s battery life while making calls with ANC also decreases to about 3 hours and 4 hours with ANC off. The headphone case supports USB-C and wireless charging, and you can charge the headphones three times, from 0 to 100, with it. According to Samsung, with a 5-minute charge, you can use the headphones for about one hour.

Overall, 5 to 6 hours of battery life for in-ear headphones plus case charging is excellent for daily use. For comparison, the battery life of Apple’s AirPods 3 is seven hours, and AirPods Pro is five hours. However, Sony’s WF-1000XM4 headphones with 8 hours of battery life exceed our expectations for headphones with a price tag of $230. On the other hand, the lack of an option to save battery power can cause the charge to still drain even when the headphones are disconnected from the phone.

The Call Quality

The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro uses three microphones, one for ambient noise cancellation and two for making calls. In a quiet, noise-free environment, the Buds 2 Pro’s microphones perform well in transmitting sound; however, ambient noise can lower call quality in noisy environments, and the other person may not hear you. If you enable the option “Ambient sound during calls” in the app, the sound quality will improve, and there is no need to shout to be heard in noisy environments.

Is the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro worth buying?

If you don’t have any issues with the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro price tag and you own a Samsung phone, then these headphones are worth buying for their exceptional ANC. However, regarding sound quality and battery life, cheaper options are available in Buytronics, and the ability to play 24-bit audio may not be as practical as Samsung claims.

Samsung claims that these headphones can play audio content up to 2304 kilobits per second, and if this is not just a claim, it will be an infinite leap forward in the world of wireless headphones. In addition, Bluetooth LE support is expected to be added to these headphones in the future, which allows sound to be recorded in 360 degrees and possibly increases battery life.

Among its competitors, although Apple’s AirPods Pro is in a similar price range to the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, it is three years old, and it would not be fair to compare its sound quality and ANC performance with Samsung’s new headphones (in both areas, the victory goes to the Buds 2 Pro!)

The best competitor for Samsung’s flagship headphones is Sony’s TWS WF-1000XM4; it has better sound quality and battery life and is fully compatible with all ecosystems. Google’s Pixel Buds Pro does not have a comfortable form factor and is of no use for many of the special features of the Buds 2 Pro; however, it is cheaper, has very good sound quality and ANC, and can connect simultaneously to two devices (Multipoint).

 Where to buy Galaxy Buds2 in Dubai, UAE?

If you live in Dubai, UAE, and want to buy the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, Visit Buytronics. We are an online electronics store in Dubai, UAE that provide Electronic products such as Headphones and Speakers. Shop now and experience the ultimate sound quality of Galaxy Buds 2 Pro.