The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are the best wireless earbuds that you can buy today. But conditions apply. Now you’d think, that’s the case with most gadgets. There’s always a catch, or two maybe. There’s no such thing as perfect. The Buds 2 Pro, too, are not perfect but they’re so close, we might as well call them an exception and give Samsung some credit for giving legacy giants something to think about.
For the longest time, the challenge with wireless earbuds has been how do you make them tiny and sound big at the same time. The combination is hard to get right. There is always some or the other compromise. The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro break that stereotype by offering not just great comfort but –also—great sound on top of that. Their pricing is also fairly aggressive relative to a lot of the competition out there.
The spell has been broken; the bar has been raised.
Easily the Buds 2 Pro’s biggest feature is their design. Visually, they don’t look very different from their predecessors— the Galaxy Buds Pro— but there are some changes and those changes aren’t there for changes’ sake. They have a clear purpose. The buds, like for instance, are completely matte now. In the Buds Pro, they were glossy which made them very prone to smudging. Also, the buds are more lightweight than before (5.5g versus 6.3g). The charging case is also a bit sleeker (43.4g versus 44.9g), though it has the same shape and form factor.
Also Read | Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) review: Best of Sony in a smaller, more affordable package
Samsung, we believe, had already hit gold when it came to ear-fit. Over the years, it has only got better. The Buds 2 Pro are the most comfortable earbuds that it has ever made. They sit flush – and obscurely—inside your ear-canal and stay there, unmoved, unless you’re genuinely making an effort to dislodge them. This means that they are safe –and ideal—to be your jogging buddy. Their compact size means you can wear them to bed, too. They are IPX7 rated so they can survive accidental spills of water. They, also, pack enough vents and work well to limit or altogether negate the dreaded “plug-in” effect which is oftentimes a major con of wireless earbuds likes these.
The internal setup remains unchanged mostly. You get a 2-way speaker setup inside each earbud and a total of 6 microphones. Overall sound quality has improved. The Buds 2 Pro have a distinctly wider sound stage. Not that the last version was any slouch, but these new buds offer cleaner, richer, more detailed sound 9 out of 10 times. We quite liked their consistency, regardless of the genre, something that has become an Apple repertoire.
You get head-tracking sound— 360 Audio— as well and while Samsung’s version does work well enough, the AirPods Pro definitely do this a bit better. Be that as it may, an effect like this is subjective –and so is its use case— but it’s nice to see Samsung making it more mainstream. Where the competition gets really tight is in active noise cancellation. Samsung is killing it under the Rs 20,000 price segment but the AirPods Pro do give you that extra peace of mind more broadly speaking. The same is true about mic quality and voice calls but it’s amazing how far Samsung has come in this regard and so quickly, too.
Samsung is beating Apple to the punch with Hi-Res audio support, though, a feature that has long eluded the AirPods. That said, Hi-Res on the Buds 2 Pro is a little, nay very different from what Sony gives you on its wireless earbuds. Instead of going for a more universal codec like LDAC, Samsung chose to conjure its own – Samsung Seamless Codec – and while it’s easy to see the benefits, this also means that you’re basically stuck with a Samsung phone— preferably high-end— to be able to use what could be the Buds 2 Pro’s most sought-after feature.
Samsung is promising nothing short of the moon claiming its SSC codec can outperform Sony’s LDAC but it doesn’t mention the exact bitrate, only that it can stream 24-bit, 48kHz audio over Bluetooth (the buds support version 5.3). LDAC, for reference, tops out at around 990kbps so ideally, Samsung’s should be higher. Now, numbers are important and it would be nice to get a little more clarity on how the Seamless Codec works (more importantly, how consistently across devices) but for it’s worth, there is a difference when your device –which we repeat must be a Samsung— can actually use it. Clarity gets an immediate boost particularly with vocals and the low-end. Question is how many would be able to make out that difference and how many would care.
The Buds 2 Pro top out at SBC and AAC (for iPhone) if you don’t use a Samsung phone. Speaking of which, getting the Samsung wearable app to work on a non-Samsung phone isn’t a straight-up process, even in 2022. You still must jump through hoops to get it to work. iPhone users, meanwhile, can’t use it at all since Samsung doesn’t make an iOS app anymore.
Moving on, the buds can briefly lower playback volume (without pausing) when they detect that you’re speaking, borrowing some inspiration from Sony. They can also give you neck stretch reminders to straighten your posture every ten minutes or so. At the same time, a few quirks that are missing include multipoint and wear detection (like they won’t pause playback when you remove one earbud).
Also Read | Sony WH-1000XM5 wireless headphones review: Still brilliant
Battery life remains unchanged from its predecessor, ala, 5 hours of music playback with ANC on (8 hours with ANC off) and a total of 18 hours with the case with ANC on (up to 29 hours with ANC off). Samsung touts a five-minute charge can lend 60 minutes of playtime. The Buds 2 Pro support wireless charging, too.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro | Should you buy?
The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are, as we mentioned earlier (and as you can probably tell already after reading this review), are the best wireless earbuds that you can buy today. But only if you’re a Samsung phone user. That doesn’t mean that they are not cut out for those using any other phone from OnePlus to Xiaomi and others (iPhone users should steer clear of them though for very obvious reasons). It means that those users have more choice that they could look at and some of those choices – like say the Sony LinkBuds S— can give them a bit more value at a slightly lower price, too.
It is obvious to see the road that Samsung is taking. Like Apple, it wants its users to get the very latest in tech and the very best of experience that’s second to none. And it’s been able to achieve that with the Buds 2 Pro by the way. But despite what may seem like another closed-door ecosystem in the making, Samsung is still giving non-Samsung users enough reasons to invest in the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro and get great sound and comfort at a reasonable price. But for how long, that is something only time will tell.
| Pros | Cons |
| Premium, lightweight design | No multipoint, wear detection |
| Great fit, seal | No Hi-Res audio for non-Samsung users |
| Hi-Res audio | |
| Balance sound, Good ANC | |
| Good battery life | |
| Wireless charging |
