The “old” Galaxy Buds (not the plus version just released) you almost miss them. They are in fact “hidden” in the packaging of the Galaxy Fold that we have always tested for Cyberlayman, and are an expensive but welcome addition to a foldable phone that costs two thousand euros. A unique opportunity to see how these “old” headphones are doing, which in reality are practically identical to the new Buds +, only the autonomy changes.
Crosses between different species
The headphones, for those who want to buy them in the Apple world, are considered the main opponent of the AirPods Pro, also given the active noise cancellation and transparent audio functions. But they are also cheaper than Apple's active headphones (especially now that the Buds + have just come out) and are compatible with the Apple world, i.e. they are compatible with all iPhones (because they support AAC audio transmission via Bluetooth) starting with the iPhone. 7 and from iOS 10 or later. They offer up to 12 hours of total use thanks to the recharges made possible by the case in which they are stored when they are not in use, while with the single use they can work for 12 hours uninterrupted for listening to music, which drop to 6 if instead you they only use to phone.
Each headset has three microphones not only for phone calls but also for active noise cancellation and transparent audio, similar to what happens with other modern active headphones such as the AirPods Pro. The plastic case can be recharged via Usb-C cable or through a wireless charging pad. On the Galaxy Fold you can enable wireless charging from the phone to the headphones.
Ergonomics
The model we were testing is black, which produces an effect a bit of an antithesis to that of Apple, which instead is necessarily white. There are also other color variations, but better black than white and certainly better than electric yellow. The case follows the color of the headphones and so does the grommet of which there are no intermediate measures.
The headphones rest inside the ear and have neither a headband (if not minimally mentioned) nor a stem that balances them. Instead, they are in the ears with a slightly more precarious feeling than those used to those of Apple, but it must be said that it is a very subjective observation.
The external surface is touch and allows four different types of action: one touch to answer phone calls or stop / activate music, two touches to go to the next song, three touches to go back, a long touch (“sustained”) instead to activate voice commands or change mode (noise cancellation active, transparent, off). Since the app does not recognize it on iOs, the long tap simply activates the voice commands.
The main ergonomic problem is given by the shape of the earphones, which enter the ear without a grab point. Touching them even just to fix them easily leads to a false-touch that activates unwanted functions. A faint “beep” comes two seconds late, making the experience even more frustrating.
Connecting them is an experience
We have tried them both with the Fold and with our iPhone 11 Pro, since there is not only the app on the Google and Samsung store on Android, but also on the Apple app store. The pairing experience with the Fold did not go very well: in the end we were able to “peck” them only in the traditional bluetooth panel. In reality, the same thing also happened on the iPhone: despite having downloaded the app, to be able to find them we had to go to the bluetooth panel. Among other things, no buttons to press on the headphones to “unhook” them from the previous pairing with one phone or the other. They simply lose awareness of it and have to start over. Even if the headphones are worn and you are listening to music, they are not found by the app. It is understandable why the iOS app has so few stars. The disadvantage in this way is that you lose the ability to configure the “touch”, although it is always possible to do so on the Samsung phone.
black
In the days of use, especially in long work sessions in a public environment (a coworking) or travel by train (before the coronavirus blocked everyone who lives in Lombardy), the two very positive aspects of these headphones emerged, and the negative one. .
Let's start with the latter: the unbalanced shape gives the feeling that they are about to fall. It comes from touching them to fix them. And if you touch them, click with the touch and stop the song or the phone call (ie hang up!). Bad. This, combined with a poor pairing process and a useless app on iOS, are what seriously penalize Samsung's headphones.
In this “old” model, the autonomy is already good and the sound performance is excellent. We tested the headphones using both Spotify on Galaxy Fold and Spotify and Music on iPhone 11 Pro. Both Spotify in the “free” version while Musica obviously in the “full” version, therefore with different music compression levels.
Listening to music of various genres, from jazz to classical (especially Vivaldi), from rock to country and even a bit of Italian singer-songwriters from the sixties and seventies (why not) the result was very positive. When evaluating a pair of telephone earphones like these we are not looking for Music, nor for the reconstruction of the audio scene with detail, width, depth (front-back, right-left), dynamic range (fortissimo-pianissimo) and sensitivity of the different frequencies, or color of the tone of the instruments and so on. It would be senseless, given the sound source and the type of use.
Instead, we first tried to understand the “softness” of the headphones and substantially their dynamic range to understand if, in the face of correctly mastered music (without the “sound wall” that characterizes contemporary pop music designed for listening low quality digital) feels good or not. The Beats respond in a surprisingly good way, even compared to more noble listening experiences.
They confirm the idea that Samsung, often accused (not wrongly, according to some) of copying what is done in Cupertino, actually has enormous technology and expertise, which would allow it, if it found leaders to innovate. even without looking at what others are doing. In this case, don't listen, because the Beats are really good headphones.
The second thing is the rendering of the audio cancellation, which works very well, also aided by the fact that the rubber in the ear begins by mechanically reducing the amount of sounds coming in from the outside by a good half. In any case, Samsung's algorithm (and AKG's drivers) work well and so does the one for transparency, which today we take a lot for granted but which instead is anything but easy to implement even simply from an algorithmic point of view and computational.
Finally, but this is perhaps a form of idiosyncrasy of the undersigned, the phone calls made from the iPhone using the Buds are heard better than those made from the same phone with the AirPods Pro. It may be a coincidence, but three different interlocutors have confused the phone call with a “normal” while they always protest when we call them with Apple headphones. From the point of view of the telephone yield from our side they are substantially the same.
Technical specifications:
The earphones feature two AKG two-way dynamic drivers. Other technical specifications include: dedicated application for iPhone and integration with the Spotify music streaming service.
The new Samsung Galaxy Buds are available in Italy at a price of 169 euros in three colors: white, black and yellow.
In conclusion
Sorry to give such a low score because, if Samsung had structured the connection in a more stable way, these headphones would certainly deserve more. The main flaws are in fact the management process from the iPhone (Galaxy obviously goes better) but we commend the company for the effort. Still, in the face of a more than good musical performance, and a very effective isolation, there is the big defect of a touch that makes it difficult to touch the headphones to adjust them in the ear. I repeat: too bad, I'm not saying five but at least four and a half stars were all there. And instead…
Pro
Versus
Retail price
The Galaxy Buds are available in combination with some Samsung phones and alone at a price of about 127 Euros or 154 Euros in the + version.
