Review of headphones Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro. Among other TWS, “buds” of different generations have long become a cult model with their own fan base, so it was very interesting for me to get and try the headphones. I did everything and I hasten to share the information with you!
The 8 settings to change if you have iOS 16 installed
Design
Until Apple comes up with some new ideas, other TWS makers don’t start to stir, which is why the appearance of the Buds2 Pro is yawn-inducing. We have already seen all this. The latest TWS from Sony had the same shape, the drop cups were generally made by everyone who could. Probably next year, the guys from Samsung will make a strap loop on the case – and thanks again to Apple for the tip.
So far, the model is produced only in three colors: graphite, lavender and white. White is my personal favorite, not boring. The case and cups are matte, you can use wireless charging or any USB-C cable for charging. The case is small and fits easily into any pocket.
I repeat once again – the case is MATTE! I know how Samsung loves gloss, but here they did it as expected.
When connected to Samsung smartphones, an Apple-style pop-up window appears. I connected the headphones to the Pixel 6 Pro, in this case there were no windows. To work with headphones, you need to install the Galaxy Wearable application if you do not have Samsung. The possibilities of the utility are pleasing: here you have control settings, an equalizer, a landing check, and reading notifications, and a number of other functions. For example, headphones can even detect the correct position of the neck during work and warn you – they say, you leaned forward too much, sit down correctly!
Since we are dealing with functional headphones, the application contains a menu for switching sound modes, but you can easily do this using the touch controls on the cups. By the way, you get used to it very quickly, there are no problems – almost always all tapas work the first time. In the “laboratory” you can enable the double-click volume control function.
Mandatory explanation – Samsung smartphones use a different application with different capabilities. All sorts of things like search, sound around and other things are missing in the base Galaxy Wearable.
The cups sit perfectly, well, at least it seemed so to me in the first hour. Then I began to notice that the edge of the right earpiece still cuts the ear a little, an unusual and not very pleasant feeling. For a week of use, I more or less got used to it, but I do not advise buying without trying it on.
About nozzles. I had nozzles of medium size, in the utility, when checking, an inscription appeared that the size was chosen WRONG. I tried to put small nozzles, then the largest ones, they seemed unsuitable to me. In general, vanity. The nozzles in the kit are the most common, if you wish, you can try Comply or other “foam”.
The earbuds have an operating time of five to eight hours, and the case provides three more charges. In real life, everything depends on the volume and on the selected operating modes. My headphones didn’t last even five hours, rather closer to four – I turned on ANC, listened to music loudly.
Water protection remains the same as its predecessor, Buds Pro – that is, IPX7. You can run in the rain, but you can’t jump into the pool. The case should be protected from moisture.
I was surprised that the headphones work great with the small Apple battery – a good way to quickly charge the headphones on the go.
Noise suppression
Alas, the work of the noise reduction system in the office with very loud people is almost imperceptible – they both yelled and yelled. That’s okay – the situation does not change much if you activate the transparency mode. Let me remind you for the thousandth time, I have one standard – AirPods Pro: I turned on the ANC, and right there, like pillows, they pressed it to my ears. There is no such thing here. Perhaps this is why the headphones swear during the fit test process – but between comfort and noise cancellation, I chose comfort. The oversized nozzles are really big.
About good. There are three microphones in each cup, there is a bone conduction sensor – all this has little effect on the operation of the noise reduction, but it has a very good effect on the quality of voice transmission. Great conversation, I really enjoyed it. And everyone praised the quality of voice transmission.
The application has lost the setting of noise reduction levels – apparently, the company relies on adaptive noise reduction. But, I repeat, neither I nor my colleagues appreciated the noise reduction work. Yes, cuts too loud sounds and high frequencies; yes, if you start talking, transparency is automatically turned on, and this is convenient; yes, ANC is comfortable even in silence. But in flight, you will simply be stunned by the ambient noise, and this is not cool.
Sound
I wrote in the subtitle that these are good headphones for all Samsung smartphone owners. And he didn’t lie, that’s how it is. Let’s try to understand the software and hardware. I’ll start with the Bluetooth version, it’s 5.3, modern and cool. Now the codecs are AAC, SBC and SSC, and Samsung Scalable Codec only works on Samsung smartphones. Let me remind you that the company writes about this codec: “Thanks to Samsung’s proprietary scalable codec, listening to music on Galaxy Buds is uninterrupted. The Samsung Scalable Codec prevents audio interruptions by changing the bit rate depending on the quality of the Bluetooth connection. If the wireless connection is weak, the codec automatically encodes the audio information with a higher compression ratio, allowing the headphones to continuously receive data.
There is no aptX or LDAC here. It turns out that the headphones will work well with the iPhone even when using TIDAL or a player with downloaded FLAC files, but with the world of android smartphones, only the SBC codec will work, and this does not seem to be very cool.
But I hasten to please you and I hasten to save you from any reviews / videos on the network, where these same Buds2 Pro codecs are scolded almost obscenely. No, friends, the sound of the headphones is excellent even with the Samsung Galaxy Fold4, even with the Pixel 6 Pro, even with the iPhone 13 Pro Max, even with the iMac, even with my ASUS gaming laptop. It’s all about the well-chosen audio components. Samsung doesn’t really show them, they just talk about “tweeter” and “woofer”, the first is responsible for high frequencies, the second for mids and lows. Both are perfectly tuned – so that there is no inconsistency, I used Yandex Music on different devices with high quality turned on.
As strange as it may seem, I enjoyed using it the most with the Pixel 6 Pro. Optimal sound – very smooth mids, bulging bass in most tracks, high frequencies just right. I listened to different music, from jazz to techno, there was no such thing that the track did not go. With Samsung, the sound quality is also good, but I still didn’t catch the promised 24 bits – they definitely exist and work for sure, it’s just that the difference is really small.
Accordingly, codecs are codecs, but a driver and good equipment in terms of the radio part also mean very, very much. The sound quality of the Buds2 Pro is excellent.
I did not feel any delays in games and movies, everything is fine here. Of the functions, I’ll note “Sound around” for Samsung devices – I somehow didn’t notice the work, there is no such dramatic effect as AirPods. By the way, Buds2 Pro can no longer work simultaneously with two devices – or rather, they can, but only in the Galaxy ecosystem, and this is called “Auto Switching”. That is, it will not work with the iPhone and Samsung at the same time.
Verdict
Headphones are not officially brought to Russia, meanwhile, Buds2 Pro get here with gray tracks as part of parallel imports. Now we have a price in the region of 18-19 thousand rubles, depending on the exchange rate, the price from sellers is reduced to 15,500 – 16,000 rubles. The old AirPods Pro cost about the same or less, and they were great headphones as they were. Excellent noise reduction, an order of magnitude better than Buds2, good sound quality, convenient control. Honestly, it’s very difficult to choose, and I would, say, stay with AirPods or buy AirPods Pro 2 – but the question is how much they will cost in Russia.
First of all, Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro can be advised to owners of Samsung smartphones – special features and settings, a well-functioning search and experimental functions, support for a proprietary codec. But, as practice shows, these are just good headphones with great sound quality, convenient controls, and long battery life. Shy Samsung doesn’t talk about some things at all – I found wireless charging at the last moment.
Obvious disadvantages – they seem to have reduced the size and weight, but still the cup crashes into the ear. You can get used to it, but are you sure you are ready for it? I understand that there is nowhere to try on, but be on the lookout – if the seller allows you to try on, be sure to take the opportunity.