With good sound quality, excellent active sound cancellation and compact design, Apple’s AirPods Pro sets the tone for premium wireless earbuds. But Samsung can give its rival a run for its money. It takes Apple ahead with the Galaxy Buds Live, which have similar features such as sound cancellation and a truly wireless design, at a significantly cheaper price. The Galaxy Buds cost $ 170, while the AirPodsPro costs $ 249. How do you decide which earrings are best for you? As I found out, it is not as simple as choosing based on price alone.
Read more: AirPods Pro vs. Jabra Elite 75t and AirPods Pro vs. Galaxy Buds Plus
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These wireless earbuds are truly the jack of all trades, especially for iPhone users. Audio is well balanced for music, podcasts and conversations. But their one standout feature is that they have an excellent active sound cancellation. And if you need to be more aware of your surroundings, you can fit in external sound with the transparency mode. Read our Apple AirPods Pro review.
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The Galaxy Buds Live, affectionately called the Galaxy Beans after their unique shape, sit in your ears instead of your ear canal. Depending on the shape of your ear, they may end up being more comfortable for longer wear. The sound quality is great if you stick to default settings, but you can also customize the audio profile with presets in the Galaxy Wearable app. Read our review of Samsung Galaxy Buds Live.
Sound consumption is way better on AirPods Pro, but Galaxy Buds Live sounds better
Both of these earbuds sound good. But the Galaxy Buds Live have a much more dynamic sound profile than it is left with by default settings, with a punchy bass response that suits a range of music genres. The AirPods Pro sounds more neutral, with less bass, which makes them more balanced for jumping between podcasts and music.
Samsung’s Galaxy Wearable app (on iOS and Android) lets you change the sound profile for the Buds Live in one of six different presets, such as bass boost or soft. While the AirPods Pro does not lack a customizable equalizer (unless you use an EQ in Apple Music or Spotify), there is an adaptive equalizer that automatically changes the sound based on variables such as your earpiece. Apple’s earbuds will also receive a spatial audio update in iOS 14.
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Thanks to their in-ear design, the AirPods Pro have effective active noise cancellation, which really blocks out most unwanted noise, such as the roar of an aircraft engine, or the low hum of a train. Since I’ve been working from home for the past few months, I have not been able to test how the Galaxy Buds Live compares to air travel. (I re-created a white-sound hum with my very loud bathroom fan.) Because the Buds Live does not make a seal in your ear like the AirPods Pro, they let in a lot more external sound. They also have ANC that you can turn on or off, but it is not particularly effective compared to the AirPods Pro.
Call quality on both is also great, although in a loud environment, callers have noticed that the background hum was much less noticeable when I used the Galaxy Buds Live compared to the AirPods. Listen to microphone examples in the video on this page to hear how each pair sounds. Both the Galaxy Buds Live and AirPods Pro let you use both earbuds independently for conversations.
Comfort and design is a love or hate affair
You have to hand it over to Samsung to come up with a design that looks radically different from any other wireless earbud out there. Depending on your ear shape, these bean-shaped buttons fit snugly in your ear without protrusions. They come in bronze, white and black and to change tracks or adjust volume, you just need to tap on the touch panel.
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The AirPods Pro, on the other hand, come with three different eartip sizes that you can switch in or out depending on the size of your ear canal. It’s only available in white and to navigate through songs, there’s a stem pointing out of your ear where you click.
I have incredibly small ears and the smallest tip on the AirPods Pro has never been small enough for me to make a super tight seal. That means from time to time, like when I run a lot or do a workout, I have to push them back into my ears, which is annoying.
However, the Buds Live stayed better in my ears during a workout and only started to feel like they were slipping out of my ear towards the end. But although they fit much better than the AirPods, they generally do not feel more comfortable. After about three hours, my left ear started to ache, so I had to take a break. Keep in mind that the fit and comfort of one of these earbuds differ from person to person – my colleague David Carnoy noted that the Buds Live sat well in his ears with the larger tip attached.
For water and sweat resistance, the AirPods Pro has a higher IP rating of IPX4 compared to the IPX2 on the Buds Live. That means they can resist splashes from any direction, while the Buds Live can resist spreads of 15 degrees or less. Although I have not done any water tests on any of the pairs yet, I have used them both during sweaty workouts and wiped them off after finishing. Both were fine.
Siri of Bixby? Both buttons have bad features
Both of these earbuds offer a hands-free experience for interacting with your phone, from switching tracks to reading incoming messages. As you would expect, the AirPods use Pro Siri on the iPhone and the Buds Live use Bixby on a Samsung Galaxy phone. If you use AirPods Pro with Android, you can not call Siri or Google Assistant from your earbuds without downloading a third-party app. When you connect Buds Live to iOS, you can access Siri from the touch panel, or with a non-Galaxy Android, you can use Google Assistant.
You can customize the tap / press controls on any of these buttons: AirPods from iOS Settings as Control Center, Buds Live from the Galaxy Wearable app. But only the Buds Live allows you to adjust the volume with a long press on the touch panel. To change volume on the AirPods Pro, you need to ask Siri, reach for your phone or turn the crown on the Apple Watch.
The Galaxy Buds Live also offers the ability to switch between multiple devices logged into the same Samsung account. There is also a Labs section in the app that allows you to enable gaming mode to reduce latency. The AirPods Pro supports Apple’s live accessibility feature, allowing your iPhone to act as a microphone to send sound to your earbuds.
If you lose your earbuds, let’s both play a sound to help you find them again, but only the AirPods Pro will show their last location on a map.
See again:
AirPods Pro or Galaxy Buds Live? How to choose the best …
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Galaxy Buds Live are better for battery life
If you want to listen to music or chat after much of the day, Galaxy Buds Live lasts longer. Samsung is charging the battery for six hours with ANC on and eight hours with it off. I found that the Buds Live did not comply well with that assertion, and lasted only 5 hours, 10 minutes with ANC engaged.
Apple charges the AirPods Pro for 4.5 hours with ANC on and up to 5 hours with it turned off. When I first tested the AirPods Pro in October 2019 and they were glowing, they and Apple’s appreciation were sometimes overwhelmed. Now, however, after 10 months of use, I am approaching four hours of battery life when using ANC.
Each case has extra charging time: the Buds Live has up to 29 hours (if you do not use ANC) and the AirPods 24 hours. To charge them via cable, keep in mind that they use different plugs (USB-C for the Buds Live and Lightning for the AirPods Pro), but they also both have wireless charging.
Are AirPods Pro or Galaxy Buds Live better for me?
As always, this really depends on how you use your earbuds and what ecosystem (iOS or Android / Siri or Bixby) you are already adept at using. If you need active sound-altering earbuds and want a good balance between music, podcasts and conversations, choose the AirPods Pro. If you want better sound quality and sound suppression for conversations, then you get the Galaxy Buds Live.
