Samsung Galaxy Buds Live Wireless Earphones, 2 Year
Samsung Galaxy Buds Live Wireless Earphones, 2 Year Manufacturer Warranty, Mystic Bronze (UK Version)
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Samsung Galaxy Buds Live Wireless Earphones, 2 Year Manufacturer Warranty, Mystic Bronze (UK Version)
I’ve been using them for just under a year.
They fit comfortably into my ears, the buds last about 7hrs with continuous use and the case gives them about an extra 1 uses.
Recommended, but wait for a sale, they go below 40.
I have since bought Sony earbuds, which are much better, but the Samsung ones are good, too (certainly better than the Cambridge melomania buds).
These are more of a substitute for the Sony buds, but I still recommend.
Very comfortable to wear and great sound. I have lots of earphones but these are the only ones I can leave in for long periods of time.
Really good value for the money. Comfortable and like not having a stick to get caught in hair. Good sound quality.
My daughter has a Samsung and bought these. I liked them so ordered two pairs for my wife and I. I have an iPhone and my wife a Sony Android. They work perfectly with these devices. The manual starts with telling you you have to download their App to get them to work properly. Not needed.
I’m very happy with this product. Good quality and sound special for samsung lover. Good price .
When I first bought these headphone I really didn’t like them as I felt like they would fall out at any moment due to the unusual design. After a couple of days of use I got used to them and now love them and use them daily. Can confirm they’ve never actually fallen out of my ears. Bear in mind these aren’t in ear earphones so noise cancelling isn’t amazing.
Fits my ears absolutely perfectly , ive switched to the bigger rubber hook thingies provided for a tighter fit , at first i did feel discomfort after extended use , but after a couple of days my ears got completely used to them , they are super secure , obviously sound isolation is pretty much nonexistent because they dont actually seal the ear cannal but when positioned correctly the ANC does actually soften the background noice , touch controls is a miss for sure turned them off completely but otherwise perfecy lil pair of beans
Great earbuds, amazing quality, sound and fit. Took seconds to connect. Now purchased a second pair for my husband!
But l found them fiddley to get in my ears . But probably just me. I decided to get on ear instead
Battery life is excellent and they are extremely comfortable to wear for long periods. The product feels very high quality and premium. As for the ANC, it genuinely doesn’t work at all that I can see so just turn it off and have even more battery life. If you get these at the price that I did they are a steal. Anything up to 50 and they are still a real bargain.
Can hurt when put in the wrong way.
I didn’t get 2 different shape wingtips for some reason only the big one although they feel comfy enough for me without the wingtips.
Sound quality isn’t the most amazing but it’s still quite good quality imo only worth it when on a deal with this sort of quality.
This is definitely amazing for my ears as I have small ear canal and buds tend to not fit in there without either extreme pain or them popping out.
Also I love that these don’t have a feeling of pressure in your ear that I hate.
The sound quality of the earbuds are nice. It’s not amazing, it is just standard. I preferred the sound on the “dynamic” setting, it felt like the sound was more in depth and gave a more 3 dimensional sound. There are different settings too like extra bass or a setting for more melody.
The noice cancelling isn’t too good. Since it doesn’t have the cushion thing for the ears the sound comes in and out more freely so I can hear outside noises more than other noise cancelling earbuds/haedphones. It doesn’t mean that the earbuds are completely bad, because it does very well as well. It’s just that compared to the ones that I’ve used before it doesn’t do as well.
The battery life is long lasting. Both the earbuds and the case itself lasts long. The lights show green, amber and red. Green means it is well charged and red is nearly dying. The battery life is great.
Overall the earbuds are nice. If you have a Samsung then I recommend this and if you are looking for a 100% noise cancelling earbuds then I do not recommend this.
– At first I struggled with getting them to fit in my ears because I wasn’t putting them in right but once I got my head around them I can put them in with the perfect fit each time.
– the two supplied wingtips didn’t fit my ears very well, there are plenty of third party wingtips on the market that come in a multitude of differing sizes and I made some that are perfect for me so problem solved.
So with that out of the way here’s my review:
– The price is good for what you’re getting, if you can get them on a deal even better but they’re generally avaliable for around 70, yes you can get cheaper alternatives but they won’t be as good and they’re easily as good alternatives in their RRP (around 120?).
– The noise cancelling isn’t great, I question why you would buy open earphone if you’re looking for noise cancelling, seems like you’re not helping yourself in that situation. This was one of the seeling points for me, I can still hear the world around me while also listening to music that nobody else can hear.
– The sound quality is actually very good, that said you have to get the fit right to hear these earphone perform at their true potential. If you own a pair and the sound isn’t great it’s because you haven’t got them in right: wiggle them a bit, take them out and reinsert them, try the other size wingtips and if that fails look for more wingtips that fit your ears properly.
– they’re a comfort set of earphones, I wear mine all day at work and don’t feel any discomfort. This, again, is based on the wingtips, if you have a set in that are too large you will feel pain after an hour or so, you really do have to get the right sized wingtips to fully appreciate these earphones.
– They’re pretty attractive looking earphones, I really like the bean design. They’ve got a nice shine to them, the case is nice and compact, the beans aren’t massive so they almost disappear into you ear, overall a really cool bit of design by Samsung.
– The battery life is good, as I said I wear mine all day at work, pop them back in their case at night and they’re good to go for a other day. I generally charge the case once a week, on exceptional weeks twice but I charge them at night when I charge my phone so it’s not something that has ever been an inconvenience.
– They fit very securely once you’ve got the right sized wingtips: if the wingtips are too small they will fall out your ear as you move around, if they’re too large the beans might just spontaneously pop out of your ears. I honestly can overstate how important it is get the right sized wingtips, they’re the lynch pin of the whole package so if you’re having any fit, comfort or sound issues get some new wingtips.
– The supplied accessories are pretty good, the materials the wingtips are made out of is stiff enough to hold it’s shape but not so stiff that there isn’t a little give in it. Evidently the two different sized wingtips are fine for most people, but if you’re like me and have funny sized ears then you will need to find some alternatives, take heart though, there are plenty out there, there are also anti-slip sleeves and wingtips with the sleeves built in so you should be able to find some that fit and feel right for you.
If you’ve bought every variation of wingtip including the ones with the built-in anti slip sleeves and if you still can’t get the fit and feel right here’s what I did:
Step 1: buy an aftermarket pair that I knew beforehand would be too large.
Step 2: push some blue tack into the part of the ear that the wingtips go in to making an exact replica of the shape then carefully remove from the ear.
Step 3: gently stick the wingtips to the bottom of the bluetack making sure not to deform it.
Step 4: carefully cut around the bluetack with a modeling scalpel to replicate the shape (go bigger with the cuts rather than smaller as you can fine tune later if they’re sightly oversized).
Step 5: use a super fine grit disposable nail file to round off the edges, clean up the cut areas and fine tune the fit.
Step 6: enjoy the comfort, listen to some music and pat yourself on the back for a job well done.
Hey presto you got yourself a pair of wingtips that are a perfect fit for your ears only, from start to finish this whole process took me about 20 minutes to do both sides, it required minimal tools and effort, any one could do it, all you need is:
– wingtips to cut down (I suggest buying a pair made out of good quality silicone rather than cutting up the rubber ones that come included with your buds, to be fair this is more to do with fact i would rather have all the original accessories fully intact but if that’s not an issue for you then don’t worry about buying aftermarket ones)
– modelling scalpel with a fresh blade (if you have a Stanley knife or super sharp knife you could try using that but I would personally go with modelling scalpel for more precise cutting and ease of use)
– bluetack/white tack/modelling clay/moldable ear plugs, really anything you can comfortably press into the part of your ear the wingtips go in and will retain it’s shape when you remove it.
– fine grit disposable nail file/super fine grit sanding pad/wet and dry paper, make sure you go with 1000 plus grit, you don’t want to tear the living daylights out of your wingtips or sand off too much too quickly so the higher grit the better really, remember you can’t sand the material back on.
Final thoughts: I fell in love with my little ear beans, it took a couple of months but once I understood them and made the right sized wingtips I couldn’t be happier. If you’re looking for open earphones these are a strong contender, if you have small ear canals and struggle with in ear earphone these are well worth consideration.
Nice sound quality that has a decent sound stage and you can hear music and podcasts over the sound of pretty busy traffic and pedestrians. It’s pretty comfortable so you can wear it for hours on end and despite the weird design they don’t look weird nor do they protrude from your ears but nor do they fall out even if you jog with them. I’ve literally tilted my head 180 degrees and they stayed in.
Lastly you don’t stick these rights into your ear canal which is great as I do not like those ear buds and am hoping there are more alternatives like the galaxy ear buds coming in this space as the apple airpods are expensive.
I’ve also used them in light rain and they were fine.
The battery life has been fine and the charge case is really small so easy to put in your pocket
Lastly it was super easy to pair with my pixel. I haven’t used the app as I don’t want to sign my life away to Samsung with all the permissionns6 they want but it of the box is fine as is.
Cons:
The noise cancelling is non existent and basically false marketing. I don’t mind as I want to still hear my surroundings for safety as I walk but also be able to hear my audio content but they should not be advertising it as noise cancelling, as it makes no difference.
Overall I recommend if you want a decent pair of non apple earbuds with good sound quality that won’t break the bank and that you can wear hours on end without discomfort.
It takes a few days to work out where the buds should sit for best comfort, security and sound. Once you realise that the buds don’t need to be jammed down your ear holes to be secure, they’re actually really comfortable and you can often forget they’re in. My ears were definitely a bit sensitive for the first few days but stick with them! I’m not sure of it’s just because of my small ears, but even when the buds aren’t jammed into my ears and feel like they’re sitting precariously — they never fall out even if I shake my head. Kinda feels like they defy the laws of physics.
Sound is actually pretty good. Bass is significantly better than most earphones of this type, but only when set to dynamic in the settings.
Volume is sufficient but could be a little better. I generally have them at half volume for comfortable listening, with things like YouTube videos and livestreams. If I’m listening to music outdoors, they need to be 75% or above if you want any immersion. Anything above 50% does cause sound leakage though, so the people around you may hear headphone noise depending on what else is going on around you.
Battery has been great. I’m a very heavy user and haven’t been caught short yet. I do however use the Sony XM4 noise cancelling headphones every now and then if I want to lock out the world for things like Netflix, so this obviously allows the Buds Live to charge while I’m using them.
Touch controls are okay. I do miss the touch point fairly often, probably 20% of the time, but I dont ever get any incorrect taps (meaning tap twice but only registers once or vice versa)
These are also great if you use headphones in bed (if you’re pillow is soft enough). You can quite easily lay on one of the earphones for a short period of time without feeling any discomfort. Long periods of time may be different though.
Noise cancelling should always be left off. It’s pointless. Does it do something? Yes a little, but not to any degree that it’s worth a reduction in battery life. (edit – does actually increase base. Brings alot of the lows and middles ‘forward’ to mask more outside noise, increasing bass quality. Have started using for music occasionally)
I prefer to frame these headphones as headphones that immerse the sound into your world, rather than immersing you into the sound. Not all headphones need to isolate you from the world. If you can afford to, get these and a pair of good noise cancelling over the ear headphones like Sony Xm4/5 or Bose 700 and then you’ll have the best of both worlds.
In the diagrams and videos youre advised not to wear the buds without wingtips otherwise its supposed to be quite painful.
I found it to be the opposite! Using the wing tips and trying different sizes, they were all very painful. So i tried without, and it was actually a lot better and LESS painful. They fitted better and didnt pop out.
Im not confident to go out wearing these while walking though.
The sound quality is still really good, i think the pros do tip the scale very slightly with that but its a very subtle difference.
Noise cancellation wise i have to disagree with some other reviews, i actually thought it was quite good once youve got the buds securely on. Just make sure that youve turn the noise cancellation on, its not automatic. Ive found putting the wearable widget on my phones homescreen helps with turning the different audio settings on and off.
In conclusion, was the buds live as good as i had hoped? Sadly, no. I can see why they dropped this design when they introduced the buds pro. But i can see why some people may prefer them, based on the structure of their ears.
– Excellent sound quality for a non-sealed fit, with a surprising amount of bass and good volume.
– Solid connectivity to my iPhone XR.
– App is compatible with iOS so you can adjust sound profile (with EQ presets) and get firmware updates.
– Relatively low profile, don’t stick out of your ears too much, don’t interfere with caps/beanies.
– Wing tips ensure secure fit, never had them fall out, even when used on a run.
THE BAD
– If you have small ears like me, you may experience pain after about 30/40 minutes wearing these where the wing tip presses against the upper part of your concha. This experience will be highly variable between individuals so you’ll just need to try them to find out if it’s a problem for you. For me these are just a little too uncomfortable to perform as a daily driver earbud I can leave in for a few hours while out and about and forget about. Unfortunately I’ve missed the return window but will be selling these as the fit just doesn’t work for me unfortunately.
– Noise cancellation is weak, but you can’t expect much from this open design. I actually found if you have them seated properly it does make a difference to reducing any low level droning noises when I’m in the office.
CONCLUSION
As with many earbuds, these are excellent as long as the fit suits your ears AND you are looking for an open design. I liked everything about them but just couldn’t tolerate the fit. You may fare better though!
The audio quality is really good, just not initially (seemed to be about 45mins to an hour for them to bed in). To start with the treble was painful but that improved with use to a point where I really liked the sound. I sat on my bed listening to Tesseract’s Errai album. Once they bedded in the bass was punchy, the mids were warm and the high were soft but clear. Once I played with the app settings and the phones Dolby EQ I found a sound that was very much to my liking (honestly I was ready to put my aging Huawei AM61 into a drawer).
The fit is, well, it is comfortable but they don’t feel like they are secure. No amount of random head movements dislodge them. They are light weight. And generally nice to wear.
The following day I wore them on the walk to work. This was where the problem began. They leak sound, a lot. Walking along, I could hear my footsteps and traffic noise, the latter was drowning out the music. No worries, I shall enable the ANC. The bass got stronger but that was about it. I had to crank the volume up in an attempt to drown out the sounds. This highlighted that the top volume was way lower than the earphones they were to replace. But not loud enough to drown out the traffic noise.
Walking back from work I gave up with them, the wind noise was too much, again drowning out what I was listening too. My partner tried hers when she was hoovering her house and just gave up (she has yet to try the ANC for that, some people who use them report the ANC to be really good)
So I will be returning my pair. Which is a shame as these are the first buds that fit and down fall out.
My partner loves her pair. She tells me that the call clarity is great and that she got about 6 hours of music and calls on the first charge.
I am not slating these. I like my earphones to sound and behave in a particular way and these have the sound but not the rest.
Oh the touch controls are pretty good, once you have got where to tap/long press. But know that readjusting them tends to trigger them (the widget for the home screen is good for toggling touch controls on/off).
If you are watching a video, you’ll need to go to the settings and enable Game Mode or you’ll get horrendous sync issues.
I was using these with a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, my partner is using a Samsung Galaxy A52.
Honestly, these are great but are as leaky as a set of apple earpods.
Very important to recognise that these are OPEN earbuds, it sits just outside the ear canal, there is no spongy/rubbery ear tip that goes into the ear canal. Thus, inherently it has all the fundamental pros and cons associated with type of design. Your music will leak out and external noise will be seep in, plenty of it too. If you are looking for a earbuds that creates a seal in the ear canal, and provide maximum isolation and noise reduction, then stop reading now and go look at some other earbuds. But if like me, you can’t tolerate those in-ear earbuds, and looking for an alternative to the king of OPEN earbuds that is the Apple AirPod (regular ones, not Pro), then you are looking at potential winner here 🙂
The earbuds are made of smooth plastic with glossy finish. Looks premium. I got the mystic white, and it is two tone, white on the outside, but greyish on the inside. It is actually very slippery too. Be careful handling these when you are out and about. It is very well build, there is zero sharp edges, no creaking, no large gaps and very light too. Same high quality build applies to the charging case too and unfortunately the smooth slippery surface as well.
The fits. You got to give credit where it is due, and so, well done to Samsung R&D for being so creative, coming up such a unique “bean” design. It would have been so easy to make yet another AirPod lookalike. I have to admit, ears comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and I was skeptical that this bean shape will work well. But surprisingly, it did, well, kind of. On my right ear, the bean fit perfectly, there is some pressure, but not such that it causes any discomfort or pain, even after several hours. But on my left ear, it took me quite a long time and effort to position the earbud such that it doesn’t cause pain. I found that the wing tips needs to be precisely placed and adjusted into the “correctly” position to get the same level of comfort as my right ear. A video from Samsung on how to insert these earphone does give you a hint, but really, there is much trial and error to get it right. If between my left and right ears there seems to have different fit, I won’t be surprised that some people will find the fit to be perfect and while others might find painful. So, please buy these from somewhere with solid return/refund policiy 🙂
The sound, I am no audiophile, to me, these earbuds sounds really good, very good for OPEN earbuds. And yes, there is bass, the right amount of it. Something that often missing in most OPEN earbuds. The loudness is very good too, I have never needed to go beyond 50% volume, even when walking outdoor.
Now the ANC, lets be honest, knowing that this is an OPEN earbuds, you can’t seriously expect the ANC to be anywhere near as good as any half decent in-ear canal earbuds? Well, that’s right, ANC is next to useless. When outdoor, eg, on a busy street, definitely need to crank up the volume to drown out the external noise. I usually use these indoors and it is perfectly fine in this condition.
The app. With the galaxy wear app, you can apply various equaliser presets, on/off ANC, adjust the left/right loudness balance, switch the earbud bluetooth connection between devices, disable all touch controls (useful in certain situations), and limited touch control customization (more on this below).
Is there anything that needs improvement? Yes! The earbuds does NOT have a power-off feature. Unbelievable. The only way to turn it OFF, is to put them into the charging case. If you don’t have your case with you, too bad, the earbuds battery is just draining away, even if you are not using them. The absence of power-off feature is ridiculous, what was Samsung thinking? Another thing, there is lack of customisation on the touch controls. The only customizable touch is the “touch and hold” feature, where you have the option of either volume control or anc control or bixby control. All other touch e.g single/double/triple are not customizable. I have had cheaper wireless earbuds with more touch customisation options than this! And last complaint, you cannot buy a spare charging case. Yup, no spare case for sale, at all. Why? Samsung. Why? Considering how much the earbuds relies on the charging case, you would think it makes sense to sell some as spares, no?
All in all, I do like these Galaxy Buds Live very much. Samsung did an excellent job here, in R&D and realising a totally unique product that works well. Sure, it is not perfect and there some questionable decision about certain missing features, but that takes nothing away from the fact that this 100% represents “open earbuds redefined”. A game changer. I look forward to see what the next generation will bring.
Edit 25Oct21: After spending more time with these, here is a couple of new observations,
1) the bluetooth range is not great. In a small two storey 3 bed house, the bluetooth connection unable to cope between the two farthest points in the house.
2) due to lack of OFF function, the earbuds battery discharges at a rate of 12% per hour when outside of the charging case without any media playing.
Edit 06Nov2021:
Had these more than a month now, almost daily either listening to radio broadcast, or music via spotify or watching videos on netflix/prime/disney+, I have made a couple of new observations,
1) sound profile, especially the bass output, the “openess” of sound stage and dynamic response, seems to be greatly improve, if the ANC feature is enabled OR if the “Relieve pressure with ambient sound” feature is enabled (found in Earbud setting->Labs section of Samsung Wear app). Strange that we have to enable one of those features just to get a “better” sound.
2) The “Relieve pressure with ambient sound” feature causes a strange occasionally problem where the sound will fade out (soften) for a second or two, then goes back to normal. This only happens when I am watching videos on Prime Video. And only seems to be occur on specific points in certain videos. When the problem starts to manifest, I rewind the video and the problem reoccur at the exact same point. And if I turn OFF and then turn ON the “Relieve pressure” feature, and rerun the video, the problem goes away. It is as if the “Relieve pressure” feature is responding to certain audio mix coming from the video and glitches out. And it continues to glitch, until the “Relieve pressure” feature gets reset by toggling it OFF and then ON again. And why only Prime Video? I never encountered any issues on other video streaming service, e.g iPlayer, Netflix, Disney, etc.
Definitely something “buggy” going on with these earbuds. The significant improvement in sound with the ANC or the “Relieve pressure”, makes it impossible to go back to the “normal” sound without these features. But both features have downsides. For sure, I will never use ANC, solely because it is ineffective and reduces battery life. And so, I am forced to use the “Relieve pressure” feature, and avoid Prime Video 🙁
While non of these new observations is a deal breaker, I am slightly disappointed that it escapes Samsung QA. Also I hope it is something that Samsung is aware of, and even better if it something they can fix via software update.
Edit 13Nov2021:
Finally worked out why the sound was fading in and out! Nothing to do with the earbuds. It was the Dolby Atmos feature on my Samsung Tablet. Disabled the Dolby Atmos on the tablet and the sound is perfect now!
Pro’s:
Great sound quality
Lovely fit without being invasive like some earphones
Wireless charging
Price (at circa 80)
Excellent for phone calls.
Bluetooth Connection
Controls easy to use
Cons:
Noise cancellation is at best poor
Not sure of there suitability for sport due to fit and IP rating
Firstly i own and have owned multiple sets of headphones from Earfun, Bose, Jabra to name a few. For this review i am comparing the Samsungs to the Bose QC 35 Mk2 and the Jabra active 65T, both of which i use regularly.
Right of the bat if noise cancellation is a priority look elsewhere, at best the ANC on the Samsungs is marginal and at worst virtually non existent. The fit, i think will also divide opinion. Personally i love the fit on these earphones, they sit in the outer ear and rest there without needing to be squeezed into the ear canal. Initially i found it unsettling but have worn them for a while on walks they stay in place just fine, i am not convinced this would be the case however if you want them for rigourous exercise.
Sound quality is excellent, i would say overall it is smooth which is great for both music and podcasts, they are not the most detailed of earphones but strike a good balance and they would be easy to use for long listening periods. They are much better than the Jabra 65T, to be honest there is no contest and only slightly behind the Bose QC35 which in itself is excellent given the price point.
This sound quality extends to calls where people could hear me clearly and i had no trouble using them for extended conference calls.
Onto their weaknesses, ANC is poor and i think a lot of this is down to the fit and there shape both the Bose and Jabra i mention are better here by some margin even though the Jabra’s dont have ANC, just their tight fit blocks out more noise. For ANC the Bose are clear winners. At their full price i would probably mark the Samsung’s down for this but at 80 there are many more positives than negatives.
Summary:
I doubt at the price point of 80 these can be bettered for sound quality, fit, finish and convenience, i am really impressed. For this review i am using them with a galaxy S20 and you need to download the wearable app to fully utilise the settings and capabilities. For now i will be using the Jabra active 65T for my running and the Samsungs for pretty much everything else. Ultimately in this test the best headphones are the Bose QC35 MK2 but these cost me 280 so is hardly a fair comparison but when ANC is important (travelling, flights etc) i will be using these.
Some years back I spoiled myself with a lovely set of B&O H9i headphones, lovely pair of quality noise cancelling headphones if you have around 300 to blow, I snagged mine on sale when they first came out, I think they’ll set you back about 280 now, well worth every penny in my opinion . Anyway, back to what I bought today and you want to know more about.
Let’s talk about the new Samsung Galaxy Buds Live. OK ok… I’m not one to join the “gotta have the latest in technology” hype but I did. I’ve been wanting a set of ear buds for some time that are easy to connect, wireless and came within a fraction to the sound quality of my fancy pancy B&O headsets without the cumbersome problem of toting around a full headset. Let’s face it, my handbag is already big enough to carry the kitchen sink so to find another one that could accommodate my headphones too will just give hubby something else to moan about, this is where this little gems come into the picture. Let’s talk about the pros and cons shall we? After all that’s what you want to know instead of me harping on about my martial problems.
Just so you know what I’m hooking these things up to for ease and sound quality, I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus and hubby has a Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, he has to have a better gadget than me even though he has no idea how the damn thing works, I have to help him set everything up on it… Grrr
Connection.:
Blow me down! Flaming easy as pie but make sure you have the “wearable” app installed if you don’t already, I have a Samsung watch already connected so all I did was made sure the app was updated. Open and close the tiny charging case and va-la, it’s connected 10-10 for connecting. Once connected via Bluetooth re-connecting is way too simple, just open the case and they automatically connect, ready to use and play my music where I left off. If hubby can connect these without my help then they are dead easy to set-up!
ANC:
Open the “Wearable” app and sound adjustment is there for you to fiddle with, although basic it’s effective enough. This is where you’ll also find the elusive ANC. With noise cancelling there’s only a slight change, no where near my B&O ability to drown out my husbands voice along with the mutts constant barking but at least with these I’ll hear the lorry bearing down on me when I’m out and about walking so that’s a plus! Thanks Samsung, you may save my life with a less than effective ANC in the real world. On the other hand they were OK for drowning out common noise, simple background noise, telly and normal talking at higher volumes. With that said you’ll never get a good noise cancelling with ear buds, only a good quality headset will deliver on that so I give these a 8-10 for ANC for earbuds and not comparing them to headphones
Design:
Cute tiny things, very discreet and strangely comfortable to wear for long periods. I have the bronze colour and hubby has the black ones, lovely colour choices and look expensive. Matching cases too but I think the buds weigh more than the cheap feeling plastic case. I was surprised at the size of the damn case! Hell! Have Samsung no idea how big my bag is? I’ll loose the thing with one toss in my bag. Saying that it’s a perfect size to slip in your jeans pocket but if your like me and have added a stone or two since lockdown then you’re wearing joggers or leggings with no pockets, so I guess it’s back to trusty Amazon to search for a protection case with a hook thingy attachment and to protect the cheap feeling case itself. I’m giving a 10-10 for the earbuds but a 5-10 for the case, for the price we paid I would have expected a bit better quality case.
Sound:
I’m quite impressed with the sound banging out of these. They don’t sound “tinny”. Bass is good. Again compared to my B&O’s they come close, they are AKG’s with that said. Strong enough bass, loud enough and just a little distortion at high volume but nothing to bitch about. For earbuds I’m impressed. I use to love the Apple wired earpods, nothing held a candle to them but with Apples wireless ones, I always thought people looked silly having a white tube hanging from their lugs so they didn’t interest me. Samsung have up their game with these. I’m loving the sound quality with a wide range of genres of music I’m listening to.
Sound 9-10
Phone Calls:
Made a few calls using the earbuds. Seamless call connection and they sound perfect. I can’t tell the difference with sound quality between using just your phone or if you’re speaking through the earbuds. Well done Samsung on that! I’ve said “OK Google” whilst listening to music and she popped up ready to complete my request so no problem there.
10-10 for calls and speaker/ mic quality
Overall I’m impressed! Are they worth the full price I paid of 179? Probably not but as I’m not just paying for the earbuds, I’m paying for research, the materials, everyone involved in production, updates, delivering and so on, I get the price so I guess it’s fair and they are 40 cheaper than Apple’s earpods. I would expect to pay around 140-160, the lower price being on sale and the higher price being at full price. I was happy to fork over my hard earned brass at 179. so I’ll quit my bitching on that subject. Seeing I’ve been working the entire time during lockdown and haven’t been able to go anywhere to spend my money, I spoiled myself with these. I’ll let you decide.
Would I recommend them? Probably but with so many choices of earbuds I think it’s a personal preference. Why didn’t I choose B&O earbuds you ask? Price… These were about half the cost with probably the same sound quality. Again with all said these are earbuds so the sound quality will never match headphones but come damn close. I’m satisfied with my purchase. I think they are great to use with my phone and are low profile so I don’t look stupid or rude in public wearing them.
I’ll give these a 9-10 as the case let’s them down.
One last thing, if you’ve opened “developer options” on your Samsung phone as I’ve done, turn it off as it affects the volume output. I was a bit upset that the output of sound was about 2/3 of hubby’s. I paired my buds up to his phone and realised it was my phone, switched off developer options and I now received full volume. If you have no idea what I’m talking about then don’t worry, your volume should be fine.
Update: After reading reviews about a “fake” products being received I want to assure you that mine are 100% genuine as I had to register them on the Samsung website in order to receive my free charging pad. I’m wondering if they are ordering from the “other” sellers listed below Amazon’s bit?
Still enjoying my earbuds… drowning out the barking mutts and hubby moaning that’s there’s only re-runs on telly!