These just got announced earlier today. Samsung’s aiming at a proper AirPods Pro competitor at $200 USD. While TWS IEMs aren’t discussed much around here, the Galaxy Buds line has been well-regarded for being well-tuned by Crinacle and others.
Sound-wise, it uses a two dynamic driver design similar in some respect to the Buds +, but the Pro’s drivers are much larger. There is also a vent, presumably for comfort and soundstage.
In addition to that, the important additions are several full ANC modes, a redesigned shell that fits into the ear further and more snugly, full IPX7 water resistance, and better call microphones that are more resistant to wind noise.
There’s some other features that are specific to Galaxy devices, which don’t interest me because I’m not in that ecosystem.
Personally, I’m pretty excited for them and already ordered a pair. Even though I have audio setups that plenty of people might consider “endgame,” I still use my Buds+ more than all of them combined because they’re so convenient AND because they’re absolutely no slouch when it comes to sound quality. Wires are a no-go for me when I’m exercising, and I’m definitely not exercising with anything expensive on my head!
I will make sure to review them here once I get them and have some time with them. I’ll focus on sound quality because I’m sure that’s the concern for most people here.
I got my Pros in today. I’ve only had a chance to set them up and use them for 20 minutes before heading out to exercise with them.
However, what I heard was immediately clear and apparent: When it comes to sound quality, the Pros are on a totally different level than the Buds+. The jump is larger than what I was expecting.
What stood out to me immediately are bass and soundstage. The Pros have plenty of both, where the Buds+ had no soundstage and were really light on bass.
The soundstage surprised me the most at first, by far. I need to investigate this a lot more, but if I actually said my honest first impression with soundstage, everyone would think I’m a Samsung shill.
I did want to leave some quick impressions now before I give some detailed impressions in a few days. There could be drawbacks and issues with the Buds Pro sound that I haven’t caught yet. But, what I heard was so easily apparent that I couldn’t help but share!
Thanks for providing some information regarding the soundstage, that cleared the only question I had remaining after I saw crin’s review. Just ordered mine, should have them tomorrow.
Alright, just got mine, only got a couple of hours on them at the gym.
First impressions, these are really good, to me they sound noticeable better than the original Buds, more spacious and the highs are also more realistic. Best TWS I’ve heard so far and I think other than the Fiio UTWS3 paired with your favorite buds, this is the next best choice for a compact solution.
Now to the things I don’t like, the short nozzle and proprietary keyed oval ear tips is some next level bulls*t, I get better sound with other tips but due to the nozzle type they barely stay in place. Had to fish half a dozen eartips out of my ears so far.
Bass is good, detailed and plenty. Elevated, fun signature that digs deep and doesn’t seem muddy. I just wish it was a bit more liquid, sounds a bit dry and clinical to me. The different drum toms don’t have quite the nuances and dreamy atmosphere you get on something like Sony N3, Fiio FH5 or Final E4000/5000.
Mids are decent, not recessed with good balance between male and female, but there is some heavy elevation in the lower treble area that makes them sibilant and tiring. I see that crin gave them A+ for their tone grade and I strongly disagree with that. I much prefer the tonality on something like E4000, Sony N3, FH3 or even Blon 03. These sound way too sharp and tiring. Hopefully they get smoother with some burn in or someone comes up with some aftermarket tips.
Soundstage is noticeable better than the original Buds but nothing exceptional. I would say is about average amongst all my IEMs.
All in all it’s a very good TWS set, maybe the best yet but to my ears it’s not better than similarly priced wired IEMs like H40, N3 or even FH3.
These are also quite sharp and tiring to my ears, currently letting them burn-in to see if that brings down the brightness a bit. You’ll probably have to use EQ with these too if you thought Plus was bright.
Yeah, I have the original buds, they dont feel detailed or something.
The music just somehow feels a little bright even though they have relatively good low end.
But if the soundstage is at least average, this became along with its new features (like ANC and allegedly better transparency mode in windy conditions) a really good TWS solution …at least from my point of view.
Very well described, it feels bright despite the elevated low end. The “ssss” sibilant is always present even if I lower the upper range in EQ.
After playing with different ear-tips, none which will stay put on that nozzle, I got the most amazing results with the SpinFits CP240, they cut the “ssss” completely bringing the vocals almost to the levels of E4000 smoothness while keeping the details. THIS is what the Buds Pro should have been! It’s such a huge difference that I’m thinking to glue the tips in place. Someone should come up with some aftermarket tips that fit these nozzles fast.
I’m surprised AKG engineers would overlook such an obvious issue. Maybe I have weird ear canals. I’m curious to hear more impressions on these, see if other people have the same issue with brightness on these.
Summary: These are easily the best TWS IEMs out there. They are resolving and technically capable enough that the qualifier “for a TWS” is no longer applicable. These are just great IEMs, period. These beat out every single IEM I own that costs less than $500 and have made me seriously consider selling ones that are more than that.
Earler last year, I tried nearly a dozen different sets of TWS IEMS. Most were utter trash. The AirPods were notable for their ANC, but otherwise sounded like they cost $30. The Sony WFwhatevers sounded quite good, although they were too bloated in the low end and they were a pain in the neck to use. Only the Galaxy Buds+ stood out to me. They were thin in the bass and had zero soundstage, but they presented plenty of detail rather nicely, and they were convenient. That’s why they got so much use and why I was so excited to get a pair at launch.
The Buds Pro surprised me. These are just stellar all around, with the fit and the incompatibility with some devices being the only big issues.
The bass is the standout addition here aside from the soundstage. The Pros punch, they slam, they have sub-bass, and they emphasize everything with authority. They present a vast amount of bass extremely tastefully, which is in sharp contrast to other TWS like the AirPods or Sony WFwhatevers, which serve up an overload of unfocused low-end. The focus here is more on mid-bass than sub-bass, which I prefer. Acoustic guitars in particular sound divine. The drivers in the Buds Pro are controlled extremely well. Several bassy elements can be going off at the same time, and everything still stays clear and precise as to what the instruments are and what they are doing.
The other noteworthy thing about these to me is that they are detail monsters. Instrument locations stay separate and distinct even in ridiculously busy songs. Here’s how good these are: Since I got my Unique Melody MEST a few months ago, there’s a list of ten tracks that I’ve ran through about a dozen times since then. On my first run through that list with these, I counted five new details I hadn’t heard before on ANYTHING aside from these. I was blown away the first time, and then it kept happening!
I was planning on writing a bigger review, but I’d end up repeating what Crinacle said in his review mostly, and I’m not a pro or anything. I agree with nearly everrything he says regarding sound quality here. These are being held back by Bluetooth for sure, and I’d be REALLY curious what a wired version of these could do, because the tuning and the control being exerted on the two drivers in these astounds me.
I would add that the “Dynamic” equalizer setting sounded the best to me. In addition to adding just a little extra flavor to the lows and highs, it reduced some of the “compressed” sound to my ears.
I’m baffled as to why he didn’t mention soundstage. I mean, everyone’s ears are different and all, but the soundstage and imaging I’ve heard so far has been stellar. Purely when it comes to soundstage, the Buds Pro offer like 75% of what the Unique Melody MEST does. While it can go further out or closer in when necessary, most sound that I hear from these floats a couple of inches away from my ears, which is really impressive. It just helps give these Buds this extra enormity to everything being played. Of course, soundstage is really tricky in IEMs and pretty subjective too.
There are a couple of downsides though. The timbre could be a little better at times on some cymbals, and the dynamics can fall a little short when compared to good wired IEMs. Ocasionally, female vocals sounded a little more processed than they should be.
The biggest downside to me is the fit. They managed to give these buds a low profile outside the ear, but they do that by stuffing a lot of that into a larger than normal enclosure that can lay uncomfortably outside the ear canal.
All in all, I had zero expectation before I got these, and only got them on the off chance that they would sound a little better than my Buds+ while I’m in the gym for several hours a week. Now, I’m pondering selling off a good majority of my IEM collection.
It definitely isn’t as severe as the Buds+, although these still tend towards being a little bright, which I find to be necessary for the higher registers. The Buds Pro are a lot more comfortable at higher volumes than the Buds+ were.
If you liked the low end on the orignal Buds, you will adore these.
Also, the ANC is pretty solid. It blocks out the low-end quite effectively with zero music and is less effective on the high-end, although if you’re listening to music while ANC is on, it will cancel out the high end too. The wind cancellation is noticeably better too. It doesn’t do miracles but there is a really solid reduction there.
I haven’t had any sibilance issues with my Pros, none whatsoever. I mean, they’re not overly bright like the Buds+ were at times, and these certainly aren’t dark. It could be unit variance, maybe? I even tested a couple of tracks that are quite sibilant just to see, and didn’t have an issue.
Either way, I’m happy you’re hearing what I’ve been hearing now!
The proprietary tip issue is pretty annoying for sure. My guess is they did it to maximize contact with the ear canal to keep the Buds in. Apparently Samsung got too many complaints about the ridges on the Buds+, which was too bad because those were perfect to me. And yes, we do need some aftermarket tips pretty badly.
There is something weird going on with my ear canals then cause these are without a doubt sibilant to me with the default tips. Strange cause in general the majority of other IEM opinions align with mine. I doubt it’s unit variance from one of the most experienced manufacturers of mass produced high tech products, at least not two separate drivers experiencing an identical issue. A shame cause even with the sibilance issue these are still an amazing set, I can only imagine how great these are for the people who don’t have this problem.
Mine are coming tomorrow, I have several pairs of IEMs around this price rage. I usually listen through Fiio BTR5. Curious how these will stack up, I’ll post my impressions soon.
Hello. I have a huge dilemma before me. There are a lot of rave reviews about Galaxy Buds Pro and the fact that they replace many headphones up to $ 500. I choose headphones for myself and most of all I incline my choice to Fiio FH3. I received my It00s a week ago and was impressed with their bass quality and overall tonality. But I lacked the quality of high frequencies and there was an imbalance in the channels. I had to return them to the seller. Many here on the forum call FH3 improved version it00, with better mid and high, so I want to buy them. But more than once I hear about the Buds (Buds Pro), how good they are. Buds Pro are better than FH3?
I have both. FH3 is in another league from Galaxy Bud Pro. Sound is much better on FH3, and almost equally important the comfort is much higher. The new galaxy buds had a very unfortunate fit, me or my girlfriend could not get comfortable with it no matter which tip or position we tried to wear it. It’s just not worth it when there is better out there, unless you MUST have wireless.
