The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are sleeker then their predecessor, and still sport the same battery life. While also being a lot more comfortable to wear. So should you upgrade to the new Galaxy Buds 2 Pro? Find out in our full review of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro.
Design is very similar to the Galaxy Buds 2
The design of the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro is actually very similar to the Galaxy Buds 2 that cam out last year. Mixed with some design cues from the original Galaxy Buds Pro. That’s not a bad thing. As it means that Samsung has sort of settled on a design language for its earbuds. Instead of changing it up every time. Who remembers the Galaxy Buds Live? Yeah that design didn’t last long. Like most other Samsung earbuds, the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro come in a clamshell case, that is finished with a nice satin finish. Which should lead to less scratches on the case. And it just overall looks better. Samsung provided us with the white color, which generally gets scratched up a lot quicker. But so far, no damage at all to the case here. The buds themselves are also finished in the same satin texture, which does look really nice, and also makes it easier to pull them out of your ears. That’s important, because these are fairly small earbuds, and sit somewhat deep in your ears. They are already sort of hard to pull out, so the textured finish makes that a bit easier. Samsung does provide a few different eartips in the box for the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, and there is also a USB-C to USB-C cable in the box. Like their phones, there’s no wall charger in the box here. That’s not a big deal, since they can be charged wirelessly or using the same charger that your phone uses. So it’s pretty easy to charge.
Impressive sound quality
The sound quality here from the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro is actually really good. It’s pretty much what you’d expect from Samsung, with some pretty deep bass, and crystal clear mids and highs. I did opt to use the Bass Boost EQ preset here, and that’s because a lot of the music I listen to is pretty bass heavy. So it just sounds better with that preset. Remember, the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro also have active noise cancellation or ANC. So you’re going to get some really good noise cancellation here, and it does a good job. Because these earbuds fill your ears anyways, it is pretty easy for them to block out all of the sounds around you. Allowing you to immerse yourself in your music. I’ve used a number of earbuds with ANC, like the many Sony earbuds, and even the AirPods Pro, and the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro do a really good job with ANC. They are right up there with the AirPods Pro actually.
There’s also Ambient Sound, which was on by default for me. This basically allows you to hear what’s going on around you, using the mics on the earbuds. This is actually how I prefer to listen to music. Especially if I’m out for a walk, or something like that. As it allows me to hear when people are coming up behind me, cars approaching and so forth. Samsung offers 24-bit audio support on the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, but it’s only available on Samsung phones. That’s thanks to the new Samsung Seamless Codec. If you’re not using the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro with a Samsung smartphone, then you won’t really notice the different in the higher-bitrate here.
Battery life is pretty good, despite its smaller size
Despite the smaller size, the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro has the same size battery as the Galaxy Buds Pro and Buds 2. And battery life is rated as the same. Samsung says that the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro can get five hours of continuous playback with ANC on and 8 hours with it off. In our experience, with Ambient Sound on (so kind of a hybrid between the two), we were able to get almost six hours of usage. However, it’s pretty rare that I keep a pair of earbuds in my ears for that long. If I’m on a plane, I’m going to use my Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones, so earbuds are mostly for meetings over Zoom or Google Meet, listening to music on a walk and such. Typically not much longer than two hours at a time. So the battery life here is adequate.
The carrying case is rated at 29 hours. Which is about 5-6 full charges of the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. Because of that, we only had to charge the case once over the two weeks that I’ve had the Buds. I didn’t actually time how long the Buds 2 Pro lasted before the case needed charging, but it was likely around 28-30 hours of playback.
Other features on the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro
Before we wrap up this review, let’s touch on some of the other features on the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. Samsung has the Earbud Fit Test here again in the Galaxy Wearable app. Just tap on it to start the test and it’ll take a few seconds to see if the fit is right. It’s not actually new for the Buds 2 Pro, but it has been improved.
Samsung also has a voice detect feature on the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. This allows the buds to go ahead and lower the volume and turn on transparency mode when they detect your voice. So you can have conversations with people without removing your earbuds. It’s a somewhat small feature, though it’s really useful on a flight, but nice to see here. You can still tap on the earbuds to do things like play or pause what’s playing, change the volume and such. I’ve found these features to be a bit finnicky on other earbuds. On my AirPods Pro, sometimes touching them to readjust them in my ears will pause my music. But that’s not the case on the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. Typically, you need to intentionally tap the buds to pause or play your music. Probably the biggest issue with the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro is the lack of Bluetooth multipoint. This is a feature that allows you to easily switch your buds between devices. It’s not a dealbreaker for most people, since really only the Pixel Buds Pro have this feature. But it does make it easier to switch between Samsung devices if you are heavily invested in their ecosystem.
Should you buy the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro?
Yes, you should. The only caveat here would be if you have the Galaxy Buds 2 or Galaxy Buds Pro. Or if you don’t have a Samsung phone – then the Pixel Buds Pro or the Sony WF-1000xM4 earbuds are the better option. The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro is a really good package, even at this higher price of $229, it’s hard to find a pair of “pro” earbuds at this price that offer more features.
