Galaxy Buds Pro: Rich sound and great voice clarity

Like with phones it seems that manufacturers are now on an annual cycle for refreshes of audio gadgets as well — at least for premium consumer grade gear that can be paired with their new phones. The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro is the fourth iteration in the truly wireless in-ear headphones from Samsung. Surprisingly, when one thinks what could be next on offer, they have managed to come up with new stuff for each generation of the Buds so far.

The Buds Pro, which is what it’s called this year, is a totally new design. Thankfully, Samsung dropped the kidney-bean shape of the previous gen and went back to the classic shape but with an improved fit. For my ears, the Buds Pro has been an excellent fit. The new design is super comfortable and a very good fit. I manage to wear these for hours on end with no fatigue.

The case is very similar looking to the Buds Live’s. The insides are adjusted for the new design but not much else has changed on the case. It does support wireless charging, and placing it on the back of an S21+ provides enough battery boost to keep it going.

The buds design now features an air-vent that ensures no strange pressure feeling, specially when using noise cancellation. Two-way speakers with bigger drivers deliver a big sound and the new dual microphone provides for superior voice clarity as well. There’s also a microphone mesh that eliminates wind sound to quite an extent. Taking calls indoors or outdoors you will get very good call clarity in most environments.

As in previous editions, the “Sound by AKG” means that you are going to get great sound and the Bud Pro does not disappoint in that area. Very rich sound and for those who like the extra bass, these pack quite a punch. They sound great and when you add the equaliser from the app you can tweak the sound to your personal tastes as needed. I usually settle for “dynamic” as I find it works very well, both for music and voice.

The big change, of course, in the Buds Pro is that it now also includes active noise cancellation. And you can actually control the levels of noise-cancellation. From high for very noisy areas like a bus or train station and low for quiet areas like a library or your workstation sounds can be muted and cut off all-together. Samsung has also introduced intelligent noise-cancellation. You can set the Buds Pro to respond to your voice and switch to ambient mode the moment you speak. And then once your conversation is over it would just go back to whatever you were listening to. Works quite seamlessly. You can happily avoid having to take the buds out of your ears every time you need to respond to someone.

For ambient sound, you can also control how much of the environment you want to let in. There are four settings from Low to Extra High, and if that is not enough you can convert them to hearing aid-like performance by going into the advanced settings on the app and selecting “hearing enhancements”. You’d be amazed at the sounds that it can pick up.

Another change on the sound is the introduction of 360° audio. When you listen to content that supports it (Dolby Atmos) the experience is quite interesting. It actually makes you turn around or move left or right in the direction of the sound. Uncanny and immersive at the same time. I tested with several YouTube videos and with Netflix and Prime and it was quite enjoyable watching movies and shows.

As with previous Buds, this version works best with a Samsung device, specially one of the new phones like the Galaxy S21 series. You get the Apple Air Pods-like animation when you take them out of the case and put them on and battery consumption percentages shown for each bud as well as the case. On Android, it requires the Galaxy Wearable app to control and manage the buds including for firmware updates and setting up some of the features. Interestingly, the Buds Pro is not yet supported on the Galaxy Wearable app on iOS but the Buds does work well just paired normally as Bluetooth headphones.

Some things are common with previous editions: the Buds come with three different ear tips but not with wing tips, and getting a good seal and fit should not be too much of an issue for most users. The water-proofing seems to have been enhanced to an IP7 rating, the highest among all Galaxy buds, though I am not about to go swimming with them on anytime soon.

Price: ₹15,999 (with some discounts)

Pros: Great for calls, music and podcasts, excellent ANC, Intelligent ANC is a bonus

Cons: Case a little large, No iOS app