At Samsung’s Unpacked 2022 event, an exciting slew of Galaxy products has just dropped into our laps. The company’s brand new noise-canceling earbuds, the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro, are top of our list, followed by the Samsung Galaxy Flip4 and Samsung Galaxy Fold4 smartphones, plus the Samsung Galaxy Watch5.
– Hi-res 24-bit end-to-end audio support
– IPX7 waterproof-rating
– 10mm woofer and 5.4mm tweeter two-way driver design
– Smarter noise-cancelation with Voice Detect
– Bluetooth 5.3 with Bluetooth LE audio
– Disappointing battery life
As Samsung’s flagship earbuds, the new Buds2 Pro are looking to take on Apple, Sennheiser, Sony et al to become the best wireless earbuds out there, boasting a whole suite of advanced upgrades over the original Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro.
Of course, this means the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro will aim to steal the crown currently being worn by the Apple AirPods Pro, aka the noise-cancelling earbuds to beat in today’s heavily-saturated market.
To this end, several features on Samsung’s spec-sheet are near carbon copies of those you’ll find in the AirPods Pro, including ‘360 Audio’ (which is Samsung’s stab at Spatial Audio, as served up by the AirPods Pro) and auto-switching between devices, but Samsung hasn’t just aimed to emulate here; the tech giant has gone one better and beaten Apple’s current Pro earbud proposition in certain areas – so we’ll explain all the juicy features here.
We’ll bring you our full review of the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro very soon, but based on the information Samsung has now released, these latest Pro-suffixed buds are aiming high.
Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro: price and release date
The Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro cost $230 / £219 / AU$349, and are available to order now.
At one cent under $230, Samsung is undercutting the official price of the Apple AirPods Pro, wherever you live. AirPods Pro carry an official price of $249 / £239 / AU$399 – however, these days you can regularly find them for $199 / £189 / AU$349, so the Buds2 Pro don’t have such an advantage in practice.
It’s the same story with the Sony WF-1000XM4 and Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, both of which are officially priced higher than the Samsung Buds2 Pro, but in practice can be found for cheaper than its launch price.
The inaugural Galaxy Buds Pro arrived in January 2021 priced at $199 / £219 / AU$349, so there is a small price hike to pay over the original Galaxy Buds Pro to nab a second-gen. set. Will it be worth it? As soon as we know, so shall you…
Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro: features
The headline-grabber on the Galaxy Buds2 Pro spec-sheet is end-to-end 24-bit music support when used with compatible Samsung devices – aka hi-res music territory. This is all thanks to Bluetooth 5.3 and a new ‘Samsung Seamless Codec’.
Although the full extent of this codec’s talents are still somewhat shrouded in mystery, we do know that Samsung’s pre-existing Scalable Codec is capable of handling 24-bit/96kHz audio streaming, with bitrates of up to 512kbps, so that’s what this new standard is building on. As such, Tidal and Apple Music‘s lossless offerings (streams which can’t be enjoyed in full resolution on any AirPods so far) can in theory be enjoyed on Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro – leaving the Apple-ensconced hoping and praying that the AirPods Pro 2 will add similar support… whenever they arrive.
Elsewhere, autoswitching between different Samsung devices you’re signed into is still supported, but it now includes your Samsung TV and Galaxy Book models. (Yes, this should work in much the same way as switching your AirPods over to your Apple TV 4K does.)
As Pro-suffixed earbuds, you can bet that ANC is onboard, and although we don’t yet know if the three-mic setup on each Galaxy Buds2 Pro earpiece will promote better noise cancelation, ANC is certainly a feature here. And we are happy to see that a great concept from the original Galaxy Buds Pro has been retained: Voice Detect. Start speaking to someone, and the earbuds will automatically switch to Ambient mode – no need to manually deploy it when striking up a conversation (or ordering food, say).
Any disappointments? One: battery life. At five hours from the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro earbuds alone with ANC on, and 18 hours in total including juice from the case, they’re not breaking any records here.
The AirPods Pro officially offer 4.5 hours in the earbuds on a full charge (although we’ve found this claim a little bashful from Apple) but the AirPods Pro give you 24 hours including the case, which is a major six-hour improvement over the stamina you can expect from the Galaxy Buds2 Pro – and few things are more annoying than slipping your earbuds into their case for a charge and realizing you’ll be without music for this particular journey…
Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro: design
The Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro are 15% smaller than the original Galaxy Buds Pro, which should make them more comfortable over longer periods of time – and initially, TechRadar’s Matt Evans reported nothing but good things regarding the fit and comfort levels when he was able to try them on.
There’s also a new vent within the unit to improve airflow and reduce pressure. Of course, we’ll test all of this under full review conditions and report back on it soon.
Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro feature a two-way speaker design, comprising a 10mm woofer and 5.4mm tweeter. It’s rare in true wireless earbuds, although Bowers & Wilkins PI7 and Honor Earbuds 3 Pro each featured two-way designs – and both of these solutions sounded excellent under intense review.
IPX7 waterproofing is listed too, blowing the AirPods Pro clean out of the water with their ‘commonplace’ IPX4 splash-proof rating. To clarify: IPX7 means that the earbuds can actually be submerged in water at a depth of up to one meter, for up to 30 minutes, and live to play another day… impressive, although we should note that the inaugural Galaxy Buds Pro carried this same IPX7 rating.
Colorways? Three, including black, white and bora purple.
Again, we truly want you to know whether the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro are about to become some of the best noise-canceling earbuds you can buy – and when we’ve come to our verdict on that, we can’t wait to tell you all about it.