Two things can be true at the same time. Yes, Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have the most derivative design of the company’s earbuds. Aside from the gimmicky LED strip, there’s nothing particularly original or eye-catching about the stemmed exterior. But the $249.99 Buds 3 Pro are also the best-sounding and most sophisticated earbuds Samsung has made. The sound quality is on par with some of my favorite wireless earbuds, like Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 4 and Technics AZ80. The Buds 3 Pro also includes some really useful voice commands that don’t require you to say a wake phrase beforehand.
That’s a great start, but its potential is stifled by clumsy design decisions, a lack of multipoint connectivity, and active noise cancellation that’s more than adequate at this $250 price. Samsung also had to pause shipments of these earbuds over the summer to address quality control issues after early buyers easily broke the silicone ear tips. I never had any such issues with my review pair, but the Buds 3 Pro are now widely available again.
Samsung’s latest earphones don’t come in fun colors like the Bora Purple Buds 2 Pro. The options are white (although the AirPods-like resemblance is a little creepy) or gunmetal gray. Samsung tried to create visual distance between these earphones and the AirPods by going with a more angular stem and adding a see-through lid to the charging case. And it has a white LED that lights up when you squeeze both stems when the bud is out of your ear.
Of course, you won’t see this touch of flair when wearing it, but others will. Lights can be set to stay on or have a pulsing effect, but LEDs can’t do it Displays useful information such as the remaining battery level for each earbud. That seems like the most obvious purpose of these, and yet… no! At least the light will turn on when you’re trying to find your Buds 3 Pro using Samsung’s Find My feature.
The move to a stemmed design may feel like Samsung’s late addition, but more importantly, it results in a more secure and stable in-ear fit. The Buds 3 Pro are extremely comfortable and can be worn all day at the office without causing ear fatigue. The voice call performance is also very impressive. You can sample the microphone quality of the Buds 3 Pro (and other recent earphones). barge cast Episode from earlier this month.
Speaking of audio, the most useful feature of the Buds 3 Pro is voice control. At any time, you can say a simple command like “Volume up” or “Next song” and the earbuds will fulfill that request through your phone without first requiring an annoying wake phrase. It just works and you don’t have to speak particularly loudly for the buds to detect your voice commands. Although it only covers the basics, I now use it every day. If you prefer physical controls, Samsung has essentially done away with the AirPods Pro’s control scheme, allowing you to play/pause, skip tracks, and toggle between ANC and transparency modes with a pinch gesture. You can also adjust the volume by sliding your finger along the stem. The angular shape means the gesture is not very As reliable as AirPods, I’ve been able to get pretty good at using them.
The Buds 3 Pro are tuned exactly to Harman’s target curve, which most people will be happy with, and they offer great sound quality. In other words, the bass and treble are emphasized, but the midrange is not depressed. Samsung’s flagship earbuds deliver full, detailed sound that brings out the best in Waxahatchee, Post Malone, and Billy Strings’ latest albums. There’s 360 degree/spatial audio with head tracking for those who A) own a Galaxy phone and B) enjoy that sort of thing. I continue to (mostly) ignore it.
I’m not usually a big fan of Bluetooth codecs, but it’s definitely worth listening to. can Listen to Buds 3 Pro on Galaxy S24 Ultra and you’ll hear the difference. Galaxy S24 Ultra takes advantage of Samsung’s Seamless Codec Ultra High Quality (SSD UHQ) for richer audio. This is especially noticeable when playing lossless tracks. If you use these earbuds with a non-Samsung device, there’s more detail and fidelity, but it’s not as noticeable. But even with the Pixel 9 Pro XL, it still sounds great. Buds 3 Pro delivers punchy, crisp sound for any genre.
However, active noise cancellation can sometimes be disappointing. It’s not as robust or powerful as the AirPods Pro, Pixel Buds Pro 2, or Bose earbuds. Is it possible to reduce the hustle and bustle of daily life even just a little? Of course, I expected Samsung to do better in this category. The Buds 3 Pro has a nice and clear transparency mode, so no complaints there. Similar to Apple’s earbuds, you can also enable an “Adaptive” mode that dynamically blends ANC and transparency based on your surroundings to instantly draw your attention to important sounds (like sirens).
Buds 3 Pro doesn’t support true multipoint, so you can’t connect it to two devices at the same time. Similar to Apple, Samsung also promotes its own ecosystem with an “auto-switch” feature between various Galaxy laptops, tablets, and phones. But I’ve noticed that even if my other devices are outside of Samsung’s walled garden, enabling auto-switching allows me to switch between devices much faster without having to disconnect from the current source each time. Some earbuds are very stubborn about keeping a connection with the last paired device until you manually disconnect it, but with these earbuds you just have to select it in the Bluetooth settings of the device you want to use, and you can do it without doing anything. You can switch to A big fuss.
I had no complaints about battery life after several weeks of use. You can further extend battery life by disabling some features, such as the aforementioned voice controls. While the earbuds are IP57 dust and water resistant, the charging case has no such protection. This is a shame as competitors are making their cases more durable.
Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 3 Pro may no longer have a unique design identity, but with improved comfort and voice call performance, they’re an example of function defining form. The gimmicky lights can be left out, and the angular shape looks like something Samsung is taking pains to avoid being labeled as an AirPods clone. That’s true, but you could also argue that they sound better than Apple’s earbuds. And it delivers reliable performance in almost every metric except noise canceling. That’s where the inevitable Buds 4 Pro has room for improvement. Hopefully while regaining some personality (or color). For anyone with a Samsung phone, these are the de facto choice, and they’re great. But other Android owners should also take a hard look at the Buds 3 Pro’s sound fidelity and microphone clarity. Unless multipoint is a must, there isn’t much to find fault with.
Photo by Chris Welch/The Verge
