Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Review: Premium ANC Earbuds Return to Form

Samsung's latest earbuds arrive with a straightforward mission: fix what went wrong last time. The Galaxy Buds Pro bring back the rubber ear tips that the previous generation abandoned, restoring the practical foundation that made the original Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Buds Plus reliable choices for everyday listening. This return to basics, paired with active noise-canceling technology borrowed from the ill-fated Galaxy Buds Live, positions these $199 earbuds as Samsung's attempt to reclaim credibility in a crowded market.

The design walks a middle path between Samsung's recent experiments. The glossy metallic finish echoes the Galaxy Buds Live, available now in black, silver, and violet, but the overall shape and size hew closer to the older, more conventional form factor. The clamshell case remains compact and solid, securing the earbuds via magnets and supporting both wireless charging and Samsung's Wireless PowerShare feature, which lets you top up the case by placing it on a compatible Galaxy phone. The earbuds themselves feel secure during exercise, though distance runners may notice some movement during sustained running. They carry an IPX7 water-resistance rating, meaning they'll survive workouts and sweat without issue.

What makes these earbuds genuinely useful is the Galaxy Wearable app, which gives you granular control over noise-canceling modes, ambient sound levels, and touch controls. The ANC comes in two settings—high and low—each optimized for different frequency ranges. The high setting excels at cutting bass and low-midrange drone, the kind of sound a bus engine makes. The low setting handles midrange frequencies better. For Samsung phone owners, there's also 360 Audio, a spatial sound feature using Dolby Atmos that tracks head movement and adjusts the soundscape accordingly, bringing Netflix and Hulu into a more immersive space. The touch controls work smoothly overall, though they're sensitive enough that simply adjusting the earbuds in your ear can accidentally pause your music. One quirk: if you have multiple media apps open on your phone simultaneously, tapping the earbud might trigger the wrong app—Spotify could suddenly play while you're watching a video on a less popular streaming service.

Battery life lands at just under five hours with ANC enabled, plus thirteen additional hours stored in the case. This is respectable but not exceptional. The older Galaxy Buds Plus lasted longer on a single charge, though they lacked noise-canceling. The Galaxy Buds Pro essentially match the Galaxy Buds Live in this regard, so the performance is predictable if not thrilling.

Sound quality is accurate and pleasing. The frequency response shows a deliberate boost in bass and a spike in the treble, a tuning choice common in consumer headphones designed for immediate enjoyment rather than clinical precision. Black Sabbath's War Pigs demonstrates this well—the early bass notes cut through clearly even as the guitar takes over. The midrange is handled competently, though occasionally the treble can push too hard, making certain sounds like clapping feel unnaturally loud. The microphone performs impressively for a true wireless earbud, capturing voice clearly with good background noise rejection, though the embedded design introduces some muffling.

Noise-canceling performance is solid but not class-leading. The rubber ear tips provide natural isolation once you find the right fit, and the two ANC levels give you flexibility. However, these earbuds don't match the isolation you'd get from AirPods Max or Sony WH-1000XM4 models, particularly when it comes to blocking nearby speech. The earbuds connect via Bluetooth 5.0 and support Samsung's proprietary Scalable Codec, which adjusts transfer rate dynamically to balance quality and stability. iPhone owners get AAC codec support for high-quality audio as well. Samsung's auto-switch feature lets you jump between multiple Galaxy devices without manual reconnection, provided they're linked to the same Samsung account.

At $199, the Galaxy Buds Pro undercut AirPods Pro and Sony WF-1000XM3 models while offering most of the same features. They're significantly pricier than the Galaxy Buds Plus, which still dominate in battery life and can be found for nearly half the price. For anyone prioritizing noise-canceling in a compact, comfortable package, these earbuds deliver. For those willing to sacrifice ANC for longer battery life, the older model remains the better value.