Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro Review

The thought of a product ‘ecosystem’ is not a brand new one, however few have actually succeeded in constructing a platform that achieves the meant targets. Samsung has been engaged on this for some time now, with its Galaxy Buds vary of true wi-fi earphones which can be designed to work finest with the corporate’s personal smartphones and tablets. The newest within the product vary is the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional, the successor to the Galaxy Buds Professional headset which was launched in 2021.

Priced at Rs. 17,999 in India, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro is the corporate’s latest and most superior true wi-fi headset in India. With promised enhancements in energetic noise cancellation and sound high quality due to the brand new 24-bit Samsung Seamless Codec, is that this the best companion to your Samsung smartphone? Discover out on this evaluate.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional have energetic noise cancellation, and a design that’s extra comfy than that of the Galaxy Buds Professional

 

Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional design and options

Samsung’s color selections for its product vary have all the time been a bit adventurous, together with for its true wi-fi earphones. There are at the moment three color choices obtainable for the Galaxy Buds 2 Professional, chosen to match with the corporate’s smartphone vary — white, graphite, and bora purple. I fairly like the bora purple variant despatched to me for evaluate, however many may need to match the color to that of their smartphone.

When it comes to design, there are some notable adjustments as in comparison with the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro. The charging case appears related in form and dimension however has a nicer trying matte end, whereas the earpieces see some necessary enhancements in design which make them much more comfy to put on. The match of the Buds 2 Professional stays safe and suitably noise isolating, aiding the energetic noise cancellation’s effectiveness.

The earpieces are smaller and a bit lighter than earlier than, with microphones on each the within and out of doors for ANC and voice performance, together with a wear-detection sensor on the within. The earpieces are usefully IPX7 rated for water resistance, and will subsequently have the ability to deal with vital ranges of water publicity. There are three pairs of silicone ear suggestions within the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional’s field for a customisable match, together with a USB Kind-C to Kind-C cable for charging.

There are contact controls on the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional that are customisable by the companion app, and may even be deactivated completely if wanted. You’ll be able to management playback, energetic noise cancellation and transparency mode, and answering or declining calls by the contact controls ordinarily, however a ‘Labs’ experimental function within the app additionally helps you to management the quantity by double-tapping the sting of the earpieces.

Some further options on the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional embody 360 Audio with head monitoring (for a virtualised encompass sound impact), fast pop-up pairing with Samsung gadgets, a voice detect function that reduces the quantity and prompts transparency when the consumer audio system, and assist for the Samsung SmartThings app and system to find the earpieces, much like Apple’s Discover My app. The Bixby voice assistant can be supported on the earphones natively, however there isn’t any method to invoke some other voice assistants straight from the earphones.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional app and specs

Samsung’s app expertise for the Galaxy Buds 2 Professional is a bit complicated, and all of it depends upon the supply machine you may use the headset with. On a Samsung machine, I needed to set up the Galaxy Wearable app, whereas on a non-Samsung machine, I needed to moreover set up the Galaxy Buds 2 Professional Supervisor app, which then enabled the earphones for use by the Galaxy Wearable app.

As soon as carried out, the app expertise was the identical no matter whether or not I used a Samsung smartphone or any one other Android smartphone. There isn’t any companion app for iOS sadly, however you possibly can nonetheless use the earphones with an iPhone due to common Bluetooth connectivity.

The Galaxy Buds 2 Professional work finest when you’ve got a Samsung smartphone to make use of them with

 

The app gives a graphical view of the battery stage of each the earpieces and the charging case on the high, with a big part devoted to switching between ANC and ambient sound modes, proper under. Different options that may be toggled and customised are voice detect, 360 audio, and contact controls. A menu known as ‘earbuds settings’ helps you to additional management issues such because the equaliser, Bixby, in-ear detection for calls, and firmware updates. You too can add a widget to rapidly toggle between the ANC and transparency modes on the house display screen.

Notably, there isn’t any toggle for in-ear detection for playback. Eradicating each earpieces does pause music routinely, however this does not work in the event you solely take away one earpiece, as with many different headsets. ANC does routinely flip off once you take away even a single earpiece, so the shortcoming right here can doubtlessly be mounted with a software program replace, for the reason that {hardware} is already in place and works wonderful.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional use Bluetooth 5.three for connectivity, with the SBC, AAC, and SSC HiFi 24-bit Bluetooth codecs supported. The usage of Bluetooth 5.three additionally suggests that the Bluetooth LE Audio codec could be supported in the end. It is price mentioning right here that the SSC Hello Fi codec is identical because the Scalable codec (and even displays as such on a Samsung smartphone), with the notable distinction being a rise in bits per pattern, up from 16-bit to 24-bit.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional efficiency and battery life

Samsung’s ‘ecosystem’ play is a bit completely different from that of Apple, primarily due to the Bluetooth codec in use. This naturally makes it attractive to make use of the earphones with a appropriate Samsung smartphone or pill, with the Scalable codec unlocking higher sound high quality. With the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional, Samsung has gone a step additional with its codec, promising higher audio high quality than even competing choices akin to LDAC and Qualcomm aptX.

Though termed as ‘Samsung Seamless Hello-Fi Codec’, you may nonetheless see ‘Scalable’ because the codec in operation on the machine itself (requires OneUI 4.zero or larger). Nonetheless, issues are a bit completely different, in that the bits per pattern and pattern price register at 24 bits and 48kHz respectively, up from 16-bit and 44.1kHz as seen on earlier Samsung true wi-fi headsets such because the Galaxy Buds 2. This does have a notable impact on sound high quality, with the general sound coming throughout as a bit extra detailed and tonally exact than competing choices from Sony and Sennheiser.

Listening to membership traditional Drop The Stress by Mylo, there was a way of sharpness and assault within the sound that was refreshing to take heed to. The tonality of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional was spectacular, notably when the closely auto-tuned and progressively rhythmic vocals kicked in. On the entire, this made this synthesised observe sound virtually orchestral and carried out reside — a relatively good sonic signature and tone to have.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional true wi-fi earphones are loud, and turning up the quantity to across the 70 % stage with the fitting codec in operation made for an immersive and superbly detailed soundstage. With Go 2 by Netsky, the melody and thump within the bass appeared to reverberate and pulse by, all whereas steadily build up the depth and drive because the observe’s tempo elevated.

Sound high quality and ANC efficiency are wonderful on the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional, beneath the fitting situations

 

The sonic signature of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional has a good bump within the lows and highs, whereas the mid-range sees solely a slight drop. This makes for a sound that usually goes nicely with hottest genres, and the codec capabilities and driver tuning assist the Galaxy Buds 2 Professional maintain tempo with the quickest and busiest of tracks.

With non-Samsung gadgets (I examined with an iPhone and a OnePlus smartphone), the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional makes use of the AAC Bluetooth codec. Whereas the sound was nonetheless fairly first rate, there was an audible distinction within the stage of element and tonality. This does put the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional at a big drawback, if you do not have a appropriate Samsung smartphone to make use of it with.

Lively noise cancellation on the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional is great, and largely on par with similarly-priced choices within the true wi-fi phase. The headset gives a big noise discount each indoors and outside, and is especially efficient towards wind noise and the standard hum of the city outside. There isn’t any customisation or adaptive management for the ANC although; it is both on at its full setting, or off.

The ambient sound mode was equally efficient, providing a reasonably pure sense of hear-through that was practically on par with not having the earphones on in any respect. There wasn’t an excessive amount of amplification of sound which made it comfy to make use of the mode even for lengthy stretches, nevertheless it did not sound fairly as pure as that of the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Gen).

Battery life on the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional is claimed to be 5 hours per cost with ANC on, and I used to be in a position to match this determine in my testing. The charging case added virtually three full prices as well as, for a complete battery lifetime of round 18-19 hours per cost cycle. This is not distinctive as in comparison with competing choices, however is first rate sufficient given the capabilities of the headset when it comes to Bluetooth codecs and ANC high quality. It is quickest to cost the case by the USB Kind-C port, whereas Qi wi-fi charging can be current.

Verdict

In case you have a Samsung smartphone (or plan to purchase one quickly) and are in search of premium true wi-fi earphones, the choice is straightforward sufficient — purchase the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Professional. The ecosystem advantages are actually evident right here, with specific emphasis on sound high quality due to the improved 24-bit Hello-Fi codec. Add to that the superb energetic noise cancellation, together with first rate design and luxury, makes this a reasonably full pair of earphones.

If you do not have a Samsung smartphone, you may need to look elsewhere. Samsung’s newest true wi-fi earphones, whereas wonderful, are simply not as device-agnostic as competing merchandise from Sony and Sennheiser. Moreover, it may additionally be price contemplating the extra inexpensive (however practically pretty much as good) Samsung Galaxy Buds 2.

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