The Galaxy Buds Pro: First Impressions and Detailed Review

Folks, most of the info leaked already, but the galaxy buds pro have now officially been revealed. They're available now for $200 in three color options, and yes, they have active noise cancelling. I won't be able to tell you how they sound or fit yet, so this isn't a review by any means. The Galaxy Buds Pro are not an upgraded version of the Galaxy Buds Plus; instead, Samsung has created a new earbud with new drivers that combines elements from both the Galaxy Buds Plus and the Galaxy Buds Live.

From a design standpoint, the Galaxy Buds Pro look different from the Buds Live. However, their case seems to be similar or very similar to the case of the Buzz Live, which features USB-C and wireless charging. The buds come in three color options: Phantom Black, Silver, and Pink. It's worth noting that Samsung has added a bit of zest to these colors, making them slightly more vibrant than just calling them black, silver, and pink.

One of the standout features of the Galaxy Buds Pro is their IPX7 rating, which is the highest rating yet for a set of Samsung earbuds. This means they are fully waterproof. Additionally, they feature active noise cancelling that is adjustable. You also get an ambient mode that lets you hear the outside world while wearing them; this is particularly useful when you're chatting with someone and want to be able to hear both your music and the other person's voice.

The Galaxy Buds Pro also come equipped with a notable bonus feature: they recognize when you're talking and automatically lower the volume of your music, firing up ambient mode so you can chat with someone more easily. This feature is available on Sony's WH-1000XM4 noise-cancelling headphones as well; it's pretty cool unless you talk out loud to yourself a lot in that case, where you'd want to turn it off in the app.

The Galaxy Buds Pro work with all Android phones, not just Samsung's Galaxy models. However, they don't link up with the Galaxy Buds App for iOS; this is because Samsung doesn't know why the feature isn't working yet, and so they're sorry for that. Another bonus feature of the Galaxy Buds Pro is something similar to Apple's spatial audio virtual surround sound technology called 360 Audio. This uses Dolby Head Tracking Technology that enables you to stay at the center of the scene when watching a movie or TV show.

There's also a low latency gaming mode available on these earbuds, which automatically switches between your Galaxy devices; unfortunately, this doesn't include true multi-point Bluetooth pairing for switching between a computer and your phone. Lastly, the Galaxy Buds Pro don't support the Aptek streaming audio codec if you care about that.

Samsung tells us they've focused heavily on sound quality when creating these earbuds, with 11 millimeters of woofer for deeper bass and 6.5 millimeters of tweeter for richer treble. They also say these should be good for making calls based on their experience with the Buds Plus and Live.

The Galaxy Buds Pro are equipped with three microphones plus a voice pickup unit, which is called a VPU. These earbuds have noise reduction technology that helps eliminate wind noise in particular. Finally, when it comes to battery life with active noise cancelling, you can get up to five hours of playback at moderate volume levels and up to eight with noise cancelling off; this is similar to what you'd get from other noise-cancelling buds like the AirPods Pro.

That's all for now; I'll be staying tuned for a full review of these earbuds. For now, that's it. I'm David Carney for CNET, and thanks for watching and letting me know your thoughts on the Galaxy Buds Pro in the comments section below.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhere they are folks most of the info leaked already but the galaxy buds pro have now officially been revealed they're available now for 200 in three color options and yes they have active noise cancelling i can't tell you how they sound or fit yet so this is by no means a review all those comparisons you're looking for and whether it's worth upgrading from the earlier galaxy buds plus that'll come in a later video it'll be much better i promise so the first thing i'll say is that if you were hoping for an upgraded noise canceling version of the galaxy buds plus this isn't quite it at least from a design standpoint samsung didn't take that old design and put some new guts in it no it went ahead and created a totally new earbud with new drivers it sort of seems like a cross between the galaxy butts plus and the galaxy buds live while the earbuds look different from the buds live the case seems to be the same or very similar to the case for the buzz live it has usbc and wireless charging the buds come in three color options it's boring to just call them black silver and pink so as usual samsung added a little zest going with phantom black silver and pink they are fully waterproof with an ipx7 rating that's the highest rating yet for a set of samsung earbuds along with the active noise canceling which is adjustable you get an ambient mode that lets you hear the outside world as well as a couple of notable bonus features the first recognizes when you're talking and automatically lowers the volume of your music and fires up ambient mode so you can have a chat with someone it's the same feature that's on sony's wh 1000x mark iv over your noise canceling headphones and it's pretty cool unless you talk out loud to yourself a lot in that case you want to turn it off in the app the feature works with all android phones not just samsung's galaxy models but it isn't supported with apple ios devices that's because unlike the galaxy buts plus and galaxy buds live these earbuds don't link up with the galaxy buds app for ios why i don't know but sorry iphone users the other bonus feature is something similar to apple's spatial audio virtual surround feature it's called 360 audio samsung says it features dolby head tracking technology which enables you to stay at the center of the scene when you're watching a movie or tv show like with previous galaxy buds there's also a low latency gaming mode and the earbuds will automatically switch between your galaxy devices but there's no true multi-point bluetooth pairing for switching between say a computer and your phone and these don't support the aptek streaming audio codec for those who care about that the only issue with the 360 audio is it currently only works with the brand new galaxy s21 models and it isn't available yet for legacy samsung smartphones and tablets that'll happen down the road and sadly it doesn't work with any non-samsung android devices this is a galaxy exclusive feature samsung told me it's focused a lot on the sound quality it says the galaxy buds pro offer a more comprehensive sound sporting an 11 millimeter woofer for deeper bass and a 6.5 millimeter tweeter for richer treble they also should be good for making calls based on my experience with the buds plus and buds live samsung says they have three microphones plus a voice pickup unit that's called a vpu and they're equipped with noise reduction technology that helps eliminate wind noise in particular battery life with noise cancelling on may seem a bit disappointing to buds plus owners you can get up to five hours of playback at moderate volume levels and up to eight with noise cancelling off that's similar to what you get from other noise canceling buds like the airpods pro well that's it for now as i said stay tuned for the full review i'm david carney for cnet thanks for watching and let me know what you think about the galaxy buds pro in the comments section belowhere they are folks most of the info leaked already but the galaxy buds pro have now officially been revealed they're available now for 200 in three color options and yes they have active noise cancelling i can't tell you how they sound or fit yet so this is by no means a review all those comparisons you're looking for and whether it's worth upgrading from the earlier galaxy buds plus that'll come in a later video it'll be much better i promise so the first thing i'll say is that if you were hoping for an upgraded noise canceling version of the galaxy buds plus this isn't quite it at least from a design standpoint samsung didn't take that old design and put some new guts in it no it went ahead and created a totally new earbud with new drivers it sort of seems like a cross between the galaxy butts plus and the galaxy buds live while the earbuds look different from the buds live the case seems to be the same or very similar to the case for the buzz live it has usbc and wireless charging the buds come in three color options it's boring to just call them black silver and pink so as usual samsung added a little zest going with phantom black silver and pink they are fully waterproof with an ipx7 rating that's the highest rating yet for a set of samsung earbuds along with the active noise canceling which is adjustable you get an ambient mode that lets you hear the outside world as well as a couple of notable bonus features the first recognizes when you're talking and automatically lowers the volume of your music and fires up ambient mode so you can have a chat with someone it's the same feature that's on sony's wh 1000x mark iv over your noise canceling headphones and it's pretty cool unless you talk out loud to yourself a lot in that case you want to turn it off in the app the feature works with all android phones not just samsung's galaxy models but it isn't supported with apple ios devices that's because unlike the galaxy buts plus and galaxy buds live these earbuds don't link up with the galaxy buds app for ios why i don't know but sorry iphone users the other bonus feature is something similar to apple's spatial audio virtual surround feature it's called 360 audio samsung says it features dolby head tracking technology which enables you to stay at the center of the scene when you're watching a movie or tv show like with previous galaxy buds there's also a low latency gaming mode and the earbuds will automatically switch between your galaxy devices but there's no true multi-point bluetooth pairing for switching between say a computer and your phone and these don't support the aptek streaming audio codec for those who care about that the only issue with the 360 audio is it currently only works with the brand new galaxy s21 models and it isn't available yet for legacy samsung smartphones and tablets that'll happen down the road and sadly it doesn't work with any non-samsung android devices this is a galaxy exclusive feature samsung told me it's focused a lot on the sound quality it says the galaxy buds pro offer a more comprehensive sound sporting an 11 millimeter woofer for deeper bass and a 6.5 millimeter tweeter for richer treble they also should be good for making calls based on my experience with the buds plus and buds live samsung says they have three microphones plus a voice pickup unit that's called a vpu and they're equipped with noise reduction technology that helps eliminate wind noise in particular battery life with noise cancelling on may seem a bit disappointing to buds plus owners you can get up to five hours of playback at moderate volume levels and up to eight with noise cancelling off that's similar to what you get from other noise canceling buds like the airpods pro well that's it for now as i said stay tuned for the full review i'm david carney for cnet thanks for watching and let me know what you think about the galaxy buds pro in the comments section below\n"