Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Review: Did the Beans not sell well?

This year, Samsung has moved back to a more traditional silicon-tipped earbud pattern with the Galaxy Buds two.

As decent wireless earbuds, they're fine, merely I'g even so confused about Samsung'southward electric current slate of earbuds. All of the company'south wireless earbuds are priced roughly the same, resulting in the better Galaxy Buds Pro costing only $10 more than in Canada than the Galaxy Buds 2.

Still, if y'all desire teeny tiny Milky way Buds with silicon tips that work bully with your Samsung smartphone, these are a solid option that likely won't disappoint almost folks. All Android users can admission a lot of added features from the surprisingly robust Galaxy Wearable app — iOS users, on the other manus, get nothing.

How do they stack up to the competition?

Samsung has been making pretty solid earbuds since it released the Galaxy Buds+ in early 2020, and the Galaxy Buds ii are no exception. They sound decent, fit comfortably and fifty-fifty await kind of cool — though the light-green earbuds Samsung sent me might not be my first pick in terms of colour.

Nevertheless, none of that explains why Samsung sells the Buds two for $189 in Canada, especially because they only feature an IPX2 rating and average battery life. When you're using the Buds 2 with agile noise-cancelling (ANC), they only last for effectually v hours, though you can become an extra fifteen hours of banked charge from the included case. This is likely plenty for about people, simply it would take been nice to see Samsung attempt to push the boundaries, specially when other earbuds with ANC have surpassed that battery life mark.

I'll admit that the small size of the case drew me in at starting time, simply realistically, one time it's in my pocket, it doesn't experience that different from the Beats Studio Buds or even the OnePlus Buds Pro, which both provide a few more hours of battery life via their charging cases.

The earbuds themselves are tiny and sink into your ears even more than the Beats, making them comfy to vesture for hours. That said, the egg shape doesn't help much when you're trying to adjust their fit since the touch targets are like shooting fish in a barrel to hit past mistake. On the flip side, in that location were times when I went to pause my music and my finger totally missed the touch target, since it's not very defined. Samsung probable should have placed a pocket-sized nub on each earbud to brand them easier to use.

Two areas where the Buds 2 excel are noise-cancellation and microphone quality. While the mic isn't perfect, it'southward better than I expected from such tiny buds. With this in mind, the Galaxy Buds ii might exist a good choice for people who practice a lot of video calls.

Audio off

Every bit for sound quality, I found the highs to be a trivial too sharp for my liking, but the mids and lows came across with more accuracy. Some songs that don't pitch up as much audio great, only others seem to acme weirdly. Though it'southward barely noticeable in isolation, the OnePlus Buds Pro I recently reviewed feature better balance and a broader soundscape, but worse noise counterfoil.

I will say that for such a tiny pair of buds, I was impressed with their noise-cancellation, which did a much amend job blocking out my keyboard and other sounds than other recent buds I've tested. The earbuds also get decently loud, and in that location's no distortion even when cranked all the manner up to about xc per centum volume.

If yous're on Android, you can tweak the EQ of the Milky way Buds 2 a scrap, but I just used the standard profile for the near part during my time testing the earbuds. However, while the 'Dynamic' option is a fiddling much at times, it'due south a fun twist that artificially fabricated the music audio a fiddling more spirited.

The last thing I'll note is that since the Milky way Buds 2 are and so tiny, they need to exist placed firmly into your ears to get the best sound. The Galaxy Wearable app offers a fit test, but if you only play music and squish them into your ears, you'll know when they're in the optimal position.