SAMSUNG Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Wireless Earbuds

These are terrific earbuds. I’m coming from a pair of Airpods Pro (2nd gen), which I really like. Main reason for replacing is that I’ve gotten tired of not being able to change certain settings since I’m not an Apple user. These sound great, just as good as Apple if not better. I’d say the ANC is about the same, which both do a great job in that department.

The fit, like all earbuds, can be hit or miss depending on a person’s ears. They come with 3 sizes. I found the largest ones to fit snugly in my ears. Most of the negative reviews that I’ve read are from people who weren’t able to find tips that fit their ears. If they don’t fit snugly, sound quality and ANC won’t be very good so fit is critical.

I wear these mostly for sleeping. I tried several top brands and none were comfortable when sleeping, which is why I landed on the airpods about a year ago. These are very similar. They might extend out just slightly more, but work very good for sleeping like my airpods. The big advantage to these is that I can turn off ANC and Ambient modes to save battery life. The airpods I could not turn modes off because I don’t own an iphone. This results in longer battery life and gets me through the night.

In summary, I would definitely recommend these. My son bought a pair of silver buds and I have the ones in white. We are both very pleased with sound quality, ANC, and the different settings that you can select. One thing I would recommend if you get these is to adjust the EQ. Once I did, the sound is pretty amazing.

Just a quick aside to start, over the past decade I have owned the following in-ear buds (in no particular order):

-Bose QC (Gen 1)
-Galaxy Buds Pro (Gen 1)
-Sony XM4
-Sony XM5

For starters, the fit is an improvement over my Buds Pros (and every other stemless design I have tried). Like, not even in the same league. Due to the stem and silicone tips, every few hours I’ll catch one wanting to slip out. Small downside for decreased ear fold discomfort. I wear these all day at work- more on that later- and after my ears adjusted to the new shape for a week or so, I can wear them hours on end pain-free.

Touch controls are likewise the best I have ever found on in-ear buds. Pinch and tap stem are dead reliable and the swipe up/down stem for volume is intuitive and works flawlessly. The triangular stems with large, flat surfaces are instantly locatable and wonderfully usable. Stemless buds cannot compare to the ease of use.

The buds look, and feel, premium. They better, at this price point. I don’t get the case gripes, but maybe that’s just because I recently retired my XM5s and their famously flimsy case for this pair. Survived a drop or two from pocket height, once on hardwood and once on concrete. Small scuffs but the hinge is still rock solid and no cracks.

Connectivity is phenomenal, though this will likely only apply to folks inside the Samsung ecosystem. Can see case and buds battery info from my Watch 6 Classic, and buds autoconnect on case open to my Z Flip 5 even if my bluetooth is currently toggled off (can be disabled/changed in Galaxy Wear settings.) Got maybe a good 25, 30 feet of range before connection diminishes noticeably, worse obviously if you’ve got walls in the way.

Sound quality is great, bordering fantastic after you finally burn them in. I only say that because no in-ears will compare to something like a true pair of studio monitors etc. High budget audiophiles I’m sure could pick things out to you but the in-app equalizer is great and to my ears the highs are crisp and not tinny, the mids are well developed and you can dial up a surprising amount of bass through the equalizer, and I never experienced buzzing or washout. Very good listening experience across every genre I’ve tested.

Now, nothing is perfect, right? Battery life is a little short with ANC active, it runs out on me with about 2 hours left in any given shift when the XM5’s would get me through some full days. No big deal, 10 minutes in the case and im good for the rest of the night. My only true gripe would be with the noise cancelling. At times, it rivals the best I’ve experienced (for my money the XM5s,) effectively blocking most noise of all frequencies quite well. Uber trips, shopping, walking in public spaces, waiting at the train station etc they perform quite well. However, I work specialty service and in my shop I basically have to both work with heavy steel grinders and be able to field phone calls with clients/speak to customers in shop. When I’m standing and working on my machine, the ANC will be humming along smoothly when suddenly some frequencies stop being blocked, if that makes sense? All will be quiet, then suddenly through one earbud I will pick up certain sounds as louder than the other ear as they evade the ANC’s processing. It’s quite disconcerting to be honest, I’d almost like it to feeling a pressure change in your ear but without the physical sensations. Some times it’s better/worse than other times, but I’d say by and large the ANC holds its own. If every other point in my review is a 5/5, battery life is a 4/5 and ANC is (currently) a 3.5/5.

I would hope to, and assume to, see the problems with ANC addressed with future software updates. For now, as an early purchaser that understands products almost never release in a perfect state, I am very pleased with my purchase and do feel that I got my money’s worth.