{Disarmed} Samsung Galaxy Buds 2, analysis: surprising sound and an increasingly exclusive experience
In its quest to create an ecosystem of connected products, Samsung has accompanied the launch of its Galaxy Z Flip3 and Z Fold3 of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 (which, despite having Wear OS, work exclusively for Samsung mobiles) and the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 . The first three devices have already passed through our hands, so it is time to talk in depth about the new completely wireless headphones from Samsung.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 come to pick up the baton from the Samsung Galaxy Buds + and are inspired by the Galaxy Buds Pro we tested last year. As such, they repeat the dual-way speaker unit (tweeter and woofer) and active noise cancellation. How are they behaving? How are they heard? How do the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 perform? Let's see it in this, its analysis .
In xiaomist.com Noise Canceling Truly Wireless (TWS) Headphones Buying Guide: Top Tips & 12 Models Starting From $ 50Data sheet of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2
SAMSUNG GALAXY BUDS2 | |
|---|---|
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT | Headphones : 17 x 20.9 x 21.1mm - 5 grams |
DIAPHRAGM UNIT | 2-way (tweeter + woofer) |
CONNECTION | Bluetooth 5.2 |
COMPATIBILITY | Android, iOS |
BATTERY | Headphones : 61 mAh |
AUTONOMY | Headphones : up to 5 hours with ANC |
CHARGING THE CASE | USB type C |
ADDITIONAL FEATURES | Accelerometer |
PRICE | 149.90 euros |
Samsung Galaxy Buds2 - Bluetooth Headphones, Wireless, Noise Canceling, Charging Case, Sound Quality, Water Resistant, Violet Color (ES Version)
Today on Amazon for € 149.00 PVP at FNAC € 149.99 PVP at El Corte Inglés € 149.90 € PVP at MediaMarkt € 149.00 Samsung PVP € 149.89 € 149.00 PVP at Worten € 149.99Design: it's like wearing nothing
The first thing that catches the attention of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 is its design or, rather, how well finished it is. I put you in context. Server had the opportunity to analyze in depth the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live , also called the "bean-shaped headphones". Very cute, but badly finished. They did not have much grip and would routinely fall off the ear.
Then came the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, which also passed through the ears of the writer. With them, Samsung solved the grip problem and managed to launch very comfortable headphones. We really liked them in this regard. Now we have the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 in our hands, which drink from the design of the Galaxy Buds Pro and, from my point of view, almost equal them.
They are extremely light headphones, around five grams, and fit perfectly on the ear. When I put them on for the first time I was pleasantly surprised, they fit like a glove. They are small, compact (more than the Buds Pro) and we hardly notice that we are wearing them. They are, in short, a joy.
Now, the experience will depend on how our ear is, but Samsung has taken that into account and has put a series of silicone rubber bands of different sizes in the box. We have used the pre-installed ones because they fit us well, but I highly recommend trying them all to find the one that suits us best. And not only because this way we will be more comfortable, but because they will seal the ear better and improve the experience with noise cancellation.
Simply put, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 are very comfortableIn terms of materials, the headphones are made of plastic and it shows in hand . Now, even if they are made of plastic, they do not feel a little premium, but they feel well worked. It has a very nice glossy finish, less shiny than that of the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, so it is not so full of fingerprints.
Spread throughout the body we have two external microphones with sound filter, an internal microphone, the position sensor and the charging pins. We will see it later, but it also has a VPU (voice pickup unit) that we will take advantage of in calls . All this is packed into very compact, low-profile headphones that, we insist, are really comfortable.
So we go to the case. The size is similar to the case of the Galaxy Buds Live and Galaxy Buds Pro , but its finish is different. The outer area is similar to the plastic of the headphones, glossy, with a pleasant touch and white. The inner part, meanwhile, is the same color as the headphones and the visual effect is nice.
In the outer area we have an LED that indicates when the case is charging, the USB Type-C charging port and the wireless charging base at the bottom. Inside we have the bays for the headphones, the pins, another LED that lights up when we are charging them and the text "Sound by AKG", brand of the house of Samsung.
The lid is magnetized and has quite a bit of force . In addition, thanks to the interior design and how it fits with the lid, when closed it sounds like a resounding (and I must admit that satisfactory) "clonk!". Overall, the case is compact, lightweight, and barely bulges in your pocket. So, as a summary, we can conclude that Samsung has done an outstanding job in designing its headphones.
Experience: Samsung takes care of Samsung
We thus proceed to the experience. The first point that should be clarified is compatibility, and that is that the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 have their crumb. If you have a recent Samsung mobile / tablet (with One UI 3.1 or later) and a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 you can take full advantage of them , since only in these models we can take advantage of Auto Switch (automatically switch between devices) and Buds Controller (the companion app for watches).
In other Android mobiles we can use and configure them also thanks to the Galaxy Wearable app. However, we will lose Auto Switch. And if we have an iPhone, the thing is more complex. Why? Because the iOS app does not support these headphones . We can link them like headphones to use, use the default gestures and others, but not configure them to our liking.
When you open the cover of the headphones, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 detects them automatically and allows them to be paired quickly.For this analysis, we have used the Galaxy Buds 2 linked to a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 . It is important to take this into account, since it is possible that some of the functions that we comment or that appear in the subsequent captures are not available on all mobiles. Having clarified this, we continue.
From the mobile app we can check the battery level of the headphones and the case , switch between the noise controls (and, in the case of using ambient sound, choose one of the three levels), modify the touch controls, access to the equalizer (with default modes), activate the reading of notifications and activate Bixby.
Noise control.That's important - the default voice assistant is Bixby and only Bixby . We cannot configure a gesture to invoke Google Assistant, but we can only use Bixby. We can invoke it with the "Hi Bibxy" command and, if we want to, activate the "Speak without interruptions" option so as not to have to wait for the assistant's response.
Buxby voice activation.On the other hand, we can activate the ambient sound in calls (to better hear our voice) and, in the "Labs" section, we can activate the game mode (which reduces latency) and the touch on the edges of the headset to raise or lower the volume.
Ambient sound on calls.And now that we talk about gestures, it should be noted that the options are not too many . Samsung does not allow us to modify the touch, the double touch or the triple touch. In fact, these last two gestures are disabled. The only thing we can do is modify the behavior of the long press.
Touch controls.Regarding the performance of the gestures, we can say that they work really well . The headphones detect the touches we make on them without problem and the action takes place immediately. We've had no ghost touches issues or anything like that, so one lime and one sand - there are few customization options, but the gestures work scary.
Well, except for one thing: position detection doesn't work . The vast majority of completely wireless headphones have a position sensor that automatically pauses music playback when we remove the headphones. In the same way, when we put them back on, it resumes on its own. Well, it does not work on the Galaxy Buds 2 despite having the sensor .
If we remove a headset, the music continues to play . It's not until we both take off and allow three or four seconds to pass that the music stops. I imagine it is a matter of polishing the headphones through updates, but today this option does not work.
Finally, and when it comes to latency, the headphones have not given us problems of any kind . We have been able to play and watch videos without noticing a higher account delay. So much so that at no time have we had the need to activate that "game mode" that we find in the settings.
Sound quality: hey, this sounds good
We are now going to focus on the sound quality, but not before talking about how we have done the tests. Since the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 are intended to be used on Android phones, we have used them linked to a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3. We have listened to music locally and streaming, always at 320 Kbps (which is the maximum that Spotify dispatches today). The song list is made up of our personal library and a series of themes that you can find at this link .
The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 has a two-way acoustic design, as we saw in the Galaxy Buds Pro. In other words, inside these headphones we have a woofer (mid frequencies and the lower end) and a tweeter ( high frequencies), all customized by AKG. It's not something we often see in completely wireless headphones, and it actually works quite well.
The new Samsung headphones are capable of offering a very pleasant musical experience. The sound is clean and crisp. It is not comparable to the most powerful headphones we have tested, such as the Sony WF-1000XM4 , but it is in the line of the AirPods Pro or even the Galaxy Buds Pro themselves. The latter are somewhat more powerful, but the Galaxy Buds 2 they stay pretty close .
The entire frequency spectrum is well represented. The tweeter does a good job with the treble, while the woofer ensures that we can enjoy good bass. In fact, if you like music with punch, these headphones will not disappoint you . The bass is slightly boosted and it shows that they are headphones designed to enjoy the most urban music. It is not as exaggerated as in other models, but it shows a higher punch than normal.
A couple of songs you can put your headphones to the test are ' Monster (Under my Bed) ' by Call Me Karizma and ' Savior ' by Rise Against. In the first, the change between the mid and high frequencies to the bass is surprising and the headphones manage to reproduce it without problems. In 'Savior' you can perfectly appreciate all the instruments and despite being a relatively strident song it is a pleasure to listen to it with these headphones.
The same can apply to calls. The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 use microphones, the VPU and a series of algorithms to reduce ambient noise during calls and improve voice and the truth is that it shows. The quality of the calls is more than correct, so we can rest easy.
Noise cancellation: great, but ...
We continue with active noise cancellation. Samsung has managed to make its system work really well and, although it is true that it is not the best on the market, it is certainly enough for the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 to be the rivals to beat in this price range . Now, we cannot expect the same performance as high-end headphones, because these are not.
The performance is good, especially when we are faced with scenarios such as a trip by train, plane or bus. The headphones manage to cancel out the typical background sound and part of the conversations , although they are not capable of completely isolating us. If we go down the street, the sound of cars and traffic is likely to get through us, but much more attenuated.
From the app we can choose three levels and I personally recommend the most powerful . It is the one that has given us the best experience and that is the most isolating. Explaining the performance of active noise cancellation in words is difficult, but we can stay with the idea that its performance is correct. They will not completely eliminate the noise of the day to day (I, for example, am listening to the sound of my mechanical keyboard while I am wearing them), but they will allow us to focus on the music.
And if we liked the noise cancellation, the ambient mode not so much. It sounds too artificial, it even puts in some noise. It is true that it will allow us to be aware of what is happening around us and even exchange a few words with someone without removing the headphones, but it does not convince. From my point of view, it is one of the main points of improvement of these headphones.
Autonomy: enough to get through the day
We finish the analysis talking about the battery. The Galaxy Buds 2 have a problem and that is that before them were the Galaxy Buds + and their up to 11 hours of autonomy. We can argue about whether it is normal / frequent / comfortable to spend 11 hours with headphones on, but the truth is that those headphones were a real blow to the table as far as autonomy is concerned.
The Galaxy Buds 2 do not arrive at 11 hours or far. With the noise cancellation activated, the most normal thing is to get about five hours of autonomy , which is not bad at all. It is not the highest autonomy we have seen, but it is not the worst either. It is a correct and sufficient average, although if we deactivate the noise cancellation we will be able to scratch a couple more hours.
As for the case, we can use it to charge the headphones up to three times . It has a fast charging system that in five minutes gives about an hour of autonomy, something interesting for a long trip, for example. The case can be charged via the USB Type-C cable and wirelessly, with the former being the fastest option.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 2, the opinion of xiaomist.com
At this point, we can say that the new Samsung headphones convince and work (almost) as one might expect . It is true that there are many alternatives on the market, but I have no doubt that the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 will become one of the main ones when choosing headphones for an Android mobile.
It is true that some of the most interesting functions, such as Auto Switch, are limited to Samsung mobiles and that the compatibility with iOS is similar to that of the Aldi headphones (link and little else), but if that is not an inconvenience and simply We are looking for comfortable headphones that sound good and have noise cancellation , the Galaxy Buds 2 are ones to behold.
It is, however, not to say that they are perfect . The autonomy, which is not bad, is not the highest on the market. Position sensing doesn't work, ambient mode isn't quite fine, and IPX2 resistance may fall short depending on what scenarios.
7.9
Design 8.25 Sound quality 7.75 Noise cancellation 7.75 Ergonomics 8.5 Use experience 7.75 Autonomy 7.75In favor
- They are very comfortable.
- For being mid-range, they sound really good.
- The noise cancellation convinces.
Against
- They can only be fully exploited using a Samsung mobile.
- Ambient mode has room for improvement.
- The autonomy has nothing to do with that of the Galaxy Buds +.
Samsung Galaxy Buds2 - Bluetooth Headphones, Wireless, Noise Canceling, Charging Case, Sound Quality, Water Resistant, Violet Color (ES Version)
Today on Amazon for € 149.00 PVP at FNAC € 149.99 PVP at El Corte Inglés € 149.90 € PVP at MediaMarkt € 149.00 Samsung PVP € 149.89 € 149.00 PVP at Worten € 149.99These headphones have been loaned for testing by Samsung . You can consult our policy of relations with companies .
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The news Samsung Galaxy Buds 2, analysis: a surprising sound and an increasingly exclusive experience was originally published in xiaomist.com by Jose García .
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