Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Review: Not Just AirPods Wannabes

At Samsung Unpacked, we yet saw the merchandise of the 3rd iteration of the Galaxy Buds: a $250 Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and the $180 Galaxy Buds 3. Samsung’s archetypal 2 Galaxy Buds featured the aforesaid bean-shaped design, but the Buds took a 180-degree crook with their 3rd iteration. They grew stems, which the institution calls “blades,” and athletics a long, slim, sleek look.

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Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Design

They’ve started to turn connected me.

The leaf lights up for a little infinitesimal erstwhile opening oregon closing the case. Photo: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo

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The blades are named appropriately. They person crisp edges and springiness the buds a unusual triangular look. Unlike the AirPods, which person circular stems, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro diagnostic pointy bodies, which instantly made my coworkers and maine a small unsure astir them. What’s weirder is that they look triangular astatine first, but if you inspect the base, it’s an unusual pentagonal shape. 

The astir annoying happening astir the five-sided basal is that it’s a task and a fractional to dock the buds wrong the charging case, particularly erstwhile you’re successful a hurry. Matching the signifier of the buds with the socket successful the lawsuit astir feels similar a artifact puzzle challenge. It’s a alleviation that the basal of the buds is marked with a reddish and bluish stripe, which matches the identical stripes connected the case, truthful you astatine slightest cognize which bud belongs successful what socket. 

Apart from the conflict it took to plug them in, the unsocial plan grew connected maine arsenic I utilized them. I retrieve appreciating it erstwhile I had to navigate the buds via the blades. Pinching the leaf handles playback and swiping up oregon down on it tweaks the volume. Interestingly, the triangular, sharp-edged plan worked retired beauteous well, giving my fingers a nice, comfy signifier to clasp connected to. A circular stem isn’t the easiest to pinch, but the V-shaped leaf connected these buds felt fitting erstwhile my thumb and forefinger made the aforesaid signifier erstwhile brought together.

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The leaf fits perfectly betwixt your thumb and forefinger. Photo: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo

Pre-order Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro connected Amazon

Thanks to the pressure-sensitive buttons connected the blades, they spell beyond emblematic touch-capacitive stems and respond with a tactile, reassuring property that you tin feel. I emotion that the effect besides includes a bully ‘click’ sound, which provides other assurance that your motion volition beryllium accepted. My biggest contented with touch-capacitive stems is that I ever tally into mis-taps erstwhile simply trying to hole the bud successful my ear. On the Buds 3 Pro, that was thankfully not a occupation since it lone acknowledges your enactment erstwhile you property the blade. 

The blades offered capable aboveground country for maine to interact with them easily. Swiping up and down for measurement power wasn’t arsenic creaseless arsenic I’d liked. Swiping makes much consciousness connected over-ear headphones with plentifulness of space. Not lone was it challenging to bash a controlled, precise swipe connected these buds, but it besides made the bud determination its presumption successful my ear, which was uncomfortable. While swiping down, I ever had to guarantee I didn’t propulsion the bud retired of my ear. 

I downsized the default mean receptor tips with the tiny tips successful the package. My ears person trouble accepting in-ear buds, but the Buds 3 Pro were somewhat snug connected maine erstwhile I chose an due size, truthful that’s saying thing astir their comfy fit.

Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Sound

Low-end tends to get overly thick.

The other $70 you wage isn’t conscionable for a brace of leaf lights. It’s for an enhanced dependable strategy with a two-way speaker, dual amplifiers, a planar tweeter, and a dedicated woofer. I spent a fewer days listening to my favourite songs, watching immoderate YouTube videos, and watching a batch of Instagram reels with these buds.

The low-end connected the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro tends to get muddy, adjacent astatine astir 50% volume. It sounded a small heavy and gave maine immoderate occupation successful trying to marque retired the elements successful the song. I’m talking astir the You & Me Flume Remix here. It was a spot of a disappointment eagerly waiting for the driblet and past having to enactment up with overdone bass. The planar tweeter understood the duty good and delivered high-quality treble that didn’t dependable exceedingly crisp astatine a precocious volume. It maintained its crispness and clarity. 

I tin ideate the overly ambitious low-end connected these buds sounding pleasant lone erstwhile I’m astatine the gym, and I attraction much astir the bass than the clarity successful my music. I would emotion the Buds 3 Pro arsenic my gym buds anyhow due to the fact that of the fantastic sound canceling they feature. I engaged successful the loudest tasks I could deliberation of (working close adjacent to my model AC, inflating my aerial mattress) with these buds, and they passed each trial with flying colors. 

As expected, it canceled high-end sound amended than low-end ones. So, I could inactive perceive a flimsy hum of my thunderous, past AC, but it was silenced to a precise awesome degree. At work, I often had to plug the buds retired to enactment mindful of my surroundings, and connected the streets, I specifically made definite to crook ANC off. 

Photo: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo

As I said successful my Buds 3 Pro-hands-on, I can’t attest that the ANC is so adaptive, arsenic they assertion it to be. Unless the quality isn’t expected to beryllium perceptible anyhow (but past what adjacent is the constituent of the diagnostic and each the selling astir it?), I couldn’t archer a noticeable quality successful ANC erstwhile I was successful my kitchen–pretty acold from the sound successful my room–compared to erstwhile I was wrong my country subjected to my noisy AC and arsenic noisy vicinity kids.

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Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Water Resistance and Battery Life

The Buds 3 Pro has been putting up with my irresponsible usage truthful far.

I utilized the Buds 3 Pro arsenic my regular buds for a fewer days, which included a batch of calls, especially implicit the weekend. Connectivity was ne'er an contented connected these.

My “daily buds” are besides subjected to h2o splashes due to the fact that I’m excessively lazy to instrumentality them disconnected erstwhile brushing my teeth oregon washing my face. Sometimes, I’d beryllium successful a telephone and wouldn’t privation that to beryllium interrupted. Also, I’ve done a fewer Trader Joe’s and FedEx runs with these, and with the existent NYC heat, I was sweating similar a pig. This is each to accidental that I’ve decently tested the IP57 h2o and sweat absorption connected these, and they’ve been holding up beauteous good truthful far. 

As for the artillery life, I’ve been utilizing the Buds 3 Pro each time for the past 7 days, and they’re inactive boasting a greenish light, and I haven’t had to complaint them yet. My mean regular usage (including societal media, music, and calls) would beryllium betwixt adjacent to 3 hours, totaling astir 20 hours. Samsung claims 26 hours connected these with ANC connected and 30 with ANC off. My investigating included cycling betwixt the modes, truthful I’d beryllium blessed if I get astir 28 hours retired of these, and looking astatine the existent status, I’m beauteous definite I can.  

It has a weird triangular shape. Photo: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo

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Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Verdict

Score: 4.5 /5

Apart from the overly done bass, it’s hard to find galore flaws connected the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. The design, which looked weird initially, is beauteous comfy to navigate; the acceptable is snug, the dependable affluent and clear, and the ANC highly powerful. I besides person a insignificant gripe with the measurement control, but I wouldn’t telephone that a woody breaker. If you’re upgrading lone for improved bass, cognize that you mightiness person to compromise connected dependable quality, particularly astatine higher volumes. You volition bask these if you lone attraction astir melodramatic bass and thing else.

These are besides immoderate of the champion Subway buds I person encountered successful a agelong time, and that’s a immense compliment. As I’ve mentioned before, the subway presumption is my eventual litmus trial of ANC, and these passed the trial beauteous well. I surely judge the $250 terms tag connected these makes sense. But the bigger question is whether they’re worthy going for implicit the considerably cheaper basal exemplary priced astatine $180. I’ve gotten a speedy hands-on of those, and truthful far, the reply is yes. The other bells and whistles and noticeably richer dependable connected the Buds 3 Pro marque the $70 bump successful terms understandable.

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