Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Pro Is as Much a Revelation as It Is a Revolution in Wireless Earphone Technology and Experience.
Images: Samsung
With the release of their new flagship series the Galaxy S21 this year, Samsung introduces the Galaxy Buds Pro, their new premium wireless earphones. Premium in terms of design, performance, and yes, pricing.
Let’s start with design: the buds express a futuristic aesthetic. Sleek, minimal, and ergonomic. Its case doubles as a charger, and fits comfortably into your trouser pocket. It’s a nifty little box, with a glossy cushion shape that looks and feels cool.
With such a small device, simplicity is key to its operations, with but a simple touch or two as your means of navigation. A single touch of the earbud functions to play or pause music, while double touch skips to the next track, or answers and ends a call. Triple touch plays the previous track and a longer touch and hold declines a call or activates a preset feature.
The only problem with this is the buds are sensitive to touch. The simple act of placing the buds into one’s ear might unwittingly activate its function already, even before you’re ready to use them. Particularly when your fingers are still fiddling with the buds to find a snug spot for them to sit in.
That said, if you find yourself fiddling more than you should trying to secure the buds in your ear, chances are the fit is off. Which is easily remedied by swapping to bud tips of the right size, provided in the box the buds come in. To ensure the perfect fit, there shouldn’t be a gap between the ear and the ear tip.
And when the fit is right, this little device packs quite the punch, sound-wise. Technically, the Galaxy Buds Pro is designed to offer a more comprehensive sound, powered by an 11 mm woofer for deeper bass and a 6.5 mm tweeter for a crisp treble with minimum distortion. Talk about music to one’s ears—it’s dynamic, balanced and rather euphoric. Partly because the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) is so good. You’re immersed in the music without other aural interference.
Of course, the buds function best with the Galaxy Wearable app, where controls for the buds are at your fingertips, enabling you to personalise its functions. Samsung claims the Galaxy Buds Pro features the “most intelligent ANC capabilities” compared to other wireless earphones, and it’s hard to argue with that. That intelligence is able to distinguish between noise and human voices—in Ambient Sound mode, the buds will reduce media volume when you’re talking to allow you to hear conversations without having to remove the earbuds.
From Sound to Silence
So as much as it allows you to get lost in your personal playlist, the buds can also make you be more aware of your surroundings. Ambient Sound is able to amplify sound around you up to more than 20 decibels. It’s an effective feature for when you need to be more alert, for instance, of traffic when out running or of your children when you’re working from home. (That also means you can pretend to be listening to music when in truth you’re eavesdropping on conversations going on around you…).
At the other end of the sound spectrum, should you need to escape from noise, those times when you just want to shut yourself out from distracting sounds to better focus on work or for some literal quiet time, the buds let you reduce background noise up to 99 percent. Thus with the Galaxy Buds Pro, it truly delivers on the comprehensive sound experience.
Additionally, the Galaxy Buds Pro is fitted with three microphones and a Voice Pickup Unit (VPU) that functions to separate your voice from unwanted sounds. This ensures that you can be heard clearly when answering calls. Samsung has also integrated its new Wind Shield technology into the Galaxy Buds Pro, lessening wind interference so your phone calls become clearer, even when the weather gets a tad breezy.
The Convenient Companion
As with electronics, we worry about charging. The Galaxy Buds Pro can last up to 8 hours on a full charge, with additional 20 hours power reserve courtesy of the nifty wireless charging case. (Or about 5 hours with extra 13 hours with ANC turned on). And when you do need to recharge, just five minutes of charging will give you enough juice to listen through one album.
Other positives include its IPX7 water resistance rating, the highest standard of water resistance in the Galaxy Buds line, a blessing for sweat-heavy workouts. Take note though: the case isn’t waterproof, so dry your hands and buds prior to storing them back into the case. And being so small, one can easily lose or misplace these earbuds. Fortunately, with SmartThings Find, you can locate the Galaxy Buds Pro easily even when out of Bluetooth range.
The Galaxy Buds Pro is available in three colours: Black, Silver, and the new Phantom Violet. Now here’s the catch: the buds are retailed at RM799. (Premium, remember?). Hefty, sure, but consider the various innovations and multiple experiences the buds provide, half of which we haven’t even covered (auto-switching between Galaxy gadgets, 360 audio featuring Dolby Head Tracking technology for optimum video viewing experience, Game Mode for reduced audio latency…). One thing’s for sure, the Galaxy Buds Pro is as much a revelation and, as far as wireless earphones go, a revolution.
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