Top positive review
2 people found this helpful
New daily carry headphones
By Polysics on Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2019
I use these every. single. day. They are just fantastic. They replaced my Jabra Elite 65t's for a handful of reasons I will explain below. 1. They are smaller and lighter: Maaaaan they are so much smaller and lighter. The Jabra's are like little onion bulbs in my ear. Now don't get me wrong, the Jabra's fit my ears wonderfully, they get great points for ergonomics, but the Jabra's are just too heavy, and they are on the large side. They don't fit small persons ears (i've tested it on friends and family with small ears and they are a no.) These Galaxy Buds on the other hand, are suuuper lightweight, and their "pyramid" shape is very ergonomic to the ear (at least mine, YMMV as always!) The other thing about the Jabra's are that one earbud is sliiiiightly heavier than the other, and man oh man, I could feel it all the time. It always felt like the heavier earbud was pulling on itself. The Galaxy Buds do not suffer from that issue, as they both are feather light and comfy AF. 2. Independent usage and control versatility: The earbuds controls are on both sides, and you can use EITHER earbud by itself. This is such a damn problem with 99% of earbuds out there. Other than some obscure Chinese OEM that may have that feature (which are mostly garbage), the only mainstream brand earbuds that share this same feature are the Apple Airpods. Being able to use either earbud by itself is super important to me. Be it walking around and being aware of my surroundings, or having one in while working. There are many situations where I use just one bud, and having the option of either side is wonderful. The added thing that many don't think of is that if you are going to be listening for a particularly long time (say to an audiobook/podcast all day long) then you can get continuous usage until you use up all the juice in the charging case. If you have one in and it gets low, just swap it out and let the dead one charge. You can't do that with all the earbuds that have a "master/slave" configuration where one bud is dependent on the other bud. Having the same controls on both sides (minus the tap-hold if you choose to use it for volume) is equally important in that regard, so you don't have to pull out your phone or use a smartwatch to do functions like pause and next and previous. ALL TRUE WIRELESS EARBUDS SHOULD BE ABLE TO FUNCTION INDEPENDENTLY. 3. Modern charging standards: USB C and Qi charging. Enough said. Everything is going C or Qi, so thank you Samsung for making it modern. The less cables I have to carry and/or buy, the better. Micro USB was a standard, but it's time has passed, and it needs to die gracefully. Don't even get me started on that one company's proprietary cables that they force down peoples throats and wallets... 4. Svelte charging case, "pocket-ergonomic": the only other earbuds worth a piss on the market that have a svelte and small charging case are (of course) the Apple AIrPods. They are still the king on the pocket-able size and shape of their product. Samsung is damn close though with the Galaxy Buds. They are very svelte, and their feeling in the pocket is just as good (as in, you hardly notice they are there) as the AirPods. Yes, some other earbud cases are "squatter" and some are "skinnier" but the other's don't get the shape right, so they always end up feeling like a fat stone in your pocket. The Galaxy Buds case melts into your leg and you don't even notice it's there (unless maybe your partial to skinny jeans. My experience is with standard jeans and slacks) All in all, these hit all the sweet spots for price, style (no more toothbrushes thanks,) function, ergonomics, sound quality (better than AirPods, about on par with Jabra's. Don't expect B&O sound quality) and features. I don't think there is a better set of true wireless earbuds under $200. And to be honest, the concessions that some of the over $200 ones make you suffer is a dealbreaker. If you want great wireless buds, these are the ones.
Top critical review
33 people found this helpful
Very nice wireless buds; not sure they are better than the IconX buds
By Michael Weisenbarger on Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2019
So let me set the scene, I have both the IconX(2018) and just got my new black Galaxy Buds yesterday. I have had the IconX's for about a year now. So let me run though my list. 1. This is easily the best part of these buds: they are SUPER COMFORTABLE! I almost can't even tell they are there. I have been wearing them for hours (part of that time with a beanie on and part without). They are simply a joy to wear. A big upgrade from the IconX comfort which plenty to be desired. Also the fit on these exceed the IconX. I have a weird left ear canal and shape and never could get the IconX's quite right but the galaxy buds work perfectly. So if fit and comfort are the most important things to you then I highly recommend these. 2. Sound Quality - It's about the same as the IconX's despite being "tuned" by AKG. Volume is roughly the same. If the IconX's volume got an 8, I would say the galaxy buds get to 7.75. Bass is good enough as is treble. The mids are alright too; I'm not a huge audiophile but they sound very nice. 3. Noise Isolation - top notch; they filter out sound quite well. I will say the ambient sound feature on them is CRAP compared to the IconX's; the IconX's ambient sound was much better. If you care about that sort of thing. 4. Touch Response - its very touchy. If you press too quick it'll only register the first tap. So you have to slow down a bit and I don't like that cause the IconX's didn't need that. Plus remember that they removed the swipe up/down for volume controls (which I hate that they did that) so you are stuck with a tap and hold (right bud does volume up and left does volume down and NOPE you cannot remap this). 5. Software - IconX is winner here. They removed the tap and hold and it would cycle through your list of available options (like ambient sound on/off, voice command, start workout, etc) but as mentioned above they removed the swipe for volume. This is a huge step back Samsung. 6. Connectivity - I keep my phone in my front left pocket and my IconX's would very rarely disconnect/crackle for a moment or two. The Galaxy buds do it every single time I turn my head in any direction. I moved my phone to my jacket pocket and that essentially fixed it. That isn't viable for year round though; I hope Samsung fixes this with a software update as this is crap. 7. Battery - it's fine; but overall the IconX's would last longer in the long run as its case held more of a charge. However, the wireless charging case is nice. But I was fine with just the wired USB-C charging of the IconX's. 8. Long term frustrations - I cannot say as I haven't had the buds very long however the IconX's had this super annoying problem where ear wax would sneak its way into the canal of the bud and block most sound. You had to take off the screen, clean the canal, and replace with a new screen (thankfully supplied by Samsung in abundance). I don't think the GB's will have this issue but that remains to be seen. They don't include a repair kit with these so I'm assuming they don't expect it to happen. 9. They removed the internal 4gb of storage. Why Samsung, I used the heck out of that. I love going out for a run/jog and not have to take my phone OR smartwatch. I would pay for that; I think others would too. With the removal of the volume swipe, the tap and hold scroll through list, lesser battery and sound that isn't any better than last year's model I'd have a hard time recommending these over the IconX model. The comfort, fit, smaller size, wireless charging case, and multiple color options are about the only things the new buds have going for them. I love Samsung products but this one isn't as good as I hoped it would be. It isn't bad either. YMMV.
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