Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro True Wireless Headphones Review

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro 2 have a similar style to the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Truly Wireless. They have egg-shaped buds but have a more satin finish rather than glossy. They come in three color variants: 'Bora Purple', 'White', and 'Graphite'.

These buds are comfortable. Their design feels like a mix of the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Truly Wireless and the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Truly Wireless. Overall, they feel lightweight in the ears and don't go very deeply into your ear. They also don't put much pressure on your ears. Unfortunately, they can create a plunger-like feeling in your ear.

They have good controls. They're easy to use, and controls can be registered on either bud. However, the touch surfaces are very small, and it's easy to accidentally register a command while you're adjusting the earbuds' positioning in your ears. Also, sometimes, commands don't register correctly. On the upside, there are beeps to let you know when you've successfully registered a command. There are also different chimes to indicate when you've switched between ANC on and off and transparency mode.

On either bud:

• One tap: Plays and pauses audio.
• Two taps: Skips the track forward.
• Three taps: Skips the track backward.
• Touch and hold for two seconds: Cycles through ANC on, off, and ambient sound, which allows you to hear your environment without pausing your audio.

There aren't volume or voice assistant controls by default. However, you can activate these commands in the app. You can also add Spotify, which launches this app on command.

They're very portable headphones. They're very small, lightweight, and can easily fit into most pockets or bags without an issue.

The charging case is great. Their case is very similar to the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Truly Wireless but has a satin finish. Overall, the case feels lightweight yet sturdy. There's a light inside the case to indicate the buds' charge, and there's one light on the outside to indicate the case's charge. It also supports wireless charging.

They have a good build quality, like other Samsung earbuds we've tested. They're made of lightweight, sturdy plastic and have an IPX7 rating for resistance against submersion in water. The ear tips are difficult to remove from the earbuds and feel like they could rip over time.

They have good stability. If you want to wear them while working out, they won't move around, especially once you get a good seal. However, the seal can loosen up while you're talking.

• Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro 2 headphones
• Charging case
• 3x tip options
• USB-C to USB-C charging cable
• Manuals

Using firmware R510XXU0AWI2 and with ANC on, the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro 2 have a slightly excited sound that delivers extra bass. Vocals and instruments, in comparison, are bright and detailed in mixes to stand out from the bass. However, they can also sound harsh, particularly when listening to vocal-centric content like podcasts. If you prefer a different sound, their companion apps offer EQ presets to help you adjust their sound to your liking.

Unfortunately, our unit's firmware was auto-updated when connected to our Android phone, so we weren't able to run a pre-firmware update spot check, and don't have the results of our original firmware with ANC and Ambient Sound off. However, you can see a comparison of frequency responses when the ANC is on versus off using firmware R510XXU0AWI2 here. Overall, there's a little more bass when the ANC is on, as well as a dip in the high-mid compared to ANC off, which weakens vocals and instruments a bit. However, subjectively, ANC off doesn't result in lower audio quality, and the difference in sound can be due to the lack of active noise cancelling and a slight difference in sound profile.

Their frequency response consistency is excellent. Once you get a good fit, you won't experience significant deviations in bass and treble delivery.

These buds have great bass accuracy. The entire range is overemphasized but still very flat. Mixes have extra thump, boom, and warmth. However, the extra bass muddies vocals and instruments.

The Samsung Buds Pro 2's mid accuracy is great. For the most part, the range is flat and neutral, so in songs like Iron by Woodkid, vocals and instruments sound clear and natural throughout the mix. That said, there's some overemphasis from the bass range creeping into the mid range, which muddies and clutters the mix.

The Samsung Buds2 Pro have good treble accuracy. The treble is a bit overemphasized across the range to compensate for the extra bass, so vocals and instruments are detailed but harsh. Sibilants like cymbals are bright but not piercing.

They control their sound profile very well. There's a bit of mismatch present between the L/R drivers, particularly in the mid-range. However, for the most part, it's somewhat minor. A peak in the low-mid slightly clutters vocals and instruments, while a dip in the mid-to-high-mid is more prominent in the right driver and nudges them backward. That said, a dip in the high-mid affects the left driver more, weakening vocals and instruments. A peak in the low-treble primarily affects both drivers makes the upper harmonics of vocals and instruments sound harsh, while the uneven mid-treble turns sibilants like cymbals alternatingly weak and piercing.

The imaging performance is excellent. Samsung's higher-end products generally have well-matched drivers, which indicates the brand's good ergonomics and quality control. Our unit's L/R drivers are matched in group delay, phase, and frequency response, which is important for the accurate localization of sound objects like voices in the stereo image. A bump in the phase response's mid-range makes audio skew slightly to the left and sound a little louder than the right driver. There's also a slight amplitude mismatch present, which can cause issues with the balance of the stereo image. These issues can be audible with real-life content but are still quite minor and won't be very distracting. Imaging varies from unit to unit, so you may have a different experience.

Their passive soundstage is bad, which is expected for in-ear headphones. To create an out-of-head listening experience, your outer ear has to be activated by sound resonances. However, earbuds bypass the outer ear by design, so the soundstage seems closed-off, small, and as if sound is coming from inside your head.

These buds are compatible with 360 Audio, which you can access in the companion app, and is intended to create more 3D, immersive soundstage. There's a head tracking feature, which allows sound to follow your head as you move it. The volume of audio sounds louder than when this feature is off. There doesn't seem to be a difference in sound quality whether this feature is on or off, though.

They have a great weighted harmonic distortion performance. Distortion falls within good limits, resulting in clean and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test the Samsung Buds 2 Pro. Our results are only valid when using them in this configuration.

These buds have an excellent full-range noise isolation performance. Their ANC feature helps them block out more ambient sound than the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Truly Wireless and the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Truly Wireless. They can cut down bass range noises like the low rumble of bus engines as well as mid to treble range sounds such as office chatter and the hum of AC units.

They have a similarly excellent noise isolation performance when it comes to common scenarios. They can reduce a lot of rumbly airplanes and busy street noise. They can also block out a lot of office noise, like AC units and coworker chit-chat.

Wind noise differs from sounds like ambient chatter or traffic as it interacts with the ANC's microphones, causing the ANC system to create a loud and annoying sound in response to a sound that doesn't reach your ears. In addition, the amount and impact of wind noise can vary depending on the angle. Unfortunately, the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro are prone to a lot of wind noise when the ANC is on. They also lack a wind reduction feature to help reduce it.

They have an excellent leakage performance. Leakage is mostly concentrated in the treble range, but it's not that loud, and escaping audio sounds fairly thin. If you like to listen to audio at high volumes, others around you won't hear it.

The mic's recording quality is okay. Overall, your voice is fairly easy to understand but sounds a little veiled. While the mic's recorded speech file sounds very similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Truly Wireless, the next generation Buds2's mic is a bit more pitchy.

Because the three-mic array in each earbud also includes 'voice pickup bone sensors,' which aren't necessarily compatible with our testing rig, we also made a comparison demo recording with a person wearing the buds to see if the sensors make a meaningful difference to the recording quality. Comparing the standard test demo with the unscored human demo, subjectively, we don't hear an improvement, but have a listen for yourself.

Their mic's noise handling performance is poor. The mic struggles to separate your voice from background noise. If you're taking a call from a busy street or office, your voice can get drowned out by louder sounds. The earbuds' voice pickup bone sensors possibly help the buds determine whether you're speaking by detecting your jaw movements to separate your voice from external noise, but our testing rig isn't compatible with the sensor.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro's battery performance is sub-par. The manufacturer advertises them to last five hours continuously, and we measured just under that. Their carrying case supplies roughly 2.6 additional charges if you need it, but this is shorter than that of competitors like the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation) Truly Wireless, which have four extra charges. Keep in mind that battery life can vary depending on use. While they don't have a power-saving feature to help conserve battery life when not in use, you can use one bud while the other charges. Consider the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE Truly Wireless if you're looking for Samsung buds with a longer continuous battery life.

The Samsung Wearable app is good, but it isn't available on iOS devices. That said, it offers a variety of features for Android users. You can access EQ presets, an earbud fit test, and the 360 Audio feature for a more immersive sound. You can also remap controls and toggle between ANC on, off, and ambient sound. There's a 'Game Mode', which helps lower latency on mobile devices, but this feature is only available on compatible Samsung devices.

In addition to the Samsung Wearable app, you can also access the Galaxy Buds app on Windows. It offers many of the same features as the mobile app, like EQ presets, control remapping, and noise control. However, this app doesn't have a low latency mode.

You can't use these headphones wired. There's a USB-C to USB-C cable included for charging the case.

The Samsung Buds 2 Pro's Bluetooth connectivity is satisfactory. Unlike the Status Between 3ANC True Wireless, these buds don't support multi-device pairing, so you can only stay connected to one device at a time. They also have high latency on PCs, so you'll notice a delay between your audio and video if you're gaming or watching a movie on PC. However, they have lower latency with iOS and Android devices, so you won't have the same issue watching a video on your phone. They also support Google Fast Pair, so they're worth considering if you're looking for the best earbuds for Android. They have a 'Game Mode' only accessible on Samsung phones via the Samsung Wearable app. With Game Mode, they have low latency, similar to their performance with Android phones when you're not using that mode. Also, keep in mind that some devices and apps compensate for latency.

These headphones also support Seamless, Samsung's proprietary codec, which the manufacturer advertises to improve audio quality. However, it's only available on select Samsung devices, and we don't have a device that can currently test it. These headphones can also connect to compatible Samsung TVs. We measured 189ms of latency when connected to our Samsung Q80T but didn't notice any delays while watching TV. If you need to take a call, audio will switch from the TV to your phone and resume once the call is over.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro have full audio and mic compatibility with Bluetooth-enabled PCs. However, you can't connect these buds to your PC in any other way.

These buds come with a carrying case that holds roughly 2.6 additional charges. It supports wireless charging and has a USB-C input to recharge it.