Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Truly Wireless Headphones Review

The Samsung Galaxy Buds3 have a markedly different design from their predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Truly Wireless. While the Buds2 have an in-ear design, the Buds3 are one-size-fits-all earbuds that sit in your ear without forming a seal. They also have long stems that sit outside the ear canal, unlike the Buds2. They come in two color variations: 'Silver' and 'White'. The end of each stem is color-coded to distinguish left from right.

The Samsung Buds 3 are decently comfortable. The parts of the buds that touch your ears are smooth, meaning they feel gentle to wear. And since they don't have silicone tips, there's no risk of the buds placing undue pressure on the ear canal. On the other hand, the lack of tips means the buds feel looser in your ears. It can be harder to get a consistent fit and sound from wear to wear.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 buds have satisfactory controls. The touch sensors are very responsive and located on the stem of each bud, making them easy to access. That said, applying too much pressure can dislodge the buds from your ear compared to more stable locations like the center of the stem on the Apple AirPods 4 Truly Wireless, though the Samsung buds let you adjust the volume on them, at least. You can hear various tones and beeps when you enter different commands, although many tones (such as those played for volume up, volume down, and changing ANC mode) sound similar and can be hard to differentiate.

If you're logged into a Google account on the device the buds are connected to, you can use voice commands to control functions such as play and skip. Finally, if you use a compatible Samsung Galaxy device (Galaxy S22 and Galaxy Flip 4 or newer) to connect to the buds, you get access to a real-time AI translator, but we were unable to test this feature, as it relies on the connected device. You can view the buds' control scheme here.

The Samsung Buds 3 are remarkably portable. While their stem design means the buds themselves are a little bulkier than the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Truly Wireless, they fit together almost like two puzzle pieces and so don't take up much space at all. They'll fit into your pockets with ease, whether in their case or not.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 have a good charging case. The body is made of metallic-looking plastic, and the lid is of transparent plastic with the Samsung brand name imprinted on it. Despite the buds themselves being bigger than the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Truly Wireless, the Buds3's case has a smaller total volume, meaning it's easy to slip into a pocket or bag. The downside is the case feels a little more fragile than the Buds2's. There's a small LED on the front of the case to indicate charging status and a USB-C charging port on the bottom. Somewhat annoyingly, the case is required for pairing the buds with your device, which you do using the pairing button on the bottom of the case.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 have a decent build quality. They're made of multiple sheets of welded plastic and feel solid, although the seams between the sheets are slightly uneven and bumpy. The speaker grills also don't line up perfectly with their seams, which makes the buds feel a bit cheap. It's worth noting that the metal contacts for charging the buds are very exposed at the end of the stems and could easily be damaged if the buds are dropped or stored outside of their case. The case also feels solid, with a thick lid. On the plus side, the buds (but not the case) are rated IP57 against dust and water ingress, so they'll survive being dropped in the bathtub as long you don't let them linger there!

Provided their one-size-fits-all design suits your anatomy, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 have a very good, stable fit. Though their lack of silicone tips can make them feel a bit loose, they'll stay on even if you headbang your way through your favorite Haken tunes. Still, given their stem design and earbud fit, a bump or knock could cause them to fall out.

• Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Truly Wireless headphones
• Charging case
• USB-C to USB-C charging cable (3' 3"/ 1m)
• Quick start guide

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 have a warm, bass-heavy sound. Kick drums and bass lines have a lot of extra boom and punch, though slightly less of the felt thump than you might expect. If you're a fan of bass-heavy music who can't get enough of heavy EDM kick drums, this sound profile could be perfect for you. On the other hand, if you appreciate the mid-range clarity and treble detail of classic jazz recordings, it's possible you'll find these buds too muddy and lacking in detail. The mid-range is recessed relative to the loud bass and low-mids, so vocals can sound a bit distant. In general, the treble range is very subdued, but a peak in the mid-treble can render sibilants a bit harsh.

You can see the effect of various EQ presets on the frequency response here. Also, if you pair these buds with a compatible Samsung Galaxy device (Galaxy S22 and Galaxy Flip 4 or newer), you gain access to an AI-powered automatic EQ. We were unable to test this using our rig, but when we tested it subjectively using an older Samsung Galaxy S10e and a newer Samsung Galaxy S22, we weren't able to notice much of a difference with this feature turned on or off.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 have only passable frequency response consistency. Generating consistent sound from wear to wear with earbud-style headphones is often harder than with silicone-tipped designs like the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Truly Wireless because the buds don't create a seal with the ear, making it more likely their positioning shifts slightly between and during wears. This result is also, in part, an artifact of our testing process. We're unable to create a good fit between the buds and our testing equipment, the HMS II.3. One of its limitations is the lack of a human-like ear canal. As we're planning to update our test methodology, we have another rig, the B&K Type 5128-B, with a more human-like ear canal, and we used it to verify our results.

These earbuds have mediocre bass accuracy. The entire bass region is over-emphasized relative to our target curve, which means mixes sound boomy and muddy. On the plus side, the bass response is relatively flat, so specific pitches don't jump out at you unnaturally. If you like a bass-heavy sound, you might enjoy this over-emphasized but well-balanced bass response.

The Samsung Buds 3 have good mid-range accuracy. The boost in the low-mids is a continuation of the elevated bass response that gives these buds their muddy sound. The mid-mids are almost flat, so instruments sound present without being boxy. Finally, the high-mids are mostly flat, but a little recessed, making the vocals in the final chorus of songs like Africa by TOTO sound just a touch distant.

The Samsung Buds 3 have good treble accuracy, but the exaggerated bass makes it tricky to hear well. In songs like Hello by Adele, the recessed low-treble and dip in the mid-treble means Adele's lead vocals sound a bit more distant and dull than you'd expect from vocal-forward pop music such as this. A small peak in the mid-treble renders sibilants a touch piercing depending on their pitch, especially relative to the treble range's overall dull sound.

The peaks and dips performance is great, meaning these buds generally follow their own sound profile well. A peak in the low-bass adds thump to kick drums, while a couple of broad peaks in the low- and mid-mids give these buds a warm but cluttered-feeling sound. Because of issues creating a good seal between the buds and our testing rig, it looks as though these buds do not have well-matched left and right drivers. Specifically, our graph shows that the right bud has a couple of peaks in the high-mids and low-treble that the left bud doesn't. We don't expect you to encounter these issues. However, a couple of peaks in the mid-treble rendered sibilants alternatively dull or piercing, depending on their pitch.

The Samsung Buds 3 have satisfactory imaging. That's a little surprising from Samsung, a company that usually has excellent quality control and ergonomics. We're used to seeing better-matched left and right drivers from the brand, as we did with the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Truly Wireless. But it's important to note that because of the difficulty of creating a good seal between the buds and our testing rig, our results do not fully show what you'll experience while wearing them. When we tested the Buds3 subjectively, we were unable to hear imaging or group delay issues, such as objects improperly located in the stereo field or a flabby-feeling bass.

Therefore, to settle on a final score for this section, we discounted the results from our weighted amplitude mismatch test. That brought the result closer to what we think you'll hear, but it's still not perfect, as we did not discount the phase response mismatch. The jagged peaks in the phase response mismatch graph aren't audible with real-world audio. In general, these buds accurately place objects like instruments within the stereo field. However, imaging can differ from one unit to another.

The Samsung Buds 3 have a poor passive soundstage, which is typical of earbuds. Although Samsung advertises these buds to have an 'open-type' design, in practice that doesn't make much of a difference to our results, because the audio the buds produce doesn't interact with the outer ear like it does when produced by over-ear open-back headphones. While these buds do feel more open than the silicone-tipped Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Truly Wireless, the listening experience still feels narrow, as though the sound is coming from within your head rather than broad and enveloping like the sound is coming from speakers in a room.

These earbuds come with a virtual audio feature that's designed to make your audio feel more spacious, but we didn't find it very convincing or realistic. The head-tracking function works: if you look to the left, the right driver will lower in volume and vice-versa. Looking up and down doesn't have quite as effective results, but it can make the audio feel more like it emanates from a single point and not two drivers in your ears. That said, these functions do a poor job of mimicking a pair of speakers in a room, and even the wide soundstage that a good pair of open-backed over-ears like the HiFiMan Edition XS can provide feels more immersive.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance is good. Most frequencies fall within good limits. A broad peak that starts in the low-mids and rises up until it plateaus in the low-treble affects too many frequencies to be audible to anyone but the most discerning of audiophiles. In general, these earbuds reproduce audio clearly and purely.

These are the settings used to test the Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Truly Wireless. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration. These buds support Bluetooth 5.4. However, our test equipment only supports Bluetooth 5.3 and below.

The Samsung Buds 3 have poor full-range noise isolation. Even with ANC turned on, the buds hardly reduce the low rumble of train engines at all, though they do reduce mid-range sounds like office chatter. Most of the buds' isolation in the treble region is produced passively by them blocking your ear canal, as ANC doesn't have much impact in this range. Still, they do reduce AC whine a little. That said, many people like earbud-style designs because they don't block the ear canal, allowing you to better hear your surroundings. The small peak above zero in the low-bass is only produced when using our testing rig, and we don't expect you to encounter this.

These buds do a poor job of blocking out more everyday noise, like the sound of a street, office, or airplane. They're especially bad at isolating you from bass-range sounds like an airplane engine but don't do very well with mid- or treble-range sounds either. Even in the ranges where the ANC performs better, like the low-mids, sharp sounds like a car door slamming shut will make their way into your audio. The peak in the low-bass is a byproduct of our testing rig. We don't expect it to occur in ordinary use.

These earbuds don't have a wind mode to reduce the unpleasant noise that can be produced by gusts blowing against the microphones used by the ANC system. In fact, we found that mid- and bass-range wind noise was slightly louder with ANC on than with it off. On the plus side, in both cases, wind noise in the treble range was almost eliminated. Still, these aren't great earbuds to wear on windy days if you plan to use their ANC.

Because of their earbud design, which doesn't form a seal with your ears like a silicone tip, these buds have noticeably worse leakage performance than the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Truly Wireless. If you listen at loud volumes, audio from the high-mids up through the high-treble will be audible to people around you. Since that's the range where vocal clarity is found, if you like to turn up the volume when on a work phone call, coworkers might well be able to hear what your conversation partner is saying.

The microphone's recording quality is good. Speech sounds intelligible and clear, if a little boxy and nasal due to the lack of high-bass, where vocal warmth is often found. A peak in the mid-bass means rumbly sounds can make their way into your audio. At the other end of the spectrum, the response shelves off in the mid-treble, so your voice will lack a little air and sparkle. Still, since the most intelligible parts of the human voice are found in the mid-range, rolling off some mid- and high-treble can help to reduce high-pitched background noise like AC whine.

The microphone's noise handling is poor. While it does a good job removing steady-state background noise and the sound of people chatting, it does so at the cost of introducing distortion and artifacts to your voice. Even worse, when faced with loud sounds like a subway engine, your voice becomes indecipherable as the mic system is overloaded. During moments like that, the person on the other end of the line will have a very difficult time understanding you.

These buds have alright battery life. Due to an incompatibility with our testing rig, we weren't able to reliably obtain a continuous battery life measurement with ANC enabled. In testing, without ANC enabled, their continuous battery life lasted 7.5 hours, an hour longer than the manufacturer's advertised battery life without ANC. However, because we usually test battery life with ANC on, we have listed their continuous battery life as being around the 5 hours Samsung expects you to get with the feature activated. That allows for more accurate comparisons between these buds and others. While we expect it to be roughly accurate, we were unable to actually confirm this result in our lab. Regardless, battery life varies depending on use and volume.

The Samsung Buds 3 come with a good companion app that is compatible with Android and Samsung Galaxy Book laptops (but it is not compatible with iOS or regular Windows laptops). The app allows you to update your buds, toggle ANC on and off, set up quick switching between Samsung Galaxy devices, activate 360 audio and head tracking, and configure in-ear detection and voice control. You can also customize your sound via a 9-band graphic EQ and presets, or by activating auto-EQ. You can also turn on an experimental low-latency gaming mode and get reminders to stretch your neck.

You can't use these buds via a wired connection, though the case has a USB-C port for charging the buds. The buds ship with a 39-inch (1m) USB-C to USB-C cable.

The Samsung Buds 3 have decent Bluetooth connectivity. They support quick pairing for Android but not iOS. When using the generic SBC codec, the latency is high and might cause video and audio to go out of sync (although different devices and sources can compensate for this in different ways, for example, by delaying the video). These buds also support the Samsung Seamless codec for high-fidelity audio streaming, as well as the Bluetooth Low-Energy codec. We're unable to test those features due to an incompatibility with our testing rig.

These buds don't support multi-device pairing, but they do come with a feature called PC Auto Switch, which allows you to quickly switch between connections to your various Samsung Galaxy devices, such as your Galaxy phone and Galaxy Book laptop. We were unable to test this with a Galaxy Book, so we tried using the feature with a different PC. We found that doing so would cause the buds to always prioritize the computer connection over the phone connection. If both sources were active, the buds always disconnected from the phone and connected to the computer. If you use Galaxy Book laptops, Samsung claims switching will be seamless.

You can connect these headphones to Bluetooth-enabled PCs with full simultaneous audio and microphone functionality. However, they don't support any other connection method to your PC.

These earbuds come with a carrying case that supplies roughly four extra charges. It has a single USB-C port for charging and can also be charged wirelessly.