AirPods Pro vs Galaxy Buds Live: sound quality, noise cancellation compared

With good sound quality, excellent active noise cancellation and compact design, Apple AirPods Pro set the tone for premium wireless headphones. But Samsung may be giving its rival a run for its money. He takes Apple head-on with the Galaxy Buds Live, which have similar features like noise cancellation and a truly wireless design, at a significantly cheaper price. The Galaxy Buds cost $ 170 (although they’re currently on sale for $ 140), while the AirPods Pro cost $ 249. How do you decide which headphones are best for you? As I discovered, it’s not as easy as choosing based on price alone.

Read more: AirPods Pro vs. Jabra Elite 75t and AirPods Pro vs. Galaxy Buds Plus

Noise cancellation is much better on AirPods Pro, but Galaxy Buds Live sound better

Both of these headphones sound great. But the Galaxy Buds Live have a much more dynamic sound profile when left at the default settings, with a punchy bass response that’s suitable for a range of musical genres. AirPods Pro sound more neutral, with less bass, which makes them balanced for jumping between podcasts and music.

Samsung’s Galaxy Wearable app (on iOS and Android) lets you change the sound profile of the Buds Live to one of six different presets, such as bass-boost or soft. While the AirPods Pro do not have a user-adjustable equalizer (unless you use an equalizer in Apple Music or Spotify), there is an adaptive equalizer that changes the sound automatically based on variables such as the shape of the sound. your ear. Apple headphones also have a spatial audio update in iOS 14 to allow them to simulate surround sound.

Thanks to their in-ear design, AirPods Pro have effective active noise cancellation, which really blocks out most unwanted noise like the roar of an airplane engine or the low hum of a train. Since I have been working from home for a few months, I have yet to test the Galaxy Buds Live comparison for air travel. (I recreated a hum of white noise using my very loud bathroom fan.) Because Live Buds don’t create a seal in your ear like AirPods Pro, they let in a lot more external noise. They also have ANC that you can turn on or off, but that’s not particularly effective compared to AirPods Pro.

Call quality on both is also excellent, although in a noisy environment, callers noticed that the background hum was much less noticeable when I was using the Galaxy Buds Live compared to the AirPods. Listen to microphone samples in the video on this page to hear what each pair looks like. The Galaxy Buds Live and AirPods Pro let you use either earbud independently for calls.

Comfort and design are about love or hate

You have to hand it over to Samsung to have a drastically different design from all the other wireless headphones. Depending on the shape of your ear, these bean-shaped buds fit your ear snugly without any protrusions. They are available in bronze, white and black and to change tracks or adjust the volume you just need to tap on the touch panel.

AirPods Pro, on the other hand, come with three different sizes of ear tips that you can swap or swap depending on the size of your ear canal. It’s only available in white and to navigate through the songs there’s a rod that points down your ear that you click on.

I have incredibly small ears, and the AirPods Pro’s smallest tip has never been small enough for me to create a super tight seal. This means that every once in a while, like when I’m moving around a lot or doing a workout, I have to push them back into my ears, which is irritating.

The Buds Live, however, stayed in my ears better during a workout and only started to feel like they were slipping out of my ear towards the end. But while they fit much better than AirPods, overall they didn’t feel more comfortable. After about three hours my left ear started to hurt, so I had to take a break. Keep in mind that the fit and comfort of either of these headphones varies from person to person – my colleague David Carnoy pointed out that the Buds Live fit well in his ears. with the larger tip attached.

For water and sweat resistance, the AirPods Pro have a higher IP rating of IPX4 than the IPX2 on the Buds Live. This means they can withstand splashing from any direction, while the Buds Live can withstand sprays of 15 degrees or less. While I haven’t done any water tests on either pair yet, I have used them both during sweaty workouts and wiped them off afterwards. Both were doing fine.

Siri or Bixby? Both heads have smart features

These two earphones provide a hands-free experience for interacting with your phone, from changing tracks to playing incoming messages. As you might expect, AirPods Pro use Siri on the iPhone and Buds Live use Bixby on a Samsung Galaxy phone. If you’re using AirPods Pro with Android, you can’t invoke Siri or Google Assistant from your headphones without downloading a third-party app. If you pair Buds Live with an iPhone, you can access Siri from the touchscreen, and with a non-Galaxy Android, you can use the Google Assistant.

You can customize the squeeze / squeeze controls on each of these buttons: AirPods from iOS settings or Control Center; Buds Live from the Galaxy Wearable app. But only Buds Live allow you to adjust the volume with a long press on the touch panel. To change the volume on the AirPods Pro, you need to ask Siri, grab your phone, or turn the crown on the Apple Watch.

Galaxy Buds Live offer the ability to switch between multiple devices logged into the same Samsung account. There is also a Labs section in the app that allows you to activate a game mode to reduce latency. AirPods Pro support Apple’s live listening feature for accessibility, so your iPhone acts as a microphone to send audio to the headphones.

If you lose your earbuds, both let you play a sound to help you find them, but only AirPods Pro will show their last location on a map.

Galaxy Buds Live are better for battery life

If you want to listen to music or be on a call for much of the day, Galaxy Buds Live last longer. Samsung rates the battery for six hours with ANC on and eight hours with it off. I found that the Live Buds didn’t quite live up to this claim, only lasting 5 hours and 10 minutes with ANC enabled.

Apple rates AirPods Pro for 4.5 hours with ANC on and up to 5 hours with it off. When I first tested the AirPods Pro in October 2019 and they were new, they met and sometimes exceeded Apple’s rating. But now after 10 months of use I’m getting closer to four hours of battery life using ANC.

Each case comes with extra charge time: Live Buds add up to 29 hours (if you’re not using ANC) and AirPods 24 hours. To charge them via cable, note that they use different jacks (USB-C for Buds Live and Lightning for AirPods Pro), but they also both charge wirelessly.

Are AirPods Pro or Galaxy Buds Live better for me?

As always, it really depends on how you use your headphones and what ecosystem (iOS or Android, Siri or Bixby) you’re already familiar with. If you need active noise-canceling headphones and want a good balance of music, podcasts, and calls, choose AirPods Pro. If you want better sound quality and better noise cancellation for calls, get the Galaxy Buds Live.