Galaxy Buds Live review: Many reasons to buy but ANC isn't one of them

The Milky way Buds Live are Samsung's second truly wireless earbuds for 2020. In case you forgot, the Milky way Buds+ were launched in February this year. They didn't bring any significant upgrades apart from battery life and minor audio quality improvements. Active Noise Cancellation was a characteristic that many had been expecting and information technology wasn't present.

Information technology later became evident that Samsung would release an entirely new pair of earbuds in the 2nd half of this year. They're completely different than the earbuds we've seen from Samsung so far. The company has gone with a unique design and it has as well upgraded the internals. They're also the first amidst Samsung's offerings to feature Agile Noise Counterfoil.

Are they really everything that Samsung makes them out to be? We have a lot of ground to cover so let's dive correct into this Galaxy Buds Live review.

Galaxy Buds Live design and fit

Samsung has gone with a unique kidney bean-shaped design for the Milky way Buds Live. It has designed them to look more like a style accessory while also being very comfy to article of clothing for extended apply. In club to achieve this design, it had to lay out the internal components horizontally.

This has resulted in an added do good that nosotros peculiarly like. The Galaxy Buds Live don't protrude from the ears, rather, they fit snugly. This as well addresses one of my biggest pet peeves with the Galaxy Buds/Buds+. If you laid on your side with your face resting on your palm, it would oftentimes trigger the touchpad, causing whatever you were watching or listening to intermission.

It has always been possible to lock the touchpad through the Galaxy Wearable app simply so yous accept to go back in there and unlock it since the touchpad is actually very useful in every other state of affairs. I'm glad to see that this frustration has been addressed with the Galaxy Buds Alive.

The Galaxy Wearable app will teach you the right way to wear the Galaxy Buds Live. You simply take to make certain that the speaker is pointing in the direction of the lower part of your ear. Slide that office in first and then identify the peak of the earbud into your ear. From at that place, you can make any adjustments to get the right fit. 2 sets of wingtips come in the box and so finding the perfect fit won't be difficult.

Sound isolation isn't as great every bit we've experienced on the other Buds. That'due south a consequence of this new pattern. It won't actually carp you but if you like listening to music on full blast, the person side by side to you lot on the train would exist able to easily judge you lot on your music tastes. Guess that won't exist too big of an issue every bit long as nosotros're living in our socially distanced reality.

The touchpad on the Galaxy Buds Live makes for piece of cake command. A single tap can play or intermission your music, double tap can skip songs, receive or terminate calls while a triple tap can bring upward the previous song. Tapping and holding on the touchpad tin actuate 1 of the many functions that yous can choose from in the app, similar waking up Bixby.

Samsung has washed a good chore of making sure that the Galaxy Buds Live fit snugly. They had no consequence staying where they were supposed to during workouts as well. While the in-ear design of the Galaxy Buds/Buds+ made them a flake uncomfortable after several hours of use, the Galaxy Buds Live feel much more than comfortable.

Galaxy Buds Alive audio quality and performance

The Galaxy Buds Live aim to offer a more than premium sound experience compared to its predecessor and they do succeed in this mission for the most part. The improvements are driven by a bigger AKG-tuned 12mm speaker and a separate bass duct. The duct is really a clever piece of engineering science to excerpt more out of this speaker.

There is a noticeable difference in the quality compared to earlier models. The Galaxy Buds/Buds+ were not bass heavy by whatever means. Granted, you can't really look such tiny speakers to output bass that can get your heart thumping, but a commendable effort has been made with the Galaxy Buds Live to add together some extra oomph to the political party.

The new speaker also improves the reproduction of mid and high frequencies which just ways that these earbuds don't audio too basic, and that's a good thing. The volume can get squeamish and loud without any crackling sounds when information technology's turned up all the fashion. We likewise didn't feel any Bluetooth connection dropouts during our tests.

The easiest way to describe the Galaxy Buds Live audio quality without getting all technical is that information technology's good for a production of this kind. Information technology will be an enjoyable experience for y'all, more then than information technology was on the earlier models.

Samsung added a tertiary microphone to the Galaxy Buds+ considering customers had complained most the not-so-ideal vocalism call performance of its predecessor, especially outdoors. The Milky way Buds Live as well gets some improvements in this department. Information technology also has 3 microphones – one inner mic and two outer beamforming mics on either side. The mics are paired with an accelerometer, or equally Samsung calls information technology, a Phonation Pickup unit.

In our tests, nosotros plant the telephone call quality to exist quite good indoors, but not all that different from the Buds+. Nosotros did notice a slight improvement outdoors, an environment where the Buds have historically struggled in. The mix of beamforming mics, which focus their signal on where your vox is coming from, and the Voice Pickup Unit of measurement that senses the motion of the jaw and bone conduction to convert those vibrations into vocalization signals, are to thank for that.

Every bit always, you tin can personalize the sound quality through the Milky way Habiliment app. There are equaliser presets that yous tin switch between. Those among our team who prefer more bass similar the Bass boost preset the well-nigh.

Galaxy Buds Live Active Noise Cancellation

These are the showtime wireless earbuds from Samsung to feature Agile Noise Cancellation (ANC) and that's going to exist 1 of the biggest selling points of this product. Samsung has developed ANC for open type earbuds like these and claims that the feature can reduce depression-band background racket such as those generated by trains and buses upwards to 97%, while not tuning out noise above 700Hz every bit much. This means that you lot can be completely immersed in your podcast simply not miss the railroad train conductor'southward announcement.

In reality, though, we felt a fleck underwhelmed by this ANC implementation. While they didn't take any sort of dissonance cancellation per se, the in-ear blueprint of the Galaxy Buds/Buds+ did a good task of blocking out ambient sound. The silicone eartips basically sealed the ear canal. That's not possible on the Galaxy Buds Live due to the very nature of their design.

ANC on the Milky way Buds Live is merely marginally improve than that. We tin can't say that ANC makes a major difference compared to the natural noise counterfoil provided by the other earbuds. That's largely due to the fact that these open type earbuds tin can't block sound on their own. This is a issue of the form gene, there's just so much yous can extract out of such tiny earbuds after all.

The feature's efforts to drown out the noise was noticeable when enabling ANC in a bustling role but not substantial enough to brand a difference. Information technology made u.s.a. wish fifty-fifty more for a future Buds+ model with ANC as we feel that would be a much better implementation.

Milky way Buds Live connectivity and features

Samsung's newest earbuds are uniform with both iOS and Android devices, provided they're running iOS 10 or higher and Android 5.0 or higher, respectively. Swift Pair allows for piece of cake pairing with PCs running Windows 10 version 1803 or higher.

There's added functionality like the Game Style that can be enabled through the Galaxy Wearable app. It improves sound latency when playing games. The new Buds Together feature is particularly useful if you like to share what you lot're listening to with your friends. As sanitization and minimizing contact has become our new normal, you may not feel comfortable sharing earbuds with your friend, no matter how crawly the track they want you to cheque out is.

Buds Together works through the Music Share feature introduced with 1 UI 2.ane. If you and your friend both have your ain Galaxy Buds, you can mind to music together. This feature can exist accessed through the Music Share icon in the Media panel. Merely select the Buds device of your friend and select the audio path to decide whether you lot'll play the rail or your friend will. Buds Together works across Galaxy Buds, Galaxy Buds+ and the Galaxy Buds Alive.

Bixby voice control is plainly nowadays. When paired with your Galaxy device, use commands like "Hi Bixby, how's the weather today," to become your digital banana to reply. The new mics practice help with vocalisation pickup but the whole experience tends to exist hit or miss like always. Spotify remains Samsung's preferred music streaming service and it'due south possible to command basic features for the service through the new buds.

Galaxy Buds Live battery life

The new earbuds take slightly smaller 60mAh batteries compared to the Galaxy Buds+ but the charging case has almost double the chapters at 472mAh. That also means each earbud is slightly lighter than the Buds+ at 5.6g compared to 6.3g. The Galaxy Buds Live can give you one hr of playtime with just a five-minute accuse, great for when yous take to rush out the door. Qi-certified wireless charging is as well supported.

Samsung's official figures claim up to 6 hours of play time from the earbuds with ANC enabled and Bixby voice disabled and upwardly to 21 hours including the case. If both functions are off, the numbers leap up to 8 hours and 29 hours respectively. The claims are generally accurate. In that location's ever some variance betwixt the published figures and real-world usage only it's not meaning by any means.

We were impressed by the bombardment life of the Galaxy Buds Live. Nosotros've grown accustomed to the longevity of the Galaxy Buds+ merely didn't feel that the new buds are at whatsoever pregnant disadvantage. Even afterward using the earbuds all 24-hour interval and draining them, I could always get nearly an hour'south worth of play fourth dimension by placing the buds in the case for 5 minutes, giving them just enough juice to last my commute dwelling from the role.

Milky way Buds Live verdict

Allow'southward cutting to the chase: Do we recommend the Galaxy Buds Live? Yes, we do. The new blueprint significantly improves comfort and the sound experience has been elevated as well. A noticeable endeavour has likewise been made to address problems with call quality. Battery life is solid and then y'all never have to worry about the earbuds dying on y'all.

These are the reasons why we feel you should buy the Galaxy Buds Live if y'all're interested in them. ANC might be the big-ticket item here but on its own, it'south not plenty to earn the Galaxy Buds Live a buy recommendation. It's groovy that a characteristic that Samsung fans had long been waiting for has finally arrived merely the current implementation leaves united states of america wishing for more.

Are the Galaxy Buds Live worth it for their $169/€189 cost? For the reasons mentioned in a higher place, absolutely. If you lot've also fabricated up your heed to purchase a Galaxy Notation twenty flagship, you might desire to get your pre-social club in as Samsung will be distributing a pair as an incentive in select markets. If you're skipping the new flagship only have been thinking virtually upgrading your earbuds, become ahead and buy the Galaxy Buds Live. You won't regret information technology.

Pros	Cons
Very comfy fit	ANC could have been better
Unique design, remains in identify fifty-fifty when working out	Call quality non improved significantly
Improved audio experience	Sound isolation isn't as good
Buds Together is crawly for these COVID times

Source: https://www.sammobile.com/samsung/galaxy-buds-live/review/

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