I’ve spent well over 3 months with the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, and now that I’ve spent a few weeks with their successor, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, I’m going to give you my thoughts on which one I’d buy at which price and if I’d upgrade to the Buds 3 Pro.
The first advantage of the Buds 3 Pro is the fit. Thanks to their new design, which is a bit wider in your ears, the Buds 3 Pro offers a better seal. This better fit translates to significantly better noise cancellation performance. It’s at least two times better, I’d say, than the Buds 2 Pro, and this means that these should just be better whether you’re on the go or you’re just in a noisy office environment.
Better noise cancellation also helps improve their sound. That better seal gets you enhanced bass performance. While their overall sound signature is quite similar to their predecessor, I’d say they sound a bit less tinny than the Buds 2 Pro did.
Another big highlight of the Buds 3 Pro is their new volume controls. You can now swipe up and down the blade to raise and lower the volume, and this dedicated gesture makes raising and lowering the volume a bit easier. Unlike the Buds 2 Pro, with the Buds 3 Pro, just like the AirPods Pro, you now actually pinch the little blade to get your music controls like playing and pausing music, triggering the assistant, skipping forward and back tracks, as well as taking and ending calls.
Design Changes
The Buds 3 Pro is a radical departure in looks from the Buds 2 Pro. They look like what would happen if a Cybertruck and a 1950s spacecraft had a baby in the form of earbuds. Their case is less square, has this cool translucent look to them, and one of the weirdest new parts of this design are the LED lights along the blade.
They don’t really do anything functionally for buds other than light up when you first take them out of the case. They’re really just there for decoration, and yes, you can turn them on while you wear the buds by pinching and holding them for 5 seconds when they’re out of the case, and you can set the lights to blink as well as fade in and out as well.
The one annoying thing about them though is the LEDs Samsung uses for these blade lights have a pretty low refresh frequency, which you can see when you move them around, which causes a visible flicker.
Performance
Another advantage I’d give to the Buds 3 Pro is transparency mode. It’s noticeably better than it was on the Buds 2 Pro, both in terms of the sound that you hear around you as well as your voice. My voice sounds a little bit less robotic with the Buds 3 Pro than it did with the Buds 2 Pro.
Speaking of their mics though, here’s how their mics compare:
- “All right, and this is a mic test for the Buds 2 Pro. This is how their mics sound.”
- “And these are the new Buds 3 Pro: This is how their mics sound.”
I didn’t really notice that much of a difference between them, but if you did, definitely let me know in the comments.
The Buds 3 Pro also supports Bluetooth’s new Auracast feature, which allows you to pair multiple buds to a single phone playing music, which is pretty cool.
Battery Life
The last advantage I’d give the Buds 3 Pro is battery life. Now, while frustratingly Samsung doesn’t list what the battery life of the actual buds are, so I have to assume they’re similar or slightly worse to the Buds 2 Pro (there’s got to be a reason they didn’t list it), with the case you now get a total of 30 hours of listening with ANC off and 24 hours with active noise cancellation, and that’s up from 18 with the Buds 2 Pro.
Where Buds 2 Pro Still Wins
But what about the Buds 2 Pro? Well, yes, they do still have some advantages, comfort being the first one. Though this is going to be somewhat subjective, I think some users might prefer the Buds 2 Pro’s fit, especially for extended wear.
The Buds 3 Pro, while offering a great fit for me, has a more bulbous shape that might cause discomfort for some users. The Buds 2 Pro ear tip design also doesn’t appear to be as fragile as the Buds 3 Pro, which had early reports of the tips ripping when users tried to switch out the tips, and it even happened to me. Even following Samsung’s directions, my tip ripped, and I had to send my buds out for repair.
The last advantage of the Buds 2 Pro is, of course, price. The Buds 2 Pro retail for $20 less than the Buds 3 Pro but can often be found on sale for $50 less.
Final Thoughts
So now the big question is: are the Buds 3 Pro worth upgrading to at $249 US? In my opinion, not really. At that price point, I’d consider other buds like the Sony WF-1000XM5s, which offer superior sound and noise cancellation.
$249 is definitely in the premium buds territory, and I’m not sure, aside from the seamless switching between Samsung devices, there’s enough here to justify picking up these buds over their competition for the same amount of money.
However, Samsung does have a pretty good trade-in program going on at the time of recording for these buds. If you have a pair of the Buds 2 Pro, you can trade those in for the Buds 3 Pro, which will knock their price down to $150. At that price level, I think they become a more reasonable option, especially for people who are already invested in the Samsung ecosystem.
For those looking for alternatives to the Buds 3 Pro, another pair I’d look at are the Nothing Ear (2). They have a similar shape and also have a cool transparent design, and they often go on sale for much less than the Buds 3 Pro without sacrificing much in terms of their features.
To learn more about the Buds 3 Pro and the other buds I mentioned, as well as check their price, I’ve left a link to our blog post where you can do that and more.