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Samsung released the Galaxy Buds last year, with the Galaxy S10 series. They were pretty decent earbuds, though they weren’t really anything special – unless you had a Samsung phone. But with the Galaxy Buds+ in 2020, Samsung upgraded just about every aspect of the earbuds and made them even better. And this was all done for just $20 more, coming in at a price tag of $149. While still undercutting the competition from Sony, Apple, Bose and others.
Galaxy Buds+ were not designed to ‘Wow’ you
The design of the Galaxy Buds+ scream functional and not fashionable. And for the majority of us, that’s just fine. I don’t have any issues with the design of the Galaxy Buds+. They are smaller than most other truly wireless earbuds on the market, and fit in my ears better than most of them.
In fact, I wore them on a flight from San Francisco to Detroit, which is about five hours, and actually forgot that they were in my ears. That’s how comfortable they are. And a big change from even their predecessor, the Galaxy Buds.
They are a little larger than the earbuds on a pair of wireless earbuds, which is actually really impressive given how good these sound and how good the battery life is. There are touchpads on each earbud, which can be mapped to do different things. I kept them mapped to play/pause. Which is very useful when on a plane, or doing any kind of travel, so you can pause to hear announcements.
Samsung is currently selling the Galaxy Buds+ in three colors: black, white and blue. There is a red color, but it appears that one is only in Europe, unfortunately. One the white and blue colored Galaxy Buds+, you can see a hint of the Aura Glow color from the Galaxy Note 10+. Where the color changes a tiny bit, depending on how the light hits it. It’s a really cool look, but again, if you’re putting these in your ears, you won’t even see that.
As with most headphones, truly wireless or not, there are three different sized eartips in the box. This is going to allow you to swap them at will, so you can choose the ones that fit your ears the best. I swapped mine out for the smallest ones, and while they felt a little loose at first, they never fell out of my ears. And were extremely comfortable.
A new champ for truly wireless headphones and battery life
Typically, truly wireless headphones offer up pretty mediocre battery life. We’re usually talking about four to six hours on a single charge. I was impressed when the Sony WF-1000XM3 earbuds could get up to eight hours with noise cancellation turned off. But Samsung blew that away with the Galaxy Buds+.
Samsung says you can get about 11 hours on a single charge, and the carrying case can recharge them one full cycle. Getting you 22 hours total. That is very impressive.
Now, I have to say, I did not wear the Galaxy Buds+ for a full 11 hours straight. That’s just crazy. But after wearing them for five hours on a flight home from Unpacked, I still had about 70% left. Which leads me to believe that you can probably get more than 11 hours. Depending on your settings, what you’re listening too and the volume level.
The carrying case that comes with the Galaxy Buds+ is also fairly small. It fits in my front jeans pocket pretty nicely actually. I did hear some people at Unpacked complain that it was still pretty big, but I think it’s a good size. Especially after using some larger ones like the Sony WF-1000XM3 or the Jabra Elite 65t, which have much taller cases.
If you were waiting to grab a pair of truly wireless headphones because the battery life sucked (and who can blame you?), now is the time to grab one. The tech in these headphones are getting better and better. Which also means that it’s getting smaller and more energy efficient, as well as making more room for larger batteries. Which is the case with the Galaxy Buds+.
Audio quality has been much improved
Samsung has really been talking up the improved sound quality on the Galaxy Buds+, thanks to the dual drivers here. And you can really tell the difference, between these and the original Galaxy Buds. I was using the Galaxy Buds for a couple of weeks before getting the Galaxy Buds+, and you can hear a big difference in the sound quality between the two.
The bass is now deeper, but it doesn’t overpower the mids and highs which still sound really good. Samsung added a woofer and a tweeter to the Galaxy Buds+, which is why you are getting better sound, as well as deeper bass out of these.
Now, these aren’t going to give you “studio-quality sound” like Samsung is claiming, but they do sound top-notch. In fact, when it comes to audio quality, the Galaxy Buds+ are my new favorites, because they are just that good.
With the Galaxy Wearable app on Android (and iOS), you can also adjust the EQ. Now since I listen to a lot of podcasts, I do keep it on “Clear”, but there are other options for those that want more bass and so forth. And you can adjust these at will, which is a really nice feature.
Wrap Up
The Galaxy Buds+ have quickly become my favorite truly wireless headphones, and I knew it would take a lot to get me away from the Sony WF-1000XM3. Samsung offers stellar battery life, very comfortable earbuds, and some incredible audio. That’s a recipe for the best pair of truly wireless headphones on the market today.
On top of all of that, the Galaxy Buds+ are also a pretty inexpensive pair of truly wireless headphones, coming in at around $149 right now. You could do a lot worse at this price, but you won’t do much better.