Review of the unique Samsung Galaxy Buds wireless headphones

Samsung Galaxy Buds Live are one of the most unique-looking true wireless earbuds out there. Their kidney-bean-shape design is instantly recognizable. It fuels people’s curiosity about what you’re wearing.

Buds Live are also Samsung’s first true wireless headphones with active noise cancelling technology. Since the brand owns Harman Kardon, AKG, and JBL, you would expect these earbuds to perform amazingly.

However, a unique design isn’t the most important part of headphones. And, sadly, the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live earbuds don’t deliver on all the promises. Even after few firmware updates.

While they offer good sound quality with a respectable bass punch, things like noise cancellation simply doesn’t work as intended.

Of course, there are quite a few things to talk about in this Samsung Galaxy Buds Live review, so let us go step by step.

Comfort & Fit

Star Rating 4.0 Great

Unless you have tiny ears, Samsung Galaxy Buds Live should fit you comfortably. The only problem is the insertion procedure.

After successful pairing, the first thing you see is an animation showing how to insert the beans into your ears properly.

That’s very helpful since instinct tells you to shove them into your ears. It’s quite the opposite; the front end should sit right in front of the canal.

However, that is easier said than done, especially if you have big ears (like mine, apparently).

In the box, you get 2 sizes of wingtips that latch to your earlobe to ensure stability. But since the earbuds’ design is fairly flush, you might have some difficulty adjusting them with your fingers.

Of course, proper adjustment is vital to get the best sound out of these. Getting perfect insertion on a first try is a challenge that you master over time, but it can be frustrating for a new owner.

Proper position also ensures stability. Otherwise, you can be sure to lose them as soon as you twist your head. We suggest you to lean your head left and right to check if both earbuds are stable before going outside.

Noise Isolation

Star Rating 2.0 Okay

We’re talking about open-air earbuds, which is why passive isolation is nearly non-existing.

Much like Apple AirPods, Samsung Galaxy Buds Live are also classic earphones. Because they lack ear tips, you can’t expect them to block the ear canal.

Therefore, you can hear everything around with minimal isolation effect.

Noise Cancellation

Star Rating 1.5 Meh

Similar to passive isolation, active noise cancellation seems to do no work at all.

It’s kind of a head-scratcher to why Samsung equipped their open-air earbuds with ANC technology since even in theory, this combo cannot work.

The overall result is even worse than expected. Maybe we got a defective product, but there is almost no difference in ambient noise when the noise cancelling is activated.

It’s especially hard to evaluate the difference since every time you enable noise cancellation, a melody plays through earbuds.

At least the sound doesn’t change if you leave cancellation active. However, we don’t see a reason why you would do that.

Bluetooth

Star Rating 4.5 Almost Perfect

The connection is stable and pairing fast, especially if you own a Samsung smartphone. Thankfully, you don’t lose as many features if you own some other brand since the companion app is available on both Android and iOS.

We experienced no problems whatsoever with our pair of earbuds. There were zero stutters and disconnections.

Coverage is about what you can expect from Bluetooth 5.0, passing at least 2 brick walls. If you like to use only one earbud, Samsung Galaxy Buds Live offers mono mode on either side.

The pairing process is quick, with your smartphone leading you through a simple procedure. I have a Samsung phone, so the experience was great. However, you should get the same treatment on other brands, too.

Multipoint?

A few days ago, a firmware update made it possible to connect your Samsung Galaxy Buds Live to multiple devices, as long as they’re signed into Samsung’s account.

What Bluetooth Codecs They Use?

Apart from a standard SBC Bluetooth codec, you also get an AAC and SSC (Samsung Scalable Codec). The latter can deliver high-quality audio but is only supported by newer Samsung devices.

Sadly, there’s no aptX, so non-Samsung Android smartphone users don’t get high-quality streaming.

Is There a Video Lag?

For watching YouTube, these do a perfect job. They’re suitable for mobile gaming, too. Just make sure you enable Gaming mode in the companion app to reduce latency.

Battery

Star Rating 4.0 Great

The battery life depends on how many features you leave enabled. In our test with ANC, we got 7 hours and 7 minutes per charge, with another 14 in the Qi-compatible wireless charging case.

The more features a product supports, the more battery it drains. That is also true for Samsung Galaxy Buds Live since some features dramatically worsen your playtime.

At best, earbuds can hold around 8 hours on a single charge, with an additional 21 hours inside the case.

As soon as you enable noise cancelling or “Bixby voice wake-up,” the earbud’s battery life drops to 7 hours. If you activate both of those features, the runtime drops even lower, at 5.5 hours.

Nevertheless, the battery is pretty good for the size of these. Especially for the case, which is small and sleek, easily fitting inside the pocket.

Since most newer Samsung smartphones support reverse wireless charging, Samung Galaxy Buds Live also support Qi charging.

That way, you can recharge them on a wireless charging pad or by using a supported smartphone.

Durability

Star Rating 3.5 Almost Great

Both earbuds and the case feel compact and sturdy. And even though they lack a waterproof rating, with IPX2, they should resist a little bit of sweat during workouts.

The first thing that you notice when you put the case out of the box is their weight. It feels heavier than most other cases, even if they’re twice as big.

That gives a pleasant sensation of holding something premium and robust, which is always a good thing.

The case is still made of plastic, so overall build quality and drop resistance may vary, but first impressions are great.

Earbuds, too, have a good weight, yet you don’t feel them in your ears at all. Samsung seemed to distribute the weight perfectly.

However, don’t use them near water. With IPX2 water resistance rating they can survive light sweating, but not heavy rain.

While the inside of the bud is plastic, the outside part has a shiny chrome finish. It might look cool, but it brings at least 2 problems: scratches and fingerprints.

Therefore, expect a lot of wiping and polishing if you want them always to be nice and sparkly.

Features

Star Rating 4.0 Great

Samsung Galaxy Buds Live offer many features, but some of them are only half-baked.

Nowadays, the main selling point of many true wireless earbuds are features. There are quite a few things you can play with inside the Samsung Galaxy Wearable app, but not everything is customizable.

For example, you can’t remap all touch controls. The app only lets you select what you want for long presses, whereas a tap and a double tap remain fixed.

Thankfully, commands are responsive, and you hear a short beep after every press to know if you hit the controls correctly.

There’s also EQ, which is just a selection of 6 different presets that you can’t tweak.

The active noise cancelling only operates at one setting and is practically unusable. You don’t get any transparency mode since the design already lets you hear environmental sounds.

Of course, there’re some useful features, too. Like Gaming mode, which reduces latency. You can also find the lost earbud if it’s gone missing.

Bixby is a dedicated smart assistant that follows your commands and can read out your notifications.

Sound

Star Rating 3.5 Almost Great

Earbuds have a good sound quality, with natural vocals and surprisingly pleasant bass response. But they lack the refinement and fullness of even some cheaper models.

Samsung, or AKG, tuned these quite well. You don’t hear any harshness or sibilance, and the vocals have a good texture.

Starting with the bass, it’s nicely balanced with the rest of the frequency response. It’s boosted only by a smidge to make the sound slightly warm.

Low-end is surprisingly well controlled and present, despite the open-air design. Bass on Samsung Galaxy Buds Live works great with all music genres, from pop, hip hop to rock and metal.

Sadly, it does lose quite a bit of power once you take the earbuds outdoor. However, there is a quick solution for that.

In the app, under the Labs tab, you can enable “Relieve pressure with ambient sound,” which boosts the bass significantly. Bass lovers will find this setting useful, even though it does make the audio quality more muffled.

The midrange sounds natural and balanced, with crunchy guitars and lovely vocals. It’s slightly less detailed and refined than we would like.

The high-end of the spectrum keeps the presentation nice and airy without being too hot. Again, the detail level is somewhat lacking, but it’s okay for casual movie and music listening sessions.

While the imaging isn’t these earbud’s biggest strength, the soundstage is relatively wide (for an in-ear headphone).