GALAXY BUDS LIVE REVIEW
GALAXY BUDS LIVE REVIEW
So we’ve got the Galaxy Buds Live, they just landed here. So I am here to give you my initial impressions.These are available in three colors, you’ve got them in Mystic Black, Mystic Bronze and Mystic White, all for the same price
So now let’s go over some of the basics on these brand new earbuds. So they’re coming in at $169.99 and they’re available in black, white or bronze. Now as far as battery life is concerned, they’re claiming eight hours with the active noise cancellation turned off, and they’re coming in with about five to six hours With ANC turned on.
Now I have yet to put that to the test. So that’s gonna be coming in the upcoming review, I have to spend, you know,a few days or a few weeks living with them, to really figure out what that battery life is like. I can’t do that on the first day. So I’m not gonna make any claims about that. As far as the case is concerned, they come with 21 additional hours in the case. And then speaking of the case, it uses Qi wireless charging and USB Type-C. So they’ve got you covered very similar to the Galaxy Buds Plus. Now they also have fast charge, where you can drop the earbuds back into the case for five minutes, and it’ll give you an additional hour worth of playback time. As far as phone calls, they’re still using a triple mic array very similar to what you got on the Galaxy Buds Plus. And also like I alluded to before, they do feature active noise cancellation.
PRO’S
comfortable
So now let’s get into the things that I like and after that we’ll talk about the things that I don’t like. So first up and most surprising to me, is the fact that they are quite comfortable.Now let me preface this by saying that comfort is highly subjective. So user experience may vary. What fits me comfortably, may not fit you comfortably, and vice versa. But as far as my usage so far, the few hours that I’ve had with them, I haven’t had any issues as far as fitment, as far as any sort of ear fatigue or any pain in the cartilage of my ears, none of that sort of stuff. So, so far, very comfortable and nice fit and no issues with wearing them and also no issues with them falling out of my ears when I’m moving around, or bend down, or even turn my head, nothing like that they stay nice and snug in my ears. The only thing I had to do with them to make them a little more comfortable, is they do come with these O-rings. Small ones come pre installed and they have these larger ones. So I went ahead and swapped out from the larger ones and made it a little more, I don’t know, a slightly tighter fit for years, and overall much better. So if you do have these,try out the different sizes, try combinations of the different sizes and see kinda what works best for you.
controls
Now secondly, I really like the controls on these guys. Now they’re similar to the Galaxy Buds Plus where it’s a touch control, highly responsive and also programmable. So that’s something that you can program in the app where you can change the function of the long press from being like activating the active noise cancellation or activating your smart assistant, or even changing it to volume control, which is what I ended up doing. And just like I’m talking about the app already, that’s one of the things that I really like about using the GalaxyBuds, Galaxy Buds Plus and the Galaxy Buds Live now, is the fact that you have full access and full control within the app. whether it’s firmware updates, or the find my buds feature or EQ settings, or ambient sound or active noise cancellation, you can toggle it on and off right inside the app. So there’s a lot of different functionality that’s built straight into it, and it’s native to the earbuds.As far as companion apps go, it is definitely one of the better ones as far as you know, pretty much any earbuds on the market at the moment. Now, before we go any further, if you have any questions,comments, concerns or anything like that about the Galaxy Buds Live, make sure you hit me in the comment section and I will get back to you, as soon as possible.
active noise cancellation
So next step, let’s move over to the active noise cancellation. So I’ve been seeing online where some people are saying, man, this active noise cancellation doesn’t work and some people say, wow,this works pretty good. As far as it is working as intended. So it is doing a very good job of blocking out low frequency noise. So when we’re talking about low frequency noises, we’re not talking about people’s voices, or loud sharp noises or beeps,or things of that nature, car horns, stuff like that, that’s not how active noise cancellation works, especially not on this type of earbud. We’re talking about low frequencies like engine noise, air conditioners, fans, refrigerators, like long droning types of sounds. It absolutely does work for that. I sat in a room with an air conditioner, I clicked them on and it for the most part reduced most of the noise of the air conditioner. So it most definitely does work. So the people are talking about that it doesn’t work because it’s not blocking out all of the sound around you, it’s not supposed to. Especially not on an open ear type of bud, but you know, it does definitely work and if you’re getting them properly seated, it’s definitely doing its job. Now, one thing I did notice with the active noise cancellation once you turn it on, there is a slight shift in the sound quality. So with the ANC off, you have deeper bass, with it on, it will lose a little bit of that sub bass depth. So that is something that I immediately noticed, so I figured I would let you know. And then as far as the sound quality is concerned, I am truly impressed. Now in a sense of being truly impressed let’s be clear. I’m truly impressed for an open ear design bud. Because I wasn’t expecting them to sound as good as they do, put it that way. So when I’m coming from something basic like, whether it’s the OnePlus Buds which are open ear design, or the first or second gen Apple AirPods not the AirPods Pro,just a regular AirPods, these sound surprisingly good. There is a depth to the sound. There is punchy bass, you’ve got some pretty decent mids, and the treble is surprisingly good. So that’s something that really, really impressed me. I couldn’t believe it, I was not expecting this level of sound, out of an open-ear design bud. So kudos to Samsung ’cause they actually did a fairly decent job here.
CONS
chimes and prompts
So the first thing that I Didn’t like about these earbuds is gonna be the kind of chimes and prompts that it gives you when you turn the active noise cancellation on or off. It is just way too loud like, it just caught me by surprise, the volume is just way too high on those prompts. So something, I don’t know, Samsung, we got to either turn that down, be able to disable them, give me a firmware update that removes something, but those prompts are just far, far too loud.
change in the sound quality
Secondly, like I alluded to before, the change in the sound quality when the ANC is turned on. That’s something thatI definitely got to put in the cons because you know, any change in the sound quality is just not good. Most of the other active noise cancellation earbuds that I have, they don’t have this issue. So that’s something that definitely should be looked into. That loss of bass, it doesn’t completely lose it, but it is a definite change, and you can hear it. And then next, another kind of a gripe because I did like the sound quality, but if you didn’t listen to him at high volume, like when you start getting really really loud, if you’re listening to hip hop, or anything with heavy baselines, they most definitely can distort. I for sure heard some distortion when getting up above 85% volume. So that’s something that I absolutely noticed and kind of caught me by surprise. So anything under that, they sound really, really good, but when you start getting up to the max volume, it definitely distorts, if you have bass heavy music. If you’re listening to anything else that isn’t that bass heavy, it’s actually gonna still sound pretty okay. But for hip hop heads trap,you know EDM, stuff like that, it might distort you,so just keep that in mind.
loss of audio quality
Now, thirdly, let’s talk about the loss of audio quality. So what I mean by loss of audio quality, that’s gonna be because of the fact they have an open ear design. So with an open ear design, obviously, you’re not gonna seal off the outside world, even with the active noise cancellation turned on. So you do in fact, lose some of that audio fidelity. As somebody who cares so much about sound quality, that’s definitely a problem for me. So especially right now,I’m not out and about like watching traffic or doing any of that sort of stuff or going to and from job sites. So I really don’t need to have all of that ambient type of wear sounds. So that’s not really for me. I honestly prefer that closed design with the ear tips that seals me in all the way, and I get maximum audio quality. So to me that’s definitely a conscious based on design, but for plenty of people out there, they enjoy that design. There’s a ton of people who are accustomed to using earbuds like apple AirPods, or even like the new OnePlus Buds, so things of that nature, if that is the type of design that you’re into, you prefer having being able to hear like what’s going on around you, then I think the Galaxy Buds Live, are gonna be an excellent choice for you. Otherwise, if you’re the type of user that uses your standard type of earbuds, or in ear monitors where they seal up, this may be a hit or miss for you. Something worth trying, but you’re gonna have to find that out for yourself.