Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro Review: Should You Buy These Wireless Earbuds?

This past August, Samsung debuted a new pair of earbuds to its Galaxy Buds line: the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, the successor of the Buds Pro. I’ve been testing the wireless earbuds and have been incredibly impressed with its comfortable design, control features, and sound quality. Read on for my full Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro review.

How I Tested

As a self-proclaimed tech lover, I was excited to test Samsung’s new earbuds. I own the Apple AirPods Pro, the Bose QuietComfort earbuds, and the Google Pixel Buds Pro, but I haven’t gotten a chance to test any earbuds by Samsung since I’m Team iPhone. Though the Buds 2 Pro can be paired with an iPhone, its full supply of features—such as adjusting earbuds and audio settings and downloading software updates—are optimized for Samsung Galaxy smartphones and other Android devices via the Galaxy Wearable app.

For the purposes of testing these earbuds, Samsung sent me the Galaxy S22 so that I could experience the full suite of features the Buds 2 Pro have to offer. During this month, I used the earbuds for calls, Zoom meetings, commutes, runs, workouts, and travel.

Design and Features

Let’s get down to the basics. The Buds 2 Pro come in three different colors: black (Graphite), white, and lilac (Bora purple). My first impression was that they were very light, and I loved the matte exterior. According to Samsung, they’re 15% smaller than the Buds Pro at 5.5 grams (per earbud) versus 6.3 grams. The case opens upward (unlike the Airpods Pro and Pixel Buds Pro, which open from the top edge). This is nice because it makes cleaning the interior easier. Similar to other earbuds, the case has an LED on the inside and the front that lets you know its battery state.

The earbuds themselves are a nice egg shape and fit comfortably in my ear (no ear tip change necessary). Still, I would recommend starting with the Earbud fit test to make sure your earbuds are fitting properly. Then you can customize your earbud and audio settings on the Galaxy Wearable app. For instance, the Equalizer adjusts bass, treble, and more. Afterward, go into the touch control settings for play and calls. I turned on all the touch control settings, so that with one tap my music pauses, a double tap goes back to the previous track, and three taps skip to the next song. When you press and hold, you can switch from active noise cancellation to ambient noise.

Audio Quality

Since the buds have a retail price of $230, my expectations for sound quality were pretty high. I found the audio to be great because it really enveloped the sound in my ear. What really stood out, though, was the ANC, or active noise canceling. It’s really hard to get great active noise canceling with earbuds compared to over-ear headphones. I own the Bose QuietComfort 45 headphones, and nothing beats the noise canceling that these headphones deliver, but the Buds 2 Pro comes very close.