It is no secret that Samsung wants to get into your head — by that I mean, with their range of Galaxy in-ear earbuds such as last year’s rajma-like Galaxy Buds Live.
This year, however, with the new Buds Pro, there is a look back to the earlier Buds+. The question is are they worth the almost ₹16,000 price tag from the original ₹17,999 rate?
Off the bat, the polycarbonate plastic build of the charging case is not impressive. Most earbuds around such a price bracket have a more premium finish, with some metal alloy or at least a savvier finish.
The Buds Pro have a fairly ergonomic design. While not everyone found the Buds Live suiting their ear shape, these seem to work better thanks to protruding wingtips and the weighted balance, owing to the two-way speakers: an 11 millimetre woofer and a 6.5 millimetre tweeter.
The features
The earbuds are equipped with Samsung’s Intelligent ANC, which works best with the Wearable app. This unique feature for the Buds Pro has active noise cancelling, filtering out much of the ambient noise, whether I was lingering in traffic or in a house full of video chats and binge-watching. Through this, I was able to customise the level of active noise cancelling — between high or low. I found this a nifty feature but it is good to alternate between keeping on Ambient Noise and activating ANC, to avoid the dizzying effect.
The Buds Pro were created not only to play music or stream films, but also for communications. Voice Detect within the Intelligent ANC let me automatically turn the volume down when you speak. The overall sound profile of the Buds Pro is impressive; no scratchy bass and treble, and they do sit well in your ear during even the most gruelling of workouts.
There is unfortunately not much responsiveness with Bixby, the brand’s voice assistant, via the Buds Pro. While this alone does not stave me off the Galaxy Buds range of earbuds, I am still not convinced about the price. There is a lot out there available for a lot less.
