According to Samsung, this will deliver a more immersive listening experience by allowing you to "stay at the center of the scene".
The Galaxy Buds Pro have another trick up their sleeves: 360 Audio, an AirPods Pro-rivaling feature, which comes with Dolby Head Tracking technology.
While the Galaxy Buds Live and Buds Plus both use single driver designs, Samsung says that the dual driver design it’s given its latest earbuds provides a balanced sound and wide frequency response, so we’re expecting an improvement here. Inside the Buds Pro is an 11mm woofer that's responsible for the low frequencies, and a 6.5mm tweeter for high frequencies, with Samsung taking inspiration from Hi-Fi speakers in their design. Still, it's a slight improvement upon the Galaxy Buds Live and Galaxy Buds Plus. Though the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro sound balanced across the bass, mids, and trebles, the audio quality also leaves something to be desired, with a flat presentation and small soundstage. The Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus (Image credit: TechRadar) Audio performance
The same colors are used here too, but these indicate to what extent the earbuds themselves are charged. When you open the case, you'll see an additional LED light. The case itself feels solid, with an LED light on the front of the charging case to indicate how much battery is left in the case itself. Round the back there's a USB-C port, which can be used to charge the case, although this can also be done wirelessly if you have a wireless charging pad to hand.
The color of the buds corresponds to the charging case you get with it, which is similar to that of the Galaxy Buds Live: it's smaller than that of the Buds Plus, but a bit thicker. The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro are available in three colors: Phantom Black, Phantom Silver and Phantom Violet to match the new Samsung Galaxy S21. Unfortunately, we weren’t enamored by the fit of the earbuds, which we found to be bulky and too uncomfortable to wear in bed – less comfortable than their predecessors, in fact.
There are still touch-capacitive sensors in the outer housings, which means you can control your music playback with a series of taps. Samsung has also made the part that sits in your ear canal noticeably more convex with vents to reduce pressure build-up, while the cushions have been adjusted with longer, less rounded caps. The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live (Image credit: TechRadar / Aakash Jhaveri) Unlike the Galaxy Buds Plus, the Buds Pro don’t come with rubber earfins to keep them securely in place, which could be an issue if you do use them for working out. This means the earbuds can be used for working out, and you needn’t worry about sweat or rain breaking the inner mechanisms. However, the brand has brought a series of upgrades to the Galaxy Buds Pro, including upping the water-resistance rating from a mere IPX2 to IPX7. So, it makes sense that Samsung has reprised the look of the Galaxy Buds Plus for its latest wireless earbuds. While we found their unusual shape to be comfortable, the lack of eartips and semi-open design meant that the noise cancellation wasn’t great, and they suffered from a substantial amount of sound leakage.
When they launched in mid-2020 the design of the Galaxy Buds Live was somewhat divisive. The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro look more like the Buds Plus than the bean-shaped Galaxy Buds Live, with round housings and silicone eartips. The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro (Image credit: Samsung) Design