Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: All hail the king!

Hold up—did you know that AirPods are the best-selling pair of wireless earbuds in the world? With a massive 20% of the market share going Apple’s way?

Now look at Samsung. It’s the largest smartphone maker in the world, but only the third-largest player in the wireless earbuds market. Selling less than half as many earbuds as Apple. 

That sounds pretty rough, but the good news is… I don’t think Samsung has ever been more serious about catching up to AirPods than with its new Galaxy Buds 4 series!

Both the regular Galaxy Buds 4 and the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro are so damn good that they make last year’s Buds 3 series look like some kind of… science experiment gone wrong.

No, seriously. Which is why I really wanted to know if Samsung has finally delivered a proper AirPods-killer this time. And spoiler alert: it's actually better than the AirPods Pro 3 in a lot of ways!

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: Specifications

• Design: In-ear fit, silicon ear tips (S, M, L)
• Color options: Black, White, Pink Gold (not available in Nepal)
• Dimensions and weight:
  • Earbuds: 18.1 x 19.6 x 30.9 mm, 5.1 grams (each earbud)
  • Charging case: 51 x 51 x 28.3 mm, 44.3 grams
• Water resistance: IP57 dust/water resistance (earbuds only)
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 6.1 (Auto Switch support), Auracast
• Sound driver: Enhanced two-way speakers (11mm woofers + 5.5mm tweeters), dual amplifiers
• Audio codecs: AAC, SBC, SSC HiFi, SSC UHQ (24-bit / 96 kHz), LC3
• Noise cancellation: Yes (with adaptive ANC support)
• Battery: 61 mAh (earbuds), 530 mAh (case)
  • Up to 6/7 hours of music playback (ANC on/off)
• Control: Force and touch (swipe) gesture
• Price in Nepal: NPR 33,999

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review:

Active Noise Cancellation (ANC)

• Enhanced ANC (dB unspecified)
• 6 microphones in total

Alright.

The first thing I wanna talk about is their noise cancellation—and you know what?—I did something different. ‘Cause instead of just me going on about my experience as always, I thought it would be more fun to have my colleagues 

So here’s what I did.

• I brought out a few of my colleagues → I had them listen to a bunch of simulated ambient noise → and they helped me with my little ANC experiment. 

For which I set up a couple of speakers in front of them and behind their backs. One of them played airplane cabin noise to test how well they cancel out low-frequency noises… and the other played office white noise so that we can test their ANC against mids and high-frequency sounds as well. Then I slow…ly increased the volume on both speakers, and once my colleagues said they could finally hear something, that was the cutoff point.

And this test went pretty much exactly how I thought it would.

The AirPods Pro 3 is better at noise cancellation than Samsung’s Buds 4 Pro—and it’s honestly not even a close battle. They both get rid of the consistent low-frequency noises under roughly 250Hz just the same, but the AirPods are also unbelievably good at shushing out the sharper, higher frequency noises. Like someone speaking next to you or the passing traffic, for example.

It’s got the best ANC I’ve heard from a pair of wireless earbuds. What else do I need to say?

The twist in the transparency tale!

And for years, Apple’s AirPods have taken my vote for their excellent transparency mode, too. While Samsung was never even in the top 3, actually.

But now that I’ve tested these two for over a week, I can honestly say the Buds 4 Pro are the new king of transparency mode. Yep. This one was such a close call… both of ‘em do such a great job at letting in the outside noise… but ultimately what I liked more about Samsung is how natural I sound here. Whereas on the AirPods, it’s almost like my voice has been put through a digital, metallic filter. I don’t like it.

Which is a little ironic ‘cause Apple specifically says “personalized transparency” on the AirPods Pro 3 is supposed to sound “more natural than ever”. So… yeah.

Oh—and before I forget—they both have a conversational awareness type feature that automatically lowers the volume of whatever I’m playing when I start speaking.

Sound quality

• 11mm woofers + 5.5mm tweeters
• AAC, SBC, SSF HiFi, SSC UHQ, LC3 codecs
• Adaptive EQ, Hi-Res audio (24-bit / 96 kHz)

What about sound then?

Does the Buds 4 Pro also sound better than the AirPods Pro 3? Well… yeah. Samsung’s earbuds have always had the potential to sound incredible right out of the box, but the problem was that I always had to mess around with the equalizer to get them sounding just. right.

And as much as I love customizing how my headphones sound, the reality is that most people simply don’t care about things like equalizers. They want their earbuds to sound great straight away. 

That’s it—that’s all that matters.

Apple understood this from the very beginning, and the AirPods have always had this “one for all” kind of tuning that works great for all kinds of songs. Nothing really stood out, and that was exactly the point. 

“Making a lot of people pretty happy instead of just some people really happy”. 

The AirPods Pro 3 are the same, with a slightly boosted sub-bass and a slight treble extension for a bit more “mainstream” sound. I’m not exactly in love with it, I don’t necessarily hate it either. A perfect 7.5/10 is what this is.

The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro sound so good!

The good news is that Samsung took the same approach as Apple → but pushed it one step further this time. ‘Cause the Buds 4 Pro is the first pair of Samsung earbuds that I’ve loved listening to immediately. No need to customize anything. 

It’s got an expansive, energetic sound, fantastic separation, and a wide soundstage that I’m sure more than 99% of people are gonna love. The Buds 4 Pro clearly has more emphasis on the bass and low-midrange region, which means—compared to the AirPods—it ends up sounding a lot fuller and livelier in most genres of music.

From hip-hop to rock, jazz, R&B, and workout… I’d pick Samsung over Apple any day of the week. Easily. I was listening to “Hotel California” the other day, and in its instrumental outro, I could feel the actual impact of the kick drums so much better on the Buds 4 Pro.

The only aspect I like more about the AirPods Pro 3’s audio is that it’s got more energy in trebles (especially upper trebles). Which I find missing with Samsung. 

So if your playlist largely has indie rock, punk rock, grunge, and metal songs—mostly with female vocals like Mitski's “Your Best American Girl” or “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac, for example—you’re gonna notice nicer details and a more airy sound on the AirPods.

But as I said before, I can always EQ the Buds 4 Pro if I don’t like its out-of-factory sound. 

Unlike how Apple doesn’t let me customize these earbuds natively. Samsung lets me shuffle between different pre-built equalizers as well. I can create my own, or I can even fine-tune it based on my own hearing ability. How cool is that?

24-bit / 96 kHz audio

The other thing that’s really cool about these Samsung earbuds is their support for hi-res audio.

• I should tell you that it only works on Samsung’s select flagship phones,
• and most streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal can’t even stream “true” lossless music over Bluetooth.

Then again, if you’ve got a ton of lossless FLAC music files, you’ll likely notice nicer audio with the Buds 4 Pro’s hi-res codec. I say “likely” and not “definitely” because I listened to at least a few dozen lossless music and their regular, lossy version on Spotify… and I could only tell the difference in 1/3rd of the songs.

Design and fit

• In-ear fit, silicone ear tips (S, M, L)
• 5.1 grams (each earbud)
• IP57 dust/water resistant (earbuds only)

So I know you guys have been waiting to hear me talk about their call quality, but let’s take a look at their design for a moment. Starting with the AirPods Pro 3, which looks incredibly similar to the og AirPods Pro. With not a lot of changes on the outside. 

The one thing I will say is that Apple’s new “foam-infused” silicone tips—versus the regular silicone ear tips on the Buds 4 Pro—are pretty amazing. They both fit me just fine, but that redesigned ear tip on the AirPods definitely helps a lot with passive isolation → and ultimately better ANC like we saw before.

Whereas I think Samsung has finally nailed it with this design. 

The triangular stem on last year’s Galaxy Buds 3 Pro felt quite awkward to use; its “blade light” felt super gimmicky, but this… this is great. And as much as I love Samsung’s stemless design era, I think this redesign was necessary.

The Buds 4 Pro’s metal strip feels so nice, and now that it has identical “pinch” and “press” controls as the AirPods Pro 3, I haven’t had accidental touches with these earbuds. Samsung also brought head control gesture to answer/skip calls like on the AirPods and an IP57 rating to protect it against dust and water damage.

Its case—with this cool transparent lid—doesn’t have any IP rating like with the AirPods, but all things considered, I’m more than happy with what I’m seeing here.

Battery life

• Up to 6 hours of music playback (with ANC)
• Wireless charging, USB-C wired charging

Battery life is next → where Apple dominates Samsung by lasting nearly 50% longer. I was getting anywhere between 8 – 8.5 hours of listening time on the AirPods Pro 3, versus roughly around 6 hours on the Buds 4 Pro. Oh—and if you enable that hi-res codec thing I mentioned before, you should expect it to last an hour or so less as well. 

Some neat ecosystem features

And while we’re talking about ecosystem features, I love how both Apple and Samsung have added their own unique flavor to these earbuds. I guess the AirPods Pro 3 stands out a little bit more with stuff like literally being able to use it as a clinical-grade hearing aid. 

It also has a very reliable heart rate sensor to track how you’re doing in your workouts, while the built-in speaker in its charging case makes finding it quite easy, and Apple’s tighter “Find My” integration itself is something I’ve wished Samsung would copy since forever!

The Buds 4 Pro, on the other hand, has its own set of unique features that set it apart from the AirPods. I already talked about audio customization before, then there’s “Auracast” support that lets me listen to public audio broadcasts directly on my earbuds, hands-free control to adjust playback or volume levels, and even some niche features like 360° audio recording.

But maybe my favorite thing about these earbuds that’s absent on the AirPods is that it comes in more than one color. Yep. You can find the Buds 4 Pro in white, black, and a lovely pink gold finish—unlike how Apple doesn’t give me any choice in this matter.

Call quality

• 3 microphones per earbud
• 1x digital + 2x HSNR (High Signal-to-Noise Ratio)

Alright.

I wanna finally talk about their microphone quality, and let me give it to you straight: the Buds 4 Pro is an easy winner here. Once again.

They both sound pretty great in an easy, indoor space, but my voice sounded a lot clearer and easy-to-understand with Samsung. Whether I was somewhere rowdy or even with the wind blowing in my face as I was travelling in the back of a bike.  

And just so you know, I’ve enabled the “super wideband speech” feature on the Buds 4 Pro that’s supposed to make my voice clearer, but I’m struggling to notice the difference with it on and off.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: Conclusion

Okay, I'd better wrap things up now.

So just to recap, here’s a quick summary of how the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro and the AirPods Pro 3 performed in different areas. Samsung had the better sound and clearer call quality… Apple had stronger ANC and longer battery life… while they were more-or-less tied at everything else.

And I can’t believe I’m saying this—but yeah—the Buds 4 Pro really are the “AirPods Pro” for Android, like everyone else says. 

Of course, you’re gonna miss out on a couple of features if you pair it with a non-Samsung phone—but even so—I feel so comfortable recommending it to the Android folks. Whereas the AirPods continue to be an iPhone’s best friend as always. It’s honestly a great time to be an audio enthusiast—no matter if you’re locked into Apple’s walled garden or if you’re rocking an Android phone.

Songs referenced in this Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review:

• Eagles – Hotel California
• Mitski – Your Best American Girl
• Fleetwood Mac – Dreams

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: Pros and cons

• Watch our video review of Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro