Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro announced with smarter active noise cancelling
Along with its three new S series phones, Samsung also announced its Galaxy Buds Pro truly wireless headphones, which are supposed to be the company’s new flagship in this segment. They draw inspiration from the Galaxy Buds+ design but claim to offer even better ergonomics and longer listening times. Additionally they promise better audio quality and bring the active noise cancelling from the Buds Live.
The Galaxy Buds Pro have 11mm woofers for deeper sound and 6.5mm tweeters to deliver crisp trebles. Samsung says the current setup improves the sound quality quite a bit, even compared to the highly regarded Galaxy Buds+.
Moreover, the Buds Pro offer a considerable improvement in the call department. There’s a dedicated Voice Pickup Unit (VPU) that hones in on your voice and three microphones to separate your voice from the background noise. One of those microphones features high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to help with the ambient sounds. And lastly, the TWS headphones feature Samsung’s brand new Wind Shield technology so the wind doesn’t mess up your calls while outside or while riding your bike.
Of course, there’s also active noise canceling too and Samsung claims about 99% ambient sound blockage. The ANC settings are pretty granular so you can choose the level of ANC and if you want to have a conversation, you can actually amplify the surrounding sounds by more than 20 dB. The best part is that the headphones are smart enough to manage that themselves. The microphones are always listening for your voice so whenever you speak, the Ambient Sound feature will kick in and let the ambient sounds in.
Another neat new feature is the Auto Switch. You can connect two Samsung devices simultaneously – your tablet and your phone, for example. This allows you to watch a movie on the tablet and when a call comes in on your phone the Buds Pro will automatically pause the movie and switch to the phone so you can accept the call. And once the conversation is over, the buds will hit play on the movie to ensure a seamless experience.
It doesn’t end there – there’s 360 Audio based on Dolby Head Tracking technology similar to Apple’s Spatial Audio. And Game Mode is for those cases when you need the lowest latency possible.
Each bud has a 61mAh battery that Samsung says can last for up to 5 hours of non-stop listening with the ANC turned on and about 8 hours without it. There’s another 472 mAh cell inside the case, taking the total play times to 18 and 28 hours, respectively. The fast charging functionality gives you 1 hour of music playback for just 5 minutes of charging.
The available colors for the Galaxy Buds Pro are Phantom Silver, Phantom Violet and Phantom Black – they will go on pre-order starting tomorrow, January 15, for €229. Actual availability is coming on January 29.
