Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro  Headphones Review

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro use planar tweeters and dual amp drivers, which is a departure from the dynamic drivers in the manufacturer's previous releases. By default, with ANC on, their sound profile is warm and bass-heavy.

When you disable the ANC, the frequency response changes with a bit less boom in the bass and a very slightly warmer top-end, but it's a somewhat subtle difference. In addition to the custom graphic equalizer, you can choose from several EQ presets. Broadly, they're all quite bassy, so you'll need to use the custom EQ if you prefer a more conservative, low-end response. However, if you like the extra bass and want more or less treble, the presets are handy for gaining a more excited or warmer voice without much fuss.

In addition to the EQ, select Samsung devices (such as the Samsung Galaxy S22, Samsung Galaxy Flip 4, or newer) support Galaxy AI, which generates an Adaptive EQ based on real-time analysis of your fit and listening habits. Subjectively, we didn't notice a significant difference, but your experience may vary as the algorithm collects more data about your usage.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have excellent frequency response consistency. Once you find the right-sized ear tips, they sound virtually the same between wears. 

Their bass profile's target compliance is decent. The range is exaggerated with a tilt that highlights the low-bass, adding rumble you can feel. On tracks like One To Another by The Charlatans, the boom and punch of the kick drum, low toms, and bass guitar sound prominent, but the region's emphasis can make the keys in the mid-range difficult to make out perfectly.

The Samsung Buds 3 Pro's mid-range target compliance is outstanding. For the most part, the response closely adheres to our target for present and balanced speech and melodic lead guitar and keys. The elevated bass region carries on into the low-mids, which tapers off in the center of the mid-range, so bass guitar harmonics, for instance, can clutter busy tracks a little, relative to natural-sounding leads.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have superb treble profile target compliance. Compared to our target, most of the treble range is underemphasized, imparting an overall somewhat warm tonality, which is great if you're sensitive to treble. The low-treble diminishes the articulation of acoustic guitar strings slightly. The soft peaks and narrow dips in the mid-treble and above lend cymbals presence without sounding piercing, but depending on the pitch, they can sound slightly dull.

Their peaks and dips performance is great. The bass and mid ranges are smooth for an even low-end punch relative to the natural-sounding melodies and speech. A small peak and dip in the low-treble adds a little emphasis to vocals or slightly weakens their comprehensibility, depending on the pitch. In the mid-treble, the peaks, which are more obvious in the right driver of our unit, cause sibilants to sound overly bright, especially compared to the narrow dip that can cause vocals to sound a little lispy. You may notice an airy top end depending on how sensitive your hearing is to high frequencies.

The earbuds' L/R drivers are well-matched, and their weighted amplitude is tightly matched. Overall, the frequency response is matched except for a difference in the treble range, which sees a boost to some frequencies more in the right driver than in the left. There's also a phase mismatch in the treble range, which is associated with cancelling out certain frequencies. However, your experience may vary as to whether you'll notice this with real-world content.

These earbuds have disappointing group delay. Both L/R drivers exhibit a delay that can translate to messy low-bass frequencies. However, the upper bass frequencies through the treble are much tighter and transparent.

These buds don't interact with your outer ear, which limits their ability to create a more immersive speaker-like listening experience.

These have excellent harmonic distortion performance. At 94 dB/SPL and 104 dB/SPL, each frequency tested demonstrate low harmonic distortion, ensuring a pure and clean signal.

These Bluetooth earbuds don't need an additional amp to drive them.

You can access the virtual sound feature via the Samsung Galaxy Wearable app. There's a fixed 360 Audio mode that doesn't alter the panning when you move and a head-tracking mode that moves around you when you shift. Overall, the function works as intended by creating a more immersive and spacious soundstage, but it can sound artificial like other virtual surround sound effects. With the head-tracking mode enabled, if you move beyond a 90-degree turn, it'll mute the opposite earbud after shifting the rest of the audio to one side. It also doesn't change much if you nod your head up or down on a vertical plane.

If you own a compatible Samsung TV, you can connect the earbuds and utilize the 360 Audio with (or without) head-tracking by using the TV's settings. During testing, we streamed Netflix and YouTube on the Samsung QN900D 8k QLED TV and didn't notice much difference in the earbuds' sound with 360 Audio on/off and with or without head-tracking. There weren't any latency issues, though.

These are the settings used to test the Samsung Buds 3 Pro Truly Wireless. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are a stemmed set of earbuds, which is a departure from the previous Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro True Wireless' stem-free shape. Available in 'Silver' or 'White,' the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro finish has a semi-metallic sheen to the plastic, with a blue marking on the bottom of the left bud's stem and a red marking on the right one. Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Truly Wireless, these include ear tips to seal your ear canal.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro feel comfortable. They're balanced and lightweight, providing a secure in-ear fit. The plastic housings are smooth, and the three pairs of silicone ear tips feel soft without applying uneven pressure to your ear canals. That said, they can shift out of place (but not necessarily fall out) and require a readjustment if you're eating lunch or having a long chat with someone.

The Samsung Buds 3 Pro have good controls. The touch sensors are on the flat, back-facing section of the stems, and they also use pinch controls—both of which are responsive. Sometimes, the buds can shift out of place when using the back-facing touch controls, such as sliding your fingers along the stem to change the volume. The buds output distinct tones when you enter commands, which can take time to memorize.

In addition to the default control scheme, you can enable voice commands and customize controls via their app, such as selecting which listening modes you want to include when cycling through them. The voice commands worked without a hitch in our office amid noise and chatter, but there have been user reports of voice commands glitching.

The Samsung Buds 3 Pro are superbly portable, like most true wireless designs. You can easily stow them in your pocket at a moment's notice.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro's charging case is good. It's plastic with a dark, tinted translucent lid, and the rest of the case is a contrasting silver to match the buds. On the front, there's an LED for indicating statuses, like pairing and charging. The pairing button is located on the bottom next to the USB-C charging port, and the case can also charge wirelessly with a compatible Qi pad.

Unlike the matte finish of the case for the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro True Wireless, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro's smooth plastic case feels a bit more slippery when handling it. It's also an upright design, so you can flip the lid single-handedly more easily than with the clamshell design of the previous generation.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro's build quality is good. The buds and charging case are made of plastic with a metallic-looking finish, save for the case's semi-translucent plastic lid. The case feels sturdy, with a thick lid and secure hinge. The buds' plastic seams are well-matched and smooth, unlike the slight imperfections found on our pair of Samsung Galaxy Buds3. Their plastic stems feel a bit less solid than those on the Apple AirPods Pro 2, for example, but they're also lightweight and don't feel fragile. On the bottom of each stem are the contact points for charging, and these are fairly exposed, so you may need to be mindful that if these are damaged, that can impact battery charging. That said, the buds have an IP57 rating against dust and water, so you can certainly take them out on a rainy day.

There have been reports of the silicone ear tips ripping when swapping them out. While this is a concern and annoying if you experience this, following the manufacturer's directions by pulling the ear tips from the base where they attach to the buds seems to mitigate this problem. Ideally, you won't have to change the ear tips often once you have the right size.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro stable-fitting earbuds that'll hold up under daily use at the office, impromptu dance parties, and gym sessions, provided they fit you. You might need to readjust them if you headbang or while chatting on a call.

• Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro earbuds
• Charging case
• Silicone ear tips (S, M, L)
• USB-C to USB-C charging cable (3' 2"/ 0.99m)
• Quick start guide

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have fantastic full range noise isolation performance. The noise cancelling has two modes with adjustable strengths: 'Active noise cancelling', which was set to maximum strength for the measurements, and 'Adaptive.' The combined ANC and passive isolation filter out low-pitched and boomy sounds impressively well. They're a bit less effective in the mid-range where voices reside, but they still reduce the volume of those sounds. That said, their passive isolation isn't as impressive with high-pitched sounds, which aren't tackled as evenly as with the foam-tipped Sony WF-1000XM5 Truly Wireless, so you'll still hear some very bright sounds depending on the frequency.

Subjectively, the 'Adaptive' noise cancelling mode isn't as effective at filtering out environmental noise as the 'Active noise cancelling' setting, even when exposed to the same background noise for an extended time period.

These do an outstanding job of handling the noise in common scenarios. They're best at blocking noises on the street, like traffic, and they do a fantastic job with rumbling bus engines and airplane cabin ambient din. Background chatter gets reduced, too. Trebly sounds are also muffled, but sharp noises like squealing brakes can still reach your ears somewhat.

Their app also offers other features like 'Voice Detect', which automatically switches to 'Ambient' mode so you can respond to others, and it's only triggered if you speak. So, if you ask for directions, it'll automatically change listening modes, but if someone asks you for directions, it won't change your listening mode. Requiring you to speak first prevents the buds from constantly cycling back and forth between listening modes while you're in public, especially when walking on a busy street. There's also a 'Siren Detect' mode, which lets you hear a siren for your environmental awareness, but it doesn't soften the loudness of the siren, which can be painful.

There's a 'Voice Detect' mode you can enable in the app for having conversations without manually changing your listening mode, but it's only triggered when you speak.

These earbuds don't have a dedicated wind reduction mode. However, they do a good job of handling noise associated with the mics picking up gusts of wind that are fed back through the ANC system. The noise is also still significantly blocked in the high-mids through treble. Still, their performance with wind noise is sensitive to the angle at which the wind blows.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have excellent leakage performance. Only in very quiet spaces will anyone hear a thin and bright version of your audio, though this can depend on the volume you listen to your audio at. If you sit in close proximity to someone in a library, for instance, portions of your favorite podcast may be somewhat audible.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro's recording quality is decent. Thanks to the even mid-range and low-treble response, it captures your speech intelligibly, so you sound natural. An uneven low-end can cause deep voices to sound a bit unnatural compared to higher register voices, and the microphones can pick up bassy environmental noises unrelated to speech. The high-frequency cut helps mitigate unwanted background piercing sounds and doesn't hurt the clarity of your speaking voice, but the top-end sheen is lost, which is fine for phone calls but not exactly podcast quality.

The microphone's noise handling is poor. It can't quite filter out consistent background noise, though your voice is still understandable to the caller. That said, more variable background noises like passersby talking will still make their way into your audio. The caller can still hear people in the background, and your voice becomes obscured by overwhelmingly loud sounds, such as trains.

While users have reported that noise suppression activates when on calls, we weren't able to objectively measure its performance. That said, we confirmed the microphone reduces noise on phone calls when tested with a Samsung Galaxy S24. This full phone call recording includes a voice quality sample (0:00-0:22), a sample with speech and pink noise (0:23-0:49), and a sample with speech and subway noise (0:50-1:41).

Their battery performance is satisfactory. They're advertised to last 6 hours continuously with ANC enabled, which matches the results from our standard testing. The case can hold an additional 3.3 full recharges, and the manufacturer advertises the buds will last 4.5 hours of talk time, so your experience will vary with use and volume. If you take the buds out of your ears, they'll enter a battery-conserving standby mode, too.

Their companion app is good. The Samsung Galaxy Wearable app is available for Android and Windows only. The app provides a useful nine-band graphic EQ to sculpt your sound, in addition to EQ presets. You can adjust your listening mode settings, including the strength of ANC, and configure the control scheme, including in-ear detection. You can also enable the Adaptive EQ and use the fit test. 'Voice Detect' and 'Siren Detect' will automatically switch you to 'Ambient sound.' For surround sound fans, the 360 Audio feature is available in the app, and it can be used with or without head-tracking. There's a 'Find Samsung' tracking feature, but it seems more effective for locating the general area where you've left the earbuds because if you use it and you're already near the buds, it doesn't detect the earbuds.

You can seamlessly switch between two devices signed into the same Samsung account. Select features, like 'Interpreter and Live Translate,' are exclusive to newer Samsung devices with Galaxy AI. You can also toggle on reminders to stretch your neck and integrate your compatible Samsung smartwatch with the buds via the Samsung Health app, but the buds don't really add much to fitness tracking. Like the Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 4, these are equipped with Auracast, but we don't have the equipment to test it. The Windows version of the Galaxy Buds app provides the same features except for lacking the Labs feature, which hosts the 'Gaming mode' in the mobile version of the app.

You can also enable 'Hearing Enhancements' to help capture ambient noise and voices if you're hearing impaired, although the feature's effectiveness can vary. It gives you access to two settings: 'Boost Voices In Front Of You' and 'Adapt Ambient Sound'. 'Boost Voices In Front Of You' doesn't actually boost voices, but rather attenuates frequencies outside the vocal range. Meanwhile, 'Adapt Ambient Sound' fine-tunes the 'Hearing Enhancement' feature by identifying frequency bands you might not hear as well by playing a diagnostic test. In practice, people at our lab with varying degrees of hearing impairment found the feature to be moderate to poor in effectiveness. If you've tried the feature out, please let us know in the comments what you thought about its effectiveness.

These Bluetooth-only earbuds include a 39-inch (1m) USB-C to USB-C cable for charging their case.

These earbuds have alright Bluetooth connectivity. They use Bluetooth 5.4 and support AAC, SBC, and LE Audio (which we don't currently measure). Over SBC, their latency is high enough to notice a mismatch between your video and audio, but your experience can vary depending on factors such as connection strength and type, and some apps compensate for lag differently. There's also a 'Game mode,' only accessible in the Android mobile app, that's meant to lower latency, too. These support Auracast where available, for things like keeping tabs on announcements at a handful of airports.

Certain features are exclusive to the Samsung ecosystem, such as the Samsung Seamless Codec, which provides up to 24-bit audio with compatible devices. You can also connect the earbuds to compatible Samsung TVs. They lack multi-device pairing, but you can use their app and configure switching between two devices signed into the same Samsung Galaxy account. Regardless of the order of connection, we found that the connection prioritizes the PC connection over a Samsung Galaxy phone connection. If both the PC and phone are active simultaneously, the connection will switch to the PC's audio. For a device switching option that's open to other Android devices, the Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 offer a brand-agnostic version of this feature.

These earbuds can only connect to PCs with Bluetooth connectivity for full audio and microphone support.

The Samsung Buds 3 Pro come with a charging case that stores up to 3.3 extra full charges. You can recharge it wirelessly or via its USB-C port, and it has a pairing button on the bottom.