Samsung has recently launched S25 series of its flagship mobile devices and is currently giving the galaxy buds 3 pro as free if you buy a S25 ultra device before February 6th 2025. In this post we look at a review of Samsung galaxy buds3 Pro after 6 months of usuage. This could help you know the features of the earbuds if you are purchasing them as separately or purchasing them as bundled with a S25 series samsung device.
The first thing I react to when I start testing the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro is the noise reduction. It’s hard to avoid. It’s like a lid of silence is closing over your ears. The wow feeling is total, and when I let others try them, they are just as captivated. This is the best active noise reduction I’ve ever heard in a true wireless headset. Both deep bass sounds and hiss disappear. After a while, when you get used to it, you may think that quite a lot of sound still gets through, then you take them off and realize how much there is outside noise. I try standing on a bridge over the E4 between Stockholm and Arlanda, and of course I can hear the cars a little, but without the headset it’s a massive wall of sound.
For the noise reduction to be this effective, you have to choose the right size of the rubber eartips. You can test that they fit tightly in Samsung’s Galaxy Wearable app, where you will find a lot of settings, this is a feature-rich headset. I get a pair of eartips that both fit tightly and are really comfortable over time.
The noise reduction is not always optimal, as usual with active noise reduction, wind noise is amplified. The tight-fitting rubber eartips also mean that bass sounds when you move can be amplified, so-called bass transients. I experience more bass transients with the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro than I have in a long time when testing headsets, but it is not so bad that it interferes with what I am listening to.
The headset is also quite good at blocking out people talking, but there is a good hear-through mode that lets in ambient sound without you taking off the headset. There is a setting you can turn on that will automatically activate the hear-through and lower the volume if the headset detects someone talking to you or a siren is sounding nearby. Most of the time it works well, but sometimes it is triggered accidentally.
Music sound underperforms
The music sound is good, but perhaps not as good as you might hope for 3000 kronor. It’s a bit bass-heavy and weak in the midrange. You can get high-resolution sound if you have a newer top model from Samsung, but I don’t hear any significant improvement with Samsung’s HD sound Samsung Seamless Codec.
You control the headset by pressing the sticks and you can also swipe them to adjust the volume. The sticks have an original triangular shape that unfortunately makes it harder to press but easier to accidentally touch when you adjust the fit or put the headset back in the case. The case itself is quite small and smooth, with a transparent lid as its own design detail. Another design detail is that the headset has luminous panels on the sticks, but as a user you don’t notice that much because you can’t see them either when they are in the case or in your ear.
The headset’s biggest and strangest weakness is the call sound. It sounds pretty good at best, unpleasant at worst. It performs very unevenly from case to case without me being able to figure out why. Every now and then my voice disappears almost completely for no apparent reason, but other times the sound is just a little tinny, otherwise without any complaints.
What makes this strange is that Samsung’s cheaper headset Galaxy Buds 3 has fantastic call quality. The headsets are so similar that they should have the same call quality, but when I compare them side by side, the sound is truly in different worlds. Even in the best case, the Galaxy Buds 3 sounds better.
This makes me suspect that the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are suffering from childhood illnesses that can at best be fixed with firmware updates. I have seen reports that the music sound is also substandard and unable to reproduce certain sounds, but I have not had that problem with my copy.
Varying functions
The Galaxy Wearable app can be installed on Android phones other than Samsung, where it is pre-installed, but not on iPhones. Which functions you get access to via the app depends on which phone you have. Of course, you don’t get any functions at all for iPhones because the app doesn’t exist, but you can still connect the headset. With an Android phone, I can get an equalizer, change the control on the touch panels, turn on notifications being read out, find the headset and a few other things. If I have a Samsung phone, I also get the option to turn on 360 sound with or without head recognition. As always, this technology is a bit hit or miss, sometimes the sound sounds better, sometimes worse. I also get a few more settings, such as game mode and the ability to adjust the volume on each earbud for people with hearing impairments. And if I have a top model from Galaxy S23 or later, I get additional features, in addition to high-resolution music sound, also a feature called improved call sound. Of course, I have tried it without noticing any major difference.
Samsung has its own solution for having the headset connected to multiple devices at the same time. You don’t have two devices connected at the same time, but if you have a Samsung device and are logged into a Samsung account, the headset should detect which device you are currently using and switch to it automatically. As Apple has with Airpods connected to Mac, iPad, iPhone and Apple Watch. It works surprisingly well here too, but is not really better than being able to connect the headset to your mobile phone and computer at the same time, regardless of manufacturer.
The battery life of the headset, 4.5 hours of playtime with noise reduction on, is clearly below average. It can be mentioned that the case can be charged wirelessly.
The overall feeling is that the first impression of the headset lasts a little more than it promises, but in reality it is only the call sound that is a direct problem. For the price tag, however, I think that the music sound should have been better too.
