Two things can be true at the same time. Yes, Samsung's Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have the most derivative design of any of the company's earbuds to date. Aside from flashy LED strips, their stem look isn't particularly original or eye-catching. But the $249.99 Buds 3 Pro also happen to be the best-sounding, most sophisticated earbuds Samsung has ever made. Their audio quality is on par with some of my favorite wireless earbuds like the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 and the Technics AZ80. And the Buds 3 Pro have really useful voice commands that don't require a prior activation kit.
That's a great start, but their potential is held back by clumsy design decisions, a lack of multipoint connectivity, and active noise cancellation that's just about adequate for this $250 price tag. Over the summer, Samsung also had to suspend shipments of these earbuds to address quality control issues after early buyers easily managed to tear the silicone earbuds. I never had this problem with my test device and the Buds 3 Pro are now widely available again.
Samsung's latest earbuds don't come in fun colors like the Bora Purple Buds 2 Pro. You can choose between white – where the resemblance to the AirPods becomes a little uncanny – or gunmetal gray. Samsung has tried to create some visual distance between these earbuds and the AirPods by using a more angular stem and putting a clear lid on the charging case. And then there are those white LEDs that you can light up by squeezing both stems when the buds are out of your ears.
Of course, you'll never see that hint of flair when you wear them, but other people will. The lights can be set to either glow constantly or create a pulsating effect, but whatever the LEDs are tilt This shows helpful things like the remaining battery level for each earbud. That seems like the most obvious purpose for these and yet… no! At least the lights come on when you try to find the Buds 3 Pro using Samsung's Find My feature.
Switching to a stemmed design might feel like Samsung is sluggish, but more importantly, it results in a more secure and stable fit in the ear. I've found that the Buds 3 Pro are very comfortable and don't tire my ears, even if I wear them in them for most of the day at the office. Voice call performance is also quite impressive; You can test the microphone quality of the Buds 3 Pro (and other recent earbuds) in one Vergecast Episode from earlier this month.
Speaking of voice: The most practical feature of the Buds 3 Pro is their voice control. You can say simple commands like “volume up” or “next song” at any time and the earbuds will carry out these requests through your phone – without the need for an annoying wake-up phrase first. It just works and you don't have to speak particularly loudly for the buds to recognize voice commands. They only cover the basics, but I use them daily now. If you prefer physical controls, Samsung has basically done away with the AirPods Pro's control scheme, with pinch gestures for play/pause, skipping tracks, or switching between ANC and transparency modes. You can also slide your finger along the stem to adjust the volume. The angular shape means the gestures don't do this quite just as foolproof as the AirPods, but I managed it pretty well.
The Buds 3 Pro offer excellent sound quality with tuning that closely follows the Harman target curve, which most people find comfortable. This means you'll hear the emphasis on bass and treble, but the mids still come through without sounding recessed. Samsung's flagship earbuds sound full and detailed, bringing out the best in the latest albums from Waxahatchee, Post Malone and Billy Strings. For those of you who A) own a Galaxy phone and B) enjoy this sort of thing, 360-degree/surround sound with head tracking is available. I continue to ignore it (mostly).
I'm not usually one to get into Bluetooth codecs, but I swear may Feel a difference when you listen to the Buds 3 Pro with a Galaxy S24 Ultra, which can take advantage of Samsung's Ultra High Quality Seamless Codec (SSD UHQ) for richer sound – especially when playing lossless tracks. There's just an extra layer of detail and fidelity that's less pronounced when using these headphones with a non-Samsung device. But even with my Pixel 9 Pro XL they sound great. The Buds 3 Pro are a powerful, clear listening experience that can impress in all genres.
However, the active noise cancellation disappointed me at times. It's just not quite as sturdy or powerful as the AirPods Pro, Pixel Buds Pro 2, or Bose earbuds. Can it curb the hustle and bustle of everyday life? Sure, but I was hoping Samsung would do better in this category. The Buds 3 Pro have a fantastically clear Transparency mode, so I have no complaints. You can also enable an “adaptive” mode, which, like Apple's earbuds, dynamically mixes ANC and transparency based on your surroundings, so important sounds (like sirens) can quickly get your attention.
The Buds 3 Pro don't support true multipoint, so you can't connect them to two devices at the same time. Just like Apple, Samsung is pushing its own ecosystem with an “auto-switch” feature between its various Galaxy laptops, tablets and phones. But I noticed that enabling auto-switching allows you to switch between them much more quickly, even if your other devices are outside Samsung's walled garden, without having to disconnect from the current source every time. Some earbuds are very stubborn about staying connected to the last paired device until you manually disconnect them. However, with these, you can simply select them in the Bluetooth settings of the device you want to use and the switching will happen without any fuss.
I haven't had any complaints about battery life for several weeks, and you can extend it even further by disabling some features like the voice controls mentioned above. The earbuds have an IP57 rating against dust and water, but the charging case does not have such protection. This is unfortunate when the competition is increasingly making their cases more durable.
Samsung's Galaxy Buds 3 Pro may no longer have a unique design identity, but with improved comfort and voice calling performance, they are an example of function determining form. I can take or leave the flashy lights, and the angular shape seems like Samsung is trying hard not to label these as AirPod clones. That's true, but you could argue that they sound better than Apple's headphones. And apart from noise cancellation, they are reliable in almost every way. There's room for improvement here with the inevitable Buds 4 Pro – hopefully with some character (or color). For anyone who owns a Samsung phone, these are the de facto first choice, and they are a great choice. But other Android owners should also take a close look at the Buds 3 Pro for their sound fidelity and microphone clarity. Unless multipoint is a must, there's not much to complain about.
Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge