It took Samsung only 6 months to update and upgrade the Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus (Galaxy Buds +) with the totally new Samsung Galaxy Buds Live.
The added active nosing cancelling (ANC) makes Samsung Galaxy Buds Live a direct and serious competitor to Apple AirPods Pro and Sony WF-1000XM3.
This headphone guide explains the new features and improvements of Galaxy Buds Live (vs Galaxy Buds Plus), and how Galaxy Buds Live stands against Apple AirPods Pro to help you choose a pair of proper wireless earbuds.
Samsung now also offers $200 (MSRP) Galaxy Buds Pro with similar or improved features of Galaxy Buds Live. You may check this guide on the new features of Galaxy Buds Pro (vs Galaxy Buds Live).
Galaxy Buds Live vs Galaxy Buds Plus: the new features of improvements
Galaxy Buds Live share many similar features and controls with Galaxy Buds Plus (Galaxy Buds +). For example, both buds share the 2-way dynamic speaker system tuned by AKG, 3-microphone array, touch panel control, Spotify integration, Qi wireless charging and wireless PowerShare charging. The plugins for these two buds in Galaxy Wearables are very similar as well.
But Galaxy Buds Live comes with some improvements and new features that cannot be found in Galaxy Buds Plus.
In this post, we will focus on these differences.
ANC
The No.1 new feature of Galaxy Buds Live is the active noise cancelling (ANC).
Samsung claimed that Galaxy Buds Live received UL Verification for reducing background noise by up to 97% in low-frequency bands.
It is an overstatement, although ANC on the buds is comparable to other wireless earbuds.
In the real world, the top-tier consumer ANC over-ear headphones (e.g., Sony WH-1000XM4, Bose QuietComfort 35) can reduce about 70-90% background low-frequency noise. Wireless earbuds with ANC normally can only reduce about 40-70% noise.
Galaxy Buds Live adopts the open-type design. The buds do not try to create a sealed environment in the ear canal. Instead, there are air vents on the buds so that you will feel quite comfortable even if you wear the buds for extended periods.
Most other wireless earbuds with ANC need silicon (or foam) tips to create a sealed space. For example, both Apple AirPod Pro and Sony WF-1000XM3 use silicon tips to help noise cancelling. But for most people, the seal will cause pain and is uncomfortable … Read the rest