Review Verdict: Samsung’s major design makeover with the Galaxy Buds3 Pro does not make them an AirPods Pro copycat. Instead, it improves a lot from previous iterations of the Galaxy Buds–though Samsung can still improve on a few things with it. 

Pros

• Excellent ANC performance
• Lighter earbuds that have a more ergonomic fit
• Voice commands make operation much easier

Cons

• Touch controls take a while to get used to
• Soundstage is a bit too much on the bass side out of the box

After several iterations, Samsung has retired the compact earbud form factor of its TWS with the Galaxy Buds3 Pro. Many argue that its stemmed design makes it look like Samsung copied Apple’s AirPods Pro, but we digress: after using them for a while, we think that the Galaxy Buds3 Pro is the biggest upgrade we’ve seen from Samsung’s TWS earbuds lineup in a while.

 

Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro Review Philippines: Design

Despite naysayers saying Samsung copied the AirPods Pro, the Galaxy Buds3 Pro has its unique share of design elements that are well-thought of. Starting with the charging case, Samsung went for a transparent lid that lets you remember if you placed back the earbuds. You’d normally not expect an expensive pair of TWS earbuds to have a transparent lid, but it does serve a good purpose.

The transparent lid is also essential for checking the white LED lighting on the earbuds themselves in case you can’t remember where you last placed them via the Galaxy Wear app. The white LED lights are more of an aesthetic touch when you wear the earbuds, and two of its three lighting presets give the Galaxy Buds3 Pro that subtle gamer-like appeal. Being a premium pair of TWS earbuds, the hinge on the Galaxy Buds3 Pro’s case is made from metal, giving it a smooth movement to the transparent lid every time you open and close it.

The earbuds themselves have an angular design that makes you think they are gamer TWS earbuds (spoiler alert: they’re not), and the touch controls function using pinch and swipe gestures, allowing you to control more functions with the Galaxy Buds3 Pro. You have to vents on the earbuds for the microphones, and the shape of the in-ears is similar to Samsung’s older TWS earbuds like the Galaxy Buds2, with the only difference being the addition of a stem.

Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro Review Philippines: User Interface and Fit

As part of the Galaxy ecosystem, customizing the features of the Galaxy Buds3 Pro is done through the Galaxy Wear app. The customization options are similar to previous Galaxy Buds, but you get additional features like how you control the LED lighting on the stems, a neck stretch reminder that’s handy if you’re working with a computer all day, and voice commands to let you control music playback using your voice.

There’s also the option to control volume natively (the Galaxy Buds2’s volume control is hidden under the Labs section) and we found it strange that there’s an option for toggling Bixby. Considering that Samsung is transitioning into the Galaxy AI era, seeing a toggle for Bixby makes us think Samsung forgot about it (you can still use it if you want to)–and we presume this part of the app should be updated later on.

While the pinch controls took us a while to get used to, we like the voice command feature of the Galaxy Buds3 Pro. Using preset commands like “play music”, “next song”, “volume up” and more, controlling your music uing voice commands is much more convenient than fiddling through its pinch gestures.

Going for the fit, the Galaxy Buds3 Pro does feel lighter compared to the Galaxy Buds2 despite having a stem. The overall fit are not as flush as the Galaxy Buds2, but the angular design of the Galaxy Buds3 Pro makes them comfortable to use for long listening sessions–which a good combination with the earbuds being lightweight.

 

Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro Review Philippines: Audio Quality and Battery Life

Aside from a 2-way driver design, Samsung also incorporated a dual-amplifier design on the Galaxy Buds3 Pro, where you get independent management of the tweeters and woofers in the earbuds. With their driver configuration, Samsung touts the Galaxy Buds3 Pro as a pair of TWS earbuds meant for HiFi audio listening.

As for the audio quality of the Galaxy Buds3 Pro, we found them to be a bit bass-heavy out of the box. Fiddling through the equalizer, we found the Clear and Treble Boost preset useful in properly showcasing the Galaxy Buds3 Pro’s soundstage. Utilizing Apple Music’s Lossless stream option and tweaking the equalizer, the Galaxy Buds3 Pro show an improvement in overall audio quality compared to our experience with the Galaxy Buds2. By reducing the bass, the Galaxy Buds3 Pro reproduced the mids and highs well with plenty of detail. From bass-heavy tracks to vocal-heavy and intsrtument-focused tracks, the Galaxy Buds3 Pro rendered them well.

Samsung’s TWS earbuds have great ANC performance, and the Galaxy Buds3 Pro steps it up with its refined adaptive ANC mode here the volume is lowered automatically the moment the earbuds detect that you are speaking to someone. This is a feature you’d normally see on a pair of headphones, and its impressive ho Samsung incorporated this feature on a pair of TWS earbuds.

As for battery life, we were left with 13% power on the Galaxy Buds3 Pro after playing the entire KPOPWRLD playlist on Apple Music, which has a total playtime of 3 hours and 47 minutes. That translates to a total runtime of around 4 hours on a single charge with ANC on and streaming music in Lossless Quality, which is decent enough for the casual user. Like previous Galaxy Buds, charging options include USB-C and wireless charging.

 

Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro Review Philippines: Wrap-up and Conclusions

Samsung’s premium TWS earbuds are no AirPods Pro copycats. In fact, they are better than the AirPods Pro to an extent with the additional features they have to offer like the ambient LED lighting and handy voice commands for music controls. We wished that Samsung stuck with the usual tap gestures instead of the pinch gestures, and the slight tweaking with the Galaxy Buds3 Pro’s equalizer is not a big deal in bringing out the best possible soundstage has to offer.

 

Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro Review Philippines: Price

The Galaxy Buds3 Pro is priced at Php 14,990.