Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Surprises with Its New Design and Premium Sound

I have tried Samsung’s most powerful wireless headphones, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, a big change from previous generations that I liked because of their design and very premium sound.

There are times when a new technological device is so similar to its predecessor that you have to look very closely to find the differences, and in a category like wireless headphones that can make it difficult to assess.

In the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, the new generation of wireless headphones that Samsung has just launched, this problem does not arise at all because they are a huge change from the previous generation.

Samsung has maintained its good work in sound quality and noise cancellation in its most premium wireless headphones of 2024, but this time it has opted for the design of earbuds – the same as Apple’s AirPods – after years of focusing on in-ear headphones.

Design: a radical change that hits the mark in terms of personality and comfort

The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro represent the most radical design change in the history of Samsung’s wireless headphones to date, as the South Korean brand had remained faithful to the button design for several generations, as was the case with last year’s Buds 2 Pro.

However, the new model does a complete U-turn and becomes a stick-type model, that is to say, with a stick that sticks out and makes it easier to hold them.

Samsung says the design change is aimed at appealing to more people, as some users have problems with the button format, while the stick format is more accessible, and I must admit that I found them very comfortable and that the change seems justified.

However, I think it’s a shame that the wireless button earbuds variant is disappearing from Samsung’s high-end range, something that may mean that the most loyal users will have to turn to rival brands such as Sony and its fantastic WF-1000XM5.

Aesthetically, the design of the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro is a great success, as Samsung has managed to give them a very strong personality that achieves the impossible: that the headphones clearly stand out from the rest, especially from Apple’s AirPods, the great reference in this format.

The headphones have a design with sharp angles thanks to their headband, which is practically triangular, but this does not make them uncomfortable but in fact they are easier to hold and above all to put back in the charging case without getting the sides mixed up.

On the outside there is an elongated LED that lights up when the case is opened and with certain actions, which gives it a very futuristic look that I loved, although I haven’t seen much use for it in everyday use.

The triangular earpiece allows for touch controls that leave more surface area than a normal earpiece of this format. With a pinch you can stop the song, with two pinches you skip to the next one and by keeping it pinched you can alternate between noise cancellation and transparency mode, to which is added the option of raising and lowering the volume by sliding.

It is an effective and fairly precise touch control that has won me over.

In addition, the design of the case has also been updated in these Galaxy Buds 3 Pro compared to the previous generation, as it is now more elongated and compact to adapt to the stick format, instead of the button type.

The most striking aspect of the headphone box is its transparent lid, which allows a view of the headphones when closed. I have tried the white design, which makes the transparent case more eye-catching, although there is also a second color, gray, which I find more striking for the headphones and especially the LEDs.

Sound: high quality in line with their range and an improvement in noise cancellation

The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are Samsung’s highest-end wireless headphones in 2024 and that shows in the sound quality, where Samsung has thought of everything and even developed interesting new features in terms of noise cancellation.

They don’t have LDAC but they do have a high-quality sound system of 24-bit and 96 kHz with which the brand promises to hear more details as the authors intended them and I can confirm that it provides one of the clearest and cleanest sounds I have found in wireless headphones.

Samsung has also introduced a dual amplifier system in which bass and treble are controlled independently for the first time by the brand, something that can be seen in how well calibrated they are for different types of music, from the most urban to the most instrumental.

In fact, using the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro I have discovered on several occasions sounds and details in songs that I had never heard before in wireless headphones.

In terms of noise cancellation, Samsung’s new headphones are the brand’s most advanced for 2024 and are among the best available.

Their in-ear design, which is not present in the open-design Galaxy Buds 3, makes possible a noise cancellation that at maximum levels does not reach the level of brands such as Huawei or Sony but which does have an excellent performance blocking noises such as traffic noise and which I have found very comfortable in everyday use.

The big innovation Samsung has gone for is its active noise cancellation control that works intelligently, adapting to the environment, and has voice detection so that when someone speaks to you, you don’t have to wait to activate transparent mode.

It’s something that works in the background and you don’t notice it at first, but it has made my day-to-day life easier and I think it can also be very useful, even if its accuracy never reaches 100%.

The transparent mode seems to me to be another of the great successes of these Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, as they allow you to have very fluid conversations without missing what is going on around you and without the metallic sound that sometimes occurs with the microphones of other headphones that suffer more in calls, something that does not happen with Samsung’s.

App and connectivity: simple and agile control although it is much better with a Samsung mobile

Samsung is known for adding functions to its accessories, such as headphones but also smartwatches or rings, which are only available to those who have Galaxy phones. With these Buds 3 Pro the South Korean brand has repeated the formula but I think it has taken it too far.

If you use a Samsung Galaxy mobile you have a lot of exclusive features at your disposal, such as real-time translation into another language using Galaxy AI and even access to 24-bit high-fidelity sound.

I think that all users are willing to accept that headphones work more smoothly and even have certain exclusive functions with phones from the same brand, but not even having the highest sound quality is unacceptable to me and I would not like it to become widespread in today’s industry.

Despite this, basic control of the headphones can be carried out normally through the Samsung Galaxy Wearable application, with which the process of pairing with the mobile is simple but can cause problems if you have previously paired them, as has happened to me. In any case, nothing serious.

The Samsung Wearable app allows you to choose your preferred noise cancellation mode (off, ambient, adaptive or active noise cancellation), as well as other equalization and adjustment controls and the option to change the way the LED strip on the side is illuminated.

It is a well-known app if you have ever used other Samsung headphones, with a simple design very typical of the South Korean brand, and its functions also include searching for headphones and checking if the adjustment is good in case you need to change the ear tips.

Battery: adequate but I expected more

The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro’s battery is not one of its main virtues but at the same time I found it more than enough for a very good day-to-day experience.

Used to brands where autonomy is their strong point, such as Huawei, Samsung lags somewhat behind in these Buds 3 Pro, with up to 7 hours of autonomy in the headphones without ANC and 6 hours with ANC), while with the case it reaches 30 hours (without ANC and 26 hours with ANC).

I have used the headphones moderately over the last three weeks and have only had to charge them twice, but it is true that as it is summer my use has been less and I must admit that I expected more, especially because of the change in format from button to cane.

The Bus 3 Pro have a capacity of 515 mAh in their charging case, compared to 500 mAh in last year’s model, an improvement of just 15 mAh that is not noticeable in my experience.

What is noticeable is that the capacity of the earpiece has been reduced from 61 to 48 mAh, so the autonomy of each earpiece may suffer if you go on a very long trip.

Despite this, I thought the overall experience was good. I would like Samsung to get closer to the 40 hours of battery life offered by other brands in cheaper but also less powerful and complete headset models.

Conclusion: are the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro worth it?

With its Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, Samsung has managed to launch a new model of wireless headphones that don’t seem like more of the same, and that’s something to be thankful for, making it an easy device to recommend to those who are looking for something different from the rest.

The Buds 3 Pro are the best headphones you can choose today if you have a recent high-end Samsung mobile thanks to their extraordinary 24-bit sound quality and features such as their active and adaptable noise cancellation thanks to artificial intelligence.

Its stick design with side LEDs on both earphones has a lot of personality and is more comfortable to use and handle with touch controls, although aspects such as its battery are not up to the standards of other brands and the more premium segment.

For all the above reasons, if you are looking for quality, you won’t regret buying them, although you should bear in mind their price of 249 euros, which places them in the highest range, and they don’t offer the best possible audio quality if you don’t have a Galaxy mobile.