Samsung has just unveiled its new best true wireless earbuds at its Samsung Unpacked August 2022 event. And, on paper at least, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro look like a huge upgrade over the current Galaxy Buds Pro, and look like they beat the AirPods Pro in several interesting ways as well.
The first and arguably most important difference is sound quality. Samsung is very pleased with these Buds' sound quality, which will deliver 24-bit high quality audio. That's still relatively rare among the best wireless earbuds because of the limitations of older Bluetooth versions, although both Sony's WF-1000XM4 and Bowers & Wilkins' PI7 also offer 24-bit and, in the case of Sony, 32-bit via Sony's own LDAC codec.
That's something Apple's AirPods, including the current AirPods Pro, don't deliver: while Apple Lossless is capable of 24-bit/192kHz, Apple's headphones aren't able to stream at full quality. As Apple says on its support site, its "Bluetooth connections aren't lossless".
And that's not the only way in which the Buds 2 Pro make the AirPods Pro look a little tired.
The Buds 2 Pro are Samsung's best noise cancelling headphones
With the second generation of Galaxy Buds Pro, Samsung has upgraded the active noise-cancelling (ANC). It's stronger than before for even better cancellation, and it can auto-toggle between on, off and Ambient modes – so for example if it hears you speaking when you've got the full ANC on, it'll automatically switch to ambient mode. This is something we've also seen in Sony's best noise cancelling earbuds, and if Samsung's got it right then it'll be a very welcome addition.
There are also two features that are very similar to AirPods features. The first is spatial audio, which Samsung calls 360 Audio and which we've seen in its other Buds products. And the second is seamless switching between devices. If you've bought one of the best 2022 Samsung TVs your Buds 2 Pro will automatically connect to it when you want to enjoy immersive audio.
I don't think the Buds 2 Pro will cause mass defections from the Apple camp, not least because we know that AirPods 2 Pro are likely in the next month or two and promise what one leaker said is "the biggest innovation in wireless earbuds". But for Android users, if the new Samsungs are as good in your ears as they promise to be then these could well be the best wireless earbuds to go with the best Samsung phones.
