![SAMSUNG Galaxy Buds 2 True Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds, Noise Cancelling, Comfort Fit In Ear, Auto Switch Audio, Long Battery Life, Touch Control, Graphite [US Version, 1Yr Manufacturer Warranty]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61P8aXSg0CL._SR75,75_.jpg)
I bike everywhere. I bought these earbuds specifically because they offered Ambient mode, so I could hear traffic. It turns out, the Ambient mode kind of sucks. Essentially, it puts you on a skype call with the outside world: speech is understandable, but it amps up certain frequencies (footsteps, car tires, and air conditioners are all super loud) while leaving others alone. I should have seen this coming, but I thought with 3 mics and an equalizer they could do better than they've done. On top of that, the microphones get overwhelmed with wind noise at anything above 10mph, and you get constant crackling. Between these issues, Ambient mode is totally useless when biking.
Fortunately, these earbuds have a second feature that kept me from returning them: You can use either earbud, independently, and it works *really well*. Not only can you switch from left-only, to both, to right-only, while playing music, without dropping any audio or so much as skipping a beat... when you put one of the earbuds back in the case and close it, it automatically plays both channels out of the remaining earbud. You can try this yourself by playing a song with distinct left and right channels. I recommend Such Great Heights by The Postal Service: the intro beeps alternate between left and right ears, it sounds super wrong if you're just listening to one ear normally. Try it with both earbuds in, then take one out, notice that you're missing half the beeps. Put that earbud back in the case and close it, and the missing channel will get added back into the remaining earbud. This is *amazing*, and a really difficult thing to do technically, I'm very impressed.
As for the rest of the experience:
Physically, the buds are fantastic. Having 3 sizes of insert, plus 3 sizes of wingtip, means you can really dial in the fit. The color is gorgeous (I got the opalescent blue ones), and it looks good without looking gaudy. The buds are comfortable, though my left ear does get sore after a while (I think I may just be putting the bud too far in). They go in and out very easily, especially if you use the smallest (nonexistent) size of wingtip. With the wingtips on, they stay in really firmly, I can't shake them out no matter how I try.
The case is sleek and also not gaudy. Wireless charging is a huge plus, especially since it doesn't charge noticeably faster on wired (at least, not according to the amperage limits written on the case). It does fit in the "useless pocket" on my mens jeans, but it sticks out so much that I just leave it in the same pocket as my phone. It's all glossy plastic, and won't scratch the screen. I do wish the case was easier to open one-handed. It's possible to open the case, pull out an earbud, close the case, and put the earbud in, all one-handed... but you gotta do some finger yoga to manage it. The earbuds themselves are held into the case magnetically, so they won't fall out if it's upside-down and open. The case shape itself is really well designed: it's not gonna accidentally open in your pocket or bag, and if you put the earbud anywhere near the right position, it slides in and starts charging automatically. The earbuds also don't rattle at all with the case closed. My only complaint is that the hinge plastic is noticeably creaky, which is fine for now, but something I expect to get worse with time.
Sound quality is great, I prefer the "Soft" eq preset.
The in-ear detection is handy, and does 2 things. It auto-pauses the music if you take both earbuds out at once, and it prevents any touchpad commands from registering while the buds aren't in your ears. This is nice, but since there's only one sensor (that's easily fooled if you cover it up accidentally while handling it) it means you still have to be somewhat careful when handling the buds to prevent accidental touches. It does give you a nice "vwoom" sound to let you know that it's detected your ear and you can use its touchpad now.
The notification reading, while a phenomenal feature that I already had enabled through third-party apps, isn't customizable enough for my usage. It starts every notification with "comma <appName>" which is just silly.
The touchpad takes a bit of getting used to. You have to be pretty quick on the double and triple taps, and skipping back a song often involves two triple-taps, one to restart the song, and another to actually skip backwards. It only lets you go back within the first 3 seconds of the song, so you have to be really quick between the two triple-taps. There's not really a good way around this, it's just something you'll need to keep in mind. The touch-and-hold, on the other hand, seems super long, I wish it was about a half second shorter every time I use it. That said, within a day or two, I found I rarely issued the wrong commands, and it does a nice job of immediately giving you one, two, or three beeps to tell you what it thinks you did. You can also lock the touchpad completely with the app, if you never want to deal with it.
The seamless earbud connection works well enough: it switches to any nearby device it hears start up bluetooth. This means that switching between devices is as simple as turning bluetooth off and on on that device, once it's been paired. You do have to toggle bluetooth on your first device to get it to switch back, it doesn't auto-switch on disconnect (at least, not as fast as I'd want it to).
The Find My Earbuds feature is super nice, though you should note that it does depend on the phone's music volume setting (as it's just playing a really loud chirping music track), so you have to turn the phone's volume up to max when you use it, and remember to turn it back down when you're done.
The "Double tap earbud edge" feature is *amazing* but really mis-labeled. It took me ages to figure out: it's not using the touchpad *at all*, not even the edge. It's just using the accelerometer built into each earbud. This means that the best way to activate it (with my ear shape) is to not touch the earbud whatsoever, and instead tap the back of my ear itself. This is remarkably reliable (I'd say it works 4/5 times I try it), and it feels *super futuristic* to control my music by tapping on my own ears. It also lets me put my phone down and just have the earbuds in as I walk around my house, which is super nice.
I do wish that the "game mode" that's advertised as being in the labs actually worked on my Pixel 3. It's apparently a samsung-phone-only feature, which is a shame, as that would be super convenient.
All in all, an incredible engineering achievement by Samsung.
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Customer Reviews
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83,884
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18,461
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26,271
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18,257
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Price
| $159.99 | $169.89 | $139.00 | $129.95 |
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Active Noise Cancellation
| ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
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Bixby voice wake-up
| N/A | Support (Bixby) | Support (Bixby) | Seamless AI (Bixby) |
|
Speaker
| 2-way dynamic - Woofer+Tweeter | 2way 11mm Woofer+6.5mm Tweeter | 1-way, 12mm driver | 2-way Dynamic w/ Powerful Bass |
|
Mic
| 3 Mics (2 Outer + 1 Inner) | 3 Mics (2 Outer + 1 Inner) | 3 Mics (2 Outer + 1 Inner) | 3 Mics (2 Outer+1 Inner) + VPU |
|
Play Time
| 11H Buds / 22H with Case | 8H Buds/28H w/Case (ANC OFF) | 8H Buds/29H w/Case (ANC OFF) | 7.5H Buds/29H w/Case (ANC OFF) |
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Talk Time
| 7.5H Buds / 15H with Case | 5H Buds/17.5H w/Case (ANC OFF) | 5.5H Buds/19H w/Case (ANC OFF) | 3.5H Buds/14H w/Case (ANC OFF) |
|
Water Resistance
| IPX2 | IPX7 | IPX2 | IPX2 |
Compare with similar items
This Item  Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus, True Wireless Earbuds Bluetooth 5.0 (Wireless Charging Case Included), Black – US Version | ![SAMSUNG Galaxy Buds 2 True Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds, Noise Cancelling, Comfort Fit In Ear, Auto Switch Audio, Long Battery Life, Touch Control, Lavender [US Version, 1Yr Manufacturer Warranty]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/316zfPEqyHL._AC_.jpg) |  |  | ![SAMSUNG Galaxy Buds 2 Pro True Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds, Noise Cancelling, Hi-Fi Sound, 360 Audio, Comfort Fit, HD Voice, IPX7 Water Resistant, Graphite [US Version, 1Yr Manufacturer Warranty]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/21Y3xVnL0BL._AC_.jpg) |  | |
| Price | $159.99 | $149.99 | -50% $115.00 List: $229.99 | $122.07 | -30% $159.99 List: $229.99 | -44% $79.00 List: $139.99 |
| Delivery | Get it May 14 - 16 | Get it as soon as Monday, May 20 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 17 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Battery life | ||||||
| Sound quality | ||||||
| Noise cancellation | ||||||
| Comfort | ||||||
| Sold By | Pexils613 | Amazon.com | universal goods | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | IMJTech |
| connectivity tech | Wireless | Wireless | Wireless | Bluetooth 5.0 | Bluetooth | Wireless, Bluetooth 5.2 |
| headphones form factor | In Ear | In Ear | In Ear | In Ear | In Ear | In Ear |
| connector type | wireless | wireless | wireless | USB Type C | wireless | wireless |
| noise control | — | active noise cancellation | active noise cancellation | active noise cancellation | active noise cancellation | active noise cancellation |
| headphones jack | wireless | 3.5 mm Jack | — | Wireless | — | — |
| cable feature | Without Cable | Without Cable | Without Cable | Without Cable | Without Cable | Without Cable |
| control type | Call Control | Touch Control | Media Control | Button Control | Media Control | Touch Control |
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Reviews with images
Very nice, but they missing a few important qualities.
First off I want to say if you will be using these while out and about, or doing any other activity these are by far comfortable, and very nice audio quality. They are easy to put in your pocket and forget about them, plus the battery life is insane! Though they have a few cons that I've encountered which I will show you via pros and cons below.PROS:-Battery Life: It lasts me for days on end, and I never had a problem with case charging while they are in my pocket.-Audio Quality: If you set them to Dynamic these things are actually pretty good! Nothing like a good headset though but still for their small size it does the job well!-Comfort: These are simple to put the case in your pocket fits well in almost any clothing, also they fit really well in the ears and if you have ambient mode off you won't hear much from the world around you.-Case: The case is actually very nice and keeps them safe. The ear buds just fall in place and stay there within the charging case no jiggle or shaking.-Button Inputs: The button inputs are actually my favorite part about these ear buds, when you put them in your ear it knows when you do so, and when you take them out it pauses whatever your listening for you even if you don't touch the touch screen button. Also it's super easy to just put them in your ear long press the touch pad and Spotify is ready to go and playing.-Connection: Whenever I take these out of the case they are paired up and ready to go on the phone keeping whatever settings you left them on last no fuss. When your done just put them back and they disconnect as easy as that.CONS:-Mic Quality: Now I've used these on many platforms and devices including my Samsung Galaxy S9+, MSI $1,300 computer, and within my trucks Bluetooth. These seem to do an okay job when on a call and have decent noise cancelation so it only focuses on my voice. But when I'm on a Discord call, or any other platform while using low ambient mode my friends said it sounds like I'm in the bathroom, or in a box (slight echo), and on top of that it's not even on when I'm in the call even though in the wearable settings it's allowed during calls. Which when I turned ambient mode off this issue went away. But the mic quality was still not very good, I do have a Astro A50 headset so the transition was probably a bit harsh, but it's the fact sometimes I don't want to wear a big headset and I want to relax with earbuds in kind of takes away from the enjoyment of these earbuds.-Ambient Mode: This is like a double edged sword it can be good, and bad. One of those bad things was stated above. The ambient mode on this device is like a very bad hearing aid when above the low setting mainly on high or extra high if you have that setting on. It works don't get me wrong, but it's only okay at best. It's always good to be able to hear your own voice while talking so that your not talking louder then you need to be. But at higher levels there is static from things around you that the earbuds tries to cancel out which can ruin the music or call quality if on a call with someone.OVERALL:To me I think they do a good job for what they are meant for, but they are missing a few redeeming qualities for me to just give them a 5 star rating. Overall if your looking for a good pair of earbuds for listening to music while working and such these are low profile and get the job done. Though they have a water resistance rating of, "IPX2, which means that a few drops of water that hit the earbuds at just the right (or wrong…) angle could lead to hardware issues." Otherwise there could be better options out there for mic quality or audio quality but none are this low profile and has such good features for this price. If your interest I'd say just give them a try and see how you like them. Personally I'm keeping mine due to some of the redeeming qualities, but they have a bit step from being the go to for earbuds.Overall: 4/5Battery Life: 5/5Connection: 5/5Comfort/Low Profile: 4/5Mic Quality: 2/5Ambient Mode: 3/5Audio Quality: 4/5Ease Of Life: 4/5Noise Cancellation: 4/5
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Top reviews from other countries
Bea
Awesome
Reviewed in Singapore on December 6, 2020Color: RedVerified Purchase
Bea
Reviewed in Singapore on December 6, 2020
The case didnt feel like cheap plastic unlike what many critics say. It feels compact and the red colour is lit.
Worth every penny.
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Jeremy
Much improved over original buds
Reviewed in Australia on May 9, 2020Color: RedVerified Purchase
Martin Philippe
Acheter ce produit là vous allez l'aime
Reviewed in Canada on May 6, 2020Color: RedVerified Purchase
Martin Philippe
Reviewed in Canada on May 6, 2020
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