The recently released second-generation Apple AirPods Pro significantly improved over the first-generation AirPods Pro, with improved noise cancellation, sound quality, battery life, and a personalized listening experience, among other improvements. But are these new features good enough to compete with other earbuds?
To find out, we compared the AirPods Pro 2 to a popular competitor earbud, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. They’re both reasonably priced and share several features, making them appear to be formidable rivals. But do they? We’ll find out soon enough.
Design, comfort, and fit
If you like to show off your earbuds, you’ll appreciate the colour options available with the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. There are three colours to choose from graphite (black), white, and Bora Purple. Because most earbuds are black or white, the purple ones stand out and look distinctive. There are no colour options for the AirPods Pro 2, or any AirPods for that matter — just that iconic white. You can, however, personalize your AirPods Pro 2 case. You can personalize it by adding emojis, initials, or numbers. In our opinion, this is a moot point.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are excellent in terms of comfort and fit. Phil Nickinson gave them the edge over the first-generation Apple AirPods Pro in our review, calling them “smaller and less obtrusive” and offering a more snug fit. The earbuds will not slip or fall off during a sweaty workout, making them ideal for active users. The AirPods Pro 2, on the other hand, is identical to the original model except for adding an extra-small ear tip. However, some people aren’t fans of the stem design, and while it’s still extremely comfortable, we’re giving this one to the Galaxy Guds 2 Pro by a nose (or ear, as it were).
Controls
The biggest complaint with the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro comes from the touch controls. They can be a bit too sensitive and oddly positioned on a much smaller surface area, so whenever you try to adjust the earbuds, you risk accidentally pressing pause. This can get frustrating very quickly.
This isn’t a problem with the AirPods Pro 2, which has introduced new touch controls to adjust the volume simply by sliding your thumb up or down the stem. This allows you to comfortably reposition your earbuds as often as possible without worrying about accidental pauses. The easy-to-use, squeeze-to-click controls for play/pause, call/answer, and skip/back that were much-loved from the first-gen AirPods Pro are here in gen-two as well, as is the customization, adding credence to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality.
Sound quality
Whatever you choose at the $200-plus price point, you will get a reasonably good-sounding pair of earbuds. According to our AirPods Pro 2 and Galaxy Buds reviews, the 2 Pros provide the necessary levels of amazing bass and clear mids and highs to make your music and podcasts sound great.
Apple has upgraded the previous generation of AirPods Pro with new low-distortion drivers and high-dynamic-range amplifiers for a richer and clearer sound, which our reviewer confirms. But if you’re all about that cool, immersive surround-sound feature known as head-tracking spatial audio, Apple has the competition beat. Add to that Personalized Spatial Audio, a new iOS 16 feature that tailors 3D surround sound to the shape of your ear, and we’re talking next-level stuff.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro also include a version of spatial audio and head tracking, which the company refers to as Intelligent 360 Audio. Nonetheless, in our review, Phil Nickinson stated, “Everything sounds overly processed compared to the (first-generation) AirPods Pro.”
Battery life
If you spend a lot of time with your earbuds, you should get ones with long battery life for long flights, commutes, or binge-watching Netflix seasons. Neither the first-generation AirPods Pro nor the Samsung Galaxy Buds had the best battery life, but the AirPods Pro 2 outperformed the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. The AirPods Pro 2 last six hours on a single charge and up to 30 hours with the charging case.
The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro fall short, with only five hours of listening time on a single charge and an additional 18 hours in the charging case for a total of 23 hours. Not bad, but the AirPods Pro 2 came out on top.
