Are you looking for a luxurious yet straightforward pair of wireless earbuds that would help you make an exceptional style statement? If yes, the new Samsung Galaxy Buds Live would be your go-to option.
The online community has been lovingly calling the Galaxy Buds as Galaxy Beans, thanks to their look similar to shiny kidney beans. Though we’ve never seen earbuds like these, it seems, from the photos of people wearing the Beans in real life, they naturally fit into the concha of your ears and stay there most comfortably, arguably in a better manner than the AirPods.
Samsung has made the Buds Live simpler and a bit rounder based on the ergonomic design language to make them slightly curved so that they fit perfectly in most ears. They simply stay put without irritating parts of your ear.
In addition, the Buds Live comes with IPX2 rating, meaning you can even sweat on them. They weigh just 0.19 ounces and come in a jewelry-box inspired squared-off pocketable 1.4 ounces case.
The Buds Live has been designed to boost your style quotient. It’s available in three immaculate color variants – Mystic Bronze, Mystic White, and Mystic Black.
The Bronze variant comes with an added reflective finish, which means it perfectly resembles your natural skin tone but looks like a pair of earrings.
Music depends on a lot of auditory masking, and the Buds Live earbuds do an outstanding job by creating a perfect seal between them and your ear canal.
They don’t burrow inside the ear canal, eliminating the invasive sensation that doesn’t seem appealing to many people. And to offer a perfect and comfortable fit for everyone, the Buds Live comes with two varying sizes of wingtips (large and small) to facilitate light and secure fit.
While active noise-canceling cannot be achieved with the Beans’ open design, Samsung has introduced ANC or Active Noise Cancelling technology which does a decent job in quieting low-frequency noises to a great extent. It’ll help you hear your surroundings when traveling or walking around.
According to Samsung, the Buds Live can reduce background noise below 700Hz by up to 97 percent. In fact, it has received UL Certification (a global safety science leader that developed 3DMark – a computer benchmarking tool) for this.
The Buds Live offers a superior audio output while delivering clear vocals, crisp treble, and deep bass. The AKG-turned earbuds sport large-sized 12mm drivers along with a bass duct to promote the low end.
Samsung has also included air vents to make the Buds Live feel natural while eliminating the sensation of isolation, which helps you enjoy a full-bodied audio quality. These features also help the open-type earbuds deliver a superb sound output, much similar to audiophile-style sound.
The Buds Live sports a decent touch-based PUI to facilitate convenient navigation. If you’re a non-Samsung user, you’d be able to make volume adjustments, control media playback, take/end calls, and turn the noise cancellation on or off.
If you are using a Samsung smartphone, you can utilize the companion Galaxy Wearable app to perform a number of additional things including activating the Bixby voice command which would let you open apps, navigate music, etc hands-free.
You can listen to your personalized music on the Buds Live, thanks to Samsung’s integration with Spotify. With the help of the “Tap & Hold” feature available in the Galaxy Wearable app, you can instantly launch Spotify to start playing personalized soundtracks.
It’s also possible to let Spotify recommend playlists tailored to your preferences using this gesture.
While the Buds Live lets you listen to your music continuously for up to 6 hours with ANC enabled, you can maximize it to whopping 21 hours with the charged case.
And with the noise cancellation switched off, you get about 8 hours of battery life (around 29 hours using the case). Quick charging the Buds Live takes only 5 minutes to enable 1 hour of listening.
The Buds Live is thoughtfully created to serve your everyday listening needs. You get an exceptional 6 hours of battery life with the noise cancellation kept on. And if it’s not good enough, you can wirelessly charge the earbuds using the accompanying charging case.
When the noise cancellation switched off, you get about 8 hours of battery life (around 29 hours using the case). Quick charging the Buds Live takes only 5 minutes to enable 1 hour of listening.
| Launch | Announced | 2020, July |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Available. Released 2020, Aug | |
| Earbuds | Dimensions | 16.5 x 27.3 x 14.9mm |
| Weight | 5.6g | |
| Charging Case | 50.0 x 50.2 x 27.8mm | |
| Weight | 42.2g | |
| Performance | Chipset | BCM 43015 |
| OS | RTOS | |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Profile | HFP, A2DP, AVRCP | |
| Codec | SBC, AAC, Scalable (Samsung proprietary) | |
| Comms | ||
| Bluetooth | 5.0, A2DP, LE | |
| Sensor | Accelerometer, Proximity, Hall, Touch | |
| USB | 2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector | |
| In the box | ||
| Earbuds | - Earbuds -Wingtips - Eartips - Charging Case - USB Cable - QSG | |
| Battery | Playtime | 8h |
| Charging Case | 60min play / 5min charging | |
| Sensor | Accelerometer, Infrared, Hall, Touch, Grip, Voice Pickup Unit | |
| Colors | White, Black, Bronze |
| Model | SM-R180NZNAXSP |
|---|---|
| FreeGift | No |
| Warranty | 1 year local mfg warranty |
| Options | No |
| Housing | No |
| LCD Replacement | N/A |
| Battery Replacement | N/A |
| Launch | Announced | 2020, July |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Available. Released 2020, Aug | |
| Earbuds | Dimensions | 16.5 x 27.3 x 14.9mm |
| Weight | 5.6g | |
| Charging Case | 50.0 x 50.2 x 27.8mm | |
| Weight | 42.2g | |
| Performance | Chipset | BCM 43015 |
| OS | RTOS | |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Profile | HFP, A2DP, AVRCP | |
| Codec | SBC, AAC, Scalable (Samsung proprietary) | |
| Comms | ||
| Bluetooth | 5.0, A2DP, LE | |
| Sensor | Accelerometer, Proximity, Hall, Touch | |
| USB | 2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector | |
| In the box | ||
| Earbuds | - Earbuds -Wingtips - Eartips - Charging Case - USB Cable - QSG | |
| Battery | Playtime | 8h |
| Charging Case | 60min play / 5min charging | |
| Sensor | Accelerometer, Infrared, Hall, Touch, Grip, Voice Pickup Unit | |
| Colors | White, Black, Bronze |
