were an okay first attempt at true wireless earbuds.

Sound quality was average, battery life was decent,

but voice quality was bad.

If you got them free as part of pre-order

for your new smart phone, that was a good deal.

But, paying full price for them was harder to justify.

But, now Samsung is back with the new Galaxy Buds Plus

and they've made improvements to all three of those areas

taking a product that was pretty meh

into something that's pretty great.

(upbeat music)

Let's start right off the bat with sound quality.

Now, you still have a bunch of ear tips in the box

so you can get a good seal in your ear for a good fit.

And Samsung also includes several wing tips

so they fit even more snug when you put them in.

Unfortunately, there is no active noise cancellation,

but the right fit will help you

muffle out your surroundings.

So, on the inside of each Galaxy Buds Plus earbud

is two drivers, one tweeter and a woofer

and that leads to richer, more detailed audio output.

Your instruments and your vocals stand out a bit more.

But, sometimes the highs and treble

can get a little bit fatiguing, it's not a big problem

but certain types of music you'll hear it.

But, where Samsung has made big improvements is bass.

And that was a weakness of the older Galaxy buds.

Here, it's taken up a notch

with good separation from the mids.

I don't think these are quite as overpowering or as boomy

as the Jabra Elite 75Ts, but it's a noticeable improvement

that makes the Galaxy Buds Plus a better fit

for more types of music.

Now the buds support AAC, SBC,

and Samsung's own scalable codec

and that adjusts the music quality

based on how strong your Bluetooth connection is.

But, unfortunately, that only works on Samsung's own phones.

From the outside, the Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Buds Plus

look so similar that it's hard to tell them apart.

But, there are a few small touches that help identify

the new ones from the olds.

The charging case is a bit more glossy now

and has raised labels for the left and right earbuds

and, while these look like buttons, they're not.

Samsung also added a secondary microphone

to the outside of the earbuds,

but aside from that small touch and the case differences,

these look right at home next to their predecessors

which Samsung is still selling for $129.

The earbud controls work just like before,

single tap to pause, double to skip tracks or answer a call,

and triple tap for the previous track.

You choose what a tap and hold does,

by default it will bring up Google Assistant or Bixby

or Siri on iPhone, but you can also set it

to activate ambient sound mode

so you can hear what's going on around you

or a control volume.

Now, for me having physical volume controls

is always more useful then voice assistance

or whatever else so, that's what I do.

If you're on Android, you can also have

a long press open Spotify

and start playing music right away.

Now, we come to voice call quality

and I'm talking to you right now

on the original Galaxy Buds,

which means they're pretty bad

and haven't gotten better over time.

It's hard for your callers to hear you

over background noise or anything,

it's really just a big jumbled mess.

And these are the Galaxy Buds Plus.

As you can hopefully hear, my voice sounds clearer

and it's being separated better from all of this.

And then we've got the Jabra Elite 75Ts,

which cost a bit more than the Galaxy Buds Pro,

sound a little bit better, but the voice call quality

might be not quite as good,

so you can see just how much progress Samsung has made.

And, last but not least, we have Apple's original AirPods,

which have always had a really good reputation

for voice call quality,

sound crisp, clear, I'm well separated.

But, their reputation for fitting in my ears is

unfortunately, not great.

But, when it comes right down to it,

it's hard to beat just talking

right into your phone's microphone.

Samsung's made big improvements, but is it as good?

And here's what the Galaxy Buds Plus

sound like if you record them straight

to your phone's voice memos app.

So, if you're talking to Bixby or Google Assistant or Siri,

this is what that's going to sound like to your phone

and if you have to, say record a quick idea,

it's gonna sound pretty good.

But, far and away, the biggest improvement

of the Galaxy Buds Plus is battery life.

These earbuds now last for up to 11 hours

of straight listening time,

which puts them at the top of the mountain.

That's better than Powerbeats Pro, Airpods, the Jabras,

and pretty much everything else.

Those 11 hours are enough to get you through

a full work day or a long haul flight.

Add the case, you get up to 22 hours of battery life

before you've gotta recharge everything.

Samsung says plugging them in for just three minutes

is enough to get you an hour of extra listening time.

So, you can use the Galaxy Buds Plus on Android of course,

but Samsung also has a new iPhone app

where you can customize the EQ settings,

touch controls, and everything else.

But, I'd still recommend these

more so for Android people than iPhone

because I've had a lot of dropped connections

and disconnects on iPhone that I didn't really have

on my Pixel or the Galaxy S10 that I tested these with.

Samsung has priced the Galaxy Buds Plus at $149

and, at that price, it's not really fair

to compare them to the AirPods Pro

or other earbuds that cost over $200.

But, it's a harder choice between these

and the Jabra Elite 75Ts

which are only slightly more expensive at $179.

And, the Anker SoundCore Liberty 2 Pro earbuds

are another good option at the same price point.

And, Amazon's Echo Buds manage to include

Bose noise reduction technology for even less money.

So, if noise cancellation

and having that private bubble of silence

are most important to you, maybe look elsewhere.

And, if you've got an iPhone, I'm not sure why you'd

venture over to Samsung for your earbuds.

But, Android owners should pay attention to these.

I'm very impressed by the progress Samsung's made

with it's second generation true wireless earbuds.

Turns out, that plus name is well deserved.

These sound better, lasts much longer,

and are a better suit for voice calls

than their predecessors were.

Add ANC to the next version

and Samsung's third generation Galaxy Buds

might be pretty tough to beat.

Hey, thanks a ton for watching.

Now, my question for you is,

has Samsung done enough to make you consider

the Galaxy Buds Plus over the Jabras

or any number of other earbuds on the market right now?

Leave a comment down below.