Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Review: New Design And AI Deliver A Sublime Listening Experience

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are part of Samsung's long awaited third generation of earbuds, and with a radical design change, it seems it may well have been worth the wait. The Galaxy Buds 2 were my daily-driver buds ever since they launched in 2021, all the way up until 2024. They offered great sound quality, comfort, and were super reliable buds, which I must have worn for thousands of hours. Given my experience with the previous generation, and with what SlashGear's Reviews team reported in their Galaxy Buds 2 Pro Review back in 2022, I was certainly excited to test out the Buds 3 Pro here in the present.

Of course, with a very different design, major updates to speaker and microphones, as well as interesting new AI integration, there's a lot to get excited about with the Buds 3 Pro, (a sample of which was provided by Samsung for this review). But as great as they seem on paper, it's necessary to take a closer look and listen and see and hear if they live up to everything the advertising promises.

The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro feature a radically different design to previous generations of Galaxy Buds. Where before they were spherical, now they're shaped similarly to Apple Airpods or the Nothing Ear, with a stem which protrudes out of the ear. The new design is overall an upgrade, as it makes the buds easier to place and remove, and it's now more difficult to accidentally trigger the controls.

Unfortunately, Samsung has stumbled somewhat in the implementation, as the controls integrated into the stems take a lot of getting used to, and could have been better implemented. Sliding up and down to adjust volume works reasonably well, but pressing to play, pause, skip, or perform other actions is awkward. Contrast this with the Nothing Ear's similar, yet superior on-bud controls, and it's clear Samsung has some work to do in this department.

The charging case is decent enough, but the material doesn't seem durable, something I find to be typical of earbud charging cases featuring transparent lids. I also frequently found myself fumbling to correctly place the buds in their charging cradles, whereas with most other earbuds I can easily replace the buds in the case without having to look at them and give the process my full attention. The "blade light" on the stem is a cool aesthetic touch, which can be turned on or off, be made to blink, or fade in and out. It allows the earbuds to be more of a fashion accessory than a mere functional device. Pairing with my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra was immediate and automatic, though a dedicated pairing button on the case facilitates pairing the buds to non-Samsung devices.

With all this said, I do still consider the new design of the Buds 3 Pro to be an overall upgrade over the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro or Buds 2.

Right out of the gate, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro immediately impressed me with the purity and power of sound they produce. From bass to mids to treble, they excel, and I found myself drawn into listening to music on them as I rarely have been with other buds. Testing them against several other earbuds, others which I've previously praised sounded somewhat dull or tinny by comparison to these.

I spent a good chunk of my time testing the Buds 3 Pro alternating between Barnes Courtney's latest album "Supernatural," and Jack White's new as-yet unnamed album. The first leans more towards the pop end of the rock spectrum, while the second is very much a throwback to the White Stripes era of Jack White's career. Both sound fantastic on the Buds 3 Pro, and I believe these earbuds are part of the reason I found the desire to listen to these albums several times each straight-through. 2Cellos cover of "Thunderstruck" is my go-to song for comparing audio devices, and the Buds 3 Pro rendered it with deep echoing low notes and plenty of definition even on the highest tones.

The Buds 3 Pro also performed perfectly for watching YouTube and Netflix, and I listened to most of "Primordial Threat" by M.A. Rothman on Audible. These earbuds are just as good for the spoken word as they are for music.

On top of their truly excellent audio playback performance, the microphones built into the Buds 3 Pro are by far the best I've ever tested. On phone calls, other people were impressed by how clear I sounded, and the earbuds enabled exceptional clarity for audio passthrough.

The Buds 3 Pro are also quite comfortable, so you can keep them in and enjoy the great sound they provide for long listening sessions.

The Buds 3 Pro features "Galaxy AI" integration, which enables a number of interesting features. Adaptive Equalizer detects how the buds sit in your ears and adjusts the audio to adapt each time you put them in. Adaptive noise control adjusts noise canceling and audio passthrough depending on your environment so that it will damp down excessive noise, but allow you to hear conversations, and not cancel-out important noises such as sirens. Additionally, the buds work with a real-time interpretation feature found in compatible Samsung phones.

I found adaptive noise control to be particularly nice to use, allowing you to switch between the Buds 3 Pro effective noise canceling and their remarkably clear and natural passthrough of exterior sound. Normally, I prefer to use earbuds with only passive noise canceling, but with the Buds 3 Pro I found myself defaulting to adaptive noise control instead.

The claimed 30 hour battery life includes the charging case's battery, so it's not particularly impressive in this regard, but I found it to be enough to go several days without needing to actually put the case on a wireless charging pad for a top-up.

Samsung's Wear app manages the Buds 3 Pro, and has plenty of customization options to personalize the buds. I particularly appreciated the in-app equalizer where I settled on using the "dynamic" preset for most of my testing. I also appreciated the effect of the "360 audio" feature, which also includes head tracking so that the sound seems like it's coming from the direction of your phone.

At $249.99 the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are certainly pricey, and this high cost puts them in contest with some formidable rivals. Despite this, the audio quality delivered by the Buds 3 Pro is so good that this aspect alone allows the headphones to deliver reasonable value for your money.

If you're looking for a good pair of earbuds with the same stem design as the Buds 3 Pro, then the Nothing Ear (a) is remarkably competitive at just $99. Alternatively, the non-pro Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 offers much of what makes the Pro version great, but for a smaller price of $179. If you're looking for something tougher, and in a more similar style to the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, the Jabra Elite 8 Active features an IP68 rating which means they are fully submersible. The Elite 8 Active is typically available for less than $200.

Overall, while the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are certainly more expensive than other excellent and competitive earbuds, they maintain enough of an edge in terms of listening experience to nonetheless justify that cost.

While I have a few small gripes with the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, I very much enjoyed the many hours I spent testing these earbuds. They are exceptionally comfortable for in-ear earbuds, offer great passthrough and extremely clear passthrough for external audio, and deliver effective noise canceling. Music playback quality is simply fantastic, and call quality using the earbuds is superior to any other earbud I've ever tested.

The only real hesitation one might have with the Buds 3 Pro is their somewhat steep price tag, but these are Samsung's premium tier earbuds, and it is justified by the remarkable excellence of the listening experience they provide. The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro managed to impress me despite existing in a market crowded with many other great options for true-wireless earbuds. Some may see their new design as too similar to that of Airpods, but I see it as a big upgrade, and just one more reason why I highly recommend the Buds 3 Pro.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are available directly from Samsung for $249.99.