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I've been using these two flagship models of TWS headphones from Samsung and Huawei daily for several months now, and
Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro
Dual speakers and the ability to speak without turning off the music
Samsung's 2021 flagship TWS earbudsimpressive with their sound and active noise cancellation. The Galaxy Buds Pro packs an incredible amount of technology into a tiny package: a Beamforming speaker, an air chamber to cut off wind noise, an additional tweeter, and 360 Audio for immersive surround sound in movies. And the main technological novelty is automatic voice recognition and switching to background sound mode and back after the end of the call.
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maximum technology
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Huawei FreeBuds Pro
Superior Sound and Convenient Control
Huawei's 2020 flagship TWS earbudsDemonstrate excellent sound and 4 variants of noise reduction algorithms using 3 microphones (including internal) and a bone conduction sensor. The headset is distinguished by extremely convenient operation - to pause / play, just squeeze the leg of any of the headphones. The built-in test allows you to select the optimal size of the ear cushions and teach you the correct fit of the headphones to achieve the best sound. FreeBuds Pro stands out for its ability to support simultaneous connection to two devices. But the AI Life application requires the installation of mobile services and the Huawei app store on the smartphone.
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better gesture controls
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Why Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro and Huawei FreeBuds Pro
Of course, there are many more good TWS headphones,than two models. But if we take AirPods Pro out of the equation (Apple headphones have never been a reference in sound, but the company has always been good at marketing), then the main battle for the minds of the consumer will be between these two models: Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro and Huawei FreeBuds Pro. No, of course, there are good models from Sony (the WF-1000XM3, for example, deserves attention - you can read more about them in our review), as well as audiophile models from Bose, Bang & Olufsen or Sennheiser. But in the overwhelming majority of cases, the buyer will focus on those brands that are constantly visible and heard. There are also interesting cheaper models - the same Huawei FreeBuds 4i are equipped with noise reduction and cost half as much (by the way, we have a review of them, I highly recommend them).
Design: what affects usability
In both cases we are talking about vacuumin-ear headphones - this option provides the best noise insulation. The previous flagship model FreeBuds 3 of Huawei headphones used an in-ear option and therefore, in my subjective opinion, they could sound even weaker than the budget FreeBuds 3i (which received the “gadget of the year” award in 2020). The design of the headphones themselves is different (which is good for the buyer, he has a choice). Huawei uses headphones with stems (a design inspired by the still popular Apple AirPods), while Samsung switched to a more compact version from the first TWS headphones (the Here One was one of the first). Of course, it’s more convenient to hold them by the legs, and the extra volume is easier to use with the current miniaturization of electronics, especially evident in TWS headphones.
Design determines control - Samsung headphonescontrolled by touching the touchpad, Huawei offers a wider range of control gestures - from gripping and holding to moving along the surface of the leg to lower or increase the volume. But my experience suggests that Huawei headphones (Buds Pro do not have this problem) are extremely inconvenient to remove from the case due to the small gap in the hinged lid. The finger physically cannot move vertically upward - it clings to the recess in the lid. Considering the polished surface of the earphone body, it is inconvenient to take them out - they constantly slide off. Again and again. This is annoying, and irritation is not the emotion that developers want to evoke in consumers with their product. Both models support wireless charging, as befits top headphones in 2021. In both cases, the charging induction coils are located at the bottom of the cases, but Huawei's charging case is designed so that it is more of a back wall than a bottom. And the logo is placed exactly on it, which does not look very logical - while charging, the Samsung user sees the manufacturer’s logo. And Huawei designers made it look like they were ashamed to show off their brand.
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Headphone appearance: miracles of miniaturization
Looking at the flagship TWS headphones, I just can’tget used to the volume of electronics and technical solutions that are now housed in such small cases. Samsung headphones are smaller in size, but they have 2 charging contacts (metal circles near the earphone on the right in the picture), a proximity sensor between them (it allows you to detect that the earphone is removed from the ear and pause the music). Also, each earbud contains three microphones, a bone conduction sensor, two speakers (an 11mm low-frequency “woofer” and a 6.5mm high-frequency “tweeter”), and three vents—two of which use microphones, and another one (on the inside earphone) serves to reduce the effect of occlusion, that is, distortion of the sound of one’s own voice due to the ear pads tightly covering the auditory canal. And inside the earphone there is a processor and a battery, not counting other related electronics.
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The Huawei earphone has all the same elements:three microphones (one of them is located in front of the earphone), bone conduction sensor, proximity sensor (dark circle on the left earphone). The main part of the electronics, including the Kirin A1 processor, designed specifically for miniature wearable devices, and the battery, are located in the leg. On the headphone stem there are two pairs of ventilation holes, which are the entrance to noise-canceling tubes that eliminate wind noise. The headphones are inserted vertically into the charging case, so the charging contacts are located at the lower ends of the stem.
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What's inside the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro
There are illustrations on the Samsung website that allow you topeek into the rich inner world of the Galaxy Buds Pro. What is worth paying attention to here besides what has already been said? To counteract wind noise, in addition to the microphone grid, a special air chamber is used (in the video below you can even see how it works), which allows you to cut off wind noise, which makes talking on the phone very difficult. The second microphone is a microphone array of 2 elements that ensure highly directional operation of the microphone (Beamforming technology, this is also in the video).
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This Samsung demo lets youbetter understand how technologies work in Galaxy Buds Pro. If you have a hard time understanding English by ear, just turn on subtitles in Russian. At 3:35 you can see how the directional microphone with Beamforming technology works, at 3:57 you can see how the wind protection system works.
What's inside Huawei FreeBuds Pro
Another set of illustrations from the Huawei websiteallows you to better see the insides of the headphones. Separately, it should be said about the double Bluetooth antenna, which increases the reliability of the connection (and this is really so - you can feel the difference if you move away from the smartphone to another room, so that the signal overcomes not only a distance of several meters, but also walls).
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Appendix: What makes Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro and Huawei FreeBuds Pro smart
To use headphones you need a mobile phone.application. Of course, the headphones can be paired with any smartphone or laptop without an app. When you turn on the headphones for the first time, they automatically go into pairing mode. But if you need to connect them to a second device (for example, a laptop), then you need to force them into this mode. For this purpose, Huawei headphones have a separate button on the case. In the case of Buds Pro, you need to simultaneously press the touch surfaces of both headphones. But then the control will be limited to basic functions: adjusting the sound volume and turning on/off noise reduction. In both cases, you will need a Samsung or Huawei account - manufacturers want to tie users to their ecosystem, nothing can be done about it. On the one hand, all these additional authorizations are constantly annoying, on the other hand, there are always additional goodies within the ecosystem. For example, two additional functions become available to users of “native” smartphones: a window that pops up when opening the case asking you to connect headphones to the smartphone and the ability to search for a lost device on a map. The usefulness in both cases is debatable. For example, I sincerely don’t understand how the information that I lost my headphones on the other side of the city will help me - they can’t be returned. If it remains in the office, at the house of friends or relatives, then you can return them without an application. The pop-up window is also a manifestation of excessive concern for the user, because the headphones themselves will connect to the device with which they were last paired (and most likely it will be a smartphone).
Samsung Wearable
The Samsung app is called Samsung Wearable andis the basis for all wearable electronics of the manufacturer. To connect Buds Pro, you will need to install a plugin, but you don’t need to look for it, just confirm the installation after the application detects the headphones during pairing. The application allows you to choose one of two options for the noise reduction algorithms (high-low), one of four levels of the “background noise” mode (it works just great, this is not the first time I’ve encountered this mode on headphones, but I’ve never heard external sounds before and especially your voice is so clear in the headphones - all this smacks of some kind of techno-magic). And one of six equalizer profiles. You can block accidental touches of the headphones (they will not pause the music, but you will not be able to control the operation of the headphones by touch until you turn off this blocking). A feature that I really liked is voice detection, it allows you to automatically switch to background noise mode when you hear your voice, and then return everything back 5 seconds after the conversation. I have a suspicion that a bone conduction sensor plays a significant role in this process, which detects by vibration that I have started a conversation. But reading notifications out loud turned out to be useless for me (well, or I receive messages that the automation reads in such a way that it causes either laughter or misunderstanding, or both at the same time). But maybe you will have a different experience than mine.
Let’s not talk about how Bixby works, but here’s the functionAudio 360 left a lasting impression on me while watching one movie on a streaming service with its immersion. It was really incredibly cool! But not every movie or TV series has a similar effect, but the fact that it can be felt in such miniature headphones makes an indelible impression in itself. The latest version of the application has a Labs section with experimental functions. Game mode - everything is simple here: the first priority is to reduce lag, even at the expense of sound quality. For games this is really justified. The experimental feature allows you to control the volume using double taps: the left earphone to lower the volume and the right one to increase the volume. You can also separately configure the functionality of each earbud when pressed and held. The logic of this menu has changed slightly after the updates, now you can launch Bixby (no need, thanks), increase or decrease the volume (convenient, although I just put the volume to maximum and don’t change anything else - why, if the headphones themselves mute the sound as soon as I speak ), launch Spotify or switch noise reduction operating modes in one of three ways (for those interested, see block 3 of screenshots).
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Huawei AI Life
Taking into account the well-known situation around Huawei withInstalling the application for FreeBuds Pro is a little more complicated. If you have a non-Huawei smartphone, you will have to start by first installing HMS (a package of Huawei services that replace the corresponding Google services) and the App Gallery application store. And already in it, look for and install the application with the immodest name AI Life. All this, of course, does not replace the need to have (or create) a Huawei account. But, by the way, unlike Samsung, you can link it to Twitter or Facebook and then log in through them, if you, like me, are annoyed by the need to remember another password for another account, which, in essence, is not what you need, and another company.
After adding headphones to AI Life (proceduresimilar to Buds Pro, but a separate plugin is not needed if you control the entire package of services) you can start setting up. There are not as many of them as Samsung has: four options for the suppression mode (instead of two). The default is dynamic and I left it that way - everything works as it should. Separately, you can adjust the voice amplification - I didn’t notice much of a difference (perhaps my interlocutors would have heard it), but it won’t be worse. But what FreeBuds have more than Buds Pro is gesture control capabilities. Therefore, a separate menu section is allocated for them (the second block of screenshots). There are three types of gestures: squeeze (in practice this is very convenient and you don’t need to think about whether you hit the desired touch zone of the earphone), squeeze and hold, and swipe (up and down, only works for volume control). Compressions, like touches, are of three types: single, double and triple. What this can lead to can be seen in the screenshots; everything there is quite intuitive and clear.
Another menu item that producesthe impression of its manufacturability and looks like care for users in deeds, and not in words - a test for attaching headphones in the ears. And each separately. This is necessary for two things: the correct selection of ear pads of the right size (the quality of noise canceling depends on the fit very much) and for the correct fit (also affects both the sound and noise reduction). During the test, the headphones play a musical composition, which, as I understand it, is "listened to" by the internal microphone and compares its signature with the reference one. If the deviations are large, the test result suggests changing the ear cushions or the fit of the headphones in the ears. In addition to choosing the correct ear cushion size, this test has an important function: it teaches the user how to fit the headphones correctly for the best sound. Here's a big superhuman thank you.
What else I really liked:Supports simultaneous connection with smartphone and laptop. Interestingly, when you connect headphones to a laptop, the connection with the AI Life application is not lost, which, in addition to the obvious ability not to miss a call from your phone, also allows you to manage the FreeBuds Pro settings while they are broadcasting sound from the laptop. Galaxy Buds Pro can't do that - they only support a simultaneous connection to a device with the Samsung Wearable app, that is, a smartphone and a tablet (or two smartphones).
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Optional item: battery life and charging
I am usually very skeptical aboutmentioning the battery life of devices, because each user has their own habits, preferences and usage scenarios. Different modes and different volume levels will 100% of the time lead to different results, so I keep it simple: I listen to headphones at maximum volume (I always do this and I still haven’t gone deaf, and by the way, my eyesight is also excellent - I checked it recently - despite the fact that I’ve been spending 12-14 hours a day on a laptop for 15 years now) and with noise reduction turned on. In both cases, the results are approximately the same - both headphone models can withstand 3-3.5 hours of operation. Perhaps by lowering the volume and disabling all additional settings that consume battery resources, you can achieve the stated 4.5 hours. Samsung says the Buds Pro can last up to 5 hours with noise cancellation enabled. I simply couldn’t do that much, but I admit that it is theoretically possible. The charging case should provide 2-3 additional full charges. In practice, they were definitely enough for 2 additional charges. The third full time is promised only by Huawei, but I have never been able to achieve a full charge the third time. In reality, this is not critical, because three times for three hours, and even with breaks for recharging, is more than a normal day lasts. You won’t spend the whole day wearing headphones from the moment you wake up to the moment you fall asleep, so there is no practical difference - whether the third charge from the case is full or not, you will still need to charge the entire case. Besides, in real life, everything happens a little differently: you listen to music, but from time to time you still take off your headphones and put them in a case where they are recharged.
Charging time, on the contrary, is quite accuratecorresponds to the stated. It takes about an hour to charge the case via cable and twice as long when using wireless charging. Both headphones have fast charging, but measuring how many minutes of charging give a certain number of minutes of playback is a pointless exercise, and the achieved battery charge level in tens of percent will say little about the real battery life. It’s important that you can actually charge your headphones in 5 minutes so that they can be enough to make a call or listen to music for longer than 5 minutes
Seven things you need to know about choosing between the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro and Huawei FreeBuds Pro
- Both models are excellent choices for modern TWS noise canceling headphones (and it works great)
- Galaxy Buds Pro can recognize voice and automatically switches to background sound mode (and back)
- Galaxy Buds Pro with Audio 360 is able to surprise with incredible audio immersion while watching movies (but not all)
- FreeBuds Pro allows you to support simultaneous connection to a smartphone and laptop
- FreeBuds Pro is very inconvenient to take out of the case
- FreeBuds Pro has a very useful mode for selecting ear pads, which also allows you to learn how to insert headphones correctly
- Owners of “native” smartphones will receive more functions in TWS headphones (which, in fact, is what manufacturers are striving for)