Apple AirPods Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy Buds Live

Apple and Samsung have a rivalry that carries over not just in smartphones but also in the audio space. Apple's AirPods Pro go head to head against the new Samsung Galaxy Buds Live. Both are true wireless earbuds with built-in noise cancellation and a charging case, giving you uncharted audio no matter where you are. We've compared them head-to-head to see how they fare in design, comfort, sound quality, active noise cancellation (ANC), battery life, software, and other features. 

Design and Comfort 

The AirPods Pro earbuds retain the distinctive white Q-tip design of the first and second-generation AirPods, with some subtle differences. The stem bit of the Q-tip is a bit charter and curves inward, so it conforms more closely to your ear and cheek. It sticks up less compared to the regular AirPods. Another bonus is that the AirPods Pros come with silicone tips, a significant departure from the hard, smooth plastic ear tips of the AirPods.

The fit is more comfortable, makes a better noise isolation seal, and is less likely to fall out of your ears. You also don’t have to worry about taking it to the gym since they’re IPX4 water and sweat resistant, though obviously, you should avoid complete immersion. 

The Samsung Galaxy Live Buds have a distinctive design compared to the AirPods Pro and their predecessors, the Samsung Galaxy Buds+. Jokingly called the “Galaxy Beans” by many people, the nickname is valid. The Buds Live are available in Mystic White, Mystic Black, and Mystic Bronze and resemble a pair of kidney beans. 

Interestingly, the Buds Live don’t have ear tips; their shape is designed to stay in without it just by sitting in your ear, not your ear canal. The Buds Live are IPX2 water and sweat resistant, which is a lower rating than the AirPods Pro, but they should still hold up reasonably well for workouts and gym use as long as you don’t get them soaked. 

Sound Quality and Noise Cancellation 

The AirPods Pro have Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) as its main feature. Unlike passive noise-canceling, which uses the physical seal of the earbuds, the AirPods Pro uses its microphones to pipe in sound that essentially cancels out ambient noise without interfering with your music or other audio. Apple has also packed its AirPods Pro with clever tricks to improve ANC. There’s a vent system to reduce the pressurized feeling on your cars that other noise-canceling earbuds cause. It manages to do this without diminishing the ANC, which is impressive. 

On the other hand, if you want to hear your surroundings, you can do that too by switching from ANC mode to Transparency mode. Press or hold one of the haptic Force Sensors on either AirPods, letting ambient noise back in. It's handy if you're commuting and must turn the noise-canceling off to hear an announcement. As for the audio itself, the sound quality is good, with sharp highs and great boosted bass. The AirPods Pro have an H1 chip, just like the previous AirPods, to support all these audio features. 

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live are the first pair of earbuds from Samsung to come with ANC. They work similarly to the AirPods Pro by using external microphones to balance out ambient noise. However, they don't match the level of sophistication Apple has brought to the table. The AirPods Pro can diminish background noise, from a screeching train to a chattering crowd and loud PA system. The Buds Live, by contrast, dampens noise, but not nearly to the same level. 

Where the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live does excel, however, is with their sheer number of audio features and enhancements. They have 12mm drivers with Harman Kardon tweaks, giving them rich sound, booming bass, and reverb. The Buds Live come with six EQ settings in the app, along with full customization for more advanced users. The AirPod Pro does have Adaptive EQ which is powered by the H1 chip and does it automatically, but you can't tweak individual settings.

Battery Life 

With active ANC, the AirPods Pro will last 4.5 hours of listening on a full charge. If you turn off ANC and Transparency mode, they’ll last 5 hours. The AirPods Pro case supports wireless charging and can provide 24 hours of listening time. If you need to top up fast, 5 minutes of charging in the case can give you an hour of listening time. 

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live can last an impressive 5.5 to 6 hours with ANC and Bixby voice commands. With both off, the runtime increases even more dramatically to 8 hours. That’s nearly enough to cover you for an entire workday. The charging case adds an extra 29 hours of runtime and supports wired and wireless fast charging. In 5 minutes of charging, it can offer an hour of runtime. 

Software and Features 

The AirPods Pro may not offer many EQ tweaks to customize your sound profile, but it has many other features to make up for it. For starters, when you first set them up, they’ll run an audio test to ensure the best fit for ANC and suggest how to adjust them in your ear if the test doesn’t give the best results.

Among the new features rolled out with iOS 14 comes Spatial Audio which creates a faux virtual surround sound that can be handy for games and other immersive media. The update also came with battery optimization improvements. As always, Siri is built-in, letting you activate it with voice commands to interact with your phone and smart home devices and control things like volume and track playback. 

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live are loaded with extras on the software end. We already touched on the various EQ options, but in addition to that, you have remappable touch controls (you can change them through the app), Dual Audio, which allows you to do playback on two pairs of devices if you want to share music with a friend, and the Bixby voice assistant for commands.

Price 

At MSRP, the AirPods Pro will cost you $249. Apple does not typically offer steep discounts, though we’ve occasionally seen the AirPods Pro come down to $200 during holiday sales. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live cost a more modest $169 and have been on sale a few times.

Final Verdict

If you’re an iPhone user and already embedded in the Apple ecosystem, get the AirPods Pro. They will offer excellent noise cancellation, solid audio, and valuable integrations and enhancements for easy pairing. While the AirPods Pro and Galaxy Buds Live use Bluetooth 5.0, the AirPods Pro dramatically benefits from the H1 chip. The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live are a good option for Android users who like to have many EQ customization options to create an individualized sound profile.