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The Galaxy Buds Live are a great pair of earbuds, and after a few software updates the Galaxy Buds Live are also a great pair of earbuds. But these earbuds are very different from one another and they each have their own pros and cons where depending on your needs one is going to be better than the other for you. So lets see which of these two earbuds are right for you.
Now first off we gotta address price… the Galaxy Buds Plus retail for $150 but they routinely like to go on sale for around $130 give or take where as the Galaxy Buds Live retail for $170 but I also expect them to routinely go on sale as well. Personally I don’t think the small price difference between these two earbuds will be a deciding factor for most people but nonetheless if you want to pick either of these two earbuds up they’ll be linked down below and if you want to learn more about either of these earbuds please watch their full reviews cause we’re only going over their main differences.
Now the biggest and most important difference between these two earbuds that is is going to be the main differentiating factor for most people here is fit. The Galaxy Buds Plus are a pair of in ear ear buds that come with multiple eartips and a few ear fins as well so you can customize your fit. The Galaxy Buds Plus have the most secure fit out of the two here and since these are in ear ear buds they block out a good amount of ambient noise which does help make your music sound better cause you can hear more detail in your music. And as far as in ear ear buds go, the galaxy buds plus fit like your standard pair of in ear earbuds they don’t go in super deep into your ear canal like the Sony WF-1000XM3’s do and they also just don’t just sit at the edge of your ear canal like AirPods Pro do.
But personally im not the biggest fan of in ear ear buds for long use sessions cause I do find them to get itchy after awhile. Thats why ive always been such a proponent for AirPods and thats why im really excited about the Galaxy Buds Live. Unlike the Galaxy Buds Plus, the Galaxy Buds Live don’t actually go into your ear canal they just rest right out side of it just like how AirPods do. So I do find the Galaxy Buds Live are significantly more comfortable to wear than the Galaxy Buds Plus and you can easily wear these earbuds for hours on end without any problems. But the Galaxy Buds Live superior comfort does bring some draw back when compared to the Galaxy Buds Plus. First off due to their design the Galaxy buds live do let in a lot of ambient noise just like how AirPods do and unfortunately you don’t have as many customization options. The Galaxy Buds Live come included with two sets of rubber feet that help brace these earbuds against your ears. And over all these earbuds are secured but the Galaxy Buds Plus feel more secure. Now these earbuds fit me just fine with the small rubber feet but id imagine that if you have larger ear canals then you’ll might have a little trouble keeping these earbuds in just like how some people have trouble keeping AirPods in.
But over all like I said the main differentiating factor between these two earbuds is fit. Now personally for me I prefer the Galaxy Buds Live here cause when im looking for a pair of everyday carry earbuds im mainly concerned about comfort and portability. I feel the Galaxy Buds Live are great to wear for like when youre out grocery shopping or running errands, or if you want to listen to a podcast or audio book while youre working, or for when you want to watch a video at home with your earbuds in cuase you don’t want to disturb the people around you or for taking lots of phone calls.
Where as I feel the Galaxy Buds Plus’s in ear design is going to be suited better for someone who plans on wearing their earbuds a lot while on public transportation cause these earbuds do a much better job of blocking out ambient noise. Or for someone who really wants to focus on their music. Or if youre someone who’s planning on working out a lot with their earbuds then I feel you’ll be better off with the Galaxy Buds Plus cause of their more secure fit.
But besides fit, there are a few other differences between these two earbuds to take into consideration. Now one of the biggest selling points of the Galaxy Buds Live is that they have active noise cancellation where as the Galaxy Buds Plus don’t. But personally I don’t find the active noise cancellation on the Galaxy Buds Live to be all the impressive and ive actually found that if you have a good seal with your Galaxy Buds Plus they’ll block out more noise than the Galaxy Buds Live with their ANC turned on. But in general I don’t really use or care about the active noise cancellation on the Galaxy Buds Live.
But something that I do care about is an ambient mode which is something the Galaxy Buds Plus do have. And with an ambient mode you can clearly hear both your surroundings and music which is very useful for when youre walking around the city or so that you can hear when someone calls your name when youre watching Avatar the Legend of Kora at home.
And in general the ambient mode on the Galaxy Buds Plus is good cause it sounds fairly natural and they also do a good job of blocking out wind noise when youre walking outdoors. Now unfortunately the Galaxy Buds Live don’t have a full on ambient mode like the Galaxy Buds Plus do.
Now you can go into the labs tab and turn on this feature which lets in a little bit of ambient noise. But this feature on the Galaxy Buds Live is like having the Ambient mode on the Galaxy Buds Plus set to low. So you can’t hear your surroundings as well when you're using the Galaxy Buds Live. Now personally I do always keep this feature turned on on my Galaxy Buds Live cause at least its something… but I just wish Samsung would just give us a full on ambient mode on the Galaxy Buds Live cause it would make them even better.
Now another significant difference between these two earbuds is going to be battery life. Now both of these earbuds have decent battery lives but that Galaxy Buds Live’s battery life is a little better. The Galaxy Buds Plus have a combined battery life of 22 hours where as the Galaxy Buds Live have a combined battery life of up to 29 hours hours if you use them with both their Active noise cancellation and Bixby turned off which is how I use them.
Now the Galaxy Buds Live manage to have a longer combined battery life specifically cuase their carrying case has a larger built in battery than the case on the Galaxy Buds Plus. The case on the galaxy buds live has a 1.81 watt hour battery where as the case on the Galaxy buds Plus has a 1.03 watt hour battery.
But the thing the Galaxy Buds Plus does have going for them is that you can wear for up to 13 hours cause the earbuds themselves have .315 watt hour batteries where as the Galaxy Buds Live can only go for as long as 9 hours cause they have .2 watt hour batteries. So this small difference might very improntat for you if you plan on wearing your earbuds for long hours at a time maybe cuase you work retail or in a wear house… But personally for me the max ill wear my earbuds is like 4 hours so I prefer the Galaxy Buds Live combined battery life of 29 hours.
But no matter which of these earbuds you decide to go with they both have carrying cases that charge via a USB C port and both of these cases have wireless charging. So either if you’ve already invested in a few wireless chargers or if you have a phone that supports power sharing, either of these cases are game. And in general, both of these cases are really good cuase they’re both very small so youre not really going to notice them when you’ve got them in your pocket.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these earbuds… now I feel the galaxy buds live sound good enough to get the job. Now personally I like to use these earbuds while they’re in their dynamic EQ cause in their normal EQ these earbuds have way too much bass which can be over powering and makes it hard to hear everything else. But while in their Dynamic EQ their bass gets lowered a little bit… but they still have a lot of bass and the mids come out a little bit as well. Making it a little easier to hear vocals and instrumentals. But do to their design, these earbuds do let in a lot of ambient noise so youre really going to have to crank the volume up on these earbuds when youre out and about. Where as the Galaxy Buds Plus sound much better than the Galaxy Buds Live specifically cause they don’t let in nearly as much ambient noise and they also have much better clarity and instrument separation. With the Galaxy Buds Live everything sounds very narrow and close together where as with the Galaxy Buds Live they sound more open. Also the Galaxy Buds Plus don’t have nearly as much bass as the Galaxy Buds Live. So if youre really concerned about sound quality to really listen to music then I would recommend that you go with the Galaxy Buds plus here… where as with the galaxy buds live I would recommend them more for passive listening, for listing to audio books or podcasts, or for watching videos. Or if youre someone thats really after that bass then you’ll just want to disregard what I just said and go with the Galaxy Buds Live.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity both of these earbuds are perfectly fine. They both have stable connections, the earbuds on both of these each establish a connection with your phone so if you want to use one earbud at a time you can use either one it doesn’t matter, and they both have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether youre using an iPhone or an android device.
But when it comes to the touch pads on these earbuds… these earbuds are a little different. For the most part ive noticed that the touchpads on the Galaxy Buds Live are a little less accurate than the touchpads on the Galaxy buds Plus. Ive noticed that with the Galaxy Buds Live I get more missed inputs so I have to try a few times to actually pause or skip my music… or sometimes ill go to just pause my music and instead they’ll skip a track. But also the media controls on the Galaxy Buds Live are a little more limited by comparison. By default if you press and hold on these touch pads they’ll toggle your ANC, but if youre like me and you don’t plan on using the ANC on these earbuds you can always remap touching and holding so that you can adjust your volume. Where as with the Galaxy Buds Plus… on top of being able to control your music, and being able to press and hold on one ear bud to activate your voice assistant and being able to press and hold on another earbud to toggle your ambient mode… you can also make it so that you can tap on the edges of these ear buds to adjust your volume as well. So over all if you have them set up correctly youre able to do more straight from the Galaxy Buds Plus than you can with the Galaxy Bud Live. Now granted that touch pads on the Galaxy Buds plus aren’t perfect… but I have found them to be more accurate than the touch pads on the Galaxy buds Live.
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now both of these ear buds have decent microphones but I can’t help but notice that the Microphone on the galaxy buds plus has a little bit of a harder time handling this AC unit iv got here. I feel that there’s like this constant static or white noise in the background.
Where as with the galaxy buds live, they do a much better job of blocking out that AC unit. Cuase if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you can clearly hear that AC unit. But if we were to switch over back to the Galaxy buds Live its gone. And I also feel that my voice sounds a little better as well.
So with all that being said, even though the Galaxy Buds Live are the new kids on the block… they aren’t here to replace the Galaxy Buds Plus. When it comes to choosing between these two earbuds its mainly going to come down to preference and needs. Do you want in ear ear buds or do you want non in ear ear buds? The Galaxy Buds Live are a great pair of everyday carry earbuds and they are my preferred ones here cause of their comfort. You can easily wear these earbuds for hours on end without any problems. And since they their case has a larger built in battery than the case on the galaxy buds plus you can go a little longer in between charges. The only thing I feel these earbuds are missing are a proper ambient mode cause the labs feature they have right now just isn’t enough. But if youre really concerned about sound quality then I highly recommend that you go with the Galaxy buds plus instead cause of their in ear design and better instrument separation. But also, the Galaxy Buds plus might be up your ally if you need longer on time, you want a more secured fit, or cause you want to be able to customize your fit. But nonetheless, both of these earbuds are very solid.