The Galaxy Buds 2, which Samsung released in August 2021 for Rs 11,999, were heralded as one of the best TWS for the money that anyone with an Android phone could purchase. After 2.5 years, those buds are now even more insanely good value for your money, costing roughly half as much at between Rs 6,000 and Rs 6,500.
Still looking good and easy to use
The Galaxy Buds 2 still have a very high-end, sophisticated appearance, even though they may be getting a little long in the teeth. The buds are entirely in-ear, slightly curved, egg-shaped, stemless, and have all of the touch controls on the buds themselves. With ear tip size options in the box and an ear fit test on the app, they fit comfortably and are comfortable enough to wear for extended periods of time at 5 grammes. However, since they can fall out otherwise, we would advise using the proper ear tip size and firmly inserting them into your ear.
They will be noticeable in our ears and are a little large in size, but they definitely do not look bad.The controls are straightforward: one tap to start or stop a song, two taps to play the next song or answer or end a call, and three taps to go back to the previous song. By default, long pressing activates ANC; however, you can customise this for each ear independently, allowing you to use it to activate Spotify, call Bixby, or adjust volume.The buds are packaged in the distinctive “squoval” (squarish oval) case that distinguishes the Galaxy Buds line.
The case is incredibly small, weighing just over 45 grammes with the buds inside (the buds weigh 5 grammes each). This allows the case to fit easily in a pocket without protruding in an unsightly way.The glossy finish smudging after some use is our only concern. With an IPX2 rating, the buds are undoubtedly suitable for working out at the gym, even though they are not suitable for swimming. Overall, their appearance and design are all flagship and nothing like 2021.
Great at delivering sound, good at shutting it out too
That also holds true for how they perform. The clarity and volume level of the Galaxy Buds 2 are very good. They have a little bass accent, but you can adjust it by selecting one of the app’s presets. The Buds 2 truly shine on the bass-friendly preset, so we highly recommend getting it. They have excellent clarity levels for podcasts and are fantastic for action movie and game fans. The quality of the calls is excellent, far better than anything you could find for almost Rs 6,500.
This also applies to active noise cancellation: the Galaxy Buds 2 are quite adept at blocking out background noise, including the sounds of busy cafe conversation and normal traffic.No, these don’t have as much ANC as the AirPods Pro or their Galaxi Buds 2 Pro siblings, but they still perform far better than their new price. You get an enormous amount of advanced features and sensors because these are premium TWS.
The buds have a transparency mode that lets you hear outside noise whenever you’d like. You can also pause the audio by removing a bud. Additionally, it has wireless charging capability, which is somewhat unusual for its (new) price range.
Easily the best at their new price (we love discounts!)
But everything is not roses. Although the case allows for three full recharges, the Buds 2’s 4-5 hour battery life is a little on the short side these days. This was a good feature in 2021. Additionally, as of this writing, the Buds 2 do not support multi-point connectivity, despite being able to quickly switch between various connected devices.
Ultimately, the touch-based interface is straightforward, but because the buds’ surface is so sensitive, we frequently found ourselves inadvertently using commands while adjusting the buds in our ears. After a while, we even turned off the touch controls. Even though the Buds 2 are excellent with other Android phones, they perform noticeably better in terms of audio quality when paired with Samsung devices.
Interestingly, there isn’t an iPhone app for them, so if you use them with an iPhone, you won’t be able to customise the controls, do ear tip tests, and other features. Nevertheless, given their audio and call quality, we would still suggest them to iPhone users.
In fact, considering how well they perform in terms of calls, ANC, and audio quality, we believe the Galaxy Buds 2 to be among the best flagship TWS available today for a reasonable price. Furthermore, if you have a budget of around Rs 6,000, these are possibly THE TWS to get because Samsung is always updating their software and announcing that they will be bringing its Galaxy AI features to them in the near future!
They remain as flagship as ever, even at almost fifty per cent off in terms of price.
