Samsung Galaxy Buds Live review in 2022: Great at this price!

TWS true wireless earphones - under $75

4.5 STARS - The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live got polarizing reviews when they released at 170 dollars two years ago. In mid-2022, you can get them for just $70, and while they aren't perfect, these wireless earbuds now feel like a steal.

Samsung Galaxy Buds Live - ‘the Beans’ - specs and features:

  • Bluetooth 5.0 with AAC codec

  • No waterproof rating

  • 6,5 hours listening on a single charge (ANC off)

  • Charging case can charge earpieces fully 3 times

  • Comes with USB-C cable and English manual

  • $70 - Check price on Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany or other Amazon countries

Below this Samsung Galaxy Buds Live review, you will find comparisons of the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live vs Samsung Galaxy Buds 2, Nothing Ear 1, 1more ComfoBuds Pro, and SoundPEATS Air3.

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Design, comfort and battery life

If you read or saw just one review on the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live in the past two years, you probably know how tricky the fit of these wireless earbuds is. Samsung went out on a limb in August of 2020. In order to appeal to all those people who liked the idea of wireless earbuds, but not sticking big rubber ear tips in their ears, it surprisingly ditched the user friendly stem-design from Apple's AirPods, and instead came up with… the Beans.

You put these Beans horizontally in your ears, with the small rubber oval around the charging dots at the back end of your ear - and the speaker pointing to the front of your face. Two years after release, it's still something not everybody seems to know, or not everybody seems to be able to. Although Samsung delivers multiple sizes of rubber tips around the charging dots, you need medium-sized ears with enough horizontal space to wear these in the right manner.

When you achieve the ideal fit, the Galaxy Buds Live are the most comfortable wireless earbuds on the market. You can wear them comfortably for the whole of 6,5 hours their battery lasts on a single charge. They don't tire you out, you may not even feel that you're wearing them. That's partly because the open design makes it so easy to hear your surroundings - these earbuds provide the best combination of listening to music and hearing your surroundings. They even remain comfortable when you push them in a little deeper so you unlock the brilliant sound these can deliver.

The keyword here is can. You only need to take a look at all those two year old reviews and buyer impressions on Amazon and see how many people can't get the ideal fit, and therefore also lose the great sound quality these have to offer.

The specs are the same for everyone, of course. The biggest letdown is that the earbuds are not waterproof: Samsung advices to immediately dry them if they catch a bit of rain. Otherwise, the charging case is brilliant. It can give the earbuds an hour of listening time by just recharging them for 5 minutes, and it can recharge the earbuds 3 times fully before it needs new power via USB-C or wireless charging. The case is compact and easy to carry in a jeans pocket, it's sturdy, has a clicky lid, and it's even fun to toy around with between your fingers.

Still - yeah, those Beans? They're either your worst enemy or earbuds you'll completely fall in love with.


Controls and connectivity

Sadly, the Galaxy Buds Live shows its age when it comes to the Bluetooth connection. While the Beans pair and connect quickly, the Bluetooth signal is rather weak. It loses connection to your phone or laptop around 7 instead of the usual 9-10 meters, and there can be severe sound hiccups when you're walking in an area with lots of wireless signals. Sometimes, the earbuds can't escape these hiccups, and you'll have to put them in the case and take them out again to return to normal connection.

Happily, the hiccups only seem to happen when you're walking in crowded areas - not when you're in one place, in transit, or cycling.

You can only connect the Galaxy Buds Live to one device at a time. Multipoint connectivity isn't supported, and in fact, you even have to reset the earbuds connection to get them to connect to another device. Not very convenient.

Controls are good, and surprisingly easy to operate considering the Beans disappear well into your ears. Just tap the front part to activate the functions:

  • Tap L or R to play/pause music

  • Double-tap L or R to skip a song

  • Triple-tap L or R to return a song

Next to these standard controls, the free Samsung Galaxy Buds app lets you setup the controls for holding down the left or right earbud. You can choose between activating the voice assistant, or turn ANC on/off, or change volume.


Calls, movies and Games

Despite the form factor, it's safe to take a phone call with the Galaxy Buds Live. The microphone does a good job of picking up your voice, and puts it through clear. Constant surrounding noises like distant traffic or electronic humming are left out of calls almost entirely. Sudden sounds like claps, accelerating scooters or laughter are audible, but your voice still stands - although it gets a metallic effect on these moments. Wind noise is the usual threat, like on all wireless earbuds.

Video playback is great on both Android and iPhone, with flawless synchronization between audio and video in all apps. There is a noticeable delay in sound effects when you're playing games, however. Newer earbuds tend to handle this better.


App Support of Galaxy Buds Live

The Samsung Galaxy Buds app is free to download on Android and iPhone and works like a charm on both systems. It adds some very valuable functions to these earbuds:

  • Check battery life on the earbuds

  • Update the firmware

  • (De)activate Active Noise Cancelling

  • Switch between six sound equalizers

  • Change controls for the Hold control option

  • Disable/enable controls

  • Make the earbuds beep loudly so you can find them nearby

  • Read the manual

  • Reset the earbuds

The app is very easy to understand

You can only change the controls for the Hold-option

Find your earbuds when you've lost them nearby

In addition to all these functions, there's also a ‘Labs’ (experimental) function that tries to relieve the pressure in your ears so you may feel the earbuds even less when you're wearing them - something that doesn't seem to have any effect when you have the ideal fit.

This function aside, all other features of the app are great additions to the Galaxy Buds Live, perhaps with the exception of the active noise cancelling…


ANC Noise cancelling of Galaxy Buds Live

Active Noise Cancelling on earbuds that don't seal your ears with rubber tips? Yeah - it was a strange idea.

It seems that Samsung only added Active Noise Cancelling to its Beans to show off that it has the feature, which at the time must have been important for its 170 dollars asking price. But as these earbuds don't fill up your ears with rubber tips, the function is next to useless. The Galaxy Buds is fantastic at combining listening to music and making you hear your surroundings. Activating the ANC will only soften some of the darker background sounds. Distant traffic and static humming like airconditioners are somewhat reduced in volume, but make no mistake: they will still be audible. As the ANC function diminishes your battery life from 6,5 to 5 hours, there's little reason to activate it.

In 2022, even at its 70 dollars price point, you can have much stronger Active Noise Cancelling, with great offerings like the SoundPEATS Mini Pro, the 1more ComfoBuds Pro, or the Soundcore Life A3i.

A Transparency mode - which can normally put through traffic and chatter around you on moments you need it - it absent on the Beans, and rightly so: you simply don't need it.

As for wind noise, with or without ANC: the Buds Live makes it audible when you're running or cycling with them. It will accompany your music - such is the way of open-ear designs. These aren't ANC earbuds and you shouldn't consider them as such.



Sound quality of Galaxy Buds Live: Special

Considering the Galaxy Buds Live has a unique open-ear design, it's even more impressive that Samsung and sound manufacturer AKG could finetune its sound so well.

Warning: How good the Galaxy Buds Live sounds, is extremely dependent on your fit. There's a reason why the sound gets such low ratings in many reviews. I had the perfect fit - and that will reflect in the score.

Like the in-ear models Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus and Galaxy Buds 2, the mid-tones on the Buds Live perform above average. Center-mid instruments like guitars and piano play have a natural tonality, meaning they're not too warm, dark, cold, or bright. By pushing the mid-tones forward, these instruments aren't just well-represented, they're even dynamic, reaching lower tones as easily as higher ones. In high quality recordings, you can easily hear the clonks for heavier piano key strokes, or plucking of strings. Mid-vocals are impressive as well, giving male vocals or darker female vocals - take a certain Diana Krall - plenty of nuances.

The mid-tones flow fluently into the treble, in which higher vocals are clear but not very forward. They can have a little trouble outweighing (lower) mid-tones, but happily, also when they're prominent like in Björk's It's Oh So Quiet, they also don't become sharp or bright. Violins, cymbals, trumpets? A strange combination: they roll off quickly, but are nicely textured.

The open-ear design increases the space in the sound, with good separation between instruments, and effects coming from your left and right. A little metalness and sibilance - hissy sss-tones - can occur, but it's nothing severe.

As open-ear designs don't have ear-tips which can bring basses deeply in your ears, bass on the Buds Live is the least refined part of the sound. When a song pushes the mid-bass, things can become a little mushy and on rare occasions slightly distorting. Most of the times though, the mid-bass gives a steady and punchy slam. Moreover, the sub-bass is surprisingly deep. You won't feel these darkest bass tones shaking in your ears, but the sub still rumbles gently. That the lows still sound comfortingly full, is partly thanks to the boosted lower mid-tones (like darker electronic tones and drums). Here too, however, things are kept perfectly within bounds. Everything is just well-balanced.

Furthermore, you can tweak the sound to your liking greatly with the app. Bass Boost, Dynamic or Clear do precisely what you expect from them, without overhauling the balance and tonality that makes the Buds Live so good.

If you want earbuds without rubber tips and prefer a balanced sound over a bass-boosted one, these Beans are something special.


Samsung Galaxy Buds Live comparisons

Samsung Galaxy Buds Live vs Samsung Galaxy Buds 2

As of mid-2022, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 are also available under $100, and it has the same brilliant small square charging case. The earbuds are more straightforward, with rubber ear-tips and a ‘regular’ oval shape that fits snugly and comfortable in most ears. The Buds 2 sound is a little fuller in the mid-bass thanks to the true in-ear design, and treble is slightly clearer. However, with the ideal fit, the Live has a more natural treble tonality, and its added weight on center-mids, makes acoustic instruments pop out more. Buds 2's ANC is stronger, but it also doesn't hold up to newer competitors from lesser-known brands. The Bluetooth connection is stronger on the Buds 2, but the battery life is weaker, delivering sightly less than 5 hours per charge. Mostly, the Buds Live has much better microphones; the Buds 2 is a bad choice for phone and video calls.



Samsung Galaxy Buds Live vs Nothing Ear 1

With one of the best Transparency modes under $100, the Nothing Ear (1) could be an alternative to the Galaxy Buds Live - if you don't mind rubber ear-tips. Thanks to these tips, ANC is much stronger on the Nothing as well. Like the Buds Live with the ideal fit, the Ear 1 is very comfortable. It's also safe to take a phone call with it. Nothing's battery life is weaker, playing only 4 hours of music on a single charge. It's also worse at handling videos, as it doesn't reach lipsync without activating the game mode from the app; whereas the Buds Live has its connection issues. They both don't have the most precise bass, but the Nothing needs the More Treble equalizer from the app to sound good and give higher frequencies some air. The Beans sound convinces with better tonal balance, including more nuances within the mids and treble.



Samsung Galaxy Buds Live vs SoundPEATS Air3

The $40 SoundPEATS Air3 is a more traditional shaped alternative to Apple's expensive AirPods. Next to the common shape, they also have a more common sound signature: a typical energetic one with a strong mid-bass, boosted lower-mid tones and forward higher vocals and upper-mids to give an energetic sound. Indeed: the Air3 sounds airier than the Buds Live, while the Samsung focuses on mid-tones more and presents guitars, piano play and male vocals more natural. Samsungs treble may be less open, but it's also less metallic. The Air3 has a stronger mid-bass; the Buds Live separates different basslines better. You can take a phone call with both, while the SoundPEATS has a dedicated and good gaming mode. The Samsung wins on battery life: 6,5 vs 4,5 hours on a single charge.



Samsung Buds Live vs SoundPEATS Mini Pro

We'll stick to the same brand for the next comparison, as the $60 SoundPEATS Mini Pro may even be an option with rubber tips if most earbuds are uncomfortable to you. The Mini Pro's are delightfully compact, and their round shape should stay snugly and comfortable in most ears. As these are full-in-ears, Mini Pro's ANC is much more effective than the Galaxy Live's, while its Transparency mode still lets you hear some traffic noise when you need it. This SoundPEATS has comparable battery life with ANC on, better indoor call quality (while the Beans handles outdoor calls a bit better), and a terrific gaming mode. The Mini Pro has a more energetic sound, with stronger mid-bass and lifted treble, but also sounds more metallic and sharper than the Samsung. The Buds Live sounds fuller as higher vocals don't protrude from instruments and mids so much, but it passes on mid-tones more naturally.


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Verdict

With a friendly price of around 70 dollars in 2022, the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live is a terrific combination of listening to music and hearing your surroundings. If you get the ideal fit, the Beans sound great and still are uniquely comfortable.

4.5 stars - Great


Buy Samsung Galaxy Buds Live/ check price:

I bought the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live at $65 myself to test and review. My reviews are 100% independent and non-commercial - read about it here.

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