The Galaxy Buds 2 and the Apple AirPods 2 are two great wireless audio options, but which is better? Here are our thoughts on both ‚buds, and which we prefer.
When it comes to premium earbuds, Apple and Samsung are two dominant names in the wireless marketplace. While both brands offer supreme performance and comfortable designs, which set of flagship buds is the best overall? Is it Apple’s second-generation Apple AirPods 2 or the all-new Samsung Galaxy Buds 2? We’ve taken a look at each set of buds based on specific criteria, including design, control, and sound and call quality. Our final verdict is below. For those looking for more wireless earbud options, check out our roundup of the best true wireless earbuds you can buy right now. With hard, plastic eartips and long white stems, the AirPods 2 boast the same aesthetic as the previous model of AirPods. In fact, besides now offering wireless charging, little has changed between AirPods and AirPods 2. While the eye-catching design has caught on for some, many still think they look odd protruding from people’s ears, and the lack of silicone eartips or any kind of earfin means that they don’t stay super snug in your ears. Samsung, on the other hand, offers a smaller, more ergonomic in-ear design with its Galaxy Buds 2 that were recently launched at their Galaxy Unpacked Event in August. The headphones come with small, medium, and large eartips, fit snugly inside your ears and even come with silicone earfins to ensure they don’t fall out during strenuous exercise. In our full hands-on review, the Galaxy Buds 2 stayed in our ears for long periods of time without any kind of discomfort or sweating, even staying put while we took a long snooze. After waking, the Buds still hadn’t fallen out of our ears. In this category, there is no competition. The Galaxy Buds 2 are better-looking, more comfortable, and snug in all the right ways. Winner: Galaxy Buds 2 Both Apple and Samsung wireless buds use fairly seamless tap-based controls for a number of functions, including play/pause, call answering, and digital assistants. In Apple’s case, the actual taps are delivered to the bud stems. Default tapping of your stems will let you either play audio or skip a track. By logging into your AirPods settings (only available through iOS), users are able to re-assign each bud’s double-tap commands, with options for play/pause, track skipping, previous track, and Siri. Speaking of Siri, fans of Apple’s voice assistant will be glad to know you can now wake Siri by just saying “Hey Siri” instead of tapping to wake. This is a nice function to have for those looking to assign other non-assistant commands to the stems. In terms of responsiveness, the stems themselves work pretty reliably as command triggers, but we recommend tapping lightly — too firm and the bud can come loose from your ear. Out of the box, the Galaxy Buds 2 offer a bit more in terms of control, but a stem-less design means you’ll be tapping the outside of the buds that are in your ears. Normally, this wouldn’t be such a big deal, but when it comes to sensitivity, the Buds 2 are a bit too sensitive. Even the lightest of touches when trying to adjust will set off an unintended play/pause command or ANC (active noise canceling) change. Luckily, you can turn off the touch sensor with the Galaxy Wear app, but you’ll lose those touch features altogether, and yoou’ll need to launch the app to turn them back on.
