Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Better than AirPods 4 ANC in every way that matters
I’ll not beat around the bush here: the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 are some of the best earbuds I’ve ever used. Samsung’s been on a bit of a run recently: the Buds 4 Pro finally positioned the brand as a genuine AirPods-level competitor.
The Buds 4 are no different. Heck, I actually think the Buds 4 are miles better than the AirPods 4 ANC. The sound quality is richer, bassier, and cleaner, while the AirPods 4 suffer from tinniness in the upper mids. Although the ANC isn’t as good as you might expect for silicone-tipped earbuds — the Buds 4 are kind of ‘open ear’ in that sense — the sound quality could more than make up for it.
At $179, the Buds 4 are Samsung’s entry-level design. With great sound and a range of smart features, could these be the buds that finally break Apple’s winning streak? To find out, keep reading this Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Cheat sheet
- What is it? Samsung’s entry-level earbuds
- What does it cost? $179 / £159
- What do we like? The sound is utterly divine
- What don’t we like? Very little, actually: the ANC leaves something to be desired
Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Specs
Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Price & availability
The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 are Samsung’s entry-level earbuds: $179 from Amazon U.S. and £159 from Amazon U.K.
The Pro version — Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro — are $249 and £219, respectively. This makes the non-Pro $60/£50 cheaper. As you might expect, the 4 aren’t stuffed with as many features as the Pro, but still make for some excellent Galaxy-ecosystem buds.
At this price point, you’re looking at the Apple AirPods 4 ANC ($179) and the Sony WFC701N ($129), the latter of which we said sound much better than their price might suggest. Bose’s sub-$200 offering is the QuietComfort Earbuds ($179), which we lauded for their excellent ANC and bassy sound.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Design & controls
- Super comfortable, especially for small ears
- Easy-to-use, customizable (Android) controls
- No silicone ear tip, so no ‘seal’
The Galaxy Buds 4 look and feel utterly premium. If you’re looking at them and thinking they look familiar, you’d be right to do so. I think they’re basically a “you can copy my homework but change it a bit so the teacher doesn’t notice” of the AirPods 4.
This isn’t a good or a bad thing — it just is. Both the AirPods 4 and the Galaxy Buds 4 have the smooth stem design, sans-silicone tip. The only major difference is the charging case. While the AirPods 4 ANC sit upright in their case, the Samsung buds lie flush.
Thankfully, though, the Galaxy Buds 4’s charging case still has a physical button. The lack of a physical button is one of my major qualms with the new AirPods design. Why remove the button? Why, Apple? Why must you make me tap the charging case in various spots like I’m some kind of safe breaker trying to crack a lock combination?
Design aside, the Galaxy Buds 4 have all the same touch controls as the Buds 4 Pro. And, not-so-surprisingly, the AirPods 4. You hold the stem to toggle ANC, pinch once for play/pause, swipe up for volume control, so on and so forth. These are very straightforward controls. Even better, if you have an Android phone, you can customize them to your heart’s desire.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Features & connectivity
- Bluetooth 6.1 — hallelujah!
- Great range of premium features like voice assistant and EQ adjustment
- Seamless multipoint just for the Galaxy ecosystem
Although the Galaxy Buds 4 don’t have as many features as their premium sibling, these entry-level buds are still stuffed full of eye-catching functions. You get access to a 9-band equalizer — or can choose from six presets, including a speech preset and an instrumental music preset.
Of course, you can set up the earbuds to read notifications, just like AirPods on iPhone, and you can even set up ‘neck stretch’ reminders. That’s the life of a sedentary office worker in this day and age, huh? (She says, while rolling her neck and wincing approximately ten times an hour.)
You can also use Bixby — “Hi Bixby” — but this has no appeal to me, so I never found myself using this. I never use any AI “assistants” in my phones, but if you’re a big proponent of making calendar events and replying to texts hands-free, this is a useful function.
The AirPods 4 ANC share much of this functionality (except with Siri rather than Bixby, obviously). Another feature shared by both AirPods 4 ANC and Galaxy Buds 4 is 360° sound — “Personalized Spatial Audio” on AirPods and “360 Audio” on Galaxy Buds. I never use this — I find upmixed spatial audio can warp music — but it’s good to see the two brands keeping their rivalry heated.
You’ll be pleased to know that the Buds 4, like the Buds 4 Pro, have Bluetooth 6.1, which is a significant upgrade from the previous iteration’s Bluetooth 5.4. Strangely, Apple released the AirPods Pro 3 with Bluetooth 5.4, so Samsung’s easily one-upped its American rival here.
In real terms, Bluetooth 6.1 just means you have a larger range. I was able to go downstairs and halfway through the office before the earbuds started glitching out. Even so, the inclusion of Bluetooth 6.1 future-proofs the earbuds: if you kept these buds for five years, they should still keep up with your phone in 2031.
Finally, I’ll discuss multipoint. This is a bit of a tricky issue, as neither Apple nor Samsung allows seamless automatic switching between non-ecosystem devices. If you use AirPods with an Android and PC, you can’t switch automatically. This is also the case if you use Galaxy Buds with an iPhone and a MacBook.
AirPods obviously work seamlessly with Apple products, and Galaxy Buds with Samsung products. If you have a PC, you need to be logged into your Samsung account for seamless multipoint.
This is frustrating, but at the end of the day, fairly common. AirPods can’t switch between a Windows PC and iPhone seamlessly. If Apple doesn’t include seamless multipoint for non-ecosystem devices on its earbuds, why should Samsung?
Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Sound quality
- Rich, complex bass
- Dynamic mids and treble, excellent vocal performance
- Some instruments not as prominent, but this is an acceptable tradeoff
To test the audio quality of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4, I listened to a variety of genres on Qobuz, our best music streaming service for audiophiles. I used a Samsung Galaxy S25+. I listened to much, much more music than I have space to discuss here, but I’ll analyze three tracks from various genres.
First, I played ‘Illegal (Nia Archives Remix)’ by PinkPantheress. This is a jungle track with a ferocious, modulating bassline and DnB percussion. The bass was surprisingly loud and wide, with an addictive depth to the entire low-end.
Don’t think the mids and highs were overshadowed, though, because you’d be wrong. PinkPantheress’s vocals were present at the apex of the track, and the squelchy synth effects were layered effortlessly between heavy bassline and rapid percussion. I was genuinely blown away by this sound quality.
Afterward, I switched genres to nu-metal. ‘Going Under’ by Evanescence starts out with crunchy metal guitars and a powerful, layered female vocal. I could hear the harmonies perfectly, from the distorted megaphone layer to the fluttery piano riff.
Although the bass was a little rounded — the edges didn’t have as much clarity as in the electronic track — this is still a fantastic performance for $179 earbuds. The Buds 4 sound better than AirPods 4 ANC, which are mighty expansive but a touch tinny in the upper mids.
Finally, I went for something a little more low-key with ‘Clint Eastwood’ by Gorillaz. The languid male vocal sounded clear, with atmospheric harmonies. The rap section enjoyed impressive vocal clarity, even over the ascending synth instrumental.
In the chorus, the harmonica riffs were nicely present in the left earbud, although I would’ve liked a little more expansiveness in the right earbud during this stereo section. At the end of the track, there’s a scratch-DJ section that would’ve benefitted from being pulled forward a little, but overall, I enjoyed listening to the Galaxy Buds 4 monumentally.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: ANC
- No silicone ear tip, so no ‘true’ ANC
- If you want serious ANC earbuds, look elsewhere
- Decent at blocking out chatter, but high-frequency sounds flood in
Considering the Galaxy Buds 4 don’t have a silicone ear tip, it’s impossible to get full ANC. As the buds are physically incapable of creating that all-important ‘seal’, external noise is always going to seep into your ears.
I don’t think these earbuds are particularly adept at minimizing external noise, and I wouldn’t recommend them if you need serious Bose-level noise-blocking. This isn’t a Buds 4 problem — the AirPods 4 ANC are just as bad — but if you’re after ANC earbuds, you should probably look elsewhere.
I’d recommend the $69 CMF by Nothing Buds Pro 2, the $99 EarFun Air Pro 4+, or, if you want to spend more for a better overall ‘bud, the $249 Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: App
- Tons of features with Galaxy phones
- Non-Samsung Androids get ‘Wearables’
- iPhones are not catered for — go home, iOS
As with the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, the Buds 4 are customizable directly in the settings of your Samsung Galaxy phone. If you’re using a non-Samsung Android, you need to download the ‘Wearables’ app from the Google Play Store.
You can adjust EQ, ANC settings, and turn on Samsung’s proprietary ‘UHQ’ audio setting. I kind of rolled my eyes at this — I thought “Hmm, how much difference can this really make?” — but as soon as I turned this on, I ate my words. Thanks to Qobuz’s hi-res audio playback, my music felt more expansive, with acoustics that seemed to reverberate around the walls of my brain. I thoroughly recommend switching this on if you have a streaming service capable of a 96kHz sample rate.
As you can see, you can adjust a huge range of settings in your Samsung Galaxy phone. If you have a non-Samsung Android, though, you’ll be using ‘Wearables’.
You can do pretty much all the same stuff here: adjust controls, voice controls, EQ — the only thing you can’t do is activate UHQ and 16kHz call bandwidth. These are Galaxy-only features.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Call quality
- Galaxy phones get 16kHz bandwidth
- Audible voice, but worse than AirPods Pro 3 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro
- Great ambient noise reduction
To test the call quality of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4, I called my boyfriend. He’s been the test subject on pretty much every pair of earbuds I’ve ever reviewed, so he knows the difference between impressive and mediocre call quality. He said he could understand everything I was saying, but my voice was a touch muffled. He said the call quality on the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro and AirPods Pro 3 was superior.
I also played a loud white noise track in the background to test environmental noise reduction. The Galaxy Buds 4 completely blocked out this noise, so I’d recommend these buds for use in loud environments.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Battery
- 6 hours in the buds
- 30 hours in the case
- Better than AirPods 4 ANC: 5 hours/30 hours
The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 last for 6 hours in the buds (without ANC) and 30 hours in the case. With ANC enabled, this goes down to 5 hours in the buds. Similarly, the AirPods 4 ANC last for 5 hours without ANC and 4 hours with ANC, but have the same 30 hours in the charging case.
The Sony WF-C710N beat both the Apple and the Samsung offerings: with ANC off, these $129 buds last 12 hours in the buds, with 33.5 hours in the charging case. I think Apple and Samsung should both try to learn a thing or two from Sony: 5-6 hours is laughable compared to 12.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 are truly excellent entry-level earbuds. They’re better than the AirPods 4 in every way but one. Even though we rated the AirPods 4 ANC 4.5-stars, the competition at the time of writing was less fierce. Now that the Galaxy Buds 4 have released, the AirPods look a little pathetic in comparison.
The sound quality on the Galaxy Buds 4 is richer, warmer, and less tinny. The AirPods 4 sound lackluster in comparison — the treble is both pushed back and pinchy, the bass isn’t as well-formed, and the ANC is just as mediocre as the Buds 4’s.
I would only recommend the AirPods under one circumstance: you have loads of Apple products. Unfortunately, the lack of multipoint for non-Galaxy devices is the Buds 4’s Achilles heel. If you are willing to put up with switching between devices manually, then the Buds 4 will seriously impress you. And Android/Samsung users? The Galaxy Buds 4 were made for you. They’re fantastic little buds.
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