Samsung Galaxy Buds Live

Introduction

The Galaxy Buds+ that Samsung launched in February 2020 weren't all that different from the Galaxy Buds, even though people had expected that it would bring significant changes. Samsung reserved those changes for an entirely new pair of wireless earbuds that it would go on to launch later in the year.

The Galaxy Buds Live come with an all-new design, unlike what we have seen from the company before. The audio experience has also been enhanced while the much-awaited Active Noise Cancellation feature has finally arrived as wel.

Design

Samsung has gone with a kidney-shaped design for the Galaxy Buds Live. They're not in-ear, like earlier models, so this does impact sound isolation a bit. Since all of the components are laid out horizontally, the earbuds don't protrude from the ear like the Galaxy Buds+ do.

The case for the new earbuds is slightly bigger as well, that's largely due to the unique design of the Galaxy Buds Live as well as the fact that it has a much larger battery inside compared to Samsung's existing earbuds. LED indicators show the battery charge level of the case and the earbuds.

Specifications

Weighing just 5.6g, each earbud has a 12mm speaker with 2 outer and 1 inner microphone. There's also a dedicated Voice Pickup Unit to further improve the call quality. There's a 60mAh battery in the earbuds while the case has a 472mAh battery.

Samsung says that it's possible to get up to 6 hours of play time with the earbuds and up to 21 hours in total with the charging case. The play time can be extended up to 8 hours and 29 hours when Active Noise Cancellation and Bixby Voice Wake-up are disabled.

Software and Features

Active Noise Cancellation is without a doubt the biggest feature that the Galaxy Buds Live offer. These are the first truly wireless earbuds from Samsung to offer ANC. Samsung has developed ANC for these open type earbuds to reduce low-band background noise under 700Hz.

The Galaxy Buds Live uses the RTOS (Real-time operating system) as the Galaxy Buds/Buds+. It can connect to both Samsung and non-Samsung Android devices through the Galaxy Wearable app. The app will provide access to features like Ambient Sound. Other software features include multi-device connectivity, Bixby integration for voice control, and Spotify integration for the touchpads.

Price and Availability

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Buds Live on August 5. They went on sale the following day on August 6, 2020 for $169.99 in Mystic White, Bronze and Black color options.