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- Comfortable to wear
- Attractive aesthetic
- Good microphone quality
- Fit dramatically affects sound quality
- Mediocre ANC
- Frustrating volume controls
The Samsung Galaxy Buds4 are the wireless earbuds Samsung doesn’t really want you to buy. That’s not necessarily a reflection of how much thought and effort have gone into their creation, but the brand would undoubtedly prefer you to splash out on the more expensive Samsung Galaxy Buds4 Pro.
And that’s exactly what I recommend doing if you want Samsung earbuds with which to go about your daily business. While they offer active noise cancellation, the semi-open Buds4 struggle in noisy surroundings, their fit is inconsistent, and their audio quality is inferior to that of the Pro model. At least they’re quite a bit cheaper.
Galaxy ecosystem diehards may be drawn to them for use while exercising, but if I hadn’t been testing them for review, they wouldn’t have found a place in my rotation of on-the-go earbuds.
What do you get for the money?
The Galaxy Buds4 cost £159, the same price as the Apple AirPods 4 ANC, and they set out to do all of the things their iOS rivals do, but with an Android, specifically Galaxy, twist.
Available in either black or white, the Galaxy Buds4 rest in your ears without sealing off your canals with silicone eartips. They’re rated IP54 for dust and water resistance, though there’s no IP rating for their fetching charging case, which measures 51 x 28 x 51mm (WDH).
Semi-open advantages
The Buds4’s design has two advantages over that of the Buds4 Pro. The first is comfort: though sealed-off earbuds typically sound better than their semi-open counterparts, having tips wedged deep into your ear canals isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Second, they provide increased ambient awareness. But, as an increasing number of manufacturers are doing, Samsung has also included an adaptive noise-cancellation system to fall back on when you want to reduce external distractions.
And ANC is just part of a suite of features that encompasses a broad range of functionality. Connectivity is cutting-edge. The buds can stream high-resolution 24-bit audio at up to 96kHz over Bluetooth 6.1 if you’re using a compatible Samsung Galaxy device and Samsung Seamless Codec (SSC) UHQ. Compatible devices date back to 2023, and include the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy Tab S9 and Galaxy Z Fold 5.
Elsewhere, you’ve got voice assistant support from Bixby and Google Gemini, head-gesture support and pinch-and-swipe controls. There’s also auto switching between Galaxy devices, and various sound customisation options, including 360 Audio with Head Tracking.
On a more prosaic note, the Galaxy Buds4 have a stated battery life of up to six hours with noise cancellation off, rising to 30 hours when you take into account the battery in the case, which can be charged wirelessly. With ANC engaged, the buds should last five hours, and total battery life falls to 24 hours.
What did we like about them?
Stylistically on point
Samsung went angular with the design of the Galaxy Buds3, a move that didn’t land for me, so I’m glad to see it’s changed things up again this time around. I prefer the flattened stems of this generation, and the brushed metal finish on the outside of the stems works nicely. The new design is clean and stylish, without being overly flashy, and clearly differentiates the buds from similar semi-open models, most obviously the AirPods 4.
The redesigned case is also a big win. Last generation, the Buds3 slotted vertically into their case, and were tricky to prise out. Here, however, they lie flat in their pill-box-shaped case, and I had no issues plucking them out to pop them in my ears. The case is light and compact, too, and I like the use of transparent plastic on the lid to show off the attractive earbuds inside.
A premium feature set
The Galaxy Buds4 offer great features like Auracast, high-resolution streaming (as long as you have a Galaxy device to make use of SSC), and spatial audio in the form of Samsung’s proprietary 360 Audio. Head Tracking is supported, too, and works very well.
You’ve got a selection of preset EQs, including my favourite, Dynamic, Balanced, Move and Clear. There’s also a nine-band EQ for creating your own tuning. Head gestures and hands-free Bixby are welcome inclusions, too. Bixby is a much-maligned voice assistant, but the latest version, Bixby 4.0, leans more heavily into a context-based conversational approach, and I found this a neat way of interacting with the Buds4.
Then you have seamless connectivity with any devices you’re signed into with your Samsung account. This is fantastic if you’re heavily invested in the Galaxy ecosystem and regularly switch between your phone, laptop and tablet.
Transparency and microphone quality
On the features front, I was impressed by the transparency mode and how well the Buds4 reproduced my voice. While less necessary than on silicone-tipped buds due to their already semi-open design, transparency enabled me to successfully lock into my surroundings.
While recording voice notes in the quiet environment of my bedroom, not a word was lost, and fluctuations in my tone and timbre were picked up smartly. And, despite picking up quite a bit of background noise when external distractions entered the picture, my speech remained intelligible.
What could be improved?
A less-than-perfect fit
I talked about semi-open earbuds being very comfortable to wear earlier, and I was able to wear the Buds4 for hours without any hint of earache. However, they always felt slightly precarious in my ear canals; the right earbud in particular felt loose.
Fortunately, I managed to avoid accidentally knocking a bud out; that would have been a disaster when waiting for a Waterloo & City Line train on a crowded platform. However, the unstable fit affected the Buds4’s audio and noise-cancelling performance, and also the efficacy of some touch controls.
Active noise cancellation is never going to be as good on semi-open earbuds as it is on silicone-tipped ones, but here, I found the Buds4 wanting. With the buds lodged perfectly in my ear canals, which required a great deal of fiddling, I did feel the benefits of the ANC, but it only attenuated a small amount of external sound. Any small deviation from a perfect fit rendered the cancellation ineffective.
Touch control woes
And, due to the way volume controls are handled, these deviations were relatively frequent. Volume is increased and decreased by swiping up or down on the indented sections on the inside of the stem. This might sound simple, but it proved awkward in practice.
I initially tried to execute the gestures using just one finger. Decreasing the volume was doable, but increasing it immediately pushed the earbud up and out of position. To successfully execute commands, I needed to grip the bud between my thumb and forefinger and slide the latter in the desired direction. But doing so still slightly shifted the earbud’s position.
Touch controls are about convenience, but I often found it preferable to take my phone out of my pocket and bump the volume up there instead. It’s a shame Samsung couldn’t find a way to incorporate the volume controls into the outward-facing, flat part of the stem, as this would have been more intuitive and practical.
Sonic shortcomings
The sound quality of the Buds4 pales in comparison to the Buds4 Pro. The most immediate and obvious difference is in the low end. Hampered by their loose fit, the Buds4 struggle to communicate bass with any real authority, and that gets worse when you venture outside, with traffic noise, tannoy announcements and so on affecting sound quality badly.
This leaves the overall sound profile sounding thin. Vocals and treble are prominent in mixes as a result, which works well for certain genres, but it becomes fatiguing over time. Simply put, unless the Buds4 fit your ears flawlessly, you’re not going to get an engrossing audio experience, even with the ultra-high-quality SSC UHQ codec or 360 Audio mode engaged, along with the “Adjust sound to fit” setting selected to optimise sound based on your ear shape.
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Buds4?
For me, the Galaxy Buds4 are a hard pass. Despite being well-specified and furnished with a pleasing selection of features, the perceived freedom of their semi-open fit takes away too much from the overall experience.
Unless you flat-out can’t wear silicone-tipped buds, buy the Buds4 Pro if you want Galaxy ecosystem headphones. If you’re operating system agnostic, the Huawei FreeBuds 5 are a much better bet, assuming you can get over their distinctive design.
