Unless you’re a health worker, in the military, or a journalist, you’re most likely working from home right now. With the coronavirus — COVID-19 — still affecting every continent in the world except Antarctica, now is the time to spruce up your home office. Need a trusty pair of earbuds for your next meeting or just bored and want to listen to music while exploring the farthest reaches of your home? We’ve found these excellent deals on the Samsung Galaxy Buds and Apple AirPods 2. Save up to $30 when you get these true wireless earbuds at Amazon and Walmart today.
Samsung Galaxy Buds
— $101, was $130
The Apple AirPods might be the most popular option, but the Samsung Galaxy Buds are of the best true wireless earbuds that you can buy right now for Android. They offer a super comfortable and secure fit, six hours of playtime (an hour longer than the AirPods), and they’re sweatproof. Right now, you can buy them at Amazon for a cool $28 off. Get the Galaxy Buds with a wireless charging case for just $101 instead of $130.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds are triangular and ergonomically shaped to fit the ears snugly. They attach to three sets of silicone eartips and sport fins, and although they seal the ears shut and provide a physical layer of noise reduction, they’re among the most comfortable truly wireless earbuds we’ve worn in a long time.
The Galaxy Buds promise a solid six hours per charge. That’s an hour longer than the more expensive AirPods. Unfortunately, while the playback time is impressive, the amount of juice the wireless charging case can hold is not. The Galaxy Buds offer just seven hours of additional battery life, but not to worry. These true wireless earbuds can charge wireless on the backs of recent Galaxy phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus and S10e.
Samsung’s buds come with a lot of neat features. Controls can be accessed via tapping and touching the buds to switch songs or adjust the volume. The controls can be customized using the Samsung Wear app which also offers great customization for your listening preferences. Activating ambient sound mode allows the Galaxy Buds’ built-in microphones to adjust the level of noise that goes in, letting you hear traffic noises, flight announcements, or your coworkers calling out to you. And if you lose your Galaxy Buds, don’t worry. Just activate “Find my earbuds” on the app and you will no longer have to dig through the numerous couch cushions, bags, or jeans pockets whenever they go missing.
Samsung collaborated with AKG to ensure the Galaxy Buds deliver the type of customizable sound experience that most true wireless earbuds normally don’t offer. Using the app, you can choose different audio presets depending on your liking. Our favorite equalizer mode is “Dynamic,” which adjusts the sound to best suit whatever genre you’re listening to at the time. Although the Galaxy Buds don’t offer the same audiophile-grade sound quality as the likes of Sennheiser Momentum and Master and Dynamic MW07, they don’t cost nearly as much, and they’re far better than AirPods.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds pose a serious threat to the AirPods’s popularity with their superb design, sound, and ease of use. Get them for just $101 at Amazon today.
Apple AirPods — from $139
What’s the difference between the first and second generation of AirPods besides the wireless charging case upgrade? Not much, to honest. They look exactly the same, although there are some notable improvements underneath the hood, including the H1 chipset, longer talk time, and support for voice-activated Siri. They also remain ridiculously easy to operate and set up for iOS devices, although the lack of waterproofing or workout features is baffling considering the price point (you can take the Galaxy Buds to the gym, and they cost less). Right now, you can get the AirPods for $139 (down from $159) at Amazon and the souped-up AirPods 2 for $169 (down from $200) at Walmart.
The latest AirPods rock the same golf-tee shape of their predecessors. A lot of people seem to like this design (considering how immensely popular they are), although if you ask us they look like the old EarPods with the wires cut off. Compared to its wired counterpart, the wireless charging case now has its LED lights on the front, which allows you to see charging status when the case is placed atop a Qi charging pad. Apple claims that the case can carry the same amount of reserve charging it did three years ago, offering up to 24 hours, which still beats most competitors.
The onboard controls are the same as before – for better or worse. Each AirPod works autonomously, which means they don’t run out of juice at the same time. They auto-pause audio immediately when you take one out — but only with Apple devices. As usual, they don’t have volume and song-skipping default controls, offering only play and skip forward with a double-tap. You can assign play/pause, next track, and previous track controls in your iPhone’s Bluetooth settings on either earbud if you want to, though. To change the volume, you can simply ask Siri to turn it up or down for you. If you have an Android phone, you’re stuck with doing it manually.
Speaking of Siri, voice-activated control wasn’t possible with the old AirPods. You can thank Apple’s new H1 chip for this, alongside lower gaming lag, and its “50 percent faster” connection for phone calls — although we didn’t really notice any difference compared to other true wireless earbuds, including the original AirPods. Apple also claims that the chip can significantly reduce the distortion of your voice in windy conditions for superior call quality. We tested this in moderate wind, and it actually worked. Despite all these extremely welcome new additions, it’s hard to forgive Apple for the fact that it still hasn’t made the AirPods sweatproof. For that, you’ve got to pay a premium price for the Airpods Pro, which also boast active noise-canceling.
When it comes to sound quality, the AirPods 2 fall under the “Not bad” category. It reminded us a lot of the wired EarPods. It’s far from terrible, and we do appreciate the softness and warmth it lends to certain songs, but that’s not exactly what you’re looking for when you’re listening to hip-hop, rap, and other beats-laden genres. It’s a very safe sound signature, designed not to offend anyone.
You get a modest update with the AirPods 2. If you’re an iPhone user, these are the best true wireless earbuds to get, especially if you’re after convenience. If you already have the old AirPods, you don’t need to buy these.
Looking for more? Check out our curated deals page for the best headphones, noise-canceling headphones, and true wireless earbuds deals.
