Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro’s ANC is worse than its predecessor.
- Samsung’s latest earbuds only block out about 76% of outside noise.
- The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are able to block out about 84% of external sound.
Samsung’s recently launched Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are a drastic departure from the previous generation. The premium wireless earbuds feature a number of improvements ranging from the design down to some new capabilities. However, it seems the firm took a major step backward when it came to one of its most important functions — active noise cancelation (ANC).
In case you weren’t aware, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro offers a new AI-powered feature called Siren Detect. This feature is designed to allow sirens and alarms to pass through the ANC for safety purposes. After putting the Buds 3 Pro through their paces, our sister site, SoundGuys, found the feature to be largely redundant due to poor ANC.
In their findings, they discovered that the Buds 3 Pro are only capable of blocking out about 76% of external noise. As a result, it didn’t matter if it was a siren or a lawn mower, any noise was able to seep into their listening experience. This is particularly notable because it means ANC on the Buds 2 Pro are better than the Buds 3 Pro.
For comparison, when the Buds 2 Pro were tested, it was able to block out 84% of outside noise. In the article, our colleague Adam Birney notes that he still wears the Buds 2 Pro instead of the new earbuds on his walk to work because of this noticeable difference.
Situational awareness is important, but maybe not at the expense of ANC’s effectiveness. If ANC is unable to cancel out much noise, it kind of defeats the purpose of even having the feature in the first place.
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