Samsung updates its earbuds. Both earbuds may have the same name and are released one after the other. Let’s start our comparison between the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live vs Samsung Galaxy Buds plus.
Samsung Galaxy Buds Live vs Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus Compare
| Samsung Galaxy Buds Live | Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| Active Noise Cancellation | Yes | No |
| Bixby voice wake-up | Yes | No |
| Speaker | 1-way, 12mm Driver | 2-Way |
| MIC | 3 Mics (2 Outer + 1 Inner) | 3 Mics (2 Outer + 1 Inner) |
| Battery Life | 5.5hr (ANC & Bixby voice wake-up ON) 6hr (ANC or Bixby voice wake-up ON) 8hr (ANC & Bixby voice wake-up OFF) | 11hr |
| Battery Life with Charging Case | 20hr (ANC & Bixby voice wake-up ON) 21hr (ANC or Bixby voice wake-up ON) 29hr (ANC & Bixby voice wake-up OFF) | 22hr |
| Colors | Mystic Bronze Mystic Black Mystic White | White Blue Black Red Aura Blue |
| Buy On Amazon |
Samsung Galaxy Buds Live vs Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus Review
Samsung Galaxy Buds Live vs Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus: Design
The biggest thing that let’s get that out of the way is going to be the main difference in design. One of these, the Galaxy Buds plus, is a standard true wireless earbud design, where it’s got the rubber or silicone ear tip that goes straight into your ear and creates a seal.
So it closes you off from external noise. As far as the Galaxy Buds Live, they are more of an open ear design where they sort of sit snugly in your ear; it’s kind of places a driver facing into your ear canal.
But it still allows plenty of external noise to come in. You always maintain situational and ambient awareness. So that is a very fundamental difference between both of these earbuds.
I am biased as far as this is concerned because I am not a big fan of open-ear design-type earbuds, whether it be something similar to Apple’s original Airpods.
I prefer the standard style earbuds similar to the Galaxy Buds plus. So as far as design and on a personal level, I prefer that.
So that’s why for me, that’s what gets the win here, but it comes down to what you need and what you prefer. As far as a design choice, it’s just going to come down to your own needs.
Samsung Galaxy Buds Live vs Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus: Price
Secondly, let’s move into the price. So as far as the Galaxy Buds Live, they come in at $169.99 with the Galaxy Buds plus coming in right now at $139.99. They’ve got a bit about $30 worth of a price difference.
So, nothing too crazy, but it is understandable being that the Galaxy Buds Live do have active noise cancellation. So that is probably the reason for that price increase.
If you are just looking to save a few bucks, then the win will go to the Galaxy Buds plus. And then that’s going to bring us over to the mics and the call quality.
Both of these are still featuring a triple mic setup. They do an excellent job of picking up your voice. They do a pretty good job of blocking outback noise.
But let me go ahead and play you some call quality samples here. Both in a quiet environment and one with simulated crowd noise, you can be the judge for yourself.
Samsung Galaxy Buds Live vs Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus: Battery Life
Now let’s transition over to the battery life of these earbuds. With the Galaxy Buds Live, they are going to give you eight hours’ worth of playback time with the active noise cancellation turned off.
They will give you around five or six hours with the ANC turned on, along with an additional 21 hours in the case.
When it comes to the Galaxy Buds Plus, they will give you somewhere around 11 to 12 hours with the ambient turned off and somewhere around eight hours with the ambient turned on with an additional 11 hours in the case.
If you are going to judge these just based on sheer playback time, then obviously the winner would be the Galaxy Buds Plus. But I think overall has to come into play here with the case included and recharges available.
So, for me, the Galaxy Buds Live, they’re going to take the win in the battery department because overall they seem to be giving you just a slight edge over the Galaxy Buds Plus in total battery life.
Samsung Galaxy Buds Live vs Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus: ANC
Let’s move over to the active noise cancellation and ambient sound. So far as the Galaxy Buds Plus, they do not have active noise cancellation whatsoever, but they do have one of the best implementations of an ambient sound type feature.
Even just out of the box, when you just activated by itself, it’s perfect, it picks up a lot of the external noise going on around you, and it sounds pretty good overall.When you get into the Galaxy Buds Plus app, you can adjust the ambient sound’s volume level.
If you go into the little Labs tab in there, you can activate a fourth level, which pumps up the volume and gives you almost mutant-like hearing. But you have to be careful with that because it will pick up loud noises and pump them straight into your ears.
So be careful with that function. The Galaxy Buds Live, you’ve got a natural ambient sound because they don’t seal inside your ear. You do have active noise cancellation, and that ANC does work.
It will block out a bunch of the low-frequency noise in your area. But this caught me by surprise. If you did in the menus of the Galaxy Buds Live app, you would find a setting that is ambient sound.
They called it something like pressure relief. If you click that one, you’ll notice that it will activate microphones and create an ambient sound on top of the natural ambient noise. It is a bit weird, but it is there.
This is why I would give the win to the Galaxy Buds Live because not only do they give you active noise cancellation, but they’re also giving you ambient awareness.
Samsung Galaxy Buds Live vs Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus: Sound Quality
So now that’s going to bring us over to the sound quality. So both of these earbuds about each other, they sort of have a very different sound signature, at least to my ears.
Where the Galaxy Buds Live is going to give you a warmer, more expensive type of sound, at the same time, the Galaxy Buds Plus are tuned closer to the Harman curve, a sound signature that is less offensive to most people.
It’s more balanced, not so bass-heavy where the Galaxy Buds live are much more bass-heavy, and that’s sort of the main difference between the two, as far as that goes.
For me, just sheer sound quality is concerned, I most definitely prefer the Galaxy Buds Plus over the Galaxy Buds Live.
Now, that also has a bit to do with the fact that they seal in my ear, and they create a quieter environment, and that allows me to hear more detail and clarity in the music that the Galaxy Buds Live can’t match.
So, it’s not, I’m not saying that they don’t have trouble, but it’s mostly concentrated in the base and the midst.
If you are okay with that type of sound, it’s probably going to be the better choice for you. But I’m going to roll for sound quality with the Galaxy Buds Plus here.
Conclusion
These two earbuds are concerned; these are products that are designed for two separate people.
So, some people prefer that open ear type design, where they can hear everything going on around them, and they don’t like having those ear tips stuck into your ears.
So, what it all comes down to is what you prefer. Hope Samsung Galaxy Buds Live vs Samsung Galaxy Buds plus helps you to choose your product.
