• 

  Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro

  Music to your ears

  Samsung's Galaxy Buds 2 Pro have a ton of great features, including solid audio quality and above-average active noise cancellation. At $230, they're a worthy competitor for the Jabra Elite 7 Pro.

  Pros

  • Great sound
  • Exceptional ANC

  Cons

  • Poor battery life

  $188 at Amazon $230 at Best Buy

• 

  Jabra Elite 7 Pro

  Long-lasting battery, great fit

  The Jabra Elite 7 Pro offer excellent weather resistance, good battery life, and quality sound. For $200, they represent strong competition for alternatives like the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro.

  Pros

  • Great battery life
  • Stellar fit

  Cons

  • Average ANC

  $200 at Amazon $200 at Best Buy

For buds that share the honor of winding up on our best wireless earbuds list, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro and Jabra Elite 7 Pro could not be more different. Sure, they have a few things in common, such as landing in a similar price range but there are some real, stark differences between the two when comparing their sound quality, noise-canceling prowess, hardware, and other features. Which earbuds are best for you? Let's find out.

Price, availability, and connectivity

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro and the Jabra Elite 7 Pro are both premium earbuds with often similar prices. The Buds 2 Pro start at $230 and the Elite 7 Pro at $200. However, these are often both on sale, and the discounts are substantial. For example, we've seen the Jabra Elite 7 Pro as low as $110, and the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are after around $170.

Many prominent online stores stock them, like Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. However, not all colorways of these buds may be available everywhere. Currently, Amazon vends the graphite, white, and bora purple colorways of the Buds 2 Pro and only the beige and black of the Elite 7 Pro.

One thing is certain — these buds are aging and their respective manufacturers are definitely working on new versions. Once those hit the market, these will be hard to find anymore; at least new ones anyway. If you want them, better get your hands on them soon.

• 	Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro	Jabra Elite 7 Pro
  Battery Life	5 hours (ANC on), 18 with case	8 hours (30 with case)
  Noise Cancellation	Yes	Active
  Mono Listening	Either bud	Yes
  IP rating	IPX7	IP57
  Charging	USB-C, wireless	USB-C
  Price	$230	$200
  Supported codecs	SBC, AAC, Samsung Seamless	SBC, AAC
  Weight (earbuds)	5.5g each	5.4g each
  Dimensions (earbuds)	19.9 x 21.6 x 18.7mm	19.1mm x 16mm x 17.6mm
  Waterproof	Yes, IPX7	Yes, IP67
  Driver size	10mm driver + 5.3mm tweeter	6mm

Design and fit

The Jabra Elite 7 Pro shine in this category, especially regarding durability. They feature an IP57 weather resistance rating, equipping them extremely well to handle dust, water, or a combination. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro offer an IPX7 rating — still good, but certainly not as well-protected against the elements as Jabra’s buds. You can take these buds to the beach, gym, running; dust, sweat, and rain will not be an issue.

A few more, albeit smaller, wins in the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s design. They weigh slightly less (44 grams vs. 55 for Samsung’s), have more microphones (four vs. three), and offer a stable, comfortable fit in your ears. That’s not to say the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro aren’t comfortable, but it’s clear the Elite 7 Pro have an edge here. However, the Buds 2 Pro are quite small and fit small ears very nicely.

Sound and call quality

Here, Samsung starts to distance itself from its Jabra counterpart. The Galaxy Buds’ stock sound is remarkably well-rounded, delivering clear vocals while tossing in solid bass and punchy midrange. And if the out-of-the-box sound isn’t completely to your liking, the buds’ accompanying Galaxy Buds app offers an equalizer with six different presets, including options like Bass Boost, Soft, and Dynamic.

The sound signature with the Buds2 Pro is tuned by AKG to target most consumer ears, and they did it certainly very well. The sound gives a slight push at the subsonic ~10Hz zone that you feel rather than hear, and that feels good combined with the slightly exaggerated highs.

Another beautiful thing that Samsung brings with these buds is the proprietary Seamless Codec, which is capable of driving 24-bit/48 kHz audio (though it defaults to 16-bits/44.1 kHz). That means you'll be able to play hi-res music on you phone/tablet — but only on newer Samsung devices only. With other phones you have to stick to SBC/AAC which aren't so bad if you're not that much into exceptional clarity.

As for the Jabra Elite 7 Pro, our review of the buds categorizes their sound as “decent” and implies that users will be “happy enough” with the sound they produce. The Elite 7 Pro are well-balanced, to their credit, but their smaller, 6mm drivers limit their overall soundstage. Music is clear but also lacks the dynamic force we’ve become accustomed to when listening to certain tracks. So while these Jabra buds aren’t unlistenable by a long shot, they do fall short of the excellent sound of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro.

The Jabra signature sound is something worth paying attention to; unfortunately, that seems to be missing with the Elite 7 Pro. The audio frequency response is slightly lacking below 1 kHz making light of bass and male vocals. However, everything above 1 kHz is very well represented. People who like non-bassy tracks like vocals and orchestration may like these buds over the Samsung ones. They can decode the standard SBC and AAC only.

Software

Active noise cancellation, or ANC, is present in each of today’s contenders, though the application of such differs drastically. The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro have been outfitted with exceptional noise-canceling capabilities, easily eliminating sounds like airplane noise or air conditioners from your listening environment. They also have a solid Transparency Mode to complement the effectiveness of their ANC, providing a more natural-sounding avenue to piping in noise from your surroundings.

It’s a bit of a different story with Jabra. While highly regarded for its valuable ANC as a brand, the Jabra Elite 7 Pro are unimpressive when canceling out background noise such as fans, cars, or airplane engine rumbles. The only saving grace for the Elite 7 Pro is their ability to block out noise passively, thanks to a good seal. Otherwise, they’re a disappointing entry into ANC for Jabra.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are slightly better when it comes to connectivity, offering Bluetooth 5.3 compared to the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s 5.2. Both buds come with excellent companion app support which lets you tweak various aspects of the buds, install new firmware, and define custom controls and equalizer settings. With the Buds 2 Pro you get spatial audio support as well.

Battery life

Toss another tally on the board for the Jabra Elite 7 Pro because they take the cake when discussing battery life. They offer up to 8 hours of playback with ANC turned on and 35 total hours with the included charging case. Plus, they have a handy fast-charging feature that nets you an hour of playback after five minutes of charging.

While the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro match the fast-charging stats, they’re only good for 5 hours of playback with ANC turned on (though they can get up to 8 hours of listening without it). In total, they offer up to 30 hours with the charging case, again falling behind Jabra.

Which is right for you?

If we’re calculating this comparison purely on the categories we used above to analyze these buds, we’ve come to a bit of a hung jury. The Jabra Elite 7 Pro have a more comfortable, lighter design that can better withstand the elements. And they’re a clear winner when it comes to battery life, sporting a full workday of listening with ANC on before running out of juice. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro completely conquered the coveted categories of sound quality and ANC.

Even with this so-called “tie,” it’s not hard to pick between the two, as long as you know what you need most in a pair of earbuds. If you’re after something that will sound better and block out all kinds of noise, spending the extra $30 and snagging a pair of Galaxy Buds 2 Pro makes more sense. But if solid battery life and a great fit matter more, save some cash and consider the Jabra Elite 7 Pro. The good news is that you’re getting a quality set of true wireless earbuds either way you go.