I knew the focus on Sony wouldn’t last too long before another earphone came out. But I didn’t expect it in 2 weeks. The new Samsung Buds 4 are out, and they’re the new comparison and challenger to the hype owned by Sony. Now, Samsung has delivered some very respected earphones in the past, so you really can’t hate on them or dismiss them from the game of earphones. You know they are going to try and out-feature the AirPods Pros, even when they try and mimic their look. But whether or not they are able to beat the likes of Sony, especially this year, is always a tall order. And even though I don’t have these, nor am I even considering them, here are the areas I already know the Samsung will win in:
Easily the most talked about issue is the fit of the Sony XM6s. It is the only real major universal issue that will prevent most people from enjoying these earphones’ sound and ANC the way Sony intended. Because of the foam tips and their bulk, most ears just won’t be able to accommodate a proper seal. And even changing out the tips only results in a loss of sound or ANC abilities because it’s heavily based on the foam tips.
With the Samsung Buds, obviously, they will fit more ears and stay comfortable. People won’t have to worry about the fit or sore ears. This means easier happiness for sound quality and effectiveness in their ability to shut out sound. Some might even prefer the sound over the Sonys because of the seal issues. Or they might even prefer the ANC even if they aren’t getting the right seal. But make no mistake about it, it is mainly a seal issue and not at all something you will waste any time believing if you have the right seal as to which earphone sounds better and which one has the better ANC. There aren’t going to be many earphones that will have the ability to challenge Sony this year because of the hard work put in by the engineers Sony went to for the tuning of the XM6s.
The next thing is the translator abilities of the Samsung Buds Pro. This was the one ability that Sony has never mastered or dipped their toe into. In fact, it’s the only feature I feel is missing from Sony’s otherwise stellar feature set. So, with Samsung having this ability connected to their AI system, it might prove to be an area that is more polished as a whole, especially for traveling..
Lastly, the one that might make the most waves is phone call quality. I have never believed that the Sonys had great phone quality. I even believed the XM5 sounded better than the nasally, robotic sound of the XM6. So, to no surprise, I’m willing to bet the kitchen sink that the Samsung Buds 4 sound better in phone quality than the Sonys. They even have an extra feature to boost the quality of phone calls.
At the end of the day, we as consumers have more choices, and that’s always a great thing. But if you ask me, the Sonys still win very easily for the vast majority of people’s situations if the Sonys fit their ears because of the 3 headed monster areas of victory(Battery life, Sound, ANC). If not, all the sound, ANC, and features in the world won’t matter to those people anyway, and then it’s just a matter of fit, not ability.
Tech-N-Things 