One thing that is just not debatable in my opinion is the notion that the Samsung Buds 4 Pro beat, or even tie, the AirPods Pro in ANC. So let me make this perfectly clear: this couldn’t be any further from the truth. The AirPods are the single best ANC I’ve ever experienced in my life, mainly because unlike the other brands out there, they are comfortable and don’t create venting problems and/or sound balancing issues when activated or not activated.
I would even have to say that while the Samsung Buds 4 Pro have the best dynamics and bass, the AirPods 3 Pros offer the best overall sound from an audiophile perspective. They create better separation and longer soundstaging and imaging magic. Listening to things like audiobooks and ASMR is more enjoyable on AirPods versus the 4 Pros. I think the music part is where the 4 Pros best the AirPods Pros for music genres that focus on bass and more energetic music. But then the AirPods come back when you’re listening to classical, vocal music, or ambient or movie soundtracks like *Dune* or *Blade Runner 2049*. And don’t bring up Hear-Through or phone calls.
It really gets complicated if you don’t care about gimmicks. If all you want is the best phone call, ANC, Hear-through, comfort, and sound quality combined, the AirPods win easily. It doesn’t matter if you have a Samsung phone or Apple, these will perform all of these tasks the best overall. You still get the ANC, Hear-through, sound quality, phone call quality, and even the volume and media controls no matter what phone you have. A lot of people assume that you don’t get these things when you do. You literally only miss out on the gimmicks: 360 audio, Siri, reading your text messages, translator, and auto-pause while speaking or removing your earphones. If none of this stuff matters to you or none of these things are deal-breakers compared to the best ANC, hear-through, sound, comfort, and phone call quality combined package, then you have a serious decision to make. It even has great battery life now as well.
Basically, the only thing you would get over is the stigma of using an Apple product on Android. But I think this is one thing that should be removed from our mindset. You are literally missing out on the best of both worlds, in my opinion. Why limit yourself to the iOS ecosystem? You can easily have Samsung phones with AirPods 3 Pro. I have both the Buds 4 pro and AirPods, and yet I still randomly pick up the AirPods to get the best ANC and phone call quality when I need it. And when I do, I’m always blown away by the sound quality still present on them, along with the Hear Through clarity. In fact, the only thing I wish it had is access to my Gemini by voice commands.
Yes, I’m sure you can also look at this with a “glass half full” approach too. You can say the only thing the 4 Pros are missing is the ultimate level of ANC, ultimate phone calls, and ultimate “Hear-Through” as well. They have all these things, just not at the level AirPods Pro have them. And then yes, someone else could bring up the fact that they are merely clones of the AirPods Pro. This could go back and forth for days. So, in fairness, all I’m saying is that there are options out there. Most of us don’t take those options out of fear or some kind of tribal mindset that claims you have to match brand for brand, when you don’t. More options exist than most are willing to admit. And if we’re honest, the differences aren’t that great on one side of the table or another. And half the time, most things that are truly different or unique are the ones we use sparingly at best.
Tech-N-Things 