Samsung has released their latest affordable earbuds, the Galaxy Buds FE. These are essentially a trimmed down version of Samsung’s Galaxy Buds. Are they worth buying? We took them for a spin and here’s our verdict.
Design & Fit
The Galaxy Buds FE come in graphite or white, with a glossy white charging case. The case is rounded, and feels good when holding in the hand or slipping it in your pocket. The over all construction of the case and the hinge are very solid.
Comfort wise, the Galaxy Buds FE are very comfortable and secure in the ear. The box comes with three sizes of eartips and the choice of using the default wingtips or the stability bands. Depending on the ear size, these options will provide a great fit. The Samsung Galaxy Wearable app has a fit test option that to lets you know when the seal is at its best level for noise canceling and quality.
Overall I had the earbuds on for multiple hours, and did not feel any discomfort at all, the fit was great as well during my morning runs.
One of the cutbacks in the FE line, is the lack of wireless charging support and instead relies on a USB-C cable to charge. Understandable with the price point, to be honest.
The touch areas are flat this time around, which makes it easier to find exactly where you should tap to uses the different controls.
Sound & ANC
The Galaxy Buds FE have a surprisingly good sound quality, and I’m not talking about the fact that this is lower priced pair of earbuds, but rather the fact that it uses a single driver only. Volume is loud, and the output is clean and clear. You can adjust the sound to your liking of course using the EQ, and different bass settings on the app. The bass was good, without distortion at loud volumes.
ANC wise, the Galaxy Buds FE, while not being as advanced in features as the high end earbuds, do a a great job. Samsung claims that these buds can block out 98% of outside noise, I can confirm that this is pretty much accurate. During my daily commute I was able to get at least over 95% of reduction (in my estimation of course) in surrounding noise and traffic.
Ambient mode is available on the Galaxy Buds FE, which allows a limited pass-through of outside noise so you can be aware of your surrounding. The Galaxy Buds FE have three microphones on each earbud, and do a good job in picking up sounds while on calls.
As I mentioned previously, the Buds FE support touchpad swipes, giving you control on playback like a single tap to pause and resumes playback, a double tap to skip to the next track, and a triple tap to play the previous track. Double-tap also works to answer / decline calls.
Battery
During my test with ANC on, the Galaxy Buds FE Samsung’s battery lasted up to 5 hours on a single charge and around 19.5 hours when using the charging case in parallel. Without ANC, the battery life climbs to 8 hours without the case and more or less 28 hours with the case in parallel. These readings come very close to what Samsung advertises on their website.
Verdict
If you’re looking for affordable earbuds which play nice with Android, and specially Samsung’s ecosystem, then these would be one of the best options available right now. They’re super comfortable to wear, have great sound, and ANC. If you are on iOS, we recommend to go for other options which supports more features on Apple’s ecosystem.
