Note: I'm coming from Airpods Pro, so that's my baseline for comparison. Airpods were solid, so maybe my warm, fuzzy feelings for them have colored my experience with these new earbuds.
PROS:
- Sound quality is really good. I recommend changing EQ to Dynamic versus standard setting.
- I really like the 360 mode and use it frequently for videos.
- Fit is good and they are comfortable. They don't work out of my ears when I'm talking like the Airpods did.
- Noise cancellation is good and I'd say on par with Airpods. I bought some foam tips to use which improve the passive noise cancellation even more.
- The pause when you talk feature is pretty cool. Not good for all situations, but it's nice to have the option.
- Double tap on earlobe to turn up and down is a nice feature.
- The case is high quality and I like it more than the Airpods case. The wireless charging capability with a standard (non MagSafe) charger is great, no issues with having to precisely position it in order to charge. Though, see petty complaint about case below.
CONS:
-Tap controls are so much worse than force controls. Any time you need to reposition one of these in your ear, you'll end up pausing or turning on transparency mode. Super annoying. Sure, you can turn off tap feature, but that's also a pain if you want onboard control for changing tracks.
- I wish you could specify what different tap controls do (like change play/pause to double or triple tap to avoid the issue of activating this anytime you touch an earbud). You can only turn them on or off, but you're forced to use the built-in commands.
- Transparency mode is way inferior to Airpods. If you need something with good transparency (like for mild amplification), these aren't it. The sound quality is weird, artificial, and echoey. Another thing that's annoying is that when you're walking with transparency on you can hear movement of air across the mics because of where they're positioned.
- One of the buds developed crackling distortion after 1 day. This resolved after putting it in the case, but it's still concerning.
- I don't think voice commands work directly with the buds, the mic on your phone is required. Maybe there's a setting I can change, but why wouldn't that be standard?
- Skin oils from your ear are very visible on the black buds, unlike the glossy white of Airpods which hides this.
- Petty complaint re: case. All four sides are the same, so it's hard to know just by feeling which side you open. So every time it takes me longer than it should to open the darn case.
All in all they are nice to use with Samsung devices. They also switch easily to Windows computers. I like them, despite the cons. Coming from AirpodsPro to these is tough because it feels like a step down in some ways. Even still, they fit in the ears well and have a nice sound quality. I probably would have fewer complaints if they were cheaper. If you're not coming from AirpodsPro I bet you'll like these. If you don't have a Samsung, you'll probably find something for cheaper.