The Galaxy Buds Live is a great pair of earbuds and after a few software updates the Galaxy. Buds Live is also a great pair of earbuds. But these earbuds are very different from one another and they each have their pros and cons where depending on your needs one is going to be better than the other for you. So let’s see which of these two earbuds are right for you. The Galaxy Buds Plus retail for $150 but they routinely like to go on sale for around $130 give or take whereas the Galaxy Buds Live retail for $170.Â
| Galaxy Buds+ | Galaxy Buds Live |
| Better call quality | Very cool design that fits well |
| Dual-driver design | Surprisingly great for calls |
| iOS compatible | Enjoyable sound |
| Limited audio codec support | Accidental touches |
| Only IPX2 splash resistant | Low IP rating |
General
| Galaxy Buds+ | Galaxy Buds Live | |
| Price | CHECK PRICE | CHECK PRICE |
| Release date | 14 February 2020 | 6 August 2020 |
| Type | In Ear | In Ear |
| Colors | White, Blue, Black, Red, Pink, Deep Blue. | mystic black, mystic bronze, mystic blue, mystic red. |
| Battery life | 22 Hours | 29 Hours |
| Weight | 6.3 grams | 5.6 grams |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth | Bluetooth |
Generally, we don’t think the small price difference between these two earbuds will be a deciding factor for most people but if you want to pick either of these two earbuds up they’ll be linked down below and if you want to learn more about either of these earbuds please watch their full reviews cause we’re only going over their main differences.
Design
| Galaxy Buds+ | Galaxy Buds Live | |
| Type | In Ear | In Ear |
| Wireless | Yes | Yes |
| Noise Cancelling | Yes | Yes |
| Weight | 6.3 grams | 5.6 grams |
| Foldable Design | No | No |
Now the biggest and most important difference between these two earbuds that are going to be the main differentiating factor for most people here is fit. The Galaxy Buds Plus is a pair of in-ear earbuds that come with multiple ear tips and a few ear fins as well so you can customize your fit.
The Galaxy Buds Plus has the most secure fit-out of the two here and since these are in-ear earbuds they block out a good amount of ambient noise which does help make your music sound better cause you can hear more detail in your music. And as far as in-ear earbuds go, the galaxy buds plus fit like your standard pair of in-ear earbuds they don’t go in super deep into your ear canal like the Sony WF-1000XM3’s do and they also don’t just sit at the edge of your ear canal like AirPods Pro do.
The Galaxy Buds Live included with two sets of rubber feet that help brace these earbuds against your ears. And over all these earbuds are secured but the Galaxy Buds Plus feels more secure. Now, these earbuds fit me just fine with the small rubber feet but id imagines that if you have larger ear canals then you’ll have a little trouble keeping these earbuds in just like how some people have trouble keeping AirPods in. But overall like we said the main differentiating factor between these two earbuds is fit. Now personally for us, we prefer the Galaxy Buds Live here cause when we are looking for a pair of everyday carry earbuds we are mainly concerned about comfort and portability.
We feel the Galaxy Buds Live are great to wear for like when you’re out grocery shopping or running errands, or if you want to listen to a podcast or audiobook while you’re working, or for when you want to watch a video at home with your earbuds in cause you don’t want to disturb the people around you or for taking lots of phone calls. Whereas we feel the Galaxy Buds Plus’s in-ear design is going to be suited better for someone who plans on wearing their earbud a lot while on public transportation cause.
Features
| Galaxy Buds+ | Galaxy Buds Live | |
| USB | USB-C | USB-C |
| Microphone | Yes | Yes |
| Music Controls | Yes, Touch Sensor | Yes, Touch sensor |
| Quick Charge | Yes, 10 Minutes = 1 Hours | Yes, 15 Minutes = 1 Hours |
| Stereo speakers | – | – |
Now one of the biggest selling points of the Galaxy Buds Live is that they have active noise cancellation whereas the Galaxy Buds Plus doesn’t. But usually, we don’t find the active noise cancellation on the Galaxy Buds Live to be all the impressive and we’ve found that if you have a good seal with your Galaxy Buds Plus they’ll block out more noise than the Galaxy Buds Live with their ANC turned on. But in general, we don’t use or care about the active noise cancellation on the Galaxy Buds Live. But something that we do care about is an ambient mode which is something the Galaxy Buds Plus do have. And with an ambient mode, you can hear both your surroundings and music which is very useful for when you’re walking around the city or so that you can hear when someone calls your name when you’re watching Avatar the Legend of Kora at home.
And in general, the ambient mode on the Galaxy Buds Plus is good cause it sounds fairly natural and they also do a good job of blocking out wind noise when you’re walking outdoors. Now unfortunately the Galaxy Buds Live doesn’t have a full-on ambient mode as the Galaxy Buds Plus does.
No matter which of these earbuds you decide to go with they both have to carry cases that charge via a USB C port and both of these cases have wireless charging. So either if you’ve already invested in a few wireless chargers or if you have a phone that supports power-sharing, either of these cases is a game. And in general, both of these cases are really good cause they’re both very small so you’re not really going to notice them when you’ve got them in your pocket.
Battery
| Galaxy Buds+ | Galaxy Buds Live | |
| Battery Type | Li-polymer | Li-polymer |
| Battery Life | 22 Hours | 29 Hours |
| Charge Time | Approx. 3 hrs | Approx. 2.5 hours |
| Charging Port | USB-C | USB-C |
The Galaxy Buds Live manages to have a longer combined battery life specifically cause their carrying case has a larger built-in battery than the case on the Galaxy Buds Plus. The case on the galaxy buds live has a 1.81 watt-hour battery whereas the case on the Galaxy, buds Plus has a 1.03 watt-hour battery. But the thing the Galaxy Buds Plus does have going for them is that you can wear for up to 13 hours cause the earbuds themselves have 315 watt-hour batteries whereas the Galaxy Buds Live can only go for as long as 9 hours cause they have 1.81 Wh batteries.
So this small difference might very important for you if you plan on wearing your earbuds for long hours at a time maybe, cause you to work retail or in a wear house… But personally, for us, the max ill wear my earbuds is like 4 hours so we prefer the Galaxy Buds Live combined battery life of 29 hours.
Connectivity
| Galaxy Buds+ | Galaxy Buds Live | |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.0 | Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Bluetooth Range | Approx. 10 meter | Approx. 10 meter |
| NFC | No | No |
| Multi-Device Connection | Yes | Yes |
Now when it comes to Bluetooth connectivity both of these earbuds are perfectly fine. They both have stable connections, the earbuds on both of these, each establish a connection with your phone so if you want to use one earbud at a time you can use either one it doesn’t matter, and they both have zero-latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an Android device.
Which is better!
When it comes to choosing between these two earbuds it’s mainly going to come down to preference and needs. Do you want in-ear earbuds or do you want non-in-ear earbuds?
The Galaxy Buds Live are a great pair of everyday carry earbuds and they are preferred ones here cause of their comfort. You can easily wear these earbuds for hours on end without any problems. And since their case has a larger built-in battery than the case on the galaxy buds plus you can go a little longer in between charges.
The only thing we feel these earbuds are missing is a proper ambient mode causes the labs to feature they have right now just isn’t enough.
If you’re concerned about sound quality then we highly recommend that you go with the Galaxy buds plus instead cause of their in-ear design and better instrument separation. But also, the Galaxy Buds plus might be up your alley if you need longer on time, you want a more secured fit, or cause you to want to be able to customize your fit. Nonetheless, both of these earbuds are very solid.
