Sound Quality

For this part of my testing, I had the AirPods and AirPods pro paired to an iPhone 11. The Jabra Elite Active 75t and the Galaxy Buds+ were paired to a Samsung Galaxy S10. All comments on music quality come after listening to high-quality tracks that I copied onto the phones from my computer.

The good news is that all four models sound very good, but there are differences in the ways they reproduce audio. In my opinion, the AirPods Pro have the most balanced sound while the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ tend to boost the lows and the highs a bit. They both sound fine, it’s just a matter of what kind of sound signature you prefer and possibly what music you listen to.

The Jabra Elite Active 75t are a bit special. They can also sound really good, but out of the box, they sounded a bit harsh to my ears, with heavy bass and piercing highs. A quick adjustment of the equalizer in the Jabra Sound+ tuned the sound to my liking, but I feel like I don’t have to do this on such an expensive pair of earphones. Oh, there’s some kind of an automatic sound adjustment feature that matches the equalizer to your ears, but it kept crashing on me so I couldn’t test it out.

And the original AirPods, they do sound fine overall. The sound is balanced and clear, but I’d call it a bit less exciting compared to what I heard from the other three pairs. A bit more bass and treble would have been nice. But if you’re not a critical listener, these would suit your needs well.

Ambient sound and noise reduction

When it comes to ambient sound reduction and isolation, there’s practically no contest here. The AirPods Pro are in a league of their own, being the only pair here to feature active noise cancellation. ANC does not block all sounds, but it drastically reduces the humming of washing machines, air conditioners, or motor vehicles. The Galaxy Buds+ and the Jabra 75t do have some passive sound isolation thanks to their rubber tips, but the result is nowhere near as dramatic. As for the AirPods, they don’t even try to isolate any ambient noise and let most of it through, but that can be a good thing if you prefer to be more aware of your surroundings.

Speaking of which, the AirPods Pro, the Galaxy Buds+, and the Jabras all have a feature that lets ambient sound through so that you can be more aware of what’s going on. It is called Transparency mode on the AirPods Pro and it is awesome – having it on feels almost like you’re not wearing the earbuds.

Ambient Sound is an identical feature found on the Galaxy Buds+. It has three volume levels. The medium level gets very close to the way the world sounds without earphones, and the high level amplifies ambient sound which can be useful if you’re listening to a lecture, for example. On the downside, because the buds seal the ears too well, talking with Ambient Sound enabled feels like your head is underwater. It’s not pleasant.

HearThrough on the Jabra Elite Active 75t works well. It has six levels and the higher ones do amplify sound too. Also, there’s less of that “underwater” sound I mentioned, so talking with HearThrough on doesn’t feel so weird.

Range

I tested the signal strength of all four models in my apartment and found out that all of them maintain a strong connection to the phone they’re paired to. Every pair works fine even if the phone is in the room next door. The best range with a clear line of sight I got with the original AirPods and the AirPods Pro – about 12 meters (~39 feet). I got about 11 and 10 meters of range with the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ and the Jabra Elite Active 75t which is still excellent and more than enough for most people’s needs.

Buttons and controls

All four models let you control music playback and access certain features with built-in buttons or touch-sensitive areas. If I had to pick a favorite, that would be the Jabras. The Elite Active 75t have clicky, easy-to-access physical buttons on the sides. You can toggle HearThrough on and off, control playback and volume, and even access Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant. The sound of the click is a bit annoying, but it’s bearable.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds+ have touch-sensitive pads on the side. They work fine, but sometimes they fail to detect a tap, and tapping on them feels like I’m banging on my eardrums. Single, double, and triple taps can be used to play/pause, skip, or go back to the previous song. What holding does can be changed from within the Galaxy Wearable app. For example, I have my pair set up to toggle Ambient Sound on or off by holding on the left earbud, and holding on the right activates the Google Assistant. You can replace one of these actions with a “Launch Spotify” action. You can also replace both long-press shortcuts with volume up and volume down controls, but in that case, you’ll lose access to the Ambient Sound, assistant, or Spotify shortcuts if you have them set up.

The AirPods Pro are pretty cool with their force-sensitive stems. Of course, you can play, pause, skip, or go back a track, but you can also toggle Transparency Mode on or off with a long squeeze. Siri can be accessed with a long press as well or by simply saying “Hey, Siri” (if you activate these options in Settings). You can only control volume from your phone or by asking Siri to change it for you. What breaks the experience for me is that squeezing the stem ruins the fit so I often have to readjust the earbud afterwards.

The AirPods are the most limited in terms of controls. They respond to double taps only, so if you have your left earbud set to pause/play a track and the right one to skip to the next song, there’s no way to go back to the previous song. One of the double-tap shortcuts can be set to launch Siri, but you can also summon her by saying “Hey, Siri”.

Battery Life

With true wireless earbuds, manufacturers usually list at least two battery life estimates. One states how many hours of continued listening it takes to drain the batteries inside the buds, while the other, greater estimate takes into account the extra charge contained in the carrying case.

Things can easily get confusing here if one doesn’t read the fine print. For example, the Galaxy Buds+ last a whopping 11 hours on their own, nearly enough to last a flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles! Meanwhile, the AirPods Pro will only deliver 4.5 hours of listening time (to be fair, they’ll be blocking engine noise much better). The Elite Active 75t and the AirPods last for 7.5 and 5 hours, respectively.

But seriously, how many people will have their earbuds on for more than a few hours at a time? The Jabras deliver the best combined battery life, and perhaps that’s the figure most people should be looking at. The AirPods and AirPods Pro come second with “over 24 hours” of combined battery life, and the Galaxy Buds+ come last with their 22 hours of combined use. Still, even a 22-hour battery life is great and perfectly sufficient for most people.

It is also worth pointing out that batteries have a limited lifespan. The ones in the AirPods and AirPods Pro are likely to degrade more quickly because they require more frequent charges.

Finally, a reminder that the base, $159 model of classic AirPods comes with a case that doesn’t support wireless charging. AirPods with support for both wired and wireless charging cost $40 extra. All other models come with cases supporting both wired and wireless charging.