Review: Samsung Galaxy Buds3 FE

I’ve been very impressed with Samsung’s third-gen wireless earbuds. The Galaxy Buds3 Pro ($190), which were released in 2024, were a solid AirPods Pro competitor for Android owners. Now, they’ve been joined by the Galaxy Buds3 FE, a new entry-level model that looks nearly identical to the Buds3 Pro but trades away a lot of bells and whistles for a more accessible price: $150.

The Pro’s high-tech LED “blade” lights are gone, as is head tracking, auto-pause, dual drivers, wireless charging, and full waterproofing. What matters more is what Samsung kept: a very comfortable fit, great sound quality, and surprisingly good ANC, transparency, and call quality. In short, the Galaxy Buds3 FE get the most important stuff right.

Like all Samsung Galaxy wireless earbuds, some of their more interesting features are exclusively available when using Samsung Galaxy phones (and don’t even think about buying them if you’re on an iPhone), which narrows their prospective market. But if you’re a true-blue Samsung fan on a budget, the Galaxy Buds3 FE are a great set of wireless buds.

Midrange Gems

Photograph: Simon Cohen

Though Samsung calls them Galaxy Buds3 FE—you’d naturally assume that means they replace 2023’s Galaxy Buds FE ($100)—they’re actually a kind of midrange option. Samsung is keeping the Buds FE around (and maintaining the price), which I think is a great idea. The original Buds FE are still excellent, and now you’ve got two different fit options: the older, button-style, and the newer AirPods imitation shape. As a bonus, if you opt for the Buds3 FE, you get better water and dust protection: IP54 versus IPX2.

Between the two FE models, I’ve got to give the comfort award to the Buds3 FE. With less mass in your ear and no silicone stability fin wrapped around the circumference, it’s a gentle, easy feel. If you’ve ever tried the Galaxy Buds3 Pro, Apple AirPods Pro, or similarly shaped, stem-based models, the Buds3 FE should feel instantly familiar. However, that also means they aren’t exactly rock-solid for high-impact activities like running. This is where the original Galaxy Buds FE still have an edge: Twist them into place and it’s unlikely they’ll budge unless you want them to.

Wear App via Simon Cohen

Samsung isn’t very generous with ear tip sizes. Beyond the preinstalled medium tips, you only get a small and a large size in the box—the new AirPods Pro, for example, give you four pairs. Make sure you use the fit test in the Samsung Wear app once you get the earbuds connected. I thought the medium tips felt OK, but the test prompted me to try the large, and it was right: They gave me a better fit and a tighter seal.

Speaking of what’s in (or not in) the box, Samsung, like Apple, no longer includes a charging cable. You probably have at least one USB-C cable already, but if you don’t, you’ll need one.

Moving to the stem-based design brings pinch and swipe gestures to the FE family. Samsung borrowed this system from Apple’s AirPods Pro, but the triangular shape of the Galaxy Buds’ stems can make these controls a little harder to use than Apple’s. You do get used to them, however, and overall, I think they’re an improvement on the first-gen Buds FE’s touch controls—especially using the up/down swipe gesture to control volume.

Samsung’s AirPods

Photograph: Simon Cohen

Sound quality on the Galaxy Buds3 FE is outstanding. It not only compares well to other earbuds at this price, it holds up to many more expensive models. The sound signature is robust, with excellent response across frequencies. The low end is resonant yet snappy, the mids and highs are clear and detailed, and the soundstage has a pleasing amount of width and depth.

Noise cancellation and transparency are two areas that typically underperform on less expensive wireless earbuds. Transparency seems to be especially tricky for companies to deliver on a limited budget. And yet, the Galaxy Buds3 FE do both very well. Each mode is adjustable, which I’d normally ignore and just leave on the maximum setting, but since these buds don’t have a conversation awareness sensor, you may find it helpful to set ANC lower than its max level.

When maxed out, ANC is strong enough to counter all but the loudest sounds, with its best performance occurring in the lower frequencies. Transparency mode offers clear access to your surroundings and your voice, making conversations easy and natural. It’s not quite AirPods Pro–level magic, but it’s surprisingly close.

Wear App via Simon Cohen

Calling on the Buds3 FE is yet another strength. The mics do an excellent job of canceling out background sounds while keeping your voice clear and free from compression. In quiet environments, they’re almost as good as talking directly to your phone’s built-in mic. Switch to transparency mode while on a call and you’ll hear yourself as clearly as you hear your callers, which can reduce or eliminate the fatigue associated with using earbuds or headphones for calls. If you want this to be the default on calls, you can set it in the Wear app.

I like the factory tuning a lot, but if you want to tweak it, the Wear app provides a nine-band equalizer with six presets and one slot for saving your own EQ mix. The wireless connection was very stable while I was testing them, and pairing them with a Samsung phone is effortless: Just open the case and your phone does the rest.

This performance comes with a caveat: You need a Samsung phone or tablet to hear what these buds are capable of. For reasons known only to Samsung, the Buds3 FE ship from the factory with Loudness Normalization mode disabled, and it’s like having a layer of gauze between you and your music. As soon as you enable Loudness Normalization, the earbuds spring to life. It’s a shocking difference, and yet, this key setting isn’t accessible from non-Samsung phones, even if you download and use the Samsung Wear Android app.

Photograph: Simon Cohen

If you connect them to an iPhone (yep, they’ll pair with Apple devices just like any Bluetooth earbuds) or a non-Samsung Android handset, they’ll use the decent, but quite lossy AAC Bluetooth codec. When paired with a Samsung device, they use Samsung’s proprietary Samsung Seamless Codec (SSC), and the difference is palpable. It’s the same improvement in overall smoothness and detail you’d get if you used other high-quality codecs like aptX Adaptive or LDAC, but since the Galaxy Buds3 FE don’t support these codecs, SSC is the only way to get this extra level of fidelity.

It’s not a deal-breaker—you’ll only notice SSC’s benefits if you’re in a very quiet location and you’ve got access to lossless music, e.g., Apple Music, Tidal, Qobuz, or now, Spotify Premium—but it’s one more reason to think of the Buds3 FE as a Samsung-first product.

A Few Oddities

Photograph: Simon Cohen

I’m not a big fan of Samsung’s ongoing refusal to not support Bluetooth Multipoint. Instead, you get the brand’s version of Apple’s auto-switch, which in theory lets you listen to audio on one device and then switch to a second if a call comes in. But just like Apple’s tech, this only works if all of your devices are signed in to your Samsung account, and even then it can be hit or miss. I’m also a little disappointed that the Buds3 FE didn’t get Bluetooth Auracast support. Samsung was an early champion of this technology, adding it to Galaxy phones long before Google officially added it to Android, and it showed up on the Galaxy Buds3 Pro, which makes the company’s decision even more frustrating.

What’s weirder is that even though the Buds3 FE have wear sensors, Samsung only uses them to determine if you’re wearing the buds when a call comes in; they can’t be used to auto-pause your tunes when you remove one or both buds.

The Galaxy Buds3 FE have the same Samsung-exclusive 360 Audio mode as the Buds3 Pro, albeit without the Pro’s optional head tracking. On most tracks, I found it unappealing as it both diluted and diffused the sound. And yet, now and then, I’d come across a song that benefits from the effect, like “Birds” by Dominique Fils-Aimé, which takes on an airy, ethereal vibe.

A Solid Pair

Samsung via Simon Cohen

I have to give Samsung props for a very clever, though once again exclusive, software trick. From inside any audio app on your Galaxy phone, you can swipe down to get to the volume control. Long-press on the volume slider and you’ll be given three options: 360 Audio, EQ setting, and loudness normalization. They’re the same options from the Wear app, but your preferences will be assigned to the app you’re using. So now, I can set Netflix to always use 360 Audio, while keeping it turned off for Apple Music. This is such a good idea, I wish every phone/headphone combo offered it.

Battery life on the Galaxy Buds3 FE is on the average side of what we can expect these days. The company claims you’ll get six hours of ANC listening (24 with the case) or 8.5 and 30 hours respectively when you keep ANC turned off. From what I can tell, these numbers are accurate, but only if you keep volume below 50 percent. That’s not going to be easy unless you use the Loudness normalization mode. They have some other nifty features (again, Samsung-only) that I didn’t test, including support for the real-time translation feature offered by compatible Samsung phones, and hands-free access to Bixby, Read Notifications Aloud, and Find My Earbuds.

Given how many Samsung-only features the Galaxy Buds3 FE possess, it’s hard to make direct comparisons to other earbuds. The closest comparison is to standard AirPods (which are markedly worse) or Google's Pixel Buds (which are about the same), given how seamlessly they integrate with their ecosystem.

If you’re looking for a good alternative that isn't ecosystem-exclusive on features, I strongly recommend Soundcore’s Liberty 4 Pro ($150). They’re the same price and all of their features are universally supported on iPhones and Android handsets. Plus, they have some features that the Buds3 FE lack, like Bluetooth Multipoint, LDAC (which works with any Android phone), auto-pause, and a smart case that supports wireless charging. That said, they're not as natively compatible with Samsung's phones, and if that's what you care about, the Buds3 FE are a good deal.