Beans, buds and stems. No, this isn’t a gardening article. We’re talking about Samsung’s range of wireless earbuds, specifically the low-cost, high-value Samsung Galaxy Buds FE. FE, if you didn’t know, means “fan edition,” and if we were skeptical at first, we’ve been won over now.
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Samsung’s Galaxy Buds began their life in 2019 as a competitor to rivals such as Apple’s AirPods, Bose’s QuietComfort earbuds, and Sony’s WF-series noise-canceling earbuds. They started off with a rounded bud design with in-ear tips, added a pair shaped like beans and now, stemmed versions like AirPods.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds FE are the last Galaxy Buds models without a stem. They feature active noise cancellation at a low, competitive price. We recently put them through their paces in the BestReviews Testing Lab, and found them solid and appealing in sound quality, ANC performance, and battery life.
In this article: Samsung Galaxy Buds FE, Samsung Galaxy Buds3 and Apple AirPods 4 with ANC
Type: In-ear | Battery Life: 6.7 hr | Noise cancellation: Active | Water resistance: IPX2 | Voice Assistant: Bixby
The Samsung Galaxy Buds FE are the lowest-priced true wireless earbuds in Samsung’s Galaxy Buds lineup. They were introduced in 2023 and are a year older than the rest of the Galaxy Buds lineup. They are in-ear buds designed to insert partially into the ear canal with removable, interchangeable tips, and come with small wingtips meant to lock gently in the outer ear. They offer active noise cancellation, an ambient or transparency mode, simple tap controls and a six-plus hour battery life.
We found the build quality of the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE to be on par with other true wireless earbuds, maybe a little lightweight compared to competitors. The case is a little boxier and thicker than we’d like; it sticks out in a pocket.
The best thing we liked about the Buds FE are their wingtips, which successfully keep them properly positioned and in place during our workout and music tests. We also liked the simple tap-based controls that didn’t need any squeezing or rubbing to access different functions.
The Buds FE come with a selection of eartips, but the preinstalled ones worked fine for us. We did wish that the tips had deeper wells, to keep the mesh from getting dirty from repeated wear.
With an IPX2 rating, they’re not very water-resistant and have no dust resistance. You can wear them while sweating, but significant moisture exposure may damage them.
The sound quality of the Galaxy Buds FE can be described as exciting. It’s got a solid punch in the low end, giving definition to pop, hip-hop and electronic tunes and dimensionality to classical and jazz. Overall, they offer solid sound quality enjoyable for fans of hip-hop, dance, house and country, and sound fine (but not amazing) for most other genres.
It’s not a big bass boomer, so beats won’t pound as much as some may like. Highs are slightly emphasized, which led to some sibilance and shrillness in certain registers, including cymbals and high-hats in jazz and female voices in pop. Mids could be overwhelmed at times in rock and country songs. Staging is forward with a lot of directness.
We found the ANC on the Buds FE to be more than adequate for daily use. An airplane noise video played at 70 dB was reduced to a barely noticeable hum, while a 55 dB fan was almost eliminated. Higher, more irregular noises, like dialogue from a TV set or exterior noise from yard work, was less effectively reduced, but that’s true for a lot of ANC earbuds.
The ambient sound mode didn’t sound completely natural, but did the job of keeping us aware of our surroundings while out and about. We think the ANC is not the reason to get the Galaxy Buds FE, but it’s a solid and helpful implementation of ANC nonetheless.
We tested the Galaxy Buds FE on a Samsung phone, and were treated to its animated setup process that is reminiscent of Apple’s AirPod setup sequence. We also successfully paired the Buds FE to a Mac laptop via the standard Bluetooth pairing process, and had no unexpected difficulties, although its more advanced features can be accessed only through the Samsung Galaxy Wearables app. The Buds FE support Bluetooth 5.2 only, and don’t work with Bluetooth LE connections, but we didn’t particularly notice the lack during testing.
Being able to put on earbuds and immediately hear a foreign language translated into one you know feels like science fiction. In fact, we couldn’t quite get the Live Translate feature to work as well as it could. While watching a French news broadcast, translation was not smooth, but came in chunks from the Samsung phone to the Bus FE. But we did manage to get the gist of what was being said.
We managed to obtain six hours and 40 minutes of battery life from the Galaxy Buds FE in a single listening session, going from 100% to 10% charge in the process. This is in line with the estimated runtime of newer Galaxy Buds models and competitors like the Apple AirPods Pro 2, and longer than the runtime of Apple AirPods 4. A wearer could fly within the continental U.S. with the Buds FE without having to recharge them in their charging case.
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The biggest difference between the Galaxy Buds FE and the Galaxy Buds3 family is their design. In 2024, Samsung dropped the rounded and stemless design of all its earbuds to that point and moved to a stemmed design like those of Apple’s AirPods.
The Buds FE are the only Samsung Galaxy earbuds with wingtip stabilizers, and they’re the only ones without significant protection against water and dust. They also lack the ability to play high-resolution audio, which all members of the Galaxy Buds3 family can. Their 6mm drivers are notably smaller than those of the Galaxy Buds3 and Buds3 FE (11mm) or the dual drivers (10.5 mm and 6.1mm) of the Galaxy Buds3 Pro.
Nonetheless, the Buds FE’s battery life is comparable with the Buds3 models, and like them, the Buds FE have active noise cancellation. All Galaxy Buds can access Samsung’s Bixby assistant, but the Buds FE can’t access Google Gemini.
At $99 the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE handily beat their direct rivals, Apple’s AirPods 4, when compared on value. Most obviously, the Galaxy Buds FE include active noise cancellation, which the entry-level, $129 AirPods 4 don’t (you need to go up to the $179 AirPods 4 with ANC for that).
The Galaxy Buds FE’s wingtips make their fit more secure than that of the AirPods 4. Some may prefer the better seal and feel of the in-ear tips used by the Galaxy Buds FE, while others may like the way the AirPods 4 stay just outside the ear canal.
The Galaxy Buds FE also beat the AirPods 4 on battery life, six hours and 40 minutes to four hours and 15 minutes, both with ANC on, in our respective tests. We liked the sound quality of both, but the AirPods have a more balanced, restrained sound compared to the Buds.
We tested the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE with a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra smartphone and an Apple MacBook Air laptop. Upon unboxing, we examined the Buds FE design, controls, charging case and ear tips for design and build quality.
To test sound quality, we used a standard playlist featuring example tracks from genres ranging from folk to electronic, classical to hip hop, rock, pop, country and jazz. We listened for frequency response, tonal quality, separation and staging, noting any harshness, recession, distortion or sibilance.
We also listened to dialogue and speech soundtracks, such as for audiobooks, podcasts and movies, and tested Live Translate with a Samsung phone and a foreign-language streaming video.
We wore the Galaxy Buds FE for several hours to test comfort and fatigue. For battery life, we let our test playlist run on a loop until the batteries died.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds FE are a good value, offering features like active noise cancellation at a lower price than competitors. They’ve got an enjoyable sound profile and solid battery life, but pairing and accessing their more advanced features are difficult without a Samsung smartphone. Samsung phone owners, especially those on a budget, are the ideal buyers for the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE. They’re not the greatest earbuds ever, but they’re better than you’d expect.
Prices listed reflect time and date of publication and are subject to change.
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