--- title: 'Galaxy Buds 4 Pro vs Galaxy Buds 3 Pro: Hidden Differences' source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ai_HttxapLk' video_id: 'Ai_HttxapLk' date: 2026-08-06 duration_sec: 828 --- # Galaxy Buds 4 Pro vs Galaxy Buds 3 Pro: Hidden Differences > Source: [Galaxy Buds 4 Pro vs Galaxy Buds 3 Pro: Hidden Differences](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ai_HttxapLk) ## Summary This video compares the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, focusing on hidden differences in design, controls, sound quality, ANC, and features. The reviewer provides practical insights to help viewers decide whether to upgrade or which to buy. ### Key Points - **Comparison Purpose** [00:01] — The video aims to answer whether to upgrade from Buds 3 Pro to 4 Pro and which is better for new buyers, highlighting all differences found after using both. - **Case Design** [00:26] — Both cases have clear tops, but Buds 4 Pro returns to a square design, slightly thicker but shorter and thinner. Both have USB-C and wireless charging, similar durability, but Buds 4 Pro case is easier to insert earbuds correctly. - **Color Options** [01:16] — Buds 3 Pro come in silver (Cybertruck look) and white. Buds 4 Pro come in silver, white, and pink gold, with links in description for special bonuses. - **Earbud Design** [01:58] — Buds 4 Pro have a bubbly, rounded design with metallic accent (premium look), while Buds 3 Pro have a geometric, triangular design with blade light. The light is removed on 4 Pro, losing the find feature. - **Battery and Water Resistance** [02:52] — Both have 6 hours in earbuds, 26 hours with case (ANC on), and IP57 water resistance, significantly better than most earbuds, ideal for running. - **Controls** [03:18] — Buds 3 Pro have awkward pinch controls on one side; Buds 4 Pro have a dimple for intuitive pinch and slide volume control. No color coordination on 4 Pro due to open case design. - **Fit and Comfort** [04:25] — No significant difference in fit for the reviewer; both comfortable and secure. Samsung claims 4 Pro fits more ears, but personal experience may vary. - **Sound Quality Specs** [04:53] — Buds 4 Pro have 20% larger woofer and slightly larger tweeter, promising better dynamic range, more powerful bass, and better highs. Both support 24-bit/96kHz with Samsung codec. - **Sound Quality Experience** [05:20] — Buds 4 Pro sound fuller, cleaner, more natural with better bass and instrument separation. Buds 3 Pro are harsher in high end and thinner with less low-end control. - **Active Noise Cancellation** [06:13] — Buds 3 Pro have adaptive ANC 1.0 (algorithmic bins); Buds 4 Pro have adaptive ANC 2.0 (machine learning, smoother spectrum). ANC is 1-2 dB better on 4 Pro for low frequencies, but subtle for voices. - **Transparency Mode** [07:46] — Buds 4 Pro reduce hissing compared to 3 Pro, both sound natural with good spatial awareness. - **Microphone Test** [08:12] — Both tested indoors and outdoors on S25 Ultra. Buds 4 Pro have Bluetooth 6.1 and 16 kHz transmission vs 5.4 and 8 kHz on 3 Pro, potentially improving call quality. - **App Features** [09:41] — Both have full ANC suite, voice detect, siren detect, auto switch, and similar controls. Live translate works on both. Boost dialogue and super wideband speech are new on 4 Pro. - **Feature Parity** [12:18] — Samsung pushes most features to 3 Pro, making them feature-matched with 4 Pro. Neither has true multi-point or UWB precision finding. - **Buying Advice** [12:31] — Buds 4 Pro at $249 launch price; if 3 Pro are under $200 (e.g., $180), they are excellent value. If money is no object, 4 Pro are better due to sound and ANC improvements. ### Conclusion The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro offer meaningful improvements in sound quality, ANC, and call quality, but the Buds 3 Pro remain a strong value if priced significantly lower. The decision hinges on budget and whether the incremental upgrades justify the price difference. ## Transcript tried. But, how much better are they than the 3 Pro? And do the 3 Pro do anything that the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro don't? And all of this is really to answer the questions of should you upgrade if you have the 3 Pro? Or if you're buying a new pair between the two of these, should you get the 4 Pro or save the money on the 3 Pro? So, in this video, I'll be talking about everything you need to know, all of the differences I found after using these both in the we need to start off with the design. in the design of the case, although they both have the clear top and I do appreciate that. I think it's kind of cool, but Samsung definitely went back to their more traditional Galaxy Buds square case, which I personally really like. Even though holding them side by side, you'll see it is a bit thicker, although a bit shorter and a bit thinner in two dimensions. So, overall similar with both of these. They both have USB type-C charging as well as wireless charging. The hinges and all all the materials like feel very similar. Durability should not be really that different between these two cases. It's probably more so going to be an aesthetic thing, although setting them I think it's a little bit easier to get your earbuds correctly in the case in the Buds 4 Pro. And the Buds 4 Pro don't have that like they always tilt back and fall when you set them up. So, that's the cases. Now, before we get into the earbuds themselves, we have two colors on the Buds 3 Pro. We've got this silver Cybertruck kind of look aesthetic here, or you have white, so more subtle one or that we have those two options. And the Buds 4 Pro then come in three colors. silver aesthetic here. There's a white version and there's actually a pink gold and I'll actually have links in the description down below. If you want to you're watching this video, all of any kind of special bonuses from Samsung. through that link. So, I'll include that down below, so you can check that out. Now, looking at the actual earbuds. If we take them out of the case, these are blade or stem, if you want to call it that, but the earbuds kind of stop being similar at that point right there. You see a much more kind of bubbly, rounded design on the Buds 4 Pro versus a much more geometric, triangular design on the an aesthetic preference. You can leave a comment and let me know which one you look pretty good in very different ways. You've got the metallic accent on the Buds 4 Pro, which does kind of make them look a bit more premium in my opinion. Although the Buds 3 Pro have the blade light on them. The light no longer exists on the 4 Pro, which has some downsides. The The light, honestly, I wearing them. I don't need a light on the side of my earbuds, so I usually when you open up the case, the light turns on the earbuds, kind of a cool way then if you lose the earbuds, if you drop them, you can make the light flash in the app, and it's a good way to find them, and you can't really do that on the Buds 4 Pro. The battery life on these is the same on both of them, 6 hours in the earbuds, 26 hours when you include the case. That's with active noise cancellation on. They also both have the same water resistance rating of IP57, which is significantly better than pretty much any other earbuds on the market, making these pretty ideal for running or, you know, just doing about dropping them in a puddle. These are much more durable than most other these are quite different. Even though the differences are more so in how it feels when you're actually using them. So, the Buds 3 Pro, if you look at the kind of geometric, triangular design, you could pinch and slide on. Only one side is actually the correct one for controlling them. So, while you get used to it, and I have no problem controlling them now, many people would put these in and not find the controls right away. It was kind of an awkward setup, whereas now, there's only, you know, it's you're not pinching this way, if you're pinching on those other two sides, there dimple where your finger goes, making it very intuitive to pinch there, slide up and down, and get your volume controls like that. Also, you'll notice that the very bottom, we no longer have the color coordination for left versus necessary with this open design on the case. Um I think that dropping them in, right, and I kind of appreciate that there is no color cuz I think that kind of just looks weird on the bottom of the earbuds. As far as fit and comfort go, I can't say that I personally have a significant difference in the fit with both very comfortable. They both stay in very securely. Everybody has weird ears, of course. Um so, Samsung says that the new earbuds should fit more ears more comfortably. Um but, you can again leave a comment. Anyone in the future who's tried these earbuds, let me know how they fit you. For me, I feel no is different for me is the sound quality. So, starting off with the specs and then I'll talk about my experience. So, now we have a 20% larger woofer and a slightly larger tweeter as well on the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro compared to the 3 Pro. means you should get a pretty good dynamic range on them. Um the bigger woofer and slightly larger tweeter should you give you more powerful and more controlled bass and slightly better highs as well. And they both have a lot of the same stuff in the app from 24-bit 96 kHz resolution using Samsung's codec on here to the ability to adapt to your ears and different things like that. But, talking about my actual experience, I think there is definitely a noticeable difference. The Buds 4 Pro sound fuller, they sound cleaner, they sound more natural. There's a noticeable improvement in the bass quality and the bass power. If you go into the EQ, you could turn that up and really rattle your head if you wanted to. Um but, you know, the bass is very capable. The Buds 3 Pro were a bit more harsh in my opinion with the high end. Uh they also sounded thinner, I think, and they had less control on the low end. So, the like overall, better instrument separation, better sound to them. I capable earbuds in sound. Neither one of them is the same as wired headphones, Bluetooth earbuds, I'm pretty impressed. They do sound quite good. I think that they are a bit harsh and they have a strange peak, probably around like 5 or 6,000 kHz. Um so, if you go on the EQ, you can adjust that and you can tinker quite good. So, let's talk about active noise cancellation. Both of these, you ambient sound mode, you could have adaptive mode, and you could have ANC. bit different on both of these. So, you have adaptive ANC 1.0 on the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, which is, for my understanding, a little bit more algorithmic. Like, there's set bins that it listens to and identifies, all right, you sound like you're in this bin or this bin, and it's going to change the ANC or change the pass-through mode uh based on what environment it thinks that you're in. Now, adaptive ANC 2.0 is what you're getting on the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, which learning and should be a little bit more of a smooth spectrum, able to identify more environments, and ideally give you a better experience when using that adaptive mode. Now, I don't personally use adaptive mode all that often. I know it's going to kill my battery faster, but the ANC levels on this are definitely better, although not a massive, massive improvement. So, I'm looking at about a 1 to 2 dB improvement on the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro versus a 3 Pro when blocking out those like lower frequency sounds, like a bus, a jet, traffic, stuff like that. It's doing a better job, but, like I said, 1 or 2 dB is is meaningful, but not extremely noticeable if you're not looking for it. As far as higher voices go, chatter, people talking, the difference is even more subtle there. So, definitely still improved, but not a massive, massive difference. As far as the transparency goes, again, the older ones, the Buds 3 Pro, had some hissing there. That is somewhat reduced in the Buds 4 Pro in my experience, although it does still exist, it is minimized, and they both do sound very, very natural. They do a good job with kind of like spatial awareness, like I can hear where things are in the as Samsung calls it, these do an excellent job with their aware mode. All test, starting off with the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. So, let me know how this sounds. Obviously, we're inside, so it should be as easy as possible for these, but find that Samsung does a pretty good job of keeping this pretty natural, not overly compressing my voice, because it doesn't need to. This environment is already very quiet. Now, these do have a really good bandwidth, a really good codec essentially, to microphone. So, let me know how this actually sounds, and then I'll switch over to the Buds 3 Pro. And now, these are the previous generation Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. Do these sound any different to you? Um, again, inside. We're recording both of these on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. These should sound better on Samsung devices because of that codec and the higher resolution, but they should sound still pretty decent on a lot of other phones out there. So, we'll go outside now and see how they perform in a louder environment. Um, I'll probably just go you guys what that actually sounds like. All right, so this is an outdoor test with the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. Let me know how this sounds. I'm just on a video call right now using my S25 Ultra. Um, it's also worth noting that these have it's also worth noting that these have Bluetooth 6.1, and they also have 16 kHz um, transmission versus 8 kHz on the other ones. So, the Buds 3 Pro are Bluetooth 5.4 and only 8 kHz. So, you might notice a difference on like a like a video recording, but probably not so much on a phone call like this. And now, these are the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. Vehicle going behind me. Let me know how I'm saying. So, as far as features go on these earbuds, let's just look at the app side by side. Most of the features are accessed in the app. So, they both have, as you can see, the full ANC suite right there. You have the ability to auto switch um during calls. I actually like that on using ambient mode. Voice detect, siren detect, they both have that. They also both have, well, let's go down. You can see earbud controls. They both have pretty much the same ones available on the Buds 3 Pro as you would expect. Sorry, I tapped that a little bit fast. So, it could like fade or be steady or whatever you want. Otherwise, the live translate. A lot of people wondering, do you have that on the older model? Is that new? Uh only with the Buds 4 Pro? No, you can get that right hold controls, you can choose noise canceling, um you can go to your digital assistant, or you can open specific apps like interpreter. I don't know why it shows a different icon for interpreter on both of them, but I'll try right now. Let me go back. Let me take the What was I using for that one? That's the right of them. Actually, let's do it on the three first. So, I'll put this in. Pinch and hold. expected. Yeah, there we go. Okay, so um there's your answer. It does work on the 3 Pro as well as on the 4 Pro. Now, if we go back, the other things we have as far as features go, sound quality and effects, on the 4 Pro there because it's weirdly listed below it on the on the 4 Pro. But, once you open that up, you'll see pretty much all the same. Boost dialogue is something that's only shown on the 4 Pro, not on the 3 Pro, but otherwise, earbud fit test, advanced quality, super wideband speech is new on the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. You can see right here, I can turn that on. So, 16 kHz instead of 8 kHz. That may be one of the reasons that the audio quality, if you noticed microphone test. Now, of course, that's going to depend on how you're using the and it's really being compressed a lot, you're not going to notice that. But, if make quite a big difference. So, let's features. So, as you can see, voice controls on both of them, we have that here. So, not many differences there. The connections, these both have the seamless switching among Samsung devices. Neither one of them has a true multi-point connectivity, which I do kind of miss earbuds, but it's really just making the earbuds chirp or it's going to make the the lights blink on the Buds 3 Pro. Neither one has the ultra-wide band precision finding that some other earbuds have. So, I think that was kind of my one one of my two drawbacks I had on the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro in my original review. Lastly, you'll see we've got the software update tips and and everything else on the bottom. So, features, I think that's a really big positive that features to the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, they're pushing everything back to the 3 Pro. And so, features, these two are pretty much matched, you know, feature for feature across the board here. So, I think that's a really big positive, do that. So, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and the 4 Pro, which ones should you actually buy? Should you upgrade? Well, I know the price of the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro is going to be $249 at launch. I don't know what kind of sales are going I'm filming this video about 2 days before launch. So, I mean, I'll have the there is a big price difference, yeah, the Buds 3 Pro would be an excellent buy here because they are getting all of those features. They have a lot of great aesthetic might be preferred by some people. Some people prefer the newer aesthetic, but really, I still think the Buds 4 Pro are going to be better if money's no object because they sound better, the ANC is slightly better, the across the board, I think there are enough upgrades that it doesn't really there is a big difference in price. So, if you see the older ones for like well under $200, if they're like $180, yeah, they would be an excellent purchase. Even if they were, you know, $200, I would still say they're a pretty good buy considering the differences are not astronomical. So, thanks for watching this video right here, my review of the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro where I dive a little bit deeper into the capabilities and the sound quality of those earbuds. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in that video.