TheSamsung Galaxy Buds FEis marketed as a pocket-book-friendly option and makes for a pretty decent gift.
And you still get a pair of earbuds with quality ANC that are perfect for your commute.
Samsung Galaxy Buds FE
Samsung Galaxy’s budget earbuds offer powerful ANC at just $99.
Image: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo
DISLIKE
Not big on aesthetics, lack sound imaging, and the mic is just okay.
The FEs are available in Graphite (basically black) and White.
It would been nice to see some other colorways like that really fun Bora Purple on theBuds2 Pro.
Image: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo
The buds dont have much going on either and are very template-y in aesthetics.
It also gave me more surface area on the bud to work with, making navigating them easier.
Like the straightforward charging case and buds, the accessories are very no-frills.
Image: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo
But for a $99 product, it makes perfect sense.
I can still only go for on-ear ones since they fit me better.
I wore these buds outside for quite a while and did laundry and a lot of groceries with them.
Image: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo
Despite all the movement that I put them through, they stayed glued to my ears throughout.
The controls on the buds are pretty straightforward.
I didnt really make use of the triple-tap one.
Image: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo
The most helpful controls I found were play/pause and the tap-and-hold one to switch between ANC and Ambient Mode.
I wasnt really blown away by any aspect of the sound.
Dont expect the kind of sound imaging that allows you to listen to every layer in the orchestra separately.
The bass and treble are decent, with the bass being a little better than the treble.
Again, dont expect it to push you out of your seat.
The buds also support mono-listening, which is always a nice feature to have.
However, the ANC on these buds is excellent and pretty good for their pocket-book-friendly price.
I used these buds in the noisiest tweaks I could think of and was pleasantly surprised.
For instance, it did a fantastic job of muting the Laundromats dryers and washers.
I was able to enjoy my music without having to tolerate a constant, annoying buzz.
The buds did a scarily good job canceling the extremely loud traffic when I walked to the Laundromat.
The cancellation was so good that I had to switch to ambient mode to be safe.
But it didnt cancel ambulance sirens the same way, and that makes sense.
Such high-frequency sounds are barely (completely) canceled.
You get the point.
The battery life is pretty in line with most other earbuds in this price range.
You get nine hours with ANC off and six with it on.
And the buds give you an additional 30 hours with ANC off and 21 with it on.
Should You Buy the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE?
A solid pair of budget earbuds with great ANC.
It may not feature the kind of layering one would expect, but thats forgivable at this price point.
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