Samsung Galaxy Buds On Are the Premium Clip-On Earbuds You Didn’t Know You Were Waiting For

Clip-on open earbuds are all the rage, and Samsung is the latest major brand to add clip-ons to its line of Galaxy earbuds with its new Galaxy Buds On. The style has grown so rapidly that it’s hard to believe Samsung didn’t already have a pair, but here we are. Available in black at launch, the Buds On list for $229 and ship in early November.

The Galaxy Buds On look like a lot of other clip-on buds already on the market. But at $230, they’re definitely one of the more premium-priced offerings. Though I haven’t tried them yet, I suspect they’ll offer strong performance for the category and be comparable to Bose’s new Sport Open Earbuds ($200), Sony’s LinkBuds Clip ($230) and Shokz’s Open Dots 2 ($200).

They have 11.3-millimeter drivers with dual woofers (TwinBoost Speaker, Samsung calls the drivers) to increase bass performance, which can often be suboptimal with open earbuds. Additionally, they’re equipped with three microphones along with a Voice Pickup Unit and AI algorithms (Intelligent Clear Call) that help eliminate background noise while homing in on your voice during calls.

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This type of earbuds tends to fit quite comfortably and securely, and they’re an appealing choice for runners and bikers who want to hear the outside world for safety reasons. They have an IP54 rating, which means they’re splashproof and dust-resistant, and according to Samsung, “Computational modeling helped optimize speaker and battery geometry to create a low-pressure fit around the ear, while refining the stiffness and shape of the band for a secure, comfortable fit.”

Weighing 6.7 grams per earbud, the Galaxy Buds On have tap controls and support for head gestures. Samsung lists their battery life rating at up to 9.5 hours of music playback on a single charge — and up to 38 hours in total with the charging case, which features wireless charging.

With open earbuds like these that have drivers that sit over your ear canals without covering them, sound leakage can be an issue when you play your music loudly in quiet environments. These buds don’t have active noise canceling, but they are equipped with Samsung’s Audio Leakage Reduction technology that “reduces escaping sound before it travels outward by projecting reversed sound waves from the rear of the speaker, keeping audio more private to the listener.”

It’s also worth noting that the Galaxy Buds On are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S7 Gen 1 Sound Platform, which Samsung says facilitates extended playback periods at elevated volume levels with the help of a high-efficiency class-D amplifier “intricately designed to optimize power consumption.”

If you have a Google Gemini account, you get always-on access to Gemini just by saying, “Hey Google, let’s talk live. Also, there’s a Quick Voice Memo feature that you can access by long-pressing on the earbuds and simply speaking (and thanks to Bixby, Samsung says, users can search recordings hands-free).

While the earbuds can be used with iPhones and other Apple devices, as their name implies, the Galaxy Buds On work best with Samsung Galaxy devices, with easy pairing and access to controls and EQ settings through a shortcut in Samsung’s Quick Panel. There’s also automatic audio switching between any Galaxy devices you own, though multipoint Bluetooth support is missing for owners of non-Samsung Galaxy devices. Android users can install Samsung’s Wearable app for customization options and firmware updates, but there’s no app support for Apple users (Samsung’s Galaxy Buds app for iOS only supports a few older legacy Samsung buds).

I’ll have a full review of the Galaxy Buds On in the coming days and will compare them to the aforementioned buds along with Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds (2nd Gen), which earned a CNET Editors’ Choice award for having the best sound in the category, though they’re $300 price makes them even more expensive than the Galaxy Buds On. The Anker AeroClip 2 currently have the best voice-calling performance for clip-on earbuds, so we’ll see how these Samsung clip-ons stack up against those Anker buds for calls.