The Samsung Buds 3 FE Surprised Me in a Couple of Key Ways

Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 3 FE ($150) look nearly identical to the flagship Galaxy Buds 3 Pro ($250) but are missing those buds’ LED lighting element, have a single-driver design instead of a dual-driver design and leave off a few other extras. Now that I’ve fully tested the Buds 3 FE, I’m impressed with their performance. If you don’t mind missing those features, they’re a better value than the Buds 3 Pro. That’s why I’ve awarded them a CNET Editors’ Choice.

 Read more: Best wireless earbuds of 2025

All-black is a good look

Like the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, the Galaxy Buds 3 FE have a noise-isolating design with silicone eartips, and they feature noise-canceling as well as a transparency mode. Aside from the missing lighting element, the biggest difference cosmetically are the color options for the Buds 3 FE, which are available in gray or black. I personally like the all-black version I received (it’s a matte finish, which is nice), and I preferred its dark vibe to that of the silver Buds 3 Pro I tested.

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The Galaxy Buds 3 FE’s “blade” design is a departure from the previous Galaxy Buds FE ($70), which have a stemless design with wing tips that help lock the buds in your ears. I was still able to get a tight seal with the 3 FE’s largest included eartips, which is crucial for optimal sound quality and noise-canceling performance. But it was close call and I would have preferred if Samsung had included a slightly larger XL tip so I didn’t have to worry about losing the seal. If you’re unable to get a tight seal from any of the included tips (I suspect a certain small percentage of users will encounter this problem), you can seek out third-party tips.

The buds are lightweight at 5 grams per bud and fit my ears quite comfortably (the Buds 3 Pro weigh slightly more at 5.4 grams per bud). The Buds 3 FE have an IP54 rating, which means they’re splash-proof and dust-resistant (their case is not water-resistant and doesn’t offer wireless charging like the Buds 3 Pro’s case). Meanwhile the Buds 3 Pro have an IP57 rating, which means they’re dust-resistant and can be fully submerged in water for a short period of time.    

Better sound and noise canceling than I expected

I suspected there would be a slight drop-off in sound quality with the Galaxy Buds 3 FE, because of its less elaborate drivers. The more expensive Buds 3 Pro have a planar driver and a dynamic driver that helps improve clarity and treble performance, while the Buds 3 FE have a single 11mm dynamic driver. 

When I got the chance to compare them to one another directly, I was surprised. To my ears the Buds 3 FE sound as good or better than the Buds 3 Pro. They sound smooth and even-keeled, with nice detail, well-defined bass and good openness with a pretty wide soundstage. Android users can tweak the sound using the equalizer settings in the companion app (there are some preset EQs along with a fully customizable one you can create), but I mainly stuck with the default EQ setting.    

Usually buds with dual drivers deliver a bit richer sound with more depth to it, but the Buds 3 FE seem really well tuned; they just sound right. There are competing buds that offer slightly more energetic bass and sound more articulate and revealing, but they tend to cost more.

I faulted the Buds 3 Pro for not having better active noise canceling (ANC), but from my tests the Buds 3 FE seem to offer improved ANC performance a bit from the Buds 3 Pro. Although their noise canceling isn’t quite up to the level of what you get with the AirPods Pro 3 or Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen), it did a decent job muffling ambient noise across a fairly wide range of frequencies.

I also thought the voice-calling performance and transparency modes were good. Both the Buds 3 Pro and the Buds 3 FE are adept at filtering out background noise while picking up your voice well. As I walked the streets of New York, callers said they could hear some ambient sounds, including people’s voices, but they were fairly muted. And they said they could hear me “pretty clearly.” I give them an A- for voice-calling performance. 

Similar features to the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro (but missing some) 

I used the Buds 3 FE with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 6 as well an iPhone 16 Pro. The audio wouldn’t automatically switch between my iPhone and Flip 6, but Samsung users get automatic pairing and switching between their Galaxy devices, including laptops. I was able to pair the buds with my Galaxy Tab 11 and Flip 6 and have the audio automatically switch between them. 

They have ear-detection sensors, but annoyingly they only pause your music automatically when you remove both buds from your ears and don’t resume playback when you put the buds back in (the Buds 3 Pro support the resume playback feature). Samsung’s standard 360 audio feature is supported via the Samsung Wearable app, but the Buds 3 FE do not have head-tracking like the Buds 3 Pro, which helps create enhanced spatial audio more akin to what you get with Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4 buds. Also missing: There’s no support for LE audio along with the new Auracast feature that allows you to hear Bluetooth broadcasts in public places like gyms.

Samsung touts the Buds 3 FE’s AI features, which include “accessing Gemini for conversational AI assistance and Galaxy AI Interpreter app to use Real-Time Interpreter or Live Translate to translate phone calls.” Hands-free Google Assistant is available for Android devices but the Buds 3 FE are missing one of the Buds 3 Pro’s underrated features: built-in voice controls. These allow you to raise and lower volume, pause and play your music, skip tracks forward and back, and answer and end calls, with no wake word required. For example, you simply say, “play music,” “next song” or “volume down.” 

The Buds 3 FE are also missing the Buds 3 Pro’s Voice Detect feature (it can be toggled on or off in the Galaxy Wear app), which is similar to Apple’s Conversation Awareness mode that lowers the volume of the music or any audio you’re listening to and activates the buds’ ambient mode when you start talking to someone. Instead of pausing your music, it just reduces the volume to a low level. It’s a useful feature.

The Buds 3 FE are rated for up to 6 hours with ANC on and closer to 8 hours hours with it off. If you listen to your music at higher volume levels, those numbers will drop, as I ended up getting a little less than 5 hours with ANC on. The Buds 3 FE have similar battery life to the Buds 3 Pro but the total battery life with the case (up to 30 hours) is slightly better than the rating for the Buds 3 Pro’s battery life.

Here is a summation of what’s missing from the Galaxy Buds 3 FE compared to the Buds 3 Pro:

• No wireless charging
• No LED lighting element
• No head-tracking
• No support for LE Audio and Auracast
• Buds 3 FE have ear-detection sensors but only pause your music when you take both buds out and don’t resume playback when you put them back in like Buds 3 Pro
• No built-in voice controls like Buds 3 Pro (that don’t require a phone connection), although hands-free Google Assistant and Samsung’s Bixby are available for Android devices.
• No voice-detect feature
• IP54 (splash-proof) rating instead of IP57 (water-proof)

Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 FE final thoughts

While the earlier Galaxy Buds FE seemed like a different set of earbuds from the Galaxy Buds Pro 2, the Galaxy Buds 3 FE hue more closely to the FE philosophy for other Samsung products (like phones and tablets). They truly appear to be a stripped down version of the flagship Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. When I dug a little deeper into the feature comparisons between the two Galaxy buds, I realized that the Buds 3 FE were missing more features than I thought they did. The majority I could live without (LED lighting elements, wireless charging and head-tracking for spatial audio, for example), but I really like Buds 3 Pro’s built-in voice commands and voice-detection features. 

If the Buds 3 FE fit differently and had worse sound quality, noise canceling and voice-calling performance than Buds 3 Pro, they’d be hard to recommend. But there’s no fall-off in those key departments — the noise canceling on the Buds 3 FE seems improved and some people may actually like the sound of the Buds 3 FE slightly better than the Buds 3 Pro. If you looking for a pair of more Android-centric earbuds that nail fit, sound and voice-calling and also feature decent noise canceling, they’re an excellent option.        

Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 FE key specs

• Weight per bud: 5 grams
• 1-Way dynamic driver
• Enhanced active noise canceling and transparency modes
• 3 mics (Samsung Crystal Clear Call technology)
• Bluetooth 5.4
• Battery life: Up to 6 hours with noise-canceling on (single-charge) with three additional charges in the case
• IP54 dust-resistant and splash-proof
• Pinch and swipe touch controls
• Supported audio codecs: SSC (Samsung Seamless Codec), AAC and SBC
• Ear-detection sensors
• Hands-free Google Assistant with Gemini integration
• Support for Galaxy AI Interpreter app
• Auto Switch allows for seamlessly connectivity across Galaxy devices
• FindMy Earbuds feature