Samsung, it's time to make an AirPods Max competitor

I love Samsung’s Galaxy Buds. I’ve owned a lot of them, from the original Galaxy Buds to the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. They have always been my buds of choice thanks to the way they integrate with my Samsung devices, the way they sound, and how comfortable they are. But as much as I love them, I think Samsung really needs to start making an over-ear version to compete with Apple’s AirPods Max.

Greater comfort

Headphones are more comfortable than earbuds, especially for longer sessions. I’m not saying Galaxy Buds aren’t comfortable — I wear my Galaxy Buds 4 Pro for hours every day. Even so, my ears are often sore towards the end, which doesn’t happen when I use headphones. Unless you’re running, working out, or lying down, headphones are more likely to be comfortable.

I find noise cancellation more comfortable, too. You avoid the plugged-up feeling of having something in your ear, and because they cover your whole ear, you get more natural passive isolation from the world around you, and that usually contributes to better active noise cancellation performance overall.

Sitting over your ear is the only way for some users to get comfortable at all. My big Shrek ears manage fine with earbuds, but that’s not the case for my wife. The only earbuds that have ever been close to comfortable for her have been the Galaxy Buds Live, but even then, she could only stand to wear them for an hour or less. Some people have small or differently shaped ears, and for those users, over-the-ear headphones are the only choice.

Better sound

Most of the time, I find that headphones sound better than earbuds. It makes sense; having more space for larger drivers and more powerful hardware will usually lead to richer, fuller sound. If Samsung’s earbuds sound as great as they do, imagine what Samsung could do with headphones.

I’d love to see what Samsung’s audio tuning would be like for headphones as well. While I don’t love that it’s proprietary and only works with Samsung’s phones and tablets, the Samsung Seamless Codec (SSC) sounds fantastic, especially if you have high-quality audio files to listen to. Pairing that with bigger and better hardware could give other headphone makers like Apple a run for their money.

Ecosystem and features

I know there are great-sounding headphones. I’ve been tempted by the Sony WH-1000XM6 many times. The thing is, I don’t use Galaxy Buds purely for the way they sound. Obviously, it’s an important factor, but the features Samsung includes are what stop me from switching to another brand. Samsung is one of the few companies that can rival Apple’s ecosystem. I already have Samsung phones, tablets, watches, laptops, and earbuds in my life. Why not add headphones to the mix?

The voice commands that Samsung introduced with the Galaxy Buds 3 and 3 Pro are something I use every day. Having hands-free control of media playback and volume without having to touch my phone or earbuds is great. That’s on top of the benefits of using Samsung earbuds with other Samsung products, such as automatic device switching.

There’s probably a reason why Samsung hasn’t made any headphones in the Galaxy Buds lineup, and I can’t help but wonder what it could be. They’d be an instant purchase for me, and I’m certain others would love them, too. Until Samsung changes its mind, I’ll need to look elsewhere for headphones, and that’s a shame.