Buds 2: ANC not working properly

[Neph]

Hello everyone,

I gifted myself Buds 2 for christmas because I wanted small headphones with ANC. I've already got Anker over-ears with ANC (works great) and while the Buds 2 are quite comfortable to wear, their ANC is just horrible:

I know that I can't expect TWS ANC to be as good as over-ear ANC but it barely does anything! On the train it only gets rid of the low background noise but the actual rumbling doesn't change at all. Car sounds (as a pedestrian) are maybe dampened by 20% (and I'm being really generous). People talking on the train - same as without ANC (my Ankers reduce it by 50%).

I've got rather small ears, so I'm usually using the small tips but the medium ones fit quite well on the Buds 2.

People were raving about the Buds 2's ANC, so what's going on here? Are mine defective (the "passthrough" mode seems to be working fine imo)? Did I maybe miss a setting (e.g. the Ankers have different modes for e.g. office, plaine,...)? Any tips?

[AndrewL]

@Neph: I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing this issue. Does the ANC feel any better when wearing the medium sized tips? Have you tried activating the feature via a long press on the Buds themselves, and via the Galaxy Wearable app on your phone (if applicable)? 

[Neph]

Thanks for replying!

I usually use the S tips for in-ears but the M ones actually fit pretty well on the Buds 2, so I kept those. Haven't tested the L ones yet as they look pretty big.

I use an iPod Touch for music but I set up the Buds 2 via the Wearables app on Android and bound ANC to a long press on the left bud and that's what I use to enable/disable it on iOS too - long press on the right I set to passthrough mode (which seems to work fine), unfortunately you can't just set that to increase/decrease volume because it'll also change the setting for the left one (I wish the controls were a bit more flexible in that regard, as I hate double/triple tapping). At first I thought that it was maybe iOS causing the problem (haven't installed the app on my iPod yet), so I also tested it with Android during the same train ride but no change - no matter if I use the long press or enable ANC directly in the app, it's barely noticable.

[Neph]

Earlier I also tested the large tips in the car: ANC got rid of the low, monotonous background noise but it didn't change anything about the "rumbling" (the actual driving noises), so it's the same as in the train. The radio noises or the driver talking also didn't change in volume (or if they did, it wasn't really noticable). When I turned on passthrough mode I covered a mic with my finger on accident and heard the resulting rustling noise, so at least one mic for each bud isn't covered (aren't there 2 per bud?). Are my buds broken or is the ANC simply that bad?

[Neph]

@AndrewL:

Hopefully tagging worked.

[Neph]

@AndrewL 

Hi again, I just got the Buds 2 back from a Samsung service center I dropped them off at about 2 weeks ago.

The employee said that he updated the firmware but apart from that the ANC works perfectly fine (according to him). I tested the Buds 2 again right outside the shop (it's next to a busy street) and it still doesn't work properly, it barely filtered any of the car noises (only the slight background noise). Do you actually have to turn up the music really loud for it to work? Did the employee just mess up and they're still broken or is the ANC simply that bad?

[AndrewL]

@Neph: While ANC is great for filtering out background noise, you'll still be able to hear environmental noise when you're near a busy road. Have you had a chance to try them out in other locations, with ANC both on and off, to see if you notice the difference? 

[Neph]

@AndrewL 

Thanks for the prompt reply!

I know that ANC (at least affordable ANC) can't filter everything but the Buds 2's ANC is still much worse than that of my Anker over-ear headphones (which are half the price) - and I'm not talking about headphones in my hand vs. headphones in my ears with ANC on but about a comparison between ANC vs. no ANC, both while wearing the headphones.

I tested the Buds 2 as a pedestrian next to a busy road (maybe 20% dampened, probably not even that), on the train, in the car, in front of the TV and even in front of a running water faucet. What I noticed:

Without music and ANC off there's a weird, constant low background noise that I can't hear if I take the buds out (or while wearing regular headphones). ANC gets rid of that background noise and turning on music also drains out that noise (even with ANC off). On the train, in the car or in front of the TV there isn't much of a difference between no ANC vs. ANC on with the Buds 2. When it was quite cold a couple of weeks ago and the bus had the heating on, the Buds 2's ANC even made that heater noise louder (which really shouldn't happen).

My Anker headphones filter almost all of the "driving" sounds, like the usual wheel-against-road noises or the rattling on the train and in front of the TV the volume is a bit lower. My Ankers don't really do anything about running water but, and that's a weird thing: If I enable ANC on the Buds 2, while the water is running, then there's a high water sound in the left bud but only if it's the bud that's closer to the water, as if it's overlaying the actual water sound with something that's missing the lower frequencies.

[Saud_]

In my experience, I felt like the Buds2 has ENC rather than ANC because the ANC does a terrible job cancelling out noise. Could be the last time I’d buy a Samsung product.

[Rone]

@Saud_ Same here. Not satisfied en probably the last time I bought a Samsung product (for various reasons). 

Right now I'm just testing the buds in my room and I'm trying different things, but I don't hear any difference. It doesn't matter if NC is on or off, I don't hear any noise suppression. I wonder if they're going to help on the plane - which is what I bought them for. 

Also, on the PC they're almost useless. Input volume is too soft and output volume is barely OK. Meaning, I still need another headset.

Edit: I've tried all tips, but went back to medium and since I've got a hang of how to put them in your ear they now fit perfectly right away (hope I can do this every time). But when they do fit well (also according to the app), I can hear my heartbeat and when I turn on NC I hear it less clearly. So let's see how well they do inside an airplane.