Are you tired of my earbud mantra yet?

"It's all about the fit. It's all about the fit. It's all about the fit."

Yes, I keep repeating myself - but the more earbuds I review, the more true it becomes, especially at the premium end of the price range.

You can promise all the battery life, noise cancellation and lossless audio you want; it all comes to nothing if one of your buds bobbles out, bounces across the pavement and disappears down a drain. (My worst fear)

So it's just as well Samsung has got the most important thing right with its latest.

Like the Buds3 Pro and the more recent (and more budget-friendly) Buds3 FE, this year's Galaxy Buds4 Pro have stuck to what I call the hybrid form-factor of sealed, in-ear combined with a stem, or what Samsung calls, "The Blade."

The blade lit up last year, which everyone thought was a bit silly, given you can't see it when you're wearing them. So the blades don't do that anymore. Instead, they are an all-metal, brushed aluminium finish, to match the White, Black or online-only Pink Gold of the rest of the Buds and their charging case.

The case itself has a certain flair to it, sporting a transparent lid, also tinted to match. The most important thing about it though - well, to me, anyway - is wireless charging. Of course. If the Galaxy Buds4 have a weak point, it's the battery life. 6 hours with ANC activated, with another 20 in the case is good - but not top of the class. However, when you can just bung the case down on a wireless charging pad and be back to 100% in next to no time, that battery life equation becomes much less of a hassle.

So let's get my mantra out of the way; yes, the Buds4 Pro fit - very well, in fact.  There are four sizes of eartip to choose from and the stems - sorry, "Blades" - add extra points of contact for stability. These puppies ain't bobbling out anywhere.

The eartips are a more ergonomic, ovoid shape, rather than completely round, which is a design choice we've been seeing several manufacturers moving towards lately. The stem/blade design is something that seems to be gaining dominance too - as are the pinch-and-slide method of controls. Could we be seeing a convergence here? Different brands ending up in the same place after a decade or so of True Wireless earbud evolution? Certainly, Samsung Galaxy Buds have varied wildly in size, shape and functionality over that time.

This actually applies inside as well. There are two separate drivers within each bud, the woofer now larger than ever, thanks to its edge-to-edge design. Somehow, each of the dual-drivers has its own amp in there somewhere and the result is satisfyingly full, rich and powerful.

The Tedeschi Trucks Band has a rocky, punchy, made-to-boogie-to new album out and I've been enjoying listening to it with the Buds4 Pro - particularly tracks like, "Under the Knife" which feature a massive, multi-tracked guitar ensemble, full horn section and a squelchy bass-line that bops its way under your skin in no time. When a busy number is squeezed through speakers as tiny as the ones in a pair of earbuds, the result can often be somewhat muddy and flat.

The exact opposite is true with Buds Pro4.

"Devil Be Gone" starts out in a much more low-key way, Susan Tudeschi's oh-so-soulful voice pouring itself over the keys and bass like molasses. Later, we're treated to duelling guitar solos, mixed left and right, making full use of the Buds4 Pro's ability to place 360 audio in just the right spot.

This can be enabled with head-tracking or not - a feature perhaps more suited to gaming or watching video, when the main action is happening in front of you but you can turn to either side to take in the peripheral sounds head-on.

With Spotify now joining the so-called "lossless streaming" club, high-fidelity listening is more widely on offer than ever, assuming you have the gear to reproduce it. Buds4 Pro utilises the Samsung Seamless Codec (UHQ) in tandem with Bluetooth 6.1 to achieve 24-bit/96kHz audio quality - which is actually a bit better than Spotify currently offers, so there's some future-proofing there.

Although I mentioned pinching and swiping earlier, there are some alternative methods to control the Buds4 Pro - and they're pretty cool. 

To achieve that head-tracking, 360° thing, earbuds like these need certain gyroscopic sensors - which can then be used for interactions with your virtual assistant. If you're paired with a Samsung handset running the latest version of One U.I., you can enable head gestures to accept calls with a nod  - or tell Samsung's digital servant, Bixby "No" by shaking your head.

My Samsung phone hasn't received this update yet, but I've used this feature on a competitor product to good effect.

What was new to me was the Buds4 Pro's ability to understand my spoken commands directly - without Gemini or even Bixby getting in the way.

Want to stop the music? Just say, "Stop the music." Want to turn the volume down? Just say, "Volume down." No wake word required. Now that's genuinely smart. And this adds to my overall impression of the Galaxy Buds4 Pro; there are new features - but many of these are features we've seen on other earbuds. That's not a criticism. It's Samsung being smart enough to adopt certain aspects of earbud design people obviously like and want more of. Maybe one day, all earbuds will be pretty much the same - they'll have great battery life, they'll sound amazing and above all, they'll fit perfectly.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Galaxy Buds4 Pro.