One UI 8 could bring some frustrating changes to audio settings

With One UI 8, Samsung is reportedly changing how we configure the “Sound quality and effects” settings on our Galaxy devices. SamMobile notes this interface appears differently when your phone or tablet is connected to a pair of Galaxy Buds compared to when it’s not.

Samsung appears to be embedding controls for the Galaxy Buds right into the system Settings instead of just limiting them to the dedicated Galaxy Buds Manager or the Galaxy Wearable apps. Therefore, with One UI 8 beta, the menu at Settings > Sound and vibration > Sound quality and effects shows controls exclusively for the earbuds when they are connected.

In contrast, the same menu shows settings for the phone’s speakers (or any other audio devices) when the earbuds are not connected. This essentially means that audio settings for the phone’s speakers are hidden and cannot be tweaked when earbuds — and more specifically, any version of the Galaxy Buds — are connected.

Among the most significant changes, the update replaces system-wide EQ settings with just those for the Galaxy Buds and Dolby Atmos settings with 360-degree audio for the Buds. Here’s a comparison between the menu on One UI 8 (left) and One UI 7.

The change also eliminates the “Custom EQ” settings for certain users, as reported on Reddit by u/dragosslash. We hope this is only a bug, as Android Authority contributor Zac Kew-Denniss confirms Custom EQ is still available with the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro connected.

While one could argue that this change streamlines the audio settings on a Galaxy device running One UI 8, it could also be frustrating when multiple audio outputs are connected to the same Samsung phone.

We couldn’t immediately verify what happens when the speaker is chosen as the audio output while earbuds are still connected.

The reported update comes just days after Samsung updated the interface for its Galaxy Buds Manager app (via X tipster Tarun Vats), grouping similar settings into sections.