I attempted Samsung’s new Audio Eraser and I am a bit of disenchanted

I really like Google’s Magic Eraser. I’ve been utilizing it since its earliest days when it was completely happy to erase an individual or an object, however it didn’t actually know how one can fill the house. Now, although, Magic Eraser has developed to a degree the place it handles photographs simply and is making an attempt to scrub up the audio in a few of your favourite clips as a part of the bigger Magic Editor umbrella. And, within the tech world, that’s a surefire technique to have a function copied by your closest rivals. So, when Samsung launched its tackle Audio Magic Eraser, referred to as Audio Eraser, I needed to give it a attempt. Right here’s the way it went.

In a phrase, sure. Samsung’s Audio Eraser is nearly an identical to Google’s Audio Magic Eraser, from the way you entry it to the extent of management you may have over your audio. In reality, the 2 even look comparable, segmenting your clip into classes like music, voices, noise, and wind — every of which you’ll be able to regulate individually. And, when you’re like me and might’t take into account your self an audio professional, each modifying instruments provide an Auto button, which can do its greatest to stability the sound for you.

Nonetheless, simply because the broad strokes of Audio Eraser and Audio Magic Eraser are fairly comparable doesn’t imply that they’re direct clones. For starters, Samsung’s Galaxy AI processes its audio on-device, so it is best to be capable to use its Audio Eraser nearly anyplace. That would come in useful when you’re out within the woods and need to improve (or uninteresting) the sounds of nature whereas away from a dependable mobile community. Google’s service, alternatively, makes use of the cloud to course of audio, sending your clips off-device and making the function tougher to make use of with spotty protection.

Sadly, that reliance on the cloud offers Google’s Audio Magic Eraser one other fairly strict limitation: You’ll be able to solely course of clips shorter than two minutes. For most individuals, that received’t matter an excessive amount of — I not often take lengthy telephone movies in my day-to-day life. As an avid climber, even when I report a scamper up the wall, I’m normally to the highest of the issue and again down lengthy earlier than the time restrict, as you’ll see in a second.

Nonetheless, Google’s two-minute countdown makes a few of these particular events in life a lot more durable. Say, for instance, that you just’re headed to a live performance and need to seize a video of your favourite tune, like my colleague Hadlee did when he noticed Model New carry out in 2017. He dutifully held his Lumia 1020 excessive above the group for practically 5 minutes whereas they performed The Boy Who Blocked His Personal Shot, solely to comprehend later how loud and off-key the concertgoer beside him was. Sadly, when he later tried to add the video to Google Photographs for some music magic, he discovered that he may solely cowl one half of the tune at a time.

Samsung’s Audio Eraser, alternatively, doesn’t have that restrict. As a result of every thing occurs on-device, you possibly can add and course of for much longer clips, permitting you to scrub up the tune from begin to end. How properly the completed product seems varies drastically relying on the standard of the unique video, however I’m actually saying there’s an opportunity you possibly can pull off a powerful cleanup. In fact, that additionally means you’ll want a extra highly effective processor to deal with Samsung’s Galaxy AI calls for, which is why Audio Eraser stays a flagship-only function.

Now that you’ve got a fundamental thought of how Samsung’s Audio Eraser works, let’s check it. As you may need guessed, the 2 situations I referenced above are precisely the methods I made a decision to check the AI-powered instrument. Within the curiosity of being thorough, I added Google’s Audio Magic Eraser to the combination for good measure. So, within the clips you see beneath, you’ll get the unique audio, adopted by Samsung’s try at a cleanup, after which adopted by Google’s shot on the identical.

Up first, I made a decision to provide the Galaxy S25 Extremely what I assumed can be a straightforward check. I figured that taking it to an indoor climbing gymnasium would cut back a few of the noise, and capturing instantly from my Samsung flagship would assure ok video high quality. Because it seems, I used to be solely partially right. From a video high quality perspective, my journey up an orange V3 route seems wonderful — it’s sharp, and I keep comfortably within the body your entire time. Nonetheless, from an Audio Eraser viewpoint, I’m a bit of disenchanted.

Within the unique clip, you possibly can simply make out a number of folks chatting within the background and the clattering of somebody dropping a heavy barbell just some seconds in. No large deal, it’s a gymnasium, these items occurs. However, once I let Audio Eraser do its factor, I discovered that Samsung’s remedy made it sound like I used to be listening to every thing with a cup pressed over my ear. The voices have been muffled however not erased, and the clang of the weights gained reverb fairly than softening to a delicate crash. It’s also possible to simply make out the beginning of Caught within the Center with You by Stealers Wheel, which is a superb tune however not essentially the soundtrack I hoped for.

Maybe worse for Samsung is that Google’s Audio Magic Eraser processed the scene a lot better. No, it didn’t fully erase any of the sounds, however it lowered the important thing annoyances I discussed above with out distorting the remaining audio. You’ll be able to as soon as once more nonetheless hear a little bit of the background chatter and the autumn of the barbell, however they’re constantly softer. My solely actual criticism with Google’s remedy, although, is the truth that it couldn’t fairly face the music. It didn’t appear fully certain whether or not to amplify or erase Gerry Rafferty’s vocals, softening the tune at first however bringing it again to full power shortly after.

Regardless of the preliminary stumbles on what I assumed can be a straightforward check, I made a decision to maintain going with each Audio Eraser and Audio Magic Eraser. In spite of everything, I owed it to my buddy Hadlee to see if we may make his Model New recollections sound, properly, brand-new. Sadly, I’d must say that each Google and Samsung had simply as a lot hassle this time round, however they traded strengths for weaknesses.

This time, Samsung’s Audio Eraser ditched its unusual reverb impact, changing it with muffled vocals and instrumentation. At a number of factors, it appears as if the Galaxy S25 Extremely couldn’t distinguish between the cheering followers and the drums, and at round 42 seconds into the clip, it even determined that vocalist Jesse Lacey was a part of the group fairly than standing onstage. Granted, Samsung’s Galaxy AI shortly realized its mistake, bringing Lacey again to full quantity a number of seconds later, however the fixed quantity modifications don’t make the audio any simpler to take heed to.

To its credit score, Google doesn’t mute Lacey partway via its processing, however it falls into the reverb entice that it escaped within the climbing gymnasium. For no matter motive, it doesn’t appear fully assured in decreasing the noise of the group all the way in which, leaving simply sufficient of the annoying, off-pitch fan to Hadlee’s proper aspect for my liking. Keep in mind, that is the consequence with a number of of Google’s sliders turned as little as they’ll go — all the way in which to -100. Had I left a few of them a bit larger, the stability may need been higher, however I’d have stored extra of the group along with sharper vocals, which wasn’t my objective.

So, there you go — a barely underwhelming finish to an initially hopeful experiment. Given my love for the usual Magic Eraser (and Samsung’s Object Eraser), I assumed the video model can be additional alongside. I understand that feeding an eight-year-old clip via each my Pixel 9 Professional and Galaxy S25 Extremely may need been asking for a bit an excessive amount of magic, however it doesn’t clarify the same struggles with a video shot natively on Samsung’s most succesful digicam setup.

But, I’m certain that is solely the beginning for Audio Magic Eraser and Audio Eraser. Each Google and Samsung will doubtless improve their erasers quickly, and I’ll simply have to attend patiently for the completed product to get a bit sharper.