Soundcore, Anker’s audio brand, has mostly been in the budget-to-midrange world, but with its new Liberty 5 Pro earbuds, it’s taking aim at the big guys. The two new earbuds – the Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max – use Anker’s new Thru chip, which has more processing power than previous Soundcore earbuds to try and compete with the chips found in Apple, Sony and Bose products. And that extra processing power gives the Liberty 5 Pro the best in-call noise cancellation I’ve heard. Any Earbuds.
Previously, the highest-priced Soundcore earbuds (not including the Sleep Buds) were the Liberty 4 Pro at $150, but the Liberty 5 Pro are $170 and the Liberty 5 Pro Max are $230. That’s reaching into AirPods Pro 3 territory. Price differences within a product line usually mean different earbud designs, like the open-ear AirPods 4 with ANC versus the sealed AirPods Pro 3. But the Liberty 5 Pro and 5 Pro Max earbuds are exactly the same. They have the same chip, 9.2mm drivers, microphone array, ANC performance, sound profile, battery life, IP55 rating, and overall features. The only difference is the matter.
Good
- incredible call quality
- great anc
- utility case screen
bad
- Need to change default sound profile
The Case 5 Pro has an angular 0.96-inch TFT screen on the front that can be used to change settings like ANC, sound profiles, speak-to-chat, and Dolby head tracking. Anything that can be done on the screen can also be done in the Soundcore app, so it’s just a preference if you want to take out the case or your phone.
The 1.78-inch AMOLED screen for the Case 5 Pro Max sits on its sliding top. In addition to the 5 Pro Case’s capabilities, you can adjust the screen brightness or change the wallpaper, as well as use a feature that sets the 5 Pro Max apart from its less-expensive sibling: a microphone and an AI note-taking app. You can record audio directly into the case, which has 357MB of storage, then transfer it to your phone where you can generate a transcription and summary in the Soundcore app. (This requires a Soundcore account.)
The file can be edited in the Soundcore app or exported (audio as MP3, and transcript and summary as .txt, Markdown, .docx, or PDF file). The transcription can distinguish between different speakers and in my testing I found it to be very accurate, both with who is speaking and what they are saying. This is a useful feature if you’re someone who regularly needs to record classes or meetings, especially because it doesn’t require you to have headphones on. But other than the bigger screen, that’s the only major thing that separates the 5 Pro Max from the 5 Pro.
The earbuds look similar to the Bose Ultra earbuds with a wide, thick outer body, but they don’t feel the same in the ear. Unlike Bose’s bulbous housing, the Liberty 5’s housing tapers off, making them a better fit as well as easier to hold. They are comfortable and feel very secure, and I never worried that they would fall off, even while jumping around.
Out of the box, the Liberty 5 sound profile is on the bassy side, making vocals – especially male vocals – sound muddy. Snare hits sound dull and high-end sounds lack sparkle. By choosing your favorite sound clip tuning from a range of seven examples, you can adjust the earbuds to your preferences (there’s even an 8-band EQ if you want to use it). This fixed my problems with Soundcore’s default profile. There was still good bass response, but the lower mids were cleaned up and the high mids were boosted slightly, opening up the overall sound. Nick Drake’s acoustic guitar in “Pink Moon” shimmers more like piano octaves, and his voice is not swallowed up by the lower guitar register as his voice lands at the end of the chorus vocal line. My Soundcore profile was still heavy on bass and didn’t have the same high-end response compared to the AirPods Pro 3, but I enjoyed listening to my music just as much. The Liberty 5 Pro supports LDAC for high-resolution audio from devices that use the codec.
The adaptive noise-canceling performance is on par with the AirPods Pro 3, and for $80 less, which is great. The Liberty 5 Pro fall a little higher into the midrange than the AirPods, but it’s a very small difference. They handle low-end drones efficiently and will work well for long flights.
However, the most notable feature of the Liberty 5 Pro series is its voice call capability. I’ve never heard any earbud or pair of headphones handle ambient noise so well on a call. Once, my overzealous son sang and screamed while jumping up and down in front of me, and the person on the other end of the call didn’t hear a thing. During another call, arborists inserted tree branches into a patch of wood right outside our open apartment window. The person on the other end had no idea.
A friend of mine is also an audio reviewer, and I call him regularly to test call clarity on headphones and earbuds. He couldn’t remember the last time I sounded natural on a call. And this was when I was walking in the neighborhood, a bunch of traffic with some emergency vehicles passing by. To see how they compare to the AirPods Pro 3, I’d switch earbuds without telling them what I was wearing, and they consistently said the Apple buds sounded muddier and more compressed.
The Liberty 5 Pro buds have a voice-control mode that responds quickly, though it’s not consistent when there’s a conversation going on around you. I tried to toggle between noise cancellation modes while my wife was on a Zoom call in the same room, and I would have to speak uncomfortably loudly to change modes if she was talking. What’s interesting – and a little disturbing – is that no wake-up words are required. So instead of just hearing one activation phrase, it’s hearing 11 different possible phrases, including “play music,” “turn up volume,” “reject call,” and “transparency mode.”
For call clarity alone, the Liberty 5 Pro series is an impressive step up. If you primarily use your earbuds for calls, these are the best earbuds. While the AI recording and transcription on the Liberty 5 Pro Max case is interesting, unless you need it regularly, there’s no reason to spend an extra $60 on the Liberty 5 Pro. They have similar ANC performance, similar sound profile – which is really good after using the customization questionnaire – and the same incredible call quality. $170 may be more than previous Soundcore earbuds, but the improvement is worth it, and if you’re not concerned about staying in Apple, Google, or Samsung’s ecosystem, the Liberty 5 Pro are an excellent option.
Photography by John Higgins/The Verge
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