Anker’s new earbuds have the best call quality I’ve ever heard

Soundcore, Anker’s audio brand, has lived mostly in the budget to mid-range world, but with the new Liberty 5 Pro earbuds, it’s targeting the big gamers. The two new earbuds – the Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max – use Anker’s new earpiece And so chipwhich has more processing power than previous Soundcore earbuds to try to compete with the chips found in Apple, Sony, and Bose products. This extra processing power gives Liberty 5 Pro the best call noise cancellation you’ve ever heard any earphones.

Previously, Soundcore earbuds were more expensive (not counting… Sleep buds) The Liberty 4 Pro was $150, but the Liberty 5 Pro is $170 and the Liberty 5 Pro Max is $230. This gets into AirPods Pro 3 territory. Price differences within a product line usually mean different earphone designs, such as open ear AirPods 4 headphones with ANC vs. sealed AirPods Pro 3. But the Liberty 5 Pro and 5 Pro Max earbuds are exactly the same. They have the same chipset, 9.2mm drivers, microphone array, ANC performance, voice profile, battery life, IP55 rating, and general features. The only difference is the case.

The 5 Pro case has a 0.96-inch TFT display on the front that can be used to change settings like ANC, audio profiles, talk to chat, and Dolby head tracking. Everything that can be done on the screen can be done in the Soundcore app as well, so it’s just a preference if you want to take out your case or phone.

The 1.78-inch AMOLED display of the 5 Pro Max case is located on the sliding top. In addition to the 5 Pro’s case capabilities, you can adjust the screen brightness or change the wallpaper, as well as access a feature that sets the 5 Pro Max apart from its less expensive sibling: the microphone and an AI note-taking app. You can record audio directly to the clipboard, which has 357MB of storage, and then transfer it to your phone where you can create a transcript and summary in the Soundcore app. (Requires a Soundcore account.)

The file can be edited in the Soundcore app or exported (audio as MP3, text and summary as .txt, Markdown, .docx, or PDF). Transcription can differentiate between different speakers and in my testing I found it to be very accurate, both with who was speaking and what they were saying. If you’re someone who needs to record classes or meetings regularly, this is a useful feature, especially since it doesn’t require your headphones. But aside from the larger screen, it’s the only major thing that sets the 5 Pro Max apart from the 5 Pro.

The earbuds look similar to the Bose Ultra Earbuds with a wide, chunky outer body, but they don’t feel that way in the ear. Unlike the bulbous body of the Bose, the Liberty 5’s body slims down, allowing for a better fit while also making it easier to grip. They are comfortable and feel very secure, and I was never worried about them falling over, even when jumping.

Out of the box, the Liberty 5’s voice coil is on the bass side, causing vocals — especially male vocals — to sound muddy. The snare hits sound dull and there is a missing luster from the high end sounds. By selecting your favorite audio clip setting from a series of seven examples, you can fine-tune the earbuds to your preferences (there’s also an 8-band equalizer if you prefer to use that). The issues I had with the default Soundcore profile have been fixed. There’s still good bass response, but the lower mids have been cleaned up and the high mids have been boosted a bit, causing the sound to open up completely. Nick Drake’s acoustic guitar on “Pink Moon” shines more, as do the piano’s octaves, and the lower register of the guitar doesn’t swallow up his sound when he drops his voice at the end of the chorus’s vocal line. Compared to the AirPods Pro 3, my Soundcore was still heavier in terms of bass and didn’t have the same high-end response, but I enjoyed listening to music just as much. The Liberty 5 Pro supports LDAC for high-resolution audio from devices that use the codec.

The adaptive noise cancellation performance is comparable to the AirPods Pro 3, and at $80 less, which is great. The Liberty 5 Pro allows a little more midrange than the AirPods, but that’s a very minor difference. They handle low drones brilliantly and will work well for longer flights.

The most notable feature of the Liberty 5 Pro series is its voice calling capability. I’ve never heard a pair of earbuds or headphones handle ambient noise during a call so well. One time, my overly excited 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 any of it. During another call, arborists fed tree branches into a wood chipper just outside our apartment’s open window. The person on the other end has no idea.

I have a friend who is also an audio reviewer, and I call him regularly to test call clarity on my headphones and earbuds. He couldn’t remember the last time you looked normal during a call. This was while a bunch of traffic was passing by, with some emergency vehicles, as I was walking through the neighborhood. To see how they compared to the AirPods Pro 3, I was swapping earbuds without telling him what I was wearing, and he kept saying that the Apple earbuds sounded muddier and more compressed.

The Liberty 5 Pro headphones feature a voice control mode that responds quickly, although it’s inconsistent when there’s a conversation going on around you. I tried switching between the noise cancellation modes while my wife was on a Zoom call in the same room, and if she was talking I would need to speak uncomfortably loudly for the modes to change. What’s interesting – and a little worrying – is that there’s no need for a wake word. Instead of just hearing the activation phrase, it listens for 11 different possible phrases, including “play music,” “volume up,” “reject call,” and “transparency mode.”

For call clarity alone, the Liberty 5 Pro series is a great step forward. If you mainly use the earbuds for making calls, these are the best earbuds you can get. While the AI ​​recording and transcription in the Liberty 5 Pro Max’s box is interesting, unless you need it regularly, there’s no reason to spend an extra $60 on the Liberty 5 Pro. They have the same ANC performance, the same sound profile – which is really good after using the customization questionnaire – and the same amazing call quality. It may be $170 more than what Soundcore earbuds have been in the past, but the improvement is worth it, and if you’re not interested in sticking with Apple, Google, or Samsung’s systems, the Liberty 5 Pro is an excellent option.

Photography by John Higgins/The Verge