Anker’s Soundcore Liberty 4 true wi-fi earbuds are the model’s most feature-rich thus far. The stem-toting product brings a bunch of upgrades over the audio maker’s wonderful Liberty Air 2 Professional earbuds on the similar agreeable value level. The Liberty 4 begins under $150 earlier than different offers and reductions.
The substantial Liberty 4 upgrades embrace a sleeker design, improved ergonomics, longer battery life, and upgraded audio {hardware} with assist for spatial audio and Hello-Res audio streaming, to call a number of. The last-mentioned bits have been unavailable on the Liberty Air 2 Professional, making the sequel significantly thrilling.
With the Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Professional being amongst our favourite earbuds since their early 2021 debut, I put the Liberty 4 via its paces for a number of weeks to find if it’s a worthy follow-up. Right here’s all the things you might want to know in regards to the buds’ design and efficiency.
SCORES
Sound: 8/10
Consolation: 9/10
Design: 8/10
Battery Efficiency: 8/10
General Rating: 8/10
Soundcore Liberty 4 at a Look
- Nice sound that’s tailor-made to your listening to
- Modern and simple to make use of
- As much as 9 hours of battery life
- IPX4 water resistant
SOUNDS: 8/10
Sound-wise, the Liberty 4 earbuds ship the most effective expertise for the cash (and barely past). Every bud packs a pair of finely tuned dynamic audio drivers. Mixed with assist for the audiophile-grade LDAC audio codec, the last-mentioned setup permits the Liberty 4 to supply a sonic expertise with unbelievable constancy.
The Soundcore app, as common, affords many instruments for customizing the sonic expertise. These vary from a double-digit quantity of presets for numerous music types and different audio content material varieties to creating your profile through a graphic equalizer. The default Soundcore Signature setting will deal with you to an entertaining sound with a barely boosted low vary.
A standout characteristic of the Soundcore Liberty 2 Air Professional earbuds, HearID is unsurprisingly obtainable on the Liberty 4. You may tailor the earbuds’ sound to your precise listening to by finishing a fast and simple take a look at within the Soundcore app.
In contrast to numerous rivals of their value vary, the Liberty 4 earbuds may ship an immersive spatial audio expertise, courtesy of an onboard algorithm and built-in gyroscopes for dynamic head monitoring. The performance has music and video modes — you possibly can toggle between them within the companion app.
Enabling spatial audio on the Liberty 4 is enjoyable, particularly in video mode. Nevertheless, the expertise isn’t any match for what Apple’s AirPods Professional and the Beats Match Professional earbuds can provide on this division.
The LDAC codec talked about above is out there on Android telephones, and you might want to allow it within the Soundcore app. Whereas testing the Liberty 4 with a Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely and a Sony Xperia 5 IV, I had the characteristic completely on. The degrees of element I heard in my go-to take a look at tracks — from classical with elaborate instrumentals to bass-heavy downtempo — continuously made me really feel like I used to be rocking out with pricier earbuds.
Except you might be prepared to half with significantly more money on a set of Sony earbuds such because the WF-1000XM4 or the LinkBuds S, to call a few noteworthy merchandise, you’ll be hard-pressed to expertise extra detail-rich sound than the Liberty 4’s.
The noise cancellation of the Liberty 4 is environment friendly and wonderful for an under-$150 product, however not on the identical degree because the silence generated by the likes of the AirPods Professional and the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II, to call a few dearer big-name rivals. The earbuds efficiently eliminated the visitors din from the close by fifth Avenue throughout outside work classes in Central Park. In my giant open workplace, the Liberty 4 helped me focus by tuning out the keyboard clatter and the fan noise within the house.
The efficiency of the Liberty 4 earbuds was stellar throughout phone, FaceTime, and Zoom calls. Six microphones and an AI-powered algorithm helped individuals hear me clearly throughout rush-hour outside calls. Bluetooth 5.3 — probably the most up-to-date model of the connectivity normal — allowed the Liberty 4 earbuds to reliably keep simultaneous hyperlinks with a number of telephones and a MacBook Professional.
COMFORT: 9/10
The Soundcore Liberty 4 earbuds are light-weight and exceptionally cozy. Their proprietary dual-layer ear suggestions are simply as spectacular. I spent hours with the earphones with out feeling drained from carrying them.
I tip my hat to Anker for ditching the finicky contact controls for extra dependable squeezable stems within the Liberty 4 earbuds. The textured end of the discreet buttons makes controlling the audio playback, adjusting the amount, and taking calls simple, together with throughout exercise classes. The app-customizable setup is among the finest within the enterprise.
DESIGN: 8/10
The Soundcore Liberty 4 earbuds have the same form because the Liberty Air 2 Professional, however a extra compact construct. The buds’ stems have a shiny end, giving them a sleeker, extra high-tech look. You may order the product in black, white, blue, and pink with an identical storage case.
An industry-wide IPX4 ranking for water resistance makes the Liberty 4 earbuds appropriate for exercising like most rivals.
What puzzles me most in regards to the design of the Soundcore Liberty 4 earbuds is their built-in coronary heart charge sensor which requires creating an Anker account to operate. I’ve been utilizing the earbuds for months and didn’t really feel the necessity to faucet into this performance. My Apple Watch — or some other health tracker — might be higher and extra helpful for this.
Aside from as a result of it merely might, I can’t consider another excuse Anker added this characteristic to the earphones. I’d have most popular that the tech large skipped it to make the Liberty 4 much more reasonably priced.
BATTERY PERFORMANCE: 8/10
You may count on as much as 7 hours of battery life from the Soundcore Liberty 4 with noise cancellation. Alternatively, the extra processing that the spatial audio requires will want a charging session after about 5 hours. Disabling each options bumps up the buds’ battery life to 9 hours.
The compact storage case of the earbuds holds somewhat over two extra full costs for as much as 28 hours of wi-fi sound. The accent is appropriate with wi-fi chargers.
WRAP-UP: 8/10
The Soundcore Liberty 4 earbuds are convincingly among the many finest for the cash. In case you are looking for stem earbuds on a sub-$200 price range, you might want to have the product in your shortlist of choices, particularly in case you have an Android telephone. The earbuds’ design, high-fidelity sound, and stable battery life are price investing in.
In case you are an iPhone consumer questioning when you ought to decide the Liberty 4 over the third-generation AirPods, keep in mind that the previous will get you noise cancellation and longer battery life whereas being simpler in your pockets. The AirPods are a greater choice when you use your earbuds with a number of Apple gadgets (e.g., iPhone, iPad, Mac, and many others.).
Store Soundcore Liberty 4
