SoundcoreLiberty 4 Pro by Anker, Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds, 7-Sensor and Real-Time Adaptive Noise Cancelling, 2× Faster Charging, Studio-Level Hi-Fi Music, Clear Calls with 6 Mics and AIClimatePartner certified

Background: I’m in my mid-60’s and have been loving listening to music my whole life. I still use my Akai turntable from high school! My “main driver” speakers are Bose 901s. I have other NC headphones, Bose QuietComfort and Sony WH1000XM3. But sometimes I want earbuds. I have a pair of JBL Tune 125TWS earbuds, which are fine but not NC. I use Spotify, PowerAmp (Android), Plex/PlexAmp. I have digital music encoded from low-bitrate MP3 to FLAC and DSD.I had a vacation recently where I would be flying and beach/poolside and wanted a decent pair of ANC earbuds. I considered the Sony WF-1000XM5 based on my experience with the around-ear cans, but decided to do some research. The Soundcore Liberty 4 Pros had quite a bit of buzz, so I bought a pair via Amazon.The Good/Great:Great sound, period. Best earbuds I’ve ever used and definitely rival the around-ear headphones I’ve used. Full range, good bass, impressive volume.The ANC (active noise cancelling) is very effective. You have a 10-step control between “very transparent” = boosts the outside noise so you can keep the buds in your ear but hear MORE of what’s around you and “full ANC” which gives maximum noise cancelation.I had two cases of wanting the ANC active, two flights and one “poolside”. On the flights I activated the “flight mode” in the app. This pushes the ANC to the max AND uses a barometric sensor in the buds to compensate for changes in pressure in the plane. It’s hard to tell how well that works, but the sound was great throughout the flights.For “poolside”, I was at a resort that played music through pretty powerful speakers around their main pool. But when I was wearing the buds with ANC active, they did a good job blocking the speaker noise!Overall, I think ANC is a great feature, especially if you travel by air! It’s worth going with ANC headphones if you do!Calibration Feature: The app (highly recommend) lets you set a variety of sound “profiles”/equalizations. One option will step you through a hearing test. It takes about 10 minutes but is very much worth it. In my case, I know I have some high-frequency hearing loss in my left ear. The Soundcore hearing test detected this (so do a very expensive doctor…!) and built a custom equalization based on the findings. That profile REALLY improves the music playback! I can switch between the custom profile and a standard profile and really tell the difference. For me, that alone is worth the purchase!Also, during the sound / hearing test, the process will detect "sound leakage" due to the earbuds not sealing properly in your ear. This did happen to me but after some slight adjustments I got passed it. The point is that they take care to ensure the testing is very accurate and that you are getting a truly accurate profile generated.Comfort: Overall, the buds are very comfortable to wear. I had them in for most of two 3+ hour flights and had no discomfort. The buds stayed in without any problem. I was using the provided ear tips.Controls: I was skeptical at first, but the controls on these earbuds are great. It is subtle, but there is tactile feedback when “squeezing” the stems to pause/resume/skip, etc. I quickly learned how to precisely control the output. My Sony cans have “gesture” based controls which work, but sometimes are mis-interpreted. These Soundcore earbuds are give more control in a much smaller package.Case: The charging case is great but takes some time to get used to. The case charges quickly and gives good feedback about case charge level and/or earbud charge when they are in the case. Battery life is good. After each almost 4 hour flight the buds had about 64% charge remaining. And popping them into the case would have topped them off quite easily.The Not So Good: These are very minor issues I had only with my first period of usage. First, the size and shape of ear tips impact the use of the charging case. The provided tips work well, but I tried some other tips and they were too “big” and the case wouldn’t fully close with the buds inside. So if you use 3rd-party tips, note that you may have issues using the case and therefore charging.Another issue I had at first was that I was trying to put the buds in the case incorrectly and so they weren’t charging or connecting (eg: for a firmware updated). But I quickly realized the problem and learned the proper way to position the buds.Overall, I highly recommend these earbuds. The price is really great for what you get.

The original Liberty 4s (not the NCs) were absolutely the most comfortable things ever in my ears but the sound was atrocious and the bells and whistles gimmicky . So much so I skipped the NCs as so many reviews said the sound was close to the same . No thank you. I'd pretty much given up on anything new from Anker until I saw these and looked up tons of reviews , many of which direct vs the Liberty 4 og . My real life experience is close to what I'd read . The dogs were 100 out of 100 for comfort and fit , these are 90ish but only because I have a weird sized left ear canal that even the XL in this isn't quite large enough . It stays ok but not super like the ogs do . The app compensates for the sound leakage (a VERY cool feature btw ) but it moves when I'm being very active and it feels like it's gonna fall out .Maybe it's the 3 firmware updates I got while setting things up but after 5 hours of listening the right bud had dropped from 80% to 10% and the left had dropped from 80% to 60% . A huge drop as well as imbalance of battery usage . ANC off , LDAC on . Maybe other features are using battery as well .The app is a hoot to use but honestly I still like the Tozo app better .Anker has done a huge improvement in ANC quality but I don't like the slide to decide which one to use . Transparency mode absolutely SUCKS . It might as well not even be on . I make up for it with easy speak though . That feature is great and I'm not having much trouble with false mutes except when I yawn .I was excited when I read the volume could be controlled by slide while the rest of the actions controlled by squeeze . I absolutely love the squeeze of the ogs but could see how volume sliding might be an improvement . I'll never know because the slide on these is so hit and miss , even after the last update that was supposed to address this , I changed the single squeeze from off to volume on both sides . I'll slide 1st and if it's being finicky just squeeze instead . I would like the volume of the cracking sound when squeezing to be adjustable like the ogs do .Now to the sound . I started with Anker with the Liberty 2 Pro+ and those things are THE benchmark for sound quality I use against everyone else , no matter the price . I'd read the og 4 was capable of close sound except for the low end bass . WRONG!! They sound horrible except for mid range bass is compressed and distorted , highs harsh and distorted . Now when I read the NCs were very similar in sound I went the way of Ear Fun instead , picking up a pair of Air Pro 4s . They sound amazing . Back to the Liberty 4 Pro . They are soooo close to the Liberty 2 Pro+ , meeting every aspect to a T except the mid bass . I can't quite get that "you're there in person " realism on orchestra music but they sound incredibly life like anyway . If sound quality is what you seek , these should impress .The super duper fast charge is a game changer and so is the touch bar on the front of the case . I'd probably use that more if they added more options to what I can do from the case .I didn't find the shininess of the cover to be a turn off but I got a glow in the dark silicone case anyway . I may just use the bottom and only use the top of the case gets scratched up or I get over being smitten by the see through cover .I haven't tried wireless charging off the case yet as it was full when I got it . The magnets holding the buds in the case are very strong , akin to the ogs superb hold .The range is back the usual Anker more than advertised distance on my Note10+ , something I'd gotten used to missing with my AirPro4 , which was a good 10-15 feet less and more susceptible to no line of sight breaking up and buffering . Time will tell who has better overall battery life .Anker missed a huge boat with their release of the Liberty 4 but they've more than made up for it finally with the 4 Pro .

Excellent ear buds! I love Anker and their products. I've been a huge fan since trying their products, which are top notch for the price, and having a wireless charger not work and they reached out to me to get me a replacement after leaving a bad review of the product. They sent me a new one at no cost and it arrived very fast. Their customer service is top notch and has made me a loyal customer.On to the cons for these ear buds... and the cons are the case... 😬 The satin finish makes it difficult to hold, like a wet bar of soap. The sliding action of the cover is difficult to actuate, due to the satin finish, without dropping. The slide bar for adjusting the noise-canceling/normal/transparency is a HUGE pro for these! It's a nice bonus to using the app for quick adjustments without having to get your phone out, unlock it, and launch the app.The value for the cost is good, but I'm going to break and destroy these because I can't hold the charging case from the slippery finish/awkward slide ergonomics...4/5 would recommend, just hope they get the feedback about the difficulty in opening the case and fix it for the next model...