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

Soundcore, Anker’s audio brand, has mostly lived in the budget-to-midrange world, but with its new Liberty 5 Pro earbuds, it’s aiming at the big guys. The two new earbuds — the Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max — use Anker’s new Thus 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 canceling I’ve heard in any earbuds.

Previously, the highest-priced Soundcore earbuds (not counting 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 case.

The 5 Pro case has an angled 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. Everything that can be done on the screen can be done in the Soundcore app too, so it’s just preference if you want to take out the case or your phone.

The 1.78-inch AMOLED screen for the 5 Pro Max case is on its sliding top. In addition to the capabilities of the 5 Pro case, 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: a microphone and an AI note-taking app. You can record audio directly to 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. (It does require a Soundcore account.)

The file can be edited in the Soundcore app or exported (audio as an MP3, and the transcript and summary as .txt, Markdown, .docx, or PDF file). The transcription can differentiate between different speakers and in my testing I found it to be very accurate, both with who was speaking and with what they were saying. If you’re someone who needs to record classes or meetings regularly it’s a useful feature, especially since it doesn’t require your headphones to be in. But beyond 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. As opposed to the bulbous housing of the Bose, the Liberty 5’s housing slims down, allowing for a better fit while also making them easier to hold onto. They’re comfortable and feel very secure, and I was never concerned they would fall out, even when jumping around.

Out of the box, the Liberty 5 sound profile is on the bassy side, causing vocals — especially male vocals — to sound muddy. Snare hits sound dull and there’s sparkle missing from high-end sounds. By choosing your favorite sound clip tuning from a series of seven examples, you can adjust the earbuds to your preferences (there’s also an 8-band EQ if you’d rather use that). It fixed the issues I had with Soundcore’s default profile. There was still good bass response, but the lower mids were cleaned up and the high mids were boosted a bit, causing the whole sound to open up. Nick Drake’s acoustic guitar in “Pink Moon” shimmers more, as do the piano octaves, and his voice doesn’t get swallowed up by the lower guitar register as his voice descends at the end of the chorus vocal line. Compared to the AirPods Pro 3 my Soundcore profile was still heavier on the bass and didn’t have the same high-end response, but I enjoyed my music listening just as much. The Liberty 5 Pro support LDAC for high-res audio from devices that use the codec.

Adaptive noise-canceling performance is comparable to the AirPods Pro 3, and for $80 less, which is great. The Liberty 5 Pro let in a little bit more midrange than the AirPods, but it’s a very small difference. They ably handle low-end drones and will work well for long flights.

The most remarkable feature of the Liberty 5 Pro series, though, is its voice call capability. I have never heard a pair of earbuds or headphones handle ambient noise on a call this well. One time, my very enthusiastic son sang and yelled while jumping up and down in front of me and the person on the other end of the call heard none of it. During another call, arborists fed tree branches into a wood chipper right outside our open apartment window. The person on the other end had no idea.

I have a friend who’s also an audio reviewer, and I call him regularly to test call clarity on headphones and earbuds. He can’t remember the last time I sounded as natural on a call. And this was while a bunch of traffic, with some emergency vehicles, drove past as I walked the neighborhood. To see how they compare to the AirPods Pro 3, I would switch the earbuds without telling him which I was wearing, and he consistently said the Apple buds sounded muddy and more compressed.

The Liberty 5 Pro buds have a voice-control mode that responds quickly, although it’s not consistent when there’s conversation around you. I tried toggling between noise cancellation modes while my wife was on a Zoom call in the same room, and if she was talking I’d need to speak uncomfortably loudly for modes to change. What’s interesting — and a bit disconcerting — is that there’s no wake word needed. So instead of listening for just an activation phrase, it’s listening for 11 different possible phrases, including “Play Music,” “Volume Up,” “Reject Call,” and “Transparency Mode.”

For the call clarity alone, the Liberty 5 Pro series is an impressive step forward. If you mainly use your earbuds for calls, they are the best earbuds to get. 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 the extra $60 over the Liberty 5 Pro. They have the same ANC performance, same sound profile — which is really good after using the customization questionnaire — and same incredible call quality. $170 might be more than Soundcore earbuds have been in the past, but the improvement is worth it, and if you’re not concerned with staying in Apple’s, Google’s, or Samsung’s ecosystems, the Liberty 5 Pro are an excellent option.

Photography by John Higgins / The Verge