Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro evaluation: Great funds earbuds with some enjoyable methods!

A couple of earbuds with charging circumstances that had expanded options dropped in 2024. Some have been gimmicky, whereas others clearly put some thought into making issues sensible.

The Liberty 4 Pro is the latter, and never solely do they sound good, however additionally they offer you some precious controls to your earbuds if you’re in Zoom conferences or simply listening from the desktop and need to management your sound.

Here are my full ideas on the Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro.

Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro: Price and availability

The Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro can be found from soundcore.com and Amazon for $130. You can decide up a pair in Glossy Black, White, and Glossy Light Blue.

The Liberty 4 NC went on sale fairly often, and the Liberty 4 Pro did see a $30 worth drop in the course of the vacation season, so it’s affordable to suppose you’d be capable to get a greater deal in case you’re affected person.

Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro: What I like

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Let’s get proper to it! The sound produced by the Liberty 4 Pros is highly effective! You get a soundstage with headroom to spare, boomy bass, punchy mids, and output that has you not often needing to boost the supply quantity increased than round 65% of max.

Though not the best sturdiness ranking, the Liberty 4 Pro ought to be capable to deal with no matter exercises you throw at them with an IP55 ranking for water and dirt ingress. They ship with Bluetooth 5.3 and LDAC codec assist for hi-res wi-fi audio, together with Spatial Audio assist. You get Easy Chat, which is an audio ducking function that “hears” dialog and lowers the audio quantity so you’ll be able to stick with it a dialog.

There are quite a bit of customization choices on board right here, together with 5 further earbud suggestions within the field, not together with the medium ear suggestions which can be put in by default. The remaining wealth of choices may be discovered within the app. More on that in a second.

Making a case for the “Pro” moniker

The massive advertising and marketing push with this newest iteration of the Liberty from Anker’s Soundcore model is the case. It has some cool options which can be expanded if you use the app. The default is that if you take the earbuds out of their case, you’ll routinely see the battery standing, after which the display screen transitions to controlling ANC.

This isn’t a contact display screen doubtless as a result of it’s so tiny that your finger would cowl the vast majority of the display screen actual property. Instead, you get a contact bar under the display screen to manage the ANC slider.

Going into the app and the Charging Case Settings menu, you’ll be able to activate spatial audio controls, atmospheric ANC standing show, a Find Device function that permits you to ring the case and earbuds independently in case you can’t discover them, and a distant digital camera shutter perform in case your cellphone helps it. My Pixel 9 did assist it and labored flawlessly so long as the digital camera was launched first on the cellphone.

My solely gripe is that with the clear lid shut, you’ll be able to solely management the default setting, ANC. When activated from the app, all different choices can solely be accessed with the lid within the open place.

I’m wondering how many individuals will use the case, although, as a result of you’ll be able to entry ANC and spatial audio choices from Android and iOS widgets. The Find Device performance is probably going the one case perform that’s price pulling the case out for most individuals.

I feel that the case features will likely be most helpful as a desktop distant extension of the app like a smartwatch is, to an amazing diploma, a helpful extension of your cellphone. Unlike your cellphone, you don’t have to unlock the case to entry the default options or these you add to it by way of the app. So, the case sitting in your desktop whilst you’re doing work is the perfect use case for the contact bar and sensible show.

Sound, app, and battery life

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As the Liberty 4 NC did, the Liberty Pro offers you plenty of options for an affordable worth. Battery life is slightly below six hours in my testing at 65% of max quantity on my Google Pixel 9. The good thing is you can get 4 hours of playback time with simply 5 minutes contained in the charging case.

The battery isn’t the one facet that has juice! The energy output is fantastic. On a Pixel 9 and iPhone 16 Pro Max, I not often needed to have the quantity increased than 65%. A pet peeve of mine is Bluetooth earbuds that require me to crank the quantity to the utmost to get strong audio.

For a $130 pair of earbuds and in true Soundcore fashion, the Liberty 4 Pros punch above their weight. They’re undoubtedly tuned for in style music, however their readability and sub-bass extension are pleasant.

Listening to Charles Mingus’ “Moanin’,” you get a really clear sonic image of the superbly layered instrumentation. The horns are crisp, the upright bass is thumping with a deep resonance, and the sparse vocals which can be layered considerably within the background are simply audible.

However, there’s extra moanin’ available. Art Blakey’s model of “Moanin’” is the place you get a way of simply how shiny the Liberty 4 Pro may be because the horns on that composition develop into fatiguing after a bit. As entertaining because the sound profile is, it doesn’t sacrifice something on the increased frequencies.

Listening to different tracks just like the “Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga” from the “Get Out” soundtrack and “Violin Duel” from the “Chevalier” soundtrack showcase the large soundstage of those mid-level Bluetooth earbuds.

Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro: What I do not like

The Liberty 4 Pro is certainly a strong performer, however nothing is ideal. As intriguing because the Smart Display and its performance are, I’m not an enormous fan of the truth that you’ll need to open the case for something apart from the ANC slider possibility. You can see by way of the case, so why need to open it for different features?

Regarding sound high quality, the 4 Pros generally is a bit shiny, so relying on the style, your listening session could develop into a tad fatiguing. Thankfully, if that’s the case, there are EQ choices to assist tamp down that prime finish a bit.

And you will undoubtedly need to play with the totally different sound profiles a bit. Out of the field, the Liberty 4 Pro is unquestionably tuned for in style music, so the sonics are heavier on the low finish and a tad lighter in relation to nuance.

The earlier era Liberty 4 NC has higher noise canceling, so in case you’re asking in case you ought to improve to those, I’d say “no.” ANC isn’t considerably higher with the 4 NC, however it’s sufficient of a distinction, and not using a vital distinction in sound high quality, that an improve is much from crucial.

Last, relying on the match of your ears, the earbud quantity controls might be a little bit of an annoyance. You use a sliding movement on the stems to extend or lower quantity. It works fairly effectively, as do all the different controls, however sliding on the stem may dislodge the earbuds a bit.

Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro: Competition

We noticed some implausible rivals emerge in 2024 within the mid-range noise-canceling earbuds market, so you have got some strong alternate options right here. First, I’d check out each Nothing earbuds, the Nothing Ear (a) and Nothing Ear 2024. The latter totally competes on options with the Liberty 4 Pro, although its case isn’t as “sensible.” They do have higher EQ settings with the flexibility to regulate frequency bandwidth, however it can price you roughly $20 extra.

You even have ‘buds just like the OnePlus Buds Pro 3, the JBL Live Pro 2 TWS, and a shrewd purchase in case you decide up certainly one of Jabra’s “finish of life” Elite 10 (gen 1) or Elite 8 Active earbuds. All are strong rivals to the Liberty 4 Pro, although in case you want the stem fashion, you’ll need to skip Jabra’s merchandise.

Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro: Should you purchase them?

You can buy Soundcore’s Liberty 4 Pro if…

• Super quick charging
• You need Hi-Res Wireless Audio assist
• You desire a case that helps some earbud controls

You should not purchase Soundcore’s Liberty 4 Pro if…

• Top-tier noise canceling is mission-critical
• You aren’t a fan of stem-based contact controls

The Liberty 4 Pro offers you a case that’s bigger than the earlier era Liberty 4 NC, however you’ll need to determine if its options are well worth the enhance in dimension. In each different metric, the expertise you get is kind of good for earbuds within the mid-range market, particularly contemplating that you simply’ll save round $30 in comparison with some rivals.

For strong music replica, nice name high quality, and the flexibility to make use of the case as a desktop extension for controls, it is best to undoubtedly check out Soundcore’s Liberty 4 Pro in case you’re available in the market for mid-range Bluetooth earbuds.