As the summer of sound continues we get to try out a pair of true wireless earbuds from Anker’s Soundcore section. This isn’t their first time in this arena as we checked out the 48+ hours of battery life on the Zolo Liberty +. But slimming down the name the profile of the earbuds has been cut down as well. Are the Liberty Air just as good as their predecessor?
Style
Liberty Air are true wireless earbuds meaning no wires. Air will remind you of AirPods with its “pipe style” or dongle design. They come in two colors of white and black with Anker nice enough to provide us with a black pair. With the black you get a glossy paint job with the Soundcore branding on each earpiece dongle. They are simple enough to just pop in your ear. No twisting or anything else needed. The design isn’t flashy or bold as its super discreet which will work for some. They have rubber tips to help fit in your ear and not be uncomfortable after a while.
As for their included casing, its somewhat of a matte black material all the way around. It features three LED lights on the front to advise you of battery life which will light up when you open and close the case. Soundcore branding on top and on the bottom utilizing microUSB charging. Nice thing about the earbuds and casing is they use magnets, so they will pop right into play while placing them inside. This helps alleviate any misaligning and thus no charging.
I been a fan of the Liberty Air case for it being lightweight and small making it easy to slide right in the pocket and thankfully not intrusive. It fits in that extra pocket in my pocket. Between the charge on the earbuds and the case you are slated to get 20+ hours of battery life.
Included with the Liberty Air and Charge Case is various sized Ear Tips and a MicroUSB cable.
Features / Sound
Liberty Air feature Bluetooth 5.0 to give you great range and connectivity. I have wandered around the office with them for a great distance and haven’t experienced any disconnection. Walking around the streets I did have the minor hiccup and cut out here and there. Connection wise soon as you open the case they power on and while pulling them out the case they sync up to my device (using a OnePlus 7 Pro). I think only one or two occasions I had to power them on/off from the earbuds.
Touch Controls are available on each earbud with the right side giving you play/pause/phone answer functionality while the left side is more so for track cycling and voice assistant. They aren’t bad, but I still mostly relied on my smartphone for controls. Right earbud is the master and only one that can be used alone if necessary.
Sound wise they are featuring 6mm graphene drivers like the Zolo Liberty+. Using graphene helps makes the earbuds light and the sound better. On the audio side, Liberty Air sound good but they feel a bit weak in the treble area and while they produce bass it doesn’t seem as strong. But that doesn’t mean they are terrible sounding. They aren’t bad at noise isolation since they pretty much go into the ear and fit snug. They also have IPX5 rating which makes them waterproof but the case isn’t.
Experience
Using them on the daily for a full week has been pleasant. Whether taking some nice hot summer walks or wearing them on my usual train commutes I haven’t experienced much discomfort on them. Occasionally loosing up in my ear but that has more to do with my ears and I just slightly push them back in. I been watching one of my fave shows “Hot Ones” especially with the cursed filled Gordon Ramsay episode and dialogue looks to be mostly on point with no delay which is a major plus.
Verdict
You can’t go wrong with the Liberty Air by Anker. They are lightweight, small, and have a nice battery life giving you 20+ hours. They are also comfortable with its rubber tips. Touch controls are a bit finicky and I rather rely on my smartphone. Sound is decent, but it isn’t mind blowing. But the major thing with these is their price point. They are under $100 with a $79.99 price tag. If you are looking for a Apple AirPods alternative for half the price Anker might have something for you.
