Verdict
With the Liberty 5 Pro, Soundcore is here to compete against big-brand flagships. At £150, this is a pair of earbuds that punches well above its price point, with top-tier ANC, excellent call quality, and a feature-packed case. You get almost everything you find on the pricier Liberty 5 Pro Max in this pair, including that Guinness World Record-winning call quality
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Great voice call quality
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Powerful ANC performance
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Triple-device multipoint connectivity
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Smart touchscreen charging case for easy device management
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Sound is overly bass-heavy by default
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AI sound enhancement is a gimmick
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You need to make some trade-offs between multipoint and LDAC audio quality
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Larger size may not suit everyone
Key Features
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Anker Thus AI chip
Handles noise-cancelling, call clarity and voice commands, without relying on cloud connectivity
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Adaptive ANC 4.0
Adjusts noise-cancelling to your environment, and now includes a clever Adaptive mode
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Smart case controls
Compact case offers control over ANC modes, EQ presets, Dolby Atmos audio, Bluetooth connections, and more
Introduction
Over the years Soundcore has steadily earned a reputation as a company that offers premium features at great value prices, undercutting the big brand names. The Liberty 5 Pro (and the Liberty 5 Pro Max) are the boldest attempts yet to take on the likes of Bose and Sony without matching the high-end pricing.
The Liberty 5 Pro, which succeeds the Liberty 4 Pro from 2024 and the budget Liberty 5 from last year, are on sale for £150 while the Pro Max go for £200. But it’s worth noting that the difference between them is that the Pro Max has a smarter charging case with an OLED screen and AI-powered meeting transcription – the earbuds themselves are identical, meaning you get the same features, calls, ANC, fit, comfort, and battery life from both.
And, even with regular Pro, you’re still getting a case that does more than merely charging the buds. Either pair costs less than Bose and Sony flagships, and now don’t look quite as much like stem-style AirPods alternatives, too, with a shape closer to the Bose QuietComfort Ultra, with stability fins to lock them in place.
Does the hardware live up to the promises? To find out, I’ve spent the last two weeks using these buds at the gym, in the coffee shop, while working from home, while out walking and on real calls.
Design
- The rounded “bean” shape is a departure from Soundcore’s previous designs
- Ear fins in the box, and five eartip sizes
- IP55 water and dust resistance
- Touchscreen on the charging case
As someone who’s used and reviewed countless pairs of Soundcore buds over the last five years, something immediately noticeable about these is that they’ve got a bit more of a visual identity. Previously, you wouldn’t always be able to recognise a Soundcore pair in someone’s ears, but these are unmistakable. They have a curved bean-shape style that’s unlike anything else out there. I’ve been testing them in the Midnight Black shade, and they also come in Pearl White, Rose Gold, and Light Blue colourways.
The closest comparison, design-wise, might be that they look a little like the Bose QuietComfort Ultra lineup, in how they have a little more size to them, but fit quite ergonomically and are lighter than the Bose at 5.5g per bud. They do have a bit more of a shallow fit than Bose, too, and it’s essential to get the right ear tips.
Soundcore offers five pairs in the box, and while I’m usually a default medium size on other brands, I found I needed to size down to small to get rid of friction noise and to get a good seal. The fit test in the app helped, but I also found it told me I have an “excellent seal” on three different sizes!
Getting that proper seal is essential for comfort, sound and noise-cancelling, though, so take the time to get it right. Without the correct size on, I found these uncomfortable, but as soon as I had it worked out and had these “locked in”, I found I could wear them all day long.
That includes at the gym and when walking quickly. The ear fins offer extra stability, which is great, but you also don’t have to use them and can remove them entirely.
Also, the IP55 dust and water resistance should give you some extra confidence that they can face all conditions. That’s not something you can always expect on all buds, too, especially ones at value prices.
When it comes to controls, Soundcore has also switched away from being AirPod-like by ditching the squeeze controls on its Liberty 4 Pro and Liberty 5. Touch controls are back for this flagship. By default, the control system didn’t really make sense to me, though, with nothing programmed to a single tap. You could either try to get used to it, or just fully customise the lot in the app, which I did. Once I had the control system matching the Bose, I found this highly intuitive, and I love that it still has the swipe-up/down for volume control that so many rivals lack.
The last big thing to mention on design is the charging case, which is feature-packed in its own right. It has a small TFT touchscreen on the front, which acts as a control panel for EQ, ANC modes, Bluetooth connections and more. Because it has a display, it is bulkier than a few rivals but not enormous, just a fair bit bigger than AirPods, for example.
It doesn’t deal with playback and notifications like similar screens on JBL earbuds, but it does all I need it to do. I’ve found it useful for changing sound modes and seeing accurate battery levels for each bud (and the case) at a glance. That makes a difference for my specific product tester problem of having multiple sets of buds and needing to check how much battery they have!
Noise-Cancellation
- Adjustable via the case or the app
- New Adaptive mode blends cancellation with awareness
- 8 sensors and the new Thus AI chip for on-device processing
If it weren’t for the Guinness World Record for call quality that Anker is sure to feature in all the Liberty 5 Pro’s advertising, I’d say that the ANC is its most impressive and most marketable spec. It’s a noticeable improvement. You have to make sure you get a good fit, of course. Once you do, this is right up there in the mix with Apple, Bose and Sony for ANC power, and a clear upgrade over previous Soundcore efforts.
I’ve used these on the London Underground, in coffee shops and at the gym. And I conducted controlled ANC tests at home by playing noise at set decibel levels from my soundbar and monitoring the point at which I could no longer hear the discussion in a podcast played at 50% volume. They’ll almost entirely silence the tube noise, but certain screeches and sounds around 80dB will get through, and in other normal scenarios like the office or plane engine noise at just over 70dB, they’re outstanding at nixing distracting sound.
The processing speed of Anker’s proprietary Thus chip is likely a big part of why these feel on the same level as the big brands. They handle continuous low-frequency sounds highly effectively and can reduce background drones and rumbles to near-inaudible levels.
But they have their limits, of course. Less predictable noise will get through, like loud keyboard clacks and coffee machine steam at the cafe. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2 still has the edge thanks to a better passive seal; those fit deeper and physically block out more noise. They also seem to better adapt to sudden spikes in noise.
One thing that’s a great addition here is an Adaptive mode. It’s the “in-between” setting that’s a little bit of a mix of noise-cancelling and background awareness. I think it’s ideal when walking or on the commute, as you get to hear important things around (such as when you’re crossing the road) without having to hear everything.
Also, while the ANC has an option for an anti-wind mode, I’ve struggled to notice the difference with this on or off. The Bose pair does a far better job of rejecting wind sounds.
Features
- Bluetooth 6.1 with SBC, AAC and LDAC
- Triple-device multipoint and offline voice commands that don’t require a wake word
- Top-tier environmental noise-cancellation for calls and voice memos
- Personalised HearID and Dolby Atmos spatial audio
The feature list is outstanding here, not just for £150 earbuds. You get Bluetooth 6.1, great codec support (including LDAC), on-device voice control powered by the Thus chip, and category-leading microphones for voice calls.
One inclusion that really impressed me was triple-device multipoint. To date, I’ve only experienced this on Technics earbuds, and I really like how the case screen displays the number of active connections. Switching between the three devices – my phone, iPad and laptop – was seamless, so this is great for anyone hopping between sources for whatever reason.
The on-bud controls are great, but if your hands are full, it’s great that there are voice commands you can use without always needing a wake word. You just say things like “play music”, “stop music”, “next track”, “volume down”, and it happens pretty much instantly. You have to remember what to say specifically, but that shouldn’t be too hard.
These are very responsive and a worthwhile feature. There are also almost 20 commands to note, not just the 11 shown in the instruction manual – I’ve included the full list of known commands (so far) in our FAQ section.
A trade-off worth knowing is that you can’t use every feature at the same time. LDAC and triple multipoint can’t run simultaneously, for example. Or, if you enable “AI Sound Enhancement”, you can’t use LDAC, Dolby Atmos or voice control. You’ll have to decide which features matter most.
Call quality is a headline feature of the Liberty 5 Pro, and I’m happy to say it lives up to Soundcore’s claims of offering some of the highest possible speech quality among true wireless models.
There’ll be a lot of chat about its world record certification, but testing in real-world situations shows how good this is. I’ve used these to take voice notes in the coffee shop, across the road from ongoing construction work, in the gym, and with simulated train noise at 75dB. And I made a call with them while I had a pair of tower fans blasting on full power, with the recipient unable to hear the loud background noise until I switched back to the laptop microphones! If microphone quality is a priority for you, these are excellent.
Given the long list of capabilities, surely there aren’t many features missing? It’s hard to think of some, but it seems notable that these appear to lack proper LE Audio and Auracast at launch, despite being on the Bluetooth 6.1 spec that supports these. That means, unless they’re added in a firmware update, these may not be future-proofed for using Auracast to share your audio, or to tune into public broadcasts.
It also would’ve been great to see support for using the case as a wireless transmitter, something JBL and Bowers & Wilkins flagships support, so you can beam the audio straight to the earbuds by connecting the case via a cable (handy in a gym, airport, or for use with a vinyl player at home, for example).
Battery Life
- 6.5 hours with ANC on, 10 hours with it off
- Up to 45 hours in total, from the charging case
- Wireless charging supported
- 5-minute quick charge for 4 hours of playtime
These have a competitive but not class-leading battery life. Soundcore states they’ve got 6.5 hours of bud life with ANC active, and get up to 45 hours in total, when you factor in the case. I found they realistically held up for five days of moderate mixed use, but if you use them heavily, they may not get that.
For a battery drain test, I charged the earbuds to 100%, put ANC on, then left a Spotify playlist going (from an iPhone, so not using LDAC) for three hours (with two devices connected in multipoint). The earbud batteries dropped to 40% on one and 44% on the other, something very easy to see thanks to both the in-app battery reporting and the screen on the case. (One worthwhile point: earbuds not reporting identical battery life is typical and shouldn’t be surprising.)
This test suggests they’d last for more like 5 hours of playtime per charge. But what made the difference here was probably that I had smart voice control enabled and a second device connected in multipoint. Anker’s tests also would’ve been done in a controlled lab setting. I’d say this does show you might not get all of the promised battery in reality.
Thankfully, they’re very quick to recharge with a lot of reserve battery in the case. Five minutes in the case delivers four hours of playtime, and wireless charging adds a little bit of extra convenience, too.
Sound Quality
- 9.2mm dynamic drivers and LDAC support on Android
- Preset EQ options via the app
- HearID 5.0 personalised EQ via a hearing test
- Dolby Atmos support and AI Sound Enhancement
By default, these are tuned for bass impact. They have a very prominent thump to them, so they’ll satisfy if you’re after energy in pop, hip-hop and electronic music. There’s a good presence to the midrange for vocals, and I don’t find the treble fatiguing. It’s just that there’s a lot of bass, which is a bit overbearing, straight out of the box. Thankfully, it can be tweaked with the EQ options in the app.
I did take the HearID 5.0 hearing test and the sound preference test, which are intuitive, but I got the best experience with the “Clear Vocals” preset, which tames the bass emphasis. I did a side-by-side comparison with the Liberty 4 Pro after customising both pairs, and couldn’t hear a big difference in performance.
They’re quite similar. Overall, these are decent but can be beaten for sound – there’s more spaciousness and texture in the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 or Technics EAH-AZ100, for example.
I wouldn’t bother with the AI Sound Enhancement feature. It’s a gimmick. I found it produced faint artefacts in music and hollow echoes in podcasts. It’s an extra battery drain that’s best left off.
There’s also Dolby Atmos support, which I got on better with. I like how you can engage this from the case, and it genuinely adds some depth to supported spatial audio tracks that I played in Apple Music – the Atmos mix of Coldplay’s My Universe sounded suitably all-encompassing. Its best use is for films, though, I watched the climactic scenes of Avatar: Way of Water on Disney+ and found that Dolby Atmos with head tracking made it more impactful and immersive.
Should you buy it?
You want feature-packed earbuds at a value price
These tick loads of boxes for versatility. They’re great for commuters, travellers, anyone taking calls in noisy places and those of us after lots of features like spatial audio, multi-device connectivity and a comfortable fit. It helps that they’re one of the best all-around packages at £150, too.
You don’t like to tinker with settings
These reward those who like to tweak things. I found the sound and controls needed changing in the companion app, and that the default ear tips were too large. They’re also not going to offer the most detailed and rich sound at this budget. You can tweak the bass-boosted tuning, to an extent, but you could also just get the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 for about the same price.
Final Thoughts
At this affordable price, the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro impressed me, especially for noise control and call quality. I find the smart case genuinely useful, although it may feel a little bulky to some, and I get a lot of use out of triple-device multipoint connectivity.
There’s a bit of a design shift that may divide existing Soundcore fans who might’ve preferred the “AirPods alternative” look of the brand’s other buds, but I find this new shape comfortable (once you’ve got the right tips) and reliable to control (once you’ve tweaked the touch input to your liking).
Overall, they’re a well-rounded pair of true wireless buds. Sound quality is good rather than great, and I’d only stick with the default Soundcore Signature EQ if you like a strong bass boost. I found some features, like the Anka voice assistant and the AI Sound Enhancement, a bit gimmicky. But the headline features are the call quality and ANC, and these deliver on their high-quality promises in those departments.
While these can’t unseat Bose and Sony flagships in every single category, they’re complete enough to be some of the most compelling earbuds if your budget is £150.
How We Test
The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro were tested over the course of two weeks, with real-world testing, including use on calls, at the gym, and with multiple devices.
- Tested for two weeks
- Tested with real-world use
- Battery drain carried out
FAQs
Yes. The Liberty Pro actually supports triple-device multipoint, which is highly unusual for earbuds at any price. You can stay connected to a phone, tablet and laptop simultaneously, and it switches between devices seamlessly. But, there’s the caveat that you can’t have this level of multipoint enabled with LDAC on. You need to choose between high-res and triple-device connectivity.
With the Anker voice assistant enabled, you can use the wake words “Hey Anker” or “Hi Anker” if the buds don’t respond right away, but, in my testing, I left that off. Many of the following commands seemed to work without a wake word:
“ANC Mode”
“Turn on ANC”
“Activate ANC”
“Transparency Mode”
“Adaptive Mode”
“Previous Track”
“Next Track”
“Volume Up”
“Volume Down”
“Play Music”
“Play Audio”
“Pause Audio”
“Stop Music”
“Stop Audio”
“Answer Call”
“Reject Call”
“Start Translation”
“Start Recording”
“End Recording”
The Liberty 5 model is a budget-tier pair that’s still worth it for solid ANC at a low price, but it doesn’t have the flagship-tier features of the 5 Pro, like the smart touchscreen case, upgraded noise-cancelling, and better calls.
The difference is all in the charging case; the earbuds are identical. The Liberty 5 Pro Max comes with a higher-quality case with more features. The 5 Pro has a narrow TFT touchscreen strip on the front, while the whole lid of the 5 Pro Max is a 1.78-inch AMOLED display that you can add your own wallpaper to. And, it has an exclusive AI Note-Taker onboard. This lets you record meetings, transcribe them, and generate summaries. It’s likely only needed if you’re in several meetings every week and want recordings and recaps.
Full Specs
| Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Review | |
|---|---|
| UK RRP | £149.99 |
| USA RRP | $169.99 |
| EU RRP | €179.99 |
| Manufacturer | Anker |
| IP rating | IP55 |
| Battery Hours | 34.5 |
| Wireless charging | Yes |
| Fast Charging | Yes |
| Weight | 57 G |
| ASIN | B0GWLH8Z7D |
| Release Date | 2026 |
| Audio Resolution | SBC, AAC, LDAC |
| Noise Cancellation? | Yes |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 6.1 |
| Colours | Midnight Black, Pearl White, Rose Gold, and Light Blue |
| Frequency Range | 10 40000 – Hz |
| Headphone Type | True Wireless |
| Voice Assistant | Anka |
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
