TL;DR
Soundcore’s Liberty 5 Pro earbuds arrive with a Guinness World Record for call quality and a touchscreen-equipped case that demands attention. Our testing reveals these buds aren’t just about marketing hype; they deliver crystal-clear calls even in heavy wind thanks to a dedicated AI chip and bone conduction sensors. While the default sound signature is punchy and bass-heavy, the HearID 5.0 app allows for deep customization to suit any listener. The unique case offers quick control at your fingertips, though its bulkiness and screen visibility pose minor trade-offs. With robust IP55 durability and rare three-device multipoint support, these earbuds pack premium features into a surprisingly affordable package. From innovative tech to everyday performance, the Liberty 5 Pro stands out as a serious contender in the crowded wireless audio market. Read our full review to see if these record-breaking earbuds belong in your pocket.
It’s time for a new pair of in-ear headphones from Soundcore, Anker’s audio brand. Over the years, we have tested several different models and are generally very satisfied. The Liberty 5 Pro features a touchscreen on the case, its very own AI chip, and a world record in the Guinness Rekordbok for call quality. Add to that adaptive noise cancellation, LDAC, and Dolby Atmos, and all of this comes at a recommended price of 2,190 SEK.
That’s a lot of promises at once, and world records are all well and good, but how well do they deliver in reality? Let’s find out!
Design and Fit
We’ll start with the fit, as it’s one of the earbuds’ strongest points. The Liberty 5 Pro has moved away from the classic “stem design” in favor of an elongated but rounded design with a small stabilizing wing that rests in the ear. And they are very comfortable to wear. We’ve worn them for hours without any discomfort, and thanks to the wing, they stay firmly in place even during runs and workouts. Five sizes of ear tips are included in the box, so most people should be able to find a good seal. The earbuds are also IP55 rated, meaning they can withstand both dust and water jets, so sweat and a rainy run are no problem.
On the other hand, the shape is a bit of a double-edged sword. It makes the earbuds protrude in a way that looks a bit unusual in the ear, and they probably won’t rank at the top if you’re looking for the most stylish earbuds on the market. It’s a matter of taste, but worth mentioning.
The case is a story in itself. It is well-built and feels solid, but it is LARGE. Soundcore has chosen to build in a small elongated touchscreen on the front where you can see the battery level and quickly switch between sound modes without taking out your phone. It’s a nice touch and actually more useful than you might first think, but at the same time, it doesn’t add a huge amount to daily life. Furthermore, the screen is difficult to read in bright sunlight, so on a sunny day, you often end up picking up your phone anyway. Considering how much the case has swollen to accommodate the screen, we would have liked to see it do a bit more to justify its footprint.
Sound Quality and the App
Each earbud houses a 9.2 mm driver, and they sound good. But—and this is a “but” that always recurs with Soundcore—the default profile is very bass-heavy. It is a crowd-pleasing and clearly V-shaped sound signature where the bass takes up a lot of space.
We fire up James Blake – Limit to your love, and the bass-heavy sections feel truly rich and pack a real punch. However, if we switch to more nuanced and detailed music, it becomes apparent that the bass tends to layer over the mids and highs like a blanket. Here, the comparison with the Huawei FreeBuds 5 Pro, which we tested recently and is in a similar price range, is quite telling. Huawei uses a dual-driver system with a separate woofer and a planar magnetic tweeter, achieving a level of separation and detail that the Liberty 5 Pro, with its single driver, doesn’t quite reach. Additionally, Huawei’s default profile is remarkably balanced out of the box, while Soundcore, as usual, lands in a significantly bassier default state.
But, and it’s important to be clear, the bassy sound is by no means bad. On the contrary, it’s exactly the type of sound that most people want and will enjoy straight out of the box, especially for pop, hip-hop, and electronic music. And the great thing is that you aren’t stuck with the default profile. The app features both a good equalizer and HearID 5.0, a hearing test where you listen to beeps at different frequencies to build a personal sound profile. With a few minutes of tweaking, you can tailor the sound signature exactly to your liking, which significantly elevates the overall experience.
As mentioned earlier, there is support for LDAC, and you can easily toggle it on and off in the app depending on whether you are prioritizing sound quality or battery life and range at the moment. On iPhone, you have to settle for AAC as usual.
The app also includes a feature called AI Sound Enhancement, which is supposed to restore details that would otherwise be lost in wireless compression. However, we weren’t particularly impressed here. We found it hard to hear that it actually added anything, and since it also disables LDAC, Dolby Audio, and voice control when turned on, it quickly became a feature we left disabled. If you want the best possible wireless sound, LDAC is simply the obvious way to go.
One thing that actually stands out positively is the multipoint support. The Liberty 5 Pro maintains a connection to up to three devices simultaneously, such as a phone, computer, and tablet, and you can also configure how the switching should work in the app. Three devices is unusual—most earbuds settle for two—so for those living with multiple gadgets, it’s very convenient. The only catch is that LDAC and three devices cannot be combined. If you want high-resolution audio, you have to drop down to two connected devices.
Active Noise Cancellation (ANC)
The noise cancellation is good. It’s a few steps behind the absolute best on the market, but it removes a lot of annoying background noise. It is primarily low-frequency, monotonous noise that is effectively eliminated, and it is precisely on planes and in public transport, where that type of sound dominates, that it really proves its worth. It significantly muffles the roar and makes the journey much more comfortable. It doesn’t become dead silent, and you can still hear voices and higher-pitched sounds, but it is very respectable. There are several manual levels to choose from in addition to the adaptive mode that adjusts to the surroundings.
Call Quality
And here we come to the earbuds’ true specialty. Soundcore has actually snagged a world record in the Guinness Rekordbok for measured call quality, and no matter how much one should take such records with a grain of salt, this time it holds up in reality as well.
The call quality is exceptionally good, likely the best we have tested, or at least in the absolute top tier alongside the Huawei FreeBuds 5 Pro that we recently reviewed.
A large part of the explanation lies in the hardware. The earbuds are equipped with a total of ten sensors, eight microphones, and two bone conduction sensors, all powered by a dedicated AI chip developed by Soundcore. The chip gives the earbuds enough muscle to run advanced, noise-filtering algorithms directly and quickly, and furthermore, without draining the battery too heavily. The bone conduction sensors measure vibrations from the jawbone when you speak, allowing them to extract your voice even when the microphones are drowned out by ambient noise—exactly the same principle behind the strong call performance of the FreeBuds 5 Pro. And it shows.
A concrete example: one of us at the editorial office stood on a heavily trafficked and very windy bridge and called a colleague. The colleague thought the call was being made from the office. Neither the traffic nor the wind could be heard on the other end. It is unusually strong, and for those who take many calls on the go, this alone is a reason to take a closer look at the Liberty 5 Pro.
Controls
One thing that lowers the overall impression slightly is the controls. The earbuds lack the type of pressure sensitivity where you squeeze the “stem,” which many competitors have. Instead, you control them by pressing the touch-sensitive surface on top of the earbud itself. The problem is that because the earbud sits inside the ear, every time you, for example, change tracks, you push the earbud slightly further into the ear canal. It results in a small “nudge” in the ear with every command, which doesn’t feel optimal in the long run. It’s hard to put into words, but you’d rather squeeze the sides than push the earbud deeper in.
That said, there is a saving grace, and that is the case’s touchscreen. For many commands, like switching sound modes or adjusting noise cancellation, you can simply pick up the case and do it from there instead of touching the earbuds. This doesn’t solve everything, of course—you hardly want to take out the case or your phone every time you pause a song—but it does take the edge off the problem somewhat.
They can also be controlled by voice. The earbuds passively listen for about twenty built-in commands without needing a wake word, and they react quickly. However, a major catch for us Swedes is that at the time of writing, voice control does not support Swedish, only English, German, Japanese, and Chinese. If you want to use it, you’ll have to get used to throwing out commands in English.
Battery Life
The battery life is reasonably okay and roughly matches what the specifications promise. With noise cancellation on, you get around 6 hours from the earbuds and a total of about 25 hours including the case.
That said, considering how massive the case is, we would have liked to see it hold a significantly larger battery. A case this size should provide enough total playtime that you barely have to think about charging it for an entire work week, and it doesn’t quite reach that far. You simply don’t get as much playtime for the size as you do with sleeker competitors.
Fast charging is very good, however; five minutes in the case gives about four hours of playback, and the case supports both USB-C and wireless charging. If you want a full top-up, it takes about 40 minutes to charge the earbuds fully in the case, and approximately 110 minutes to charge the case fully with a cable.
Pro or Pro Max?
It’s worth knowing that the Liberty 5 Pro has a big brother called Liberty 5 Pro Max. Perhaps the most important detail to take away is this: the earbuds themselves are completely identical.
This means you get the exact same experience in your ears regardless of which model you choose:
- The Sound: Same 9.2 mm driver and bass-heavy sound profile.
- The Calls: Same hardware with 8 microphones, dual bone conduction sensors, and the proprietary AI chip.
- Comfort & ANC: Same fit, IP55 rating, and adaptive noise cancellation.
It’s All About the Case
The difference between the two models boils down entirely to the charging case and its software features.
This is where the Pro Max tries to justify its higher price tag:
- Screen Size and Layout: The standard model (Pro) has a smaller, elongated touchscreen. The Pro Max upgrades to a significantly larger, square display that holds more information and has a more easily navigable interface.
- Built-in Voice Recording: The Pro Max case has its own built-in microphone and storage space along with an AI assistant; in short, you could say that the Anker Soundcore Work product is built-in here (with the same limitations of up to two hours of recording, transcription, and summarization). This allows you to use the case itself as a smart voice recorder to record voice memos or meetings, without even having the earbuds in your ears or taking out your phone.
- Notes on the Go: Via the Soundcore app, you can sync shorter text documents and notes which you can then read directly on the Pro Max case’s screen.
The conclusion is simple: If you are looking for brutally good call quality and powerful sound, but feel you can manage without dictating voice memos and having AI help summarize them, then the regular Liberty 5 Pro is the smartest buy. With the Max model, you are paying extra solely for lifestyle features in the plastic case—not for better sound.
Conclusion
Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro is an impressive package for the money. The main draw is the call quality, which is among the best we have ever tested, and the noise cancellation is not far behind. The earbuds fit comfortably, the sound is crowd-pleasing and easy to customize to your liking, and the feature list is long.
There are things to complain about. The case is unnecessarily large relative to the battery life, the default sound is bassy for those wanting a more neutral profile, the controls that push the earbud into the ear are not ideal, and the screen is hard to read in the sun. But these are marginal objections. If you are looking for a pair of affordable earbuds that handle calls better than most on the market while delivering a fun, powerful sound, the Liberty 5 Pro is very easy to recommend.
If you want to compare them to a direct competitor in the same price range, the Huawei FreeBuds 5 Pro is the obvious alternative. The two match each other on calls, but Huawei pulls ahead on pure sound thanks to its dual-driver system and a more balanced base tone, while also avoiding Soundcore’s somewhat clumsy controls. Soundcore responds with a touchscreen on the case and a significantly smoother setup for Android users. Which pair suits you best is thus more about what you value than about pure quality.
Soundcore provided a review sample for this test. Senders of material have no editorial influence on our tests; we always write independently with you, the readers and consumers, in focus.
