Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max review: More case, more features

For the first time in Anker’s earbud lineup, there’s a tier sitting above the Pro. Launching alongside the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro, the Liberty 5 Pro Max expands the case’s touchscreen to a full top-lid display and adds AI note-taking to the feature set. But is the Max really worth the extra $60? Let’s find out.

What’s it like to use the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max?

The Liberty 5 Pro Max are comfortable, feature-packed earbuds with a smartwatch-style case that lets you control almost everything without touching your phone — and an AI note-taker that just might change how you work.

Design

The Liberty 5 Pro Max earbuds are identical to the Liberty 5 Pro. They ditch the stem design common in Soundcore’s lineup in favor of a curved oval shape, closer in profile to the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds. An ear fin at the top tucks into the concha for stability, though if fins don’t work for your ear shape, Anker includes two flush plastic pieces you can snap in instead. You also get five sizes of ear tips to help find a good fit.

I tried these at the gym and had no stability issues during my workout. Controls are handled via swipe gestures on the earbud surface — up or down to adjust volume by default — with single-, double-, and triple-tap functions assignable in the app. They carry an IP55 rating, which means they are protected against sweat and light rain.

The case is the biggest difference. It uses the same slide-open design as the Liberty 5 Pro, with the same square footprint, though it does stand a bit taller. Instead of the narrow touchscreen strip on the front of the Liberty 5 Pro’s case, the Pro Max gives the entire lid over to a touchscreen, forgoing any Soundcore logo on the case. Aside from being bigger, the display is also brighter and sharper, thanks to its AMOLED panel.

The touchscreen interface functions much like a smartwatch home screen. From the home screen, you can swipe left and right to control ambient sound modes, cycle through EQ presets, and manage media playback from whatever streaming service you’re using. Swipe down from the top of the screen to open the Control Center and access settings like Bluetooth, brightness, and Dolby Audio. Swipe up, and you get a full feature list, including face-to-face translation, wallpaper settings, remote camera, and more.

I sometimes found the touchscreen responsiveness lagging, requiring a few swipes for the action to register, but overall, you can control everything about the earbuds from the case, which saves you the hassle of pulling out your phone.

Features

The Soundcore app experience is largely the same as the Liberty 5 Pro. You get HearID for a personalized EQ profile, an eight-band custom EQ with 4 presets, Dolby Audio with head tracking, a safe volume limiter, wear detection, and Easy Chat, which automatically switches to transparency and lowers your music when it detects you’re speaking. Anka, Soundcore’s AI assistant, is here too, along with real-time and face-to-face translation powered by Anker’s Thus chip for on-device processing.

The main addition over the Liberty 5 Pro is the AI Note-Taker. I found it easy enough to activate recording on the case touchscreen, and you can press the pairing button to flag anything important mid-recording to highlight portions of the transcript. Once you’re done recording, the audio is transferred automatically, and the app generates a transcript and meeting notes. Transcription accuracy was comparable to what I’ve seen from Gemini recording a Google Meet, which is pretty good. It’s not something I’d personally reach for every day, but if you’re someone who sits in a lot of meetings or interviews, I can see it saving a lot of time.

What makes it all possible is that the case has its own built-in microphone and speaker, and pairs to your phone via Bluetooth independently of the earbuds. That also comes in handy for face-to-face translation — you can wear the earbuds while the other person speaks into the case and listen to your translation, so you don’t have to share your earbuds or hand your phone to them.

How does the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max connect?

The Liberty 5 Pro Max uses Bluetooth 6.1 with support for SBC, AAC, and LDAC for higher-resolution wireless audio on compatible Android devices. Google Fast Pair is supported for instant pairing on Android.

Multipoint is enabled by default, letting you stay connected to up to three devices at once, which is handy if you’re switching between a phone, tablet, and laptop throughout the day. LDAC is unavailable when connected to three devices, so you’ll need to drop to two if audio quality is the priority. Note that the case also pairs to your phone separately via Bluetooth to enable AI Note-Taker and Face-to-Face Translation.

How long does the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max’s battery last?

Soundcore rates the Liberty 5 Pro Max at up to 12 hours of playback with ANC off, or 6.5 hours with ANC on. Combined with the charging case, that’s up to 50 hours total with ANC off, or 28 hours with ANC on. A five-minute charge delivers up to four hours of playback. The case charges via USB-C or Qi wireless charging.

How well do the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max cancel noise?

The Liberty 5 Pro Max offers five levels of ANC strength adjustable in the app, plus an Adaptive mode that automatically tunes cancellation to your environment. At full strength, and with a good seal, the earbuds reduce the perceived loudness of outside noise by an average of 83%, which is on par with the Liberty 5 Pro. I found them no better or worse at blocking out environmental sounds during my bus commute to work.

How good is the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max Transparency mode?

I found the transparency mode on the Liberty 5 Pro Max to be slightly better than on the Liberty 5 Pro. In particular, there was no audible hissing when activated, and things sounded more natural an dunprocessed.

Easy Chat is also on board, automatically switching to transparency and dropping your music volume when it detects you’re talking, then returning to your previous settings after about five seconds. I found it pretty useful for quick conversations, like ordering a coffee, without having to pull out my phone or tap my earbuds.

How do the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max sound?

Like the Liberty 5 Pro, the Pro Max has a bass-forward default tuning that most casual listeners will enjoy, though there are a few quirks worth knowing about.

Reviewer’s notes

Editor’s note: this review uses a hover-enabled glossary to describe sound quality based on a consensus vocabulary. You can read about it here.

Listening to Reptilia” by The Strokes with the Liberty 5 Pro Max, the first thing I noticed was the bass strength. The driving bassline in hits with real punch without much compression. The bass was louder than I would prefer but most casual listeners will likely enjoy it, even if it’s not the most natural presentation. If the bass is too much for your taste, the HearID hearing test or the Clear Vocals EQ preset are good places to start dialing things in.

Midrange strength is quite good, with vocals and most instruments coming through with good clarity and presence; nothing gets buried. Julian Casablancas’ vocals sit right in the mix where you’d want them. Immersiveness is strong too, with sounds well-defined and easy to localize across the mix. The guitar work in “Reptilia” lose some presence and brilliance compared to what I’m used to, and the overall sound feels slightly more closed-in as a result. It’s not something you can completely fix with the custom EQ either, as the highest band doesn’t reach far enough.

Can you use the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max for phone calls?

The Liberty 5 Pro Max uses an onboard 8-microphone array and 2 bone-conduction sensors to capture your voice and filter out background noise. In ideal conditions, call quality is solid: voices come through clearly, though I noticed occasional pops or crackles.

If you’re regularly taking calls in noisy environments, it’s worth enabling Clear Calls in the Soundcore app. It does a more thorough job of isolating your voice than the standard algorithm, though running it alongside features like LDAC will draw on the battery more quickly.

Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

Should you buy the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max?

The Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max delivers the same strong core performance as the Liberty 5 Pro: good ANC, sound most listeners will enjoy, and a feature-packed app, with the addition of a larger touchscreen on the case and AI note-taking for $60 more. If those extras genuinely fit your lifestyle, particularly the latter, I would say it’s worth it. If not, the Liberty 5 Pro gets you everything that matters for less.

If you want best-in-class ANC and a more refined sound and don’t mind spending more, the Sony WF-1000XM6 ($329.99 at Amazon) is worth the premium. It edges out the Pro Max on noise cancelation and microphone performance, though you’ll be paying $100 more for it. If you’re a Samsung phone owner, the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro ($249.99 at Amazon) is also worth considering for its deep ecosystem integration and features, including live translation. You can also check out our full list of the best wireless earbuds for more options.

Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max price history