Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro review: Worth the wait?

Anker Soundcore makes some of the best budget earbuds we’ve ever tested. The Liberty 4 lineup set a high bar, and the standard Liberty 5 earbuds didn’t quite clear it. But now, the Liberty 5 Pro is finally here with a completely rethought design, a smarter case, and a lot more ambition. If you want serious features and performance without serious spending, these might be exactly what you’ve been waiting for.

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

The Liberty 5 Pro are comfortable, well-designed earbuds with a useful Smart Screen case and more features than you’d expect at this price.

Design

The Liberty 5 Pros ditch the stem design that Anker often uses in favor of a new, slightly curved oval shape. I would say it’s closer in profile to the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds than anything in Soundcore’s previous lineup. Although they are larger than before, they are fairly comfortable.

I usually prefer the natural anchor that a stem design creates by sitting between the tragus and antitragus, but even though the Liberty 5 Pro loses that, they remain stable thanks to the fin at the top of the earbud that tucks into the concha. If fins aren’t your thing or don’t fit your ear shape, Anker includes two flush plastic pieces you can snap in instead, so the earbuds sit smoothly against your ears. You also get five sizes of ear tips, which is a fairly generous offering at this price point, to help get a good seal.

I tried these at the gym and had no problem with stability during my workout. They carry an IP55 rating, meaning they’re water- and dust-resistant, offering solid protection from sweat. Controls are handled via swipe gestures on the earbud surface, primarily up or down to adjust volume by default. You can also assign single-, double-, and triple-tap functions within the app.

The charging case also features a narrow touchscreen along the front, displays battery levels at a glance, and lets you swipe left or right to cycle through sound modes without touching your phone. The lid slides open rather than flipping, which is nice, and the charging port sits on the back. It’s compact enough, but it can be a bit big in the pocket.

Features

The Soundcore app opens up plenty of features for the Liberty 5 Pros. The first one I recommend starting with is HearID, a listening test that builds a personalized EQ profile based on your hearing. From there, there’s also a standard eight-band custom equalizer to tweak things further, along with four EQ presets: Powerful Bass, Clear Vocals, Calm and Soothing, and Balanced.

On top of that, the app gives you access to Dolby Audio, which adds a spatial sound effect to music and supports head tracking, where the sound field shifts as you move your head. It’s the same kind of feature you’d find on AirPods, and I found the results varied by genre.

Of course, you also now have Anka, Soundcore’s new built-in AI assistant. Activated by saying “Hey Anka,” it can answer questions, give you weather updates, and handle basic playback commands — all hands-free. More practically useful is the real-time translation feature, which continuously translates spoken languages through the earbuds with minimal lag, and a face-to-face translation mode for back-and-forth conversations. These are all pretty useful features you don’t typically find at this price.

Powering the AI features is Anker’s new Thus chip, designed specifically for on-device AI processing in small, battery-constrained devices like earbuds. The practical upshot is that features like Anka and Clear Calls — Soundcore’s AI-based environmental noise cancelation for phone calls — run locally on the earbuds rather than relying on a cloud connection, and do so without the battery drain you might expect.

How does the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro connect?

The Liberty 5 Pros use Bluetooth 6.1 with support for SBC, AAC, and LDAC for higher-resolution wireless audio on compatible Android devices. The earbuds also support Google Fast Pair for instant pairing on Android. If you’re on an iPhone, you’ll top out at AAC.

Multipoint is enabled by default, letting you stay connected to up to three devices at once, which is pretty handy if you’re switching between a phone, tablet, and laptop throughout the day. One caveat, however, is that LDAC is unavailable when connected to three devices, so you’ll need to drop down to two if audio quality is the priority.

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

Soundcore rates the Liberty 5 Pros at up to 12 hours of playback with ANC off, or 6.5 hours with ANC on. By comparison, the standard Liberty 5 lasted 8 hours with ANC on, so there’s a trade-off for the extra features. Combined with the charging case, you’re looking at 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 cancel noise?

The Liberty 5 Pro offers five levels of ANC strength adjustable in the app, plus an Adaptive mode that automatically tunes cancellation to your environment. At full blast, and with a good seal, the earbuds attenuate the perceived loudness of outside noise by an average of nearly 84%, which is pretty impressive for earbuds at this price. I found they effectively blocked out the constant low-frequency drone of my bus ride to work.

How good is the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Transparency mode?

The Liberty 5 Pros include a transparency mode accessible from the earbuds, the app, or the Smart Screen on the case. There’s also a feature called Easy Chat, which automatically switches to transparency and lowers your music volume when it detects you’re speaking, then returns to your previous ANC level and volume about five seconds after you stop talking. 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 sound?

Like many Anker Soundcore earbuds and headphones, the Liberty 5 Pro has strong bass overemphasis by default. Thankfully, the custom EQ can tame it if that’s not your thing, and most listeners will find they sound enjoyable straight out of the box.

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.

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

The Liberty 5 Pros use an onboard 8-microphone array along with 2 bone-conduction sensors to capture your voice and filter out background noise. In ideal conditions, call clarity is pretty good. Voices come through clearly, though I did notice the occasional pop or crackle.

Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

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

Should you buy the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro?

The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro is a strong pick for anyone who wants a lot from their earbuds without spending a lot. Most listeners will enjoy how they sound straight out of the box, and if you want more control, the app’s EQ tools have you covered. They also have good ANC, decent battery life, and microphone performance, as well as plenty of modern features, such as live language translation. At $169.99, these outperform competitors that cost well over $200, making them one of the better value propositions in the market right now.

If you’re looking for alternatives, the Sony WF-C710N ($119.99 at Amazon) edges out the Liberty 5 Pro on ANC at a lower price, while the Creative Aurvana Ace 3 ($149.99 at Manufacturer site) is worth considering if sound quality is your top priority. You can also check out our full list of the best wireless earbuds under $200 for more options.

Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro price history