Become a TechRadar Insider
Anker's Soundcore brand is just going harder and harder on releasing new models. Not content with the Soundcore Liberty 5 earbuds and Soundcore Space 2 headphones recently, the brand has unveiled two new pairs of earbuds based on the Liberty.
These are the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro and Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max, and they're new premium pairs of feature-packed earbuds that, unlike many other Pro-titled products, actually feel targeted towards professionals.
I’ve been using both the Pro and Pro Max for a week now, to try to understand both buds, how they’re different, and which I’d recommend people buy. That's not enough time to have completed two reviews, which is why you're not reading those right now — but I’ve definitely used the earbuds long enough to answer all of my questions.
So here’s what’s different between the Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max and, crucially, which one I think most people should end up buying.
How do the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro and Pro Max compare on price?
It’s important that we establish the main difference between the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro and Pro Max first: it’s the price.
The Pro is, as you’d imagine, the cheaper of the two earbuds. To buy it, you’re paying $169 / £149 (about AU$300). So it’s a lot pricier than the Liberty 5, which sold for $129 / £99 / AU$169.
But that cost is nothing compared to the Pro Max. These sell for $229 / £199 (about AU$400), which is only a hair under the AirPods Pro 3’s $249 / £219 / AU$429 asking price.
I’m not going to treat the Liberty 5 Pro like the budget option, given its price, but you’ll soon read about how it’s probably the best option based on budget.
How do the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro vs Pro Max compare on sound quality?
If you only want to know about the differences between the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro and Pro Max, you’ll want to keep scrolling. These two earbuds both have exactly the same audio performance, but it's important to address them.
What are their specs? Well, nowhere in Anker’s promotional material for the buds, press pre-briefing ahead of their release or the buds’ packaging, is that actually mentioned. You’ll have take my word for it then.
I’ve quite liked how the buds have sounded, in my testing time. The audio is detailed and sharp, with a real oomph when it’s needed. However, at least in the default sound profile, I’ve found the bass a little too prominent, yet not quite as precisely defined as I’d like.
It’d be fine in earbuds at the price of the Liberty 5, but when you’re picking up a 'Pro' or 'Pro Max' pair of earbuds — and paying the price for them — I’d like a little more controlled lower-end.
Anker’s been heavily advertising the listening test available in both of its new earbuds, and I’ve yet to try that or the equalizer, so perhaps these will give me the sound profile I'm looking for — I’ll let you know in my full review later.
What are the differences in Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro and Pro Max's design?
Likely due to their identical audio specs, the Liberty 5 Pro and Pro Max earbuds are exactly the same. I could put the Pro Max earbuds in the Pro case, and vice versa.
The buds are certainly unique; they have a kidney-shaped body, not dissimilar to Samsung’s old bean buds, but with a tip to allow for the noise cancellation and give you a solid fit.
On that topic, these Liberty 5s both come with wings at the top of the bean, kind of like the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds Ultra 2nd Gen, and these are great for fit. I’ve been on multiple runs with them, and they’ve been a dream, even if they’re a little heavier than rivals at 7g each.
The real design difference between Anker’s new earbuds is the charging case. Actually, that’s the main difference full stop, at least it feels that way in my testing.
The Liberty 5 Pro Max have a pretty big charging case. It’s a squarish rectangle, with a lid that slides up to reveal the buds, and it weighs about 86g. What makes the case so large? That’ll be the screen, which takes up the entirety of the lid; it’s a big square that looks like the kind of panel you’d find on a squircle smartwatch.
You can use this screen to control music playback, change EQ presets, toggle between noise cancellation modes and activate a range of the buds’ features — more on that later.
The Liberty 5 Pro also have a touchscreen, but it’s smaller: a thin strip like the display on a fitness tracker. It’s much simpler, with battery indicators and small icons for a range of features. The case still has a slide-up lid to reveal the buds, like on the Max, and weighs a little less at 70g.
I’ve had some problems with the screen on both sets of earbuds. It’s a little less responsive than I’d like, often needing multiple swipes to change menu and repeated taps to enable a setting. It reminds me of fitness trackers of old, which needed coercing to work.
Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro and Pro Max features explained
It’s not the main selling point of the Anker earbuds, but I’ve been really appreciating the active noise cancellation on both the Pro and Pro Max. It’s among the best in any earbuds I’ve tested, proving effective at wiping out background sound in all conditions I've tried so far.
Likely to thank for this is a new chip Anker created, and debuted in these buds; it’s designed specifically for the Liberty 5 buds’ ANC and features, and adds support for Dolby Atmos audio.
The battery life is a little more average; both pairs of buds last for 6.5 hours of listening, with the charging case bringing that time up to 28 hours — both figures are with ANC turned on. My benchmark for the average battery life of earbuds is 8 hours with ANC off, which I imagine the Liberty will surpass by a little, but I’ll have to test it properly for my full review.
The new Soundcore app is the key to your kingdom of features here. It has a huge range of features including meditation and ambient noise playlists, a built-in AI chatbot, a fit test, a listening preference test to create custom EQ, a sound level meter and volume limiter, a sound-quality upscaling option, and the ability to customize the case screen.
That’s not counting all the usual earbud app tools you’ve come to expect, such as a standard equalizer, touch control customization, ANC modes and so on.
I’ve got to hand it to Soundcore: this is perhaps the biggest array of features I’ve ever seen in a pair of earbuds. They’re incredibly feature-packed, and browsing though the app, I felt like a kid in a candy store.
Everything I’ve mentioned so far is available on both buds, but the pricier pair offers a little more: the Pro Max’s biggest unique feature is that it functions as a note-taker.
Thanks to the case having a built-in microphone, you can use it to record audio, and the app will create a transcript — naturally, the buds can do the same with their own mics. There’s also a live translation tool, which uses the same hardware to achieve its ends.
Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro vs Pro Max: which one would I recommend?
So far, I’ve mostly been using the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max. I thought I’d rather test the expensive earbuds first, and based on the extra features, they're clearly the better buds in the simplest terms.
However for most buyers, I’m not sure these are the earbuds I’d actually recommend. While not cheap, the Pro are a little more affordable than their Max counterparts, and I think you’re getting better value for money.
The extra features the pricier model brings are neat, but I don’t see them being reliably useful for many people. Most of us don’t need a portable dictaphone on our earbuds.
Also worth bearing in mind is the charging case: on the Pro, it’s a little smaller and more streamlined, and that makes it better for toting around. Not good — it’s too bulky to disappear into a trouser pocket, unlike the AirPods Pro 3 case or similar — but it's still a little more convenient than the Pro Max’s.
Sure, its charging case screen is smaller, but in my week with the buds, I’ve barely used either display. I’ve tested a few different earbuds with charging case screens, and I’m still yet to be convinced that these are essential, making the screen's minimization in the Pro no bad thing.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.
