SoundcoreLiberty 4 Pro by Anker, Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds, 7-Sensor and Real-Time Adaptive Noise Cancelling, 2× Faster Charging, Studio-Level Hi-Fi Music, Clear Calls with 6 Mics and AIClimatePartner certified

I’m a 43-year-old guy with decent hearing, no major loss, just some natural decline with age, and I use earbuds daily for running, working out, housework, calls, and the occasional moment of peace from the chaos of parenting. I previously used the Soundcore P3 earbuds, which I really liked, but I lost one of them and needed a replacement. After some research, I landed on the Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro, and I’m genuinely impressed with how much of an upgrade these are across the board.Sound and Noise CancellationThe sound quality is fantastic. Music and podcasts come through loud, crisp, and full of detail. Bass is strong but not overwhelming, and vocals are clear and clean. Whether I’m zoning out during a treadmill run or catching up on a podcast while folding laundry, I never have to crank the volume just to hear what’s going on.The adaptive noise cancelling (ANC) is a huge highlight. It automatically adjusts to your environment, and you can also manually choose from ten levels of noise cancellation in the app or case. I’ve set it up so I use:- Passthrough mode for outdoor runs (so I can still hear traffic),- Full ANC for the gym or treadmill,- And sometimes just to block out the kids and grab a little quiet.- The transitions between modes are smooth, and the app makes it easy to switch.Fit and ComfortRight out of the box, the default tips fit well, but Anker includes five extra sizes, which is a nice touch. The earbuds have stayed in place securely during my runs and gym sessions, no slipping or loosening at all. They’re also surprisingly comfortable even for extended wear. No ear fatigue after hours of use.Controls and CustomizationThe physical buttons are one of my favorite features. My old P3s used touch controls, and I was always accidentally changing songs or adjusting volume with a brush of my hand. These mechanical buttons are much more precise, no more accidental skips mid-run. I customized the controls using the Soundcore app:- Long press: Switch between passthrough and full ANC- Single tap: Volume up (right) / Volume down (left)- Double tap: Play/pause- Triple tap: Next (right) / Previous track (left)Everything is responsive, and I love that I can tailor it exactly to how I use the earbuds.App IntegrationThe Soundcore app adds a lot of functionality. Besides ANC and button customization, I ran the sound test (HearID) to personalize the audio to my hearing. It made a subtle but noticeable difference in clarity and balance. The app also lets you check battery levels, change EQ settings, and get firmware updates.Call QualityI made a call while doing dishes, with water running in the background, and my wife said she couldn’t hear the water at all. I could hear her clearly, too. The six-mic setup with AI noise reduction clearly works, these are some of the best call-quality earbuds I’ve used.Battery Life and ChargingBattery life is solid. I used them for about 4 hours straight, 2 hours of full ANC on the treadmill and 2 hours of housework, and they only dropped from 100% to 35%. That's impressive considering ANC was on the entire time.The fast charging is also a win. A quick 10-minute top-up gives me plenty of use time. The case has a digital readout showing the battery percentage, which is way more useful than trying to guess from a blinking light.Maybe I'm old, and this feature is standard, but when I take one of the earbuds, it pauses what I'm listening to, then when I put it back, it starts again. I thought that was a cool feature.What’s in the BoxInside the package:- The earbuds and charging case (USB-A to USB-C)- Five extra sets of tips for different ear sizes- A USB-A to USB-C cable- An instruction manualDrawbacksThe charging case is a little larger than I’m used to. It’s still pocketable, but definitely bulkier than the P3’s case.The sliding mechanism on the case lid takes a little getting used to. It’s secure, but feels different than the usual flip-top design.While I prefer the physical buttons to touch controls, I do wonder how well they’ll hold up long term with repeated use. So far, though, they’re working great.The charging cable they include is very short. It’s fine if you’re plugging into a laptop, but less convenient if your outlet is lower on the wall or further away.Final VerdictIf you're someone who’s active, listens to music and podcasts daily, takes calls on the go, and values sound quality, noise cancellation, and control customization, these are a fantastic choice. They’re a definite step up from the P3s and hold their own against higher-end earbuds at a much more reasonable price.Would highly recommend, especially if you're looking for earbuds that can keep up with both your workouts and your everyday life.

Background: I’m in my mid-60’s and have been loving listening to music my whole life. I still use my Akai turntable from high school! My “main driver” speakers are Bose 901s. I have other NC headphones, Bose QuietComfort and Sony WH1000XM3. But sometimes I want earbuds. I have a pair of JBL Tune 125TWS earbuds, which are fine but not NC. I use Spotify, PowerAmp (Android), Plex/PlexAmp. I have digital music encoded from low-bitrate MP3 to FLAC and DSD.I had a vacation recently where I would be flying and beach/poolside and wanted a decent pair of ANC earbuds. I considered the Sony WF-1000XM5 based on my experience with the around-ear cans, but decided to do some research. The Soundcore Liberty 4 Pros had quite a bit of buzz, so I bought a pair via Amazon.The Good/Great:Great sound, period. Best earbuds I’ve ever used and definitely rival the around-ear headphones I’ve used. Full range, good bass, impressive volume.The ANC (active noise cancelling) is very effective. You have a 10-step control between “very transparent” = boosts the outside noise so you can keep the buds in your ear but hear MORE of what’s around you and “full ANC” which gives maximum noise cancelation.I had two cases of wanting the ANC active, two flights and one “poolside”. On the flights I activated the “flight mode” in the app. This pushes the ANC to the max AND uses a barometric sensor in the buds to compensate for changes in pressure in the plane. It’s hard to tell how well that works, but the sound was great throughout the flights.For “poolside”, I was at a resort that played music through pretty powerful speakers around their main pool. But when I was wearing the buds with ANC active, they did a good job blocking the speaker noise!Overall, I think ANC is a great feature, especially if you travel by air! It’s worth going with ANC headphones if you do!Calibration Feature: The app (highly recommend) lets you set a variety of sound “profiles”/equalizations. One option will step you through a hearing test. It takes about 10 minutes but is very much worth it. In my case, I know I have some high-frequency hearing loss in my left ear. The Soundcore hearing test detected this (so do a very expensive doctor…!) and built a custom equalization based on the findings. That profile REALLY improves the music playback! I can switch between the custom profile and a standard profile and really tell the difference. For me, that alone is worth the purchase!Also, during the sound / hearing test, the process will detect "sound leakage" due to the earbuds not sealing properly in your ear. This did happen to me but after some slight adjustments I got passed it. The point is that they take care to ensure the testing is very accurate and that you are getting a truly accurate profile generated.Comfort: Overall, the buds are very comfortable to wear. I had them in for most of two 3+ hour flights and had no discomfort. The buds stayed in without any problem. I was using the provided ear tips.Controls: I was skeptical at first, but the controls on these earbuds are great. It is subtle, but there is tactile feedback when “squeezing” the stems to pause/resume/skip, etc. I quickly learned how to precisely control the output. My Sony cans have “gesture” based controls which work, but sometimes are mis-interpreted. These Soundcore earbuds are give more control in a much smaller package.Case: The charging case is great but takes some time to get used to. The case charges quickly and gives good feedback about case charge level and/or earbud charge when they are in the case. Battery life is good. After each almost 4 hour flight the buds had about 64% charge remaining. And popping them into the case would have topped them off quite easily.The Not So Good: These are very minor issues I had only with my first period of usage. First, the size and shape of ear tips impact the use of the charging case. The provided tips work well, but I tried some other tips and they were too “big” and the case wouldn’t fully close with the buds inside. So if you use 3rd-party tips, note that you may have issues using the case and therefore charging.Another issue I had at first was that I was trying to put the buds in the case incorrectly and so they weren’t charging or connecting (eg: for a firmware updated). But I quickly realized the problem and learned the proper way to position the buds.Overall, I highly recommend these earbuds. The price is really great for what you get.

Excellent ear buds! I love Anker and their products. I've been a huge fan since trying their products, which are top notch for the price, and having a wireless charger not work and they reached out to me to get me a replacement after leaving a bad review of the product. They sent me a new one at no cost and it arrived very fast. Their customer service is top notch and has made me a loyal customer.On to the cons for these ear buds... and the cons are the case... 😬 The satin finish makes it difficult to hold, like a wet bar of soap. The sliding action of the cover is difficult to actuate, due to the satin finish, without dropping. The slide bar for adjusting the noise-canceling/normal/transparency is a HUGE pro for these! It's a nice bonus to using the app for quick adjustments without having to get your phone out, unlock it, and launch the app.The value for the cost is good, but I'm going to break and destroy these because I can't hold the charging case from the slippery finish/awkward slide ergonomics...4/5 would recommend, just hope they get the feedback about the difficulty in opening the case and fix it for the next model...