Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro review: True wireless earbuds that can take on expensive rivals
These buds can comfortably hang with more expensive alternatives, but they do have their weaknesses.
Top-shelf earbuds come with top-shelf pricing—and sometimes you just can’t spend that much. But even at nearly half the price of more expensive rivals, Anker’s Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro ( fave.co/3qscedh) doesn’t feel like a step down—at least, not when it comes to sound quality. In fact, its audio chops are so strong that even with its foibles, these buds are a compelling contender.
SPECS
MSRP: $169.99
Colors: Midnight Black, Frost White,
Dusk Purple, Fog Gray
Water-resistance rating: IPX4
Supported audio codecs: LDAC, AAC, SBC
Bluetooth version: 5.2 (10m/33-foot range)
Charging: USB-C
Warranty: One year
DESIGN, FIT, AND CONTROLS
With a sleek oval shape and glossy finish, the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro offers an understated, compact profile that comes in four colors (black, white, light purple, and blue-gray) and looks great out of the box. Its carrying case also has a streamlined shape and finish, though the layout for dropping in the buds can feel counterintuitive. Other brands are more straightforward.
The earbuds have a highly customizable fit—you get not only four ear tip sizes, but four wing sizes as well. (The latter ensure a more secure fit of the buds in your outer ear.) These accessories mix and match easily, though getting the wings on and off can be fiddly. My combination ended up being the second-smallest ear tips and wings; normally I’m a medium for ear tips with most brands.
Configuring the touch-based controls is also very flexible. You can assign commands for music playback, skipping tracks, and more to single, double, and triple taps, as well as a 2-second press. Consistency of the controls is a little less impressive, though—commands don’t always execute even when the taps are recognized. The Liberty 3 Pro is also extremely sensitive to single taps. For some people, this weakness will be a deal killer, though you can largely avoid using taps via controls in Windows or on your phone.
SOUND
These buds perform incredibly well for their price. You get very clear, well-balanced audio for music, movies, and calls. Details are clear and defined, with just the right amount of crispness. For balance, the bass adds warmth and depth without being too heavy or overpowering. The default sound profile isn’t as neutral as those of other buds, but I liked the fullness you get out of the box. And you can still adjust to your taste in the app via a custom EQ profile, or Anker’s Hearid feature, which creates a personalized sound profile
based on hearing tests. (Your mileage will vary with HEARID—I found myself preferring the default profile, but I’ve also yet to find a form of this technology that works for me.)
For calls, the Liberty 3 Pro were on par with quality buds. Others on the call will know you’re using earbuds (the sound is a bit thin and picks up some room echo), but you’ll sound clear, if slightly on the quieter side compared to rivals.
NOISE CANCELING AND VOLUME
In indoor situations, the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro’s active noise-canceling blocks a palpable amount of background noise. With music playing, most moderately loud chatter or TV programs will get drowned out. When outdoors, the Liberty 3 Pro didn’t block as much road noise as rival buds with stronger Anc—the cacophony of a busy San Francisco street during commute hour was reduced by a rough 40 percent.
The Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro also doesn’t get as loud as other buds. In Windows, Android, and IOS, I generally had to keep these in the 40 to 60 percent range, and about 50 percent on average. More premium buds were usually closer to the mid-30s to 40s depending on time of day. (For context, I have more sensitive ears and prefer lower volumes.) And as already mentioned, the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro also sounds quiet when using it as a microphone for calls.
BATTERY LIFE
Anker estimates up to 8 hours of battery life for the Liberty 3 Pro from a single charge, depending on volume level. At roughly 45 to 50 percent volume on either PC or mobile, the buds lasted between 5.5 and 6 hours for continuous music and video playback.
You’ll get another two to three full charges from the case, for a maximum total of 32 hours by Anker’s count. In the real world, I got closer to 24, which was still plenty of time before having to charge the whole set again.
One foible I personally found exasperating: Dropping the earbuds into the case always was the opposite of what I expected. It took at least a couple of weeks of regular use before my brain could get the orientation correct on the first try.
PAIRING AND APP
You can connect the Liberty 3 Pro to up to two devices at once, though only one can
play at a time. If the buds are paired with more devices, you must first disconnect an active device before switching to a different one. (The easiest way to do this is through the Soundcore+ app.)
Anker’s implementation of this feature has a downside, unfortunately—being connected to two devices simultaneously (in my testing, a PC and an iphone) sometimes introduced hiccups in music or other continuous sound if the second device had incoming audio.
You’ll have a smoother experience with only one device connected at a time.
Another quirk related to connection: Occasionally when I was in the middle of a phone call on an Android phone, pulling the Liberty 3 Pro buds out of their case would disconnect the call I was on rather than rolling it over to the earbuds.
To tweak your earbuds and get the most from them, you must use the companion Soundcore app—it’s the only way to customize controls and EQ settings, as well as turn off features like wear detection, which automatically pauses audio if you take a bud out of your ear. Navigating through the interface is simple and straightforward.
BOTTOM LINE
You’ll pay $100 less for the Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro than for top-tier rivals like the Sony WF-1000XM4 and the Bose Quietcomfort Earbuds, but the Liberty 3 Pro doesn’t sound cheaper. If you can tolerate the quirks of these buds, they’re ideal for people seeking great audio and good active noisecanceling features on a budget.