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A couple of earbuds with charging circumstances that had expanded options dropped in 2024. Some have been gimmicky, whereas others clearly put some thought into making issues sensible.
The Liberty 4 Professional is the latter, and never solely do they sound good, however in addition they offer you some helpful controls on your earbuds if you’re in Zoom conferences or simply listening from the desktop and wish to management your sound.
Listed here are my full ideas on the Soundcore Liberty 4 Professional.
Soundcore Liberty 4 Professional: Value and availability
The Soundcore Liberty 4 Professional can be found from soundcore.com and Amazon for $130. You possibly can choose up a pair in Shiny Black, White, and Shiny Mild Blue.
The Liberty 4 NC went on sale fairly usually, and the Liberty 4 Professional did see a $30 worth drop in the course of the vacation season, so it’s cheap to suppose you’d be capable of get a greater deal for those who’re affected person.
Class | Soundcore Liberty 4 Professional |
|---|---|
Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.3 |
Codec assist | SBC, AAC, LDAC |
Audio system | 10.5mm bass drivers, 4.6mm titanium-coated tweeters |
Noise management | ANC, Transparency |
Battery life | ~7.5 hours (ANC on); ~4 with LDAC (ANC on) |
Charging | USB-C, Qi wi-fi; Quick charging: 5-minutes = 4 hours |
Sturdiness | IP55 (no case ranking) |
Sensors | Barometric stress |
Ear suggestions | XXS/XS/S/M/L/XL (medium pre-installed) |
Soundcore Liberty 4 Professional: What I like
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Let’s get proper to it! The sound produced by the Liberty 4 Professionals is highly effective! You get a soundstage with headroom to spare, boomy bass, punchy mids, and output that has you hardly ever needing to boost the supply quantity increased than round 65% of max.
Although not the best sturdiness ranking, the Liberty 4 Professional ought to be capable of deal with no matter exercises you throw at them with an IP55 ranking for water and mud ingress. They ship with Bluetooth 5.3 and LDAC codec assist for hi-res wi-fi audio, together with Spatial Audio assist. You get Straightforward Chat, which is an audio ducking function that “hears” dialog and lowers the audio quantity so you may keep it up a dialog.
There are loads of customization choices on board right here, together with 5 extra earbud suggestions within the field, not together with the medium ear suggestions which can be put in by default. The remaining wealth of choices will be discovered within the app. Extra on that in a second.
Making a case for the “Professional” moniker
The large advertising and marketing push with this newest iteration of the Liberty from Anker’s Soundcore model is the case. It has some cool options which can be expanded if you use the app. The default is that if you take the earbuds out of their case, you’ll routinely see the battery standing, after which the display screen transitions to controlling ANC.
This isn’t a contact display screen possible as a result of it’s so tiny that your finger would cowl nearly all of the display screen actual property. As an alternative, you get a contact bar under the display screen to manage the ANC slider.
Going into the app and the Charging Case Settings menu, you may activate spatial audio controls, atmospheric ANC standing show, a Discover Gadget function that permits you to ring the case and earbuds independently for those who can’t discover them, and a distant digital camera shutter operate in case your telephone helps it. My Pixel 9 did assist it and labored flawlessly so long as the digital camera was launched first on the telephone.
My solely gripe is that with the clear lid shut, you may solely management the default setting, ANC. When activated from the app, all different choices can solely be accessed with the lid within the open place.
I ponder how many individuals will use the case, although, as a result of you may entry ANC and spatial audio choices from Android and iOS widgets. The Discover Gadget performance is probably going the one case operate that’s value pulling the case out for most individuals.
I feel that the case features will likely be most helpful as a desktop distant extension of the app like a smartwatch is, to an awesome diploma, a helpful extension of your telephone. Not like your telephone, you don’t must unlock the case to entry the default options or these you add to it through the app. So, the case sitting in your desktop when you’re doing work is the perfect use case for the contact bar and sensible show.
Sound, app, and battery life
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Because the Liberty 4 NC did, the Liberty Professional provides you a variety of options for an affordable worth. Battery life is just below six hours in my testing at 65% of max quantity on my Google Pixel 9. The good factor is which you could get 4 hours of playback time with simply 5 minutes contained in the charging case.
The battery isn’t the one side that has juice! The ability output is great. On a Pixel 9 and iPhone 16 Professional Max, I hardly ever needed to have the quantity increased than 65%. A pet peeve of mine is Bluetooth earbuds that require me to crank the quantity to the utmost to get sturdy audio.
For a $130 pair of earbuds and in true Soundcore fashion, the Liberty 4 Professionals punch above their weight. They’re positively tuned for well-liked music, however their readability and sub-bass extension are pleasant.
Listening to Charles Mingus’ “Moanin’,” you get a really clear sonic image of the superbly layered instrumentation. The horns are crisp, the upright bass is thumping with a deep resonance, and the sparse vocals which can be layered considerably within the background are simply audible.
Nevertheless, there’s extra moanin’ available. Artwork Blakey’s model of “Moanin’” is the place you get a way of simply how vivid the Liberty 4 Professional will be because the horns on that composition develop into fatiguing after a bit. As entertaining because the sound profile is, it doesn’t sacrifice something on the increased frequencies.
Listening to different tracks just like the “Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga” from the “Get Out” soundtrack and “Violin Duel” from the “Chevalier” soundtrack exhibit the big soundstage of those mid-level Bluetooth earbuds.
Soundcore Liberty 4 Professional: What I do not like
The Liberty 4 Professional is certainly a stable performer, however nothing is ideal. As intriguing because the Good Show and its performance are, I’m not an enormous fan of the truth that you’ll need to open the case for something apart from the ANC slider possibility. You possibly can see by way of the case, so why need to open it for different features?
Concerning sound high quality, the 4 Professionals generally is a bit vivid, so relying on the style, your listening session might develop into a tad fatiguing. Fortunately, if that’s the case, there are EQ choices to assist tamp down that high finish a bit.
And you will positively wish to play with the totally different sound profiles a bit. Out of the field, the Liberty 4 Professional is certainly tuned for well-liked music, so the sonics are heavier on the low finish and a tad lighter relating to nuance.
The earlier era Liberty 4 NC has higher noise canceling, so for those who’re asking for those who ought to improve to those, I’d say “no.” ANC isn’t considerably higher with the 4 NC, however it’s sufficient of a distinction, and not using a important distinction in sound high quality, that an improve is way from needed.
Final, relying on the match of your ears, the earbud quantity controls might be a little bit of an annoyance. You utilize a sliding movement on the stems to extend or lower quantity. It really works fairly effectively, as do the entire different controls, however sliding on the stem may dislodge the earbuds a bit.
Soundcore Liberty 4 Professional: Competitors
We noticed some unbelievable rivals emerge in 2024 within the mid-range noise-canceling earbuds market, so you’ve some stable options right here. First, I’d check out each Nothing earbuds, the Nothing Ear (a) and Nothing Ear 2024. The latter totally competes on options with the Liberty 4 Professional, although its case isn’t as “sensible.” They do have higher EQ settings with the flexibility to regulate frequency bandwidth, however it can price you roughly $20 extra.
You even have ‘buds just like the OnePlus Buds Professional 3, the JBL Stay Professional 2 TWS, and a shrewd purchase for those who choose up considered one of Jabra’s “finish of life” Elite 10 (gen 1) or Elite 8 Lively earbuds. All are stable rivals to the Liberty 4 Professional, although for those who want the stem fashion, you’ll wish to skip Jabra’s merchandise.
Soundcore Liberty 4 Professional: Must you purchase them?
You should purchase Soundcore’s Liberty 4 Professional if…
- Tremendous quick charging
- You need Hello-Res Wi-fi Audio assist
- You need a case that helps some earbud controls
You should not purchase Soundcore’s Liberty 4 Professional if…
- High-tier noise canceling is mission-critical
- You aren’t a fan of stem-based contact controls
The Liberty 4 Professional provides you a case that’s bigger than the earlier era Liberty 4 NC, however you’ll need to resolve if its options are definitely worth the improve in dimension. In each different metric, the expertise you get is sort of good for earbuds within the mid-range market, particularly contemplating that you just’ll save round $30 in comparison with some rivals.
For stable music copy, nice name high quality, and the flexibility to make use of the case as a desktop extension for controls, it is best to positively check out Soundcore’s Liberty 4 Professional for those who’re out there for mid-range Bluetooth earbuds.
Good case, sensible worth
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 Professional incorporates a sensible charging case, however its comparatively low price and stable sound are the celebrities of the present. In the event you already personal the Liberty 4 NC, it is not time to improve, however different, older earbuds could also be purpose sufficient.
