Review: Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max and Liberty 5 Pro
Review units provided by Anker
Anker has just released the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max wireless earbuds with new features, improved ANC and clearer call quality. Prices are 169 and USD 229 respectively, and includes a 2-year warranty.
These are really good wireless earphones for many reasons which you shall read later, but there are some downsides or limitations too.
If you want to save time, just scroll to the list of pros and cons at the end of this page.
Things included
- Smart charging case
- Ear tips x 5
- Ear wings x 3
- USB-C to USB-A charging cable
- Warranty info
The quick start guide is printed on the box, and there's a QR code for a more detailed guide online.
Design
Design of both charging cases look good. They are slightly bigger than charging cases from other companies but not too big, and definitely not heavy. So these are compact, still easy to fit into my jeans pocket.
The earbuds are comfortable to wear, and there are five ear tip sizes provided in the box. The ear tips provide good sound isolation, and together with ANC, they do a effective job at filtering out noise.
There are touch controls on the earbuds which you can customise with the app.
The earbuds come with the Thus chip, 8 mics and 2 Voice Processing Units (VPUs) to handle ANC and calls. More on that later.
Build quality of the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max does feel slightly better probably because of the 1.78-inch OLED display glass top. Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro has a front facing 0.96-inch display, and the cover is plasticky.
To open the cases, you have to slide the covers up instead of flicking them up like most charging cases from other companies.
It is possible to slide the covers open when you pull the charging cases out of the pocket when the covers can move up or down. So I always consciously put the charging case in my pocket with the covers moving sideways, so they won't move up or down when I pull the case out of my pocket.
One downside for the Liberty 5 Pro Max model is it's difficult to discern the direction of the cover unlike the non-Pro model which has a display in front and a logo on the cover as visual cues.
The touchscreen displays have to be unlocked with a swiped action to prevent accidental touches. The displays will power on automatically when the cover is opened, or when you press the power button beside the USB-C port. The display will go blank after few seconds of inactivity and that's too short and there's no way to adjust that in the app.
The displays are very bright under shade but not bright enough under direct sunlight.
The touchscreen on the Liberty 5 Pro Max has the following settings:
- ANC
- Display brightness
- Dolby audio
- Face-to-Face translation
- AI Note-taker
- Wallpaper
- Music Control (music player)
- AI Sound Enhancement
- Sound Effects (EQ)
- Multi-Device Connection
- Settings
- Remote Camera
The touchscreen on the Liberty 5 Pro has the following settings:
- ANC
- Sound Effects (EQ)
- Dolby Audio
- Easy Chat
- Remote Camera
- Find Device
- Bluetooth Pairing
Many of these settings can be adjusted from the Soundcore app as well.
One thing that's definitely useful is the Remote Camera feature that lets you record or photography from the camera app remotely.
AI Note-taker, translation, transcription
Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max has these three features which can be useful for meetings, recording audio, or translation.
There's a mic and speaker on the charging case for these features to work, and the charging case has to be connected to your phone via Bluetooth.
AI Note-taker - My charging case listed 357MB of onboard storage with 180MB already used (probably for languages), and can record up to 12hr 54m of audio. After audio is transferred to the phone, audio clip is deleted.
Face-to-Face translation - This actually worked quite well. There's a button on the display that you can hold to speak, and the translation can be heard through the earphones. Languages supported are Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Arabic, French, German, Korean, Portuguese, Italian, Vietnamese, Turkish, Polish, Filipino, Romanian, Greek, Croatian, English.
Transcription - Transcription from voice to text is not free. This is not surprising as transcription services are seldom free. The company provides 120 minutes of free transcription, and after which you'll have to buy more minutes or subscribe. Prices are as follows:
- 2hr - USD 3.98
- 10hr - USD 14.98
- 50hr - USD 69.98
- 100hr - USD 129.98
- Monthly - USD 22.95
- Bi-annual - USD 99.98
If transcription is a must have feature for you, I recommend the iFlytek AINote Air 2 instead as it's the only device I know that provides free transcription services. I know of no free ad-free transcription apps.
I've tested these three services and they work well.
Audio quality
The earphones support so-called Hi-Res Wireless Audio and the audio quality is great for both models. There's good clarity, surround and bass. I did not see any need to tweak the EQ. Listening to music is extremely satisfying.
There's LDAC support but I personally cannot hear the difference between LDAC and non-LDAC.
Company advertises the Thus AI chip and an 8-mic noise reduction system to provide ANC and adaptive ANC and it works really well. You can switch between ANC and adaptive ANC to see which works better in which scenarios.
There's a proximity sensor so audio will pause automatically when earphones are removed from the ears. This is a very convenient feature.
Clear voice calls
The company is very proud of getting the Guinness World Records for the World's Clearest Earbuds for Calls. I must say that the calls do sound really good, clear.
The Thus chip, the 8 mics and two VPUs do a good job.
If you're someone who have to make calls often, these are definitely wireless earbuds to consider.
Multi-device pairing
This is the first wireless earphones that I've tested that can be paired to three devices using Bluetooth.
To switch between devices is easy. Just pause the audio on one device, and start playing audio on their other.
Battery life
The company advertises 6.5 hours of battery life with ANC and based on my testing it's around there. Total battery life with the charging case is 28 hours. Battery life is considered good.
I'm not sure if the 2 year warranty will cover the battery degradation.
Conclusion
Both Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max and Liberty 5 Pro have amazing audio quality and provide clear voice calls. Battery life is decent. ANC works great.
The voice translation, audio recording and transcription services work well and are certainly not gimmicky features. If you don't need these services you can just go for the more affordable Sound Liberty 5 Pro instead of the Max model.
There are no major deal breakers. Downsides or limitations are minor.
These are wireless earbuds I can recommend quite easily.
Pros and cons at a glance
+ Beautiful design
+ Touchscreen display to adjust settings
+ Great audio quality
+ Can be connected to 3 Bluetooth devices
+ Excellent ANC
+ Clear call quality
+ Proximity sensor
+ IP55 earbuds and IPX4 case
+ App has EQ adjustment
+ Pro Max model has built-in audio recorder
+ 7 hours battery life with ANC
+ Support wireless charging
+ 2 years warranty
- Display not bright enough under direct sunlight
- Box can open inside pocket though not on its own
- Difficult to discern direction of Pro Max case's cover
Where to buy
These are direct links to product pages on Shopee SG | Lazada SG
