Anker - Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max Noise Cancelling Earbuds with AI-Note Taker Case - Black

Sound quality is phenomenal. I switch between the Samsung buds 3 pro and I honestly believe the Liberty 5 Pro sound is better tuned for my ears. I have many Samsung products including tablet, computer, two phones, tvs, watch, and I know that the earbuds 3 pro are supposed to seamlessly connect to devices, but I think the 3 device multiple point on the Liberty 5 Pro does it better in some instances. I also feel that the Liberty 5 Pro Max is more comfortable and that ANC is pretty awesome.

It’s nice how you can do everything from the case and the sound quality is very nice . Only thing that missing for me is that I wish it would announce your calls and notifications

Call quality is amazing. It blocks out my wife, kid, dog, and vacuum. It makes working from home feel like i'm in an office to myself. You can whisper and be heard in a really noisy room -- the call quality is great and doesnt change. The custom case is pretty next level too!

Deep bass, clear voices, overall good balance of sound. ANC does a great job of stopping outside sound. During calls, people have said I sound good with little to no background noise.

Anker is known for their power banks and also for some of their earbuds, and the Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro MAX buds are their most advanced to date. Anker recently developed a “Anker Thus” chip which gives the Liberty 5 Pro buds an enormous boost in processing power, and the ability to use various AI-style features not found on many other earbuds. The case is unique in that it’s a 1.78 inch AMOLED touch screen, and lets you control all major functions from the case itself, rather than having to use the Anker app or your phone. It slides open, and is just under 2.5 inches square. Build quality is a bit plastic but so long as you don’t drop it, you should be fine. You charge it via USB-C but it can also be charged with a wireless charger. Expect a few minutes to set it all up, as you need to connect the buds AND the case to your phone’s Bluetooth separately, and then install a firmware update. Overall, maybe about 15-20 minutes of setup time. The Liberty 5 Pro Max buds are oval in shaped with pre-installed silicone tips that are around a medium size, and a flexible “fin” on top that helps secure them in your ear when wearing them. Personally, I prefer earwear that fits over my ear, or around it (such as bone conduction type), but the Liberty 5 Pro buds are actually comfortable as far as in-ear buds go, and I’ve been able to wear them for longer periods than others I’ve used. Other tips and fins are included in the box so you can customize the fit to your ears. Out of the box, sound quality is fine, but a bit muffled. You can adjust this in many ways on the case, but I do recommend downloading the Anker Soundcore app from your app store – it will prompt you to do this anyway on the case during setup. The app gives you more options and settings and is easier to, in my opinion, to use than the charging case screen. You can apply varied sound profiles that tweak the sound quality, or customize your own and save them if you create an account in the app. Once I did this, I have found the sound quality to be excellent. The strongest feature on these buds are the noise canceling and filtering features. Once turned on, I could not hear any of my surroundings… just the sound. Very useful on planes or just when in a noisy environment. You can tweak this to allow some or most area noise in for safety if you like, too. They can also filter out background noise during calls, so the person you’re talking to can only hear you. This also works really, really, well. You can literally be standing next to a loud TV or in a crowded room filled with people talking, and when this feature is on, the person on the other end most likely isn’t going to hear a thing. Everyone I’ve talked to so far has been very impressed. The built-in mics do a good job of catching your voice for calls. Depending on your needs, these noise suppression features alone may be worth the cost. You can switch between two devices by the way, in case you want to use these on let’s say, a TV and your phone. One of the interesting features advertised on the Liberty 5 Pros are their ability to do AI note taking for meetings or school seminars, etc. It’s a neat feature in theory, but a bit of a letdown because you only get 120 minutes of free transcriptions per month, and if you need more, you have to subscribe via the app and it can cost you anywhere from around $9 to $20 per month give or take, depending on the length of time you prepay for. I’m not a fan of subscription apps, but since one of the intended audiences would be students for this feature, that added cost can add up a lot on a student’s budget. The recording is done from the charging case, not the earbuds themselves. So, you record via the case, and when it’s able to link up to the app, it will send an AI generated transcription of what you recorded that you can read. It works, but it will cost you for any more than basic monthly use. Another feature is instant language translation. You can use this in different ways. If you just need to understand what’s being said around you, you can have the buds translate a number of languages into your ear. It works fairly well. It can stall if it’s noisy or people keep talking a lot around you, but it should hopefully get the job done. If you want two-way translation with someone else, they will need to use the case to do their end, while you use the buds on yours – a bit awkward, and for some, just using a standard language translation app on your phone might work more fluidly. Other features to mention are the ability to put a screenshot photo on your case, and of course the usual number of taps and gestures you can use directly on the buds to control volume, answering calls, and navigating music tracks, which again, you can also do with the case. Battery life is good. Around 5 ½ to 6 ½ hours depending on use, but you can recharge multiple times with a fully charged case to get up to 28 hours depending on use. Noise cancellation will drain the battery quicker. Just a few minutes of top up time will get you a couple of hours more use if you need it. Water resistance is good for sweat or splashes but as with ANY buds, I still suggest you don’t drop them in water. One glitch: Once set up, these have auto connected to my phone without an issue, but when you remove them from your ear and put them back in the case, they SHOULD disconnect automatically from your phone. Mine on three occasions failed to do this, and hours later I realized I was missing phone notifications as the sound was muted, and I have to manually go in and disconnect them via phone settings. So far, I’d say 75% of the time they do as they should automatically, but 25% of the time they fail to disconnect on their own. Perhaps this will be fixed in a future update, but double-check connections when not in use just in case for now. Overall, I’m impressed with the Liberty 5 Pro buds. The sound quality, noise cancellation features, and customization, along with being able to do some of your settings on the case are great and among the best out there. The AI transcription feature is neat, but loses its appeal because of the subscription needed if you need to use it in any meaningful way. The language translation feature is helpful in some situations and cumbersome in others. So, I would not suggest buying these just for those two features – you can find alternatives. You should be buying the 5 Pro buds for their sound and noise cancelling qualities. If you don’t feel like you really need the ability to adjust things on the case, you can also save a few dollars by buying the Anker Liberty 5 Pro (minus the “Max” in the name) version which has a smaller fixed screen, but in terms of the buds themselves, are the same sound quality.