At a glance
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Good sound and ANC
- Useful app
- Affordable
- Long battery life
Cons
- Only splash-proof
- Poor right/left recognition
Our Verdict
The Liberty 4 NC are typical in-ears for every day with excellent sound and battery performance along with smart software and an approachable price. They’re just not suited overly well for sports usage.
It is rare that in-ear headphones under $100/£100 can sound so good. In terms of sound, Anker has created really good headphones with epic battery life and very little to complain about.
You can buy them for just $99.99/£79.99 which places them toward the top end of our budget wireless earbuds category. They are available to purchase from Anker and Amazon UK or Amazon US.
Design & Build
Not surprisingly, the Livery 4 NC don’t break the wireless earbud mold. You get a large charging case, two relatively large elongated earphones and four pairs of ear tips. The whole thing is delivered in eco-friendly reduced plastic packaging.
The matt, metallic look of the charging box is very elegant. This continues when you press the button to open the charging box; the earphones are very easy to remove from the rather thick box. They are available in no less than five colours with Navy Blue on show here.
Thomas Bergbold
Another reason is the battery in the charging box, which is supposed to give the Liberty 4 NC a fantastic 50 hours of playtime. The battery in the Liberty 4 NC itself is supposed to last 10 hours.
In our test, the battery was empty after about 9.5 hours. The Liberty 4 NC are also record-breaking when it comes to charging as, according to Anker, 10 minutes in the charging box is enough for four hours of music enjoyment.
In terms of construction, the Liberty 4 NC are not in-ears for sports, although the fit in the ear canal is good. For sporting activities, they lack an additional construction such as wings that hook into the ear cup. The IPX4 rating means they are only ok to handle splashes.
The well-known Soundcore app works with the Liberty 4 NC and offers everything the music listener needs in addition to a wide range of settings, such as the button assignment and updates.
Sound Quality & Features
The Liberty 4 NC play surprisingly airy when we start with Vocal Jazz by Norah Jones. This is partly due to the driver, which is large for in-ear headphones at 11mm. Another reason is the software in the background. A feature called HearID can create an individual sound profile of the own ears, then there’s Soundcore Signature for sound effects.
Thomas Bergbold
The next surprise is the adaptive active noise canceling 2.0, which adapts well to the ambient noise and is therefore a pleasant experience. Therefore, the music quality is also surprisingly good for ANC.
For our sound check, however, we leave all the gimmicks switched off. The bass is sufficient for a round sound image and the voices are relatively clear and easy to understand. However, longer listening reveals weaknesses. The mids are recessed and “S” sounds are very sharp but switch on the individual sound profile via HearID, and the weaknesses can be concealed surprisingly well.
With electronic, hip-hop and dance, on the other hand, the weaknesses are hardly noticeable. Here, the tuning fits very well. All in all, a very convincing performance, which you would rather expect from in-ears with a three-digit price tag and beyond.
Thomas Bergbold
3D surround sound is also available in the Soundcore app. However, music then seems extremely artificially lifted, and the function is at best tolerable for films. Next test, tutorials on YouTube & Co: here the very good speech intelligibility is pleasing.
With six microphones, the Liberty 4 NC are well equipped, which is noticeable when making phone calls. An AI is supposed to additionally polish up the sound intelligibility. However, the result is no better than with comparable headphones. My voice seems somewhat distant, but is well understood, and I can also hear the other person very clearly.
This review originally appeared on Macwelt.
