Soundcore has been producing quality audio products for over a decade. The brand offers high quality and value for money, but has it continued the trend with its Liberty 4 Pro noise-cancelling earbuds?
What are they?
Launched in 2024, Liberty 4 Pro are noise-cancelling earbuds
that sit in the ear canal and use silicone bud tips to form a seal to ensure the best possible sound quality and active noise cancellation.
The stem of each earbud acts as buttons and sliders to control certain features, such as volume and stop/play, and can be used to answer or reject phone calls.
Straight out of the box, Liberty 4 Pro earbuds are very simple to set up, connecting via Bluetooth and pairing easily via the Soundcore app. Once paired and connected, there is no need to repeat the process, as the earbuds will automatically connect to the paired device when you open the sliding case for future use.
Thanks to multi-point pairing, you can switch between several devices, like a phone and a tablet, without fuss once it’s all set up, making them an excellent choice for home and the office.
What features do they offer?
Liberty 4 Pro has active noise cancellation, a great addition if you travel a lot or commute regularly. Switching between ANC and transparency modes can be done by squeezing the earbud stem for a couple of seconds, via the app or by using the touch-sensitive slider on the case, although I found the slider wasn’t particularly slick to use.
Soundcore boasts seven sensors – six sound and one barometric pressure sensor – within each earbud, which it says recalibrate every 0.3s2 to provide more precise noise cancellation. While that is a little beyond my technical expertise, the noise-cancelling is pretty impressive.
The Soundcore app, compatible with all Soundcore products, is an effortless way to fine-tune Liberty 4 Pro to suit your preferences. Take the time to do the fit test in the settings tab and swap out the silicone bud tips for a different size (a good range of sizes come in the box) if needed, and play around with the sound settings and various options and you’ll have a better listening experience in the future.
The controls on the stem of the earbuds are pre-programmed straight out of the box, with different numbers of presses for different actions and volume as a slide up or down. If you’re unhappy with those, you can customise them to suit you. The only settings you can’t change are the single press to answer a call and the long press to hang up, but that seems fairly intuitive anyway.
Liberty 4 Pro are IPX5 rated, meaning they are splash-proof, so moisture from exercising or running in the light rain shouldn’t be a problem.
What’s the battery life like?
During our testing of Liberty 4 Pro, the battery life seemed fairly good. ANC was generally switched on, but we still saw the earbuds lasting well, and after just a few minutes in the case, they were back to full charge.
Soundcore says that in normal mode, the earbuds should have a maximum of 10 hours of playtime, and in transparency or ANC modes, 7.5 hours of playtime. The case holds charge, too, topping up the earbuds between uses, and Soundcore says that it can give around 40 hours of playtime for the earbuds in normal mode and 30 hours with ANC.
We haven’t run them down low enough yet to confirm, but Soundcore suggests that charging the earbuds fully will take around 1.5 hours, while the case should take 2.5 hours from a mains plug and 3.5 hours using the built-in wireless charging.
How do they charge?
Liberty 4 Pro can only be charged via the carry case, like most wireless earbuds. When you’ve finished using them, they slot back into position, drawn into precisely the right position magnetically, and begin charging.
The case can be charged using a USB C cable connected to the mains or a laptop, or wirelessly by sitting it on a charging pad.
What’s the sound quality like?
For many people, LIberty 4 Pro would be a winner in terms of sound quality straight out of the box, but with an app that is so easy to use and with a nice range of sound options, it would be a shame not to have a tinker.
If you like to switch things up and listen to different types of music or enjoy a good podcast or audiobook now and then, you can alter the settings to suit with just a few taps in the app.
Once I’d found the setting that suited the music I like to listen to, I found the sound quality excellent, with enough bass and richness to keep me happy. A dedicated audiophile might disagree, but they’ll likely need to invest more than the £130 Liberty 4 Pro cost to find a suitable alternative.
Liberty 4 Pro: What’s the verdict?
Liberty 4 Pro offer great active noise cancellation and a good, rich quality of sound for the price. They aren’t perfect – the carry case is a little bulky compared to others, but it does have a battery-level readout built in, which is mildly handy for knowing when to charge it.
If the case size doesn’t worry you, then you aren’t likely to be disappointed with Liberty 4 Pro. They’re functional, lightweight, and comfortable to wear, with great ANC and sound quality for the price point.
Tested: Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro
Price: £130
Average Janes Rating: ★★★★☆
