- Table of Contents
- Intro
- Design
- Sound
- Isolation
- Microphone
- Active Features
- Connectivity
- In the box
- Compared
- Conclusion
- Discussions
Anker SoundCore Liberty Air
HEADPHONES REVIEW
Test Benches:
- 1.2: Winter 2018
- 1.1: Summer 2017
- 1.0: Winter 2017
- 0.9: Winter 2016
- 25% Critical Listening
- 25% Office
- 25% Commute/Travel
- 10% Sports/Fitness
- 9% Gaming
- 6% TV
- 80% Sound
- 10% Build Quality
- 7% Comfort
- 3% Breathability
- 24% Noise Isolation
- 14% Sound
- 11% Portability
- 10% Comfort
- 9% Build Quality
- 9% Battery
- 6% Wireless Range
- 4% Controls
- 4% Breathability
- 4% Leakage
- 3% Microphone
- 1% Multi-Device Pairing
- 1% NFC
- 24% Stability
- 23% Portability
- 11% Sound
- 10% Breathability
- 8% Comfort
- 6% Wireless Range
- 5% Controls
- 5% Battery
- 4% Noise Isolation
- 4% Leakage
- 24% Comfort
- 21% Sound
- 16% Noise Isolation
- 8% Leakage
- 7% Battery
- 7% Wireless Range
- 5% Breathability
- 4% Build Quality
- 4% Microphone
- 2% Controls
- <1% Multi-Device Pairing
- <1% USB
- <1% PC Compatible
- <1% Latency
- <1% Analog
- <1% Line In
- <1% USB Input
- <1% PC Compatible
- <1% Power Supply
- <1% Dock Charging
- 22% Sound
- 17% Comfort
- 15% Default Latency
- 10% Wireless Range
- 5% Breathability
- 5% Build Quality
- 4% Optical Input
- 3% Battery
- 3% Analog
- 3% Leakage
- 2% Noise Isolation
- 2% RCA Input
- 2% Multi-Device Pairing
- 2% Line In
- 2% Line Out
- 2% Power Supply
- 1% Dock Charging
- 20% Sound
- 20% Default Latency
- 15% Comfort
- 12% Microphone
- 5% Breathability
- 5% Battery
- 5% Base/Dock
- 3% Build Quality
- 3% Wireless Range
- 3% Microphone Control
- 2% Channel Mixing
- 2% Wired
- 2% Volume Control
- 2% App Support
- 1% Bluetooth
The Anker Liberty Air are above-average mixed usage headphones and are very versatile for everyday casual use. Their truly wireless design resembles that of the Apple AirPods, but with a glossier finish. They are very portable, and their in-ear fit blocks a lot of ambient noise, which is nice for commuting and at the office. They have good audio reproduction for in-ears and have an amazing wireless range. Unfortunately, truly wireless earbuds don’t have very long battery life, and their latency is too high for watching videos and gaming. On the upside, they offer great performance for their price, and most users should be pleased with these.
| Design | 7.5 |
| Sound | 7.3 |
| Isolation | 8.2 |
| Microphone | 6.2 |
| Active Features | 5.4 |
| Connectivity | 2.9 |
- Very lightweight and portable design.
- Good audio reproduction.
- Great isolation performance.
- In-eat fit might not be for everyone.
- No volume controls.
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Design
- 28% Comfort
- 5% Controls
- 10% Breathability
- 12% Portability
- 4% Case
- 29% Build Quality
- 12% Stability
The Anker Soundcore Liberty Air are very lightweight and portable truly wireless in-ears. They are comfortable, but the in-ear fit might not be for everyone. These headphones have a nice touch-sensitive surface, but unfortunately, they don’t have volume controls on the earbuds. They look like budget Apple AirPods with a glossy finish that is fingerprint prone. On the upside, they are very stable for sports if you find the best tip size for your ears. They also come with a small and solid charging case that protects the headphones well.
The Anker Liberty Air are very low-profile truly wireless in-ears that have a similar design to the Apple AirPods. They have the same long stalks that protrude outside of your ears where you would normally have cables attached. They have a glossy finish that is fingerprint prone and look more plasticky than the AirPods. They come in an all-black or all-white design.
The in-ear fit of the Liberty Air is decently comfortable but might not be for everyone. They come with 4 silicone tip sizes for you to find the most comfortable fit. Also, these headphones are very lightweight, and you barely feel them inside your ears. Some may feel some fatigue after listening to them for a while.
- 21% Ease of use
- 21% Feedback
- 14% Call/Music Control
- 14% Volume Control
- 10% Microphone Control
- 5% Channel Mixing
- 10% Noise Canceling Control
- 5% Talk-Through
The Liberty Air have a decent touch-sensitive control scheme. You get basic functionalities like call/music management and track skipping, but unfortunately, you don’t have any control over your listening volume directly on the earbuds. You'll have to change it on your device. On the upside, the control scheme is very easy to use and responsive, but you don’t get any type of feedback from most commands. You get small audio cues for powering on/off the headphones and during the pairing procedure, but that’s it.
- 100% Avg.Temp.Difference
- 20% Volume
- 80% Stand required
The Anker Soundcore Liberty Air come with a nice hard case that is also a charging station for the headphones. It protects the headphones against scratches and impacts, but it isn’t waterproof like the earbuds are. The lid closes by magnetic force, but it opens very easily and the buds might fall out with a significant impact. On the upside, you get a battery life indicator on the case.
The Anker Liberty Air are decently well-built truly wireless headphones. They are made of glossy plastic that feels a bit cheap, but the buds are dense enough to survive accidental drops without too much damage. The case is also decently made and should help protect the headphones. The earbuds are also rated IPX5 for sweat and water resistance, but we currently do not have a test to accurately measure this. However, the case isn't waterproof.
The stability of the Liberty Air is very dependent on the ear tip you use. If you can achieve a decent seal and fit, the buds barely move inside your ears and are suitable to run or workout with. On the upside, their truly wireless design gets rid of the risk of a cable getting hooked on something and pulling out the headphones.
Sound
- 21% Bass
- 20% Mid
- 19% Treble
- 5% Frequency Response Consistency
- 9% Imaging
- 20% Soundstage
- 6% Total Harmonic Distortion
The Anker Liberty Air are above-average sounding truly wireless in-ear headphones. They have a deep and well-balanced bass, an even and clear mid-range and a great treble. However, their mid-range is slightly recessed, nudging the vocals and leads to the back of the mix, but this should be barely noticeable. Also, there’s a dip in the treble that creates a small lack of detail and brightness, and certain sibilances (S and T sounds) might be sharp for some users. Overall, they are versatile in-ears for a wide variety of music, from bass-heavy to vocal-centric genres. However, if you prefer a more bass-heavy sound profile, look at the SoundPEATS TrueFree or the Anker Soundcore Spirit X.
- 90% Std. Err.
- 10% Low-Frequency Extension
The bass of the Liberty Air is excellent. The response is flat and virtually flawless throughout the range, and mostly within 1.5dB of our neutral target. The LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 10Hz, which is also excellent. Overall, the bass is deep, thumpy, and punchy, while being well-balanced, making them suitable for all genres of music, including the bass-heavy ones.
- 100% Std. Err.
Their mid-range performance is very good. The response is quite even and mostly flat throughout the entire range. However, there is also a shallow 2dB dip in mid-mid, slightly nudging the vocals to the back of the mix, but this will barely be noticeable.
- 100% Std. Err.
The treble performance of the Anker Liberty Air is great. The response is fairly even and follows our target curve well. They might be a bit sibilant for some, but not everyone will hear it. Also, there’s a small dip around 5KHz, which will negatively affect the detail and brightness of vocals and leads, but this should barely be noticeable.
- 100% Avg. Std. Deviation
The frequency response consistency is excellent. If the user can achieve a proper fit and an air-tight seal using the assortment of tips that come with the headphones, then they should be able to get consistent bass and treble delivery every time they use the headphones.
The stereo imaging is excellent. Their weighted group delay is at 0.16, which is very low. The group delay graph also shows that the entire response is well below the audibility threshold. This ensures a tight bass and a transparent treble reproduction. Also, the L/R drivers of our test unit were well-matched in frequency, amplitude, and phase response. This is important for the accurate placement and localization of objects (voices, instruments, video games effects) in the stereo image. Note that these results are only valid for our unit and yours may perform differently.
- 15% PRTF Accuracy (Std. Dev.)
- 15% PRTF Size (Avg.)
- 30% PRTF Distance
- 20% Openness
- 10% Acoustic Space Excitation
- 10% Correlated Crosstalk
The soundstage is poor. This is because creating an out-of-head and speaker-like soundstage is largely dependent on activating the resonances of the pinna (outer ear). The design of in-ears and earbuds is in such a way that fully bypasses the pinna and doesn't interact with it. Also, because these headphones have a closed-back enclosure, their soundstage won't be perceived to be as open as that of open-back earbuds like the Apple AirPods, Google Pixel Buds, or the Bose SoundSport Free.
- 50% Weighted THD @ 90
- 50% Weighted THD @ 100
The total harmonic distortion performance of the Liberty Air is decent. In the bass range, the THD isn’t elevated and is in within good limits. However, the THD gets a bit more elevated in the mid and especially treble range. The peak around 4KHz could make these frequencies sound sharp and impure. On the upside, there is no big jump in THD at 100dB SPL, which is good.
Isolation
The Anker Liberty Air have great passive isolation. These in-ears don’t have an ANC feature and still isolate better than some ANC headphones we’ve reviewed. They create a good seal that blocks a good amount of noise and doesn’t leak. You’ll be able to use them on a bus or at the office and block out background noise. Since they also barely leak, you’ll be able to raise your listening volume without disturbing people surrounding you.
- 29% Bass
- 29% Mid
- 28% Treble
- 14% Self-Noise
The noise isolation performance of the Liberty Air is good. Even if they don’t have any ANC feature, they passively block a good amount of ambient noise. They achieved about 11dB of isolation in the bass range, where engine rumbles sit, which is above-average. However, there seems to be a weak spot around the 200hz mark. In the mid-range, important for blocking ambient chatter, they achieved an isolation of 23dB, which is very good. In the treble range, occupied by S and T sounds and fan noises like A/C systems, they provide about 37dB of isolation, which is also very good.
The leakage performance is excellent. The Liberty Air basically do not leak, so there's no need to worry about disturbing people around with your music, even if you listen at very loud volumes. With the music at 100dB SPL, the leakage at 1 foot away averages at 23dB SPL and peaks at 33dB SPL, which is roughly as loud as a very calm room and well under the noise floor of an average office.
Microphone
- 50% Recording Quality
- 50% Noise Handling
The performance of the Anker Liberty Air’s integrated mic is mediocre. Speech recorded or transmitted with the microphone will sound thin and lacking in brightness. However, it will be easily intelligible in quiet environments. In louder environments though, they will struggle to separate speech from background noise in loud situations.
- 20% LFE
- 25% FR Std. Dev.
- 30% HFE
- 20% Weighted THD
- 5% Gain
The Liberty Air’s microphone has a sub-par recording quality. The LFE (low-frequency extension) of 386Hz means speech recorded or transmitted will sound noticeably thin. The HFE (high-frequency extension) of 2.6KHz is poor and results in speech that is muffled and lacking in detail. It also negatively affects the intelligibility of speech but will still be understandable in very quiet environments.
- 100% SpNR
The integrated microphone of the Anker Liberty Air is average at noise handling. In our SpNR test, they achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of about 19dB, indicating they are best suited for quiet and moderate environments. However, they will struggle to separate speech from ambient noise in loud situations.
Active Features
- 90% Battery
- 10% App Support
The Anker Liberty Air have a 4-hour battery life, but their case holds about 3 other charges, for an estimated bonus of 12 hours. They should last you a full workday if you take breaks to charge the headphones. They can also save power by entering a standby mode, which is convenient. Unfortunately, Anker doesn’t have a companion app for headphones for you to customize the sound to your liking.
- 60% Battery Life
- 25% Charge Time
- 10% Power Saving Feature
- 5% Audio while charging
The Anker Soundcore Liberty Air have a 4-hour battery life, which is about average for most truly wireless in-ears. This is slightly under the advertised 5 hours from Anker, so we also expect the advertised 20-hour total battery life with the case charges to be a bit lower (depending on your volume level). On the upside, the headphones have a power saving feature and will enter a standby mode if they are connected to a device, but no audio is playing. If the headphones are not connected to a device but are powered on, they will automatically turn off in 2 minutes.
These headphones do not have a companion app with customization options to enhance your listening experience.
Connectivity
- 10% Bluetooth
- 33% Wired
- 10% Base/Dock
- 22% Wireless Range
- 25% Latency
The Anker Liberty Air are Bluetooth truly wireless in-ears. They have an amazing wireless range, and you might get even better results if your source supports Bluetooth version 5.0 too. Unfortunately, they can’t connect to two devices simultaneously which would have been useful if you often switch between your phone and office computer. They also have higher-than-average latency, which isn't suitable for watching video content and gaming. On the upside, their case gives you additional charges and extends their total battery life.
- 80% Multi-Device Pairing
- 20% NFC
- <1% PS4 Compatible
- <1% Xbox One Compatible
These headphones support Bluetooth 5.0, so you might get even better results in wireless range and connection stability if your audio source supports Bluetooth 5.0 too. Unfortunately, they can only be connected to one device at a time and don’t support NFC. You can also use the right earbud alone if you want, but not the left one.
- 13% Analog
- 9% USB
- 26% PS4 Compatible
- 26% Xbox One Compatible
- 26% PC Compatible
These truly wireless headphones do not have a wired connection.
- 5% Optical Input
- 22% Line In
- 5% Line Out
- 22% USB Input
- 4% RCA Input
- 9% PS4 Compatible
- 9% Xbox One Compatible
- 9% PC Compatible
- 2% Power Supply
- 13% Dock Charging
The Anker Liberty Air comes with a case that acts as a charging station for the headphones. It can hold about 3 additional charges, but the case doesn’t have any inputs.
- 77% Obstructed Range
- 23% Line of Sight Range
They have an amazing wireless range. With 65ft of wireless range, you’ll be able to leave your Bluetooth source at one spot and move around in a small apartment or office without hearing audio cuts due to limited range. You shouldn’t have too many problems, especially if you keep your audio source on you. These results may vary depending on your Bluetooth source.
- 34% Default Latency
- 33% aptX Latency
- 33% aptX(LL) Latency
Their latency is too high to watch video content or for gaming. It is also higher than the average Bluetooth headphones that usually measure around 200-220ms of delay. On the upside, some video content apps like YouTube and Netflix seem to compensate for the delay so you shouldn’t notice it too much.
In the box
- Anker Liberty Air headphones
- 4 tip sizes
- Charging case
- Charging cable
- Manuals
Compared to other Headphones
The Anker Liberty Air are very versatile truly wireless in-ears with a good audio reproduction. They have a lightweight design, but they look like a cheaper version of the Apple AirPods. They also have great isolation performance which is great for commuting and to use at the office. Unfortunately, the in-ear fit might be fatiguing after long listening sessions, and their latency is quite high for watching videos and gaming. They still offer great value when compared to other more expensive truly wireless headphones.
The Anker Soundcore Liberty Air are better headphones than the Apple AirPods. They are more versatile thanks to their closed-back design that helps isolate more noise, which is useful for commuting and at the office. Their sound quality is also more accurate and follows our curve better. Thanks to the different tip sizes, they are also very stable in-ears for sports. On the other hand, the AirPods feel better made and have a better battery life. They also are more comfortable for most people. They are also more open-sounding due to their open-back design and have noticeably lower latency.
The Anker Soundcore Liberty Air are more versatile than the Anker Soundcore Spirit X. The truly wireless design of the Liberty Air gets rid of the cable and have a more portable design. Fans of bass may prefer the sound profile of the Spirit X, but the Liberty Air has better overall sound quality. The fit of the Liberty Air is also better for isolating ambient noise than the Spirit X. However, the Spirit X have a longer battery life, and their ear-hook design is very stable for sports. You also get a nice in-line remote with volume controls and are rated IPX7 while the Liberty Air is rated IPX5 for sweat and water resistance.
The Anker Soundcore Liberty Air are better truly wireless in-ears than the SoundPEATS TrueFree. Their sound profile is more neutral, but some may prefer the thumpy bass of the SoundPEATS. The Ankers also isolate a bit better, but not by much. The nice touch-sensitive control surface is better than the one-button layout of the TrueFree since you don’t have to push the headphones deeper inside your ear canal. The Anker case also has a lid that protects the headphones, which the SoundPEATS’ case is lacking. On the other hand, the TrueFree feel better made and their matte design isn’t as fingerprint prone as the Liberty Air’s glossy finish.
The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air are better truly wireless headphones than the Treblab X5. Their build is less bulky and their audio reproduction is more accurate. Their fit also blocks more ambient noise and their battery life is slightly longer. However, their have higher latency than the X5 and they don’t have volume control on the earbuds, which the X5 have. The Treblab also come with fins for added stability during physical activities.
The Anker Soundcore Liberty Air are better truly wireless in-ears than the Skullcandy Push. They have a more lightweight design, and their case is more portable. The sound quality is also more neutral, but some may prefer the heavy bass of the Push. The Ankers isolate more noise and are more versatile for everyday casual use. However, the Push have a better control scheme that offers volume control, which the Liberty Air lacks. They also have a longer battery life on one charge and maxed out our testing facility for wireless range.
The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air are better truly wireless headphones than the Altec Lansing True Evo. They have a more neutral sound profile and they isolate more ambient noise, making them a more versatile and better option for commuting. They also have a slightly better battery life and their case is more compact. They also support Bluetooth 5.0, which may translate into better range and connection stability. On the other hand, the True Evo come with a good amount of tip options and feel less cheap than the glossy and plasticky Ankers.
The JBL Endurance Peak and the Anker SoundCore Liberty Air are both great truly wireless earbuds, but the Liberty Air are slightly better all-around. They’re both decently well-built and have similar batteries, lasting around 4 hours on a charge and charging under an hour and a half, though the Peak’s is a bit better since they have an auto-off timer. Both headphones also have a well-balanced, neutral sound profile, but the SoundCore Liberty Air have better treble. The JBL Endurance Peak have a sportier look with a better control scheme, but the Liberty Air have a more casual look, and are more comfortable with better isolation.
