The Lowdown
Unlike other earbuds that I have tried before, I can comfortably wear the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro earbuds for hours on end. This may be the norm for many other people, but after a couple of hours with just about any ANC earbuds inserted in my ears, I will need to remove them as my ears start aching from the pressure; that doesn’t happen with these.
Overall
Pros
- Extremely comfortable, even when wearing for hours on end
- The ANC doesn’t make my ears feel like they are under pressure
- Phenomenal sound
- 0-75% recharge in the charging case when they run down
- HearID nailed exactly how I would hope these would sound
- Earbuds have easy to manage gesture
- They sound great in calls
- Frequent Over-the-Air updates through the Soundcore app
- IPX4 water-resistance
Cons
- I get about 4.5 hours of listening time with the HearID ANC on at 50% volume, but the earbuds do recharge very quickly
The Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro True Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds are meant to provide immersive sound with touch controls, customizable HearID active noise cancelation that monitors outside ambient noise without putting too much pressure on your inner ears, and so much more. Most importantly, they are supposed to be comfortable to wear for hours on end while sounding fantastic. Can these TWE live up to the hype?
The Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro TWE’s features include:
- ACAA 2.0 with Knowles Balanced Armature driver and 10.6mm dynamic driver.
- HearID ANC for customizable usage scenarios
- LDAC, AAC, and SBC codec for best sounding music
- Three transparency modes enhance the outside noises without removing earbuds.
- Up to 8-hours of battery in earbuds with ANC off / 6-hour of battery life with ANC on ( at 60% vol.)
- Wireless charging compatible case with 32-hour battery (with ANC off) and 24-hour battery (with ANC on) as well as USB-C charging.
- Anker Fast Charging technology: 15 minutes charging earbuds = 3 hours of playtime
- 6-mic AI uplink noise reduction helps minimize background noise during calls
- Customizable user touch controls for play/pause, track advance, volume, etc.
- Bluetooth version: 5.2
- Waterproof rating: IPX4
They also come recommended by twenty GRAMMY-winning audio producers.
Let’s take a look at the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro themselves, their set-up with the app, and then we’ll see how they live up to their feature’s promise.
Inside the box, you’ll find a graphic with instructions on how to get the perfect fit with the included four sets of liquid silicone ear tips and the four sets of air-filled ear wings (a pair are already installed on the earbuds). There is also a USB-C and wireless charging capable carry case, a USB-C to USB-A charging cable, the two Liberty 3 Pro earbuds, a quick start guide, safety information, and information on contacting customer service if needed.
The Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro earbuds are available in four scratch-resistant, nature-inspired colors: Midnight Black, Fog Gray, Frost White, and the Dusk Purple that I received.
The oval carry and charge case measures 2.8″ long by 2.2″ wide by 1.1″ thick. On the front edge, three LEDs indicate the remaining charge.
When all three LEDs are glowing, you have more than a 95% charge; if two are glowing and the third is blinking, you have 70-95% charge left; if one LED is glowing and the second is flashing, you have 30-70% charge left; and if one LED is blinking, you have less than 30% charge left.
There is a USB-C port on the back of the carry and charge case. As mentioned, the case and earbuds can also be wirelessly charged by placing the charging case on a Qi-charger.
Inside the charge and carry case, there are hollows for the earbuds, an R indicator for the right earbud, and charging pins that will help you remember how to orient the earbuds when you slip them in the case.
The Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro earbuds come with four sizes of EarWings; they are embossed with sizes ranging from 0 through 3 and marked L or R so that even if they get scrambled, you’ll know which size and side they are meant for.
The Liberty 3 Pro earbuds don’t come with a silicone ear tip installed, but you’ll have four sizes to choose from. Based on experience, I Installed the smallest ear tips. The earbuds come with the size 2 ear wings installed, and I decided to start with that size, not knowing what would fit me best.
The outer earbud body that sits inside your ear concha measures 1″ long by 0.7″ wide; the earbud surface is shiny and pearlescent, and it is where you will perform all of the various controls by a series of taps that you can set in the Soundcore app.
The first few times that you try to insert the earbuds into the charging case, you will likely fumble a bit, but if you remember the orientation of the charging pins on the right and left earbuds, magnets will help ensure that they fall correctly into place quickly.
When you receive the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro, they will likely have at least a 5-% charge; as you wait for them to charge fully, it’s an excellent time to set up the Soundcore app. With the app, you can create your personal HearID profile, adjust the equalizer, customize the individual earbud controls, switch ambient sound modes, update the firmware, and more.
Once you have created or signed in to your Soundcore/eufy account and selected the Liberty 3 Pro, the app will walk you through a series of screens that will instruct you to choose the correct ear tips and ear wings for a good seal and stable fit.
The app will also explain the correct wearing position for the earbuds, and you’ll be given a quick walk-through on the correct touch range on the earbuds. Each earbud supports four gestures: press, double press, triple press, and long press, and you can enable and customize them later in the app. [Click the first photo in the gallery to open a slide show showing the start guide.]
Next, you’ll be on a screen that shows the battery level remaining for each earbud and the charging case. From there, you can choose the level of ambient sound that you would like to allow as you listen through the buds.
I suggest that you start with the HearID Test in the purple box. Pressing that will open the HearID option, which maps your hearing sensitivity at multiple frequencies and then analyzes the results to tailor the EQ settings and create your personalized sound profile.
The HearID Test will ask for your age, and then it will ask you to find a quiet place to take the test. You’ll then insert the earbuds, and the test will start with your left ear. A series of tones will play, working around the circle graphic around the ear, and you’ll respond with whether or not you hear the tones.
Once the left ear is done, testing will commence on the right ear, following the same process. Upon completing the test, the app will present you with your HearID for each ear; deciding to trust the process, I selected Personalize earphones.
The next personalization feature is the HearID ANC Test. You’ll want to do this test in a noisier environment, and you’ll want to make sure that the ear tips you’ve selected have a strong seal. During the test, you aren’t supposed to swallow or talk, and you’ll want to make sure that the sound levels around you don’t excessively fluctuate. Once the test is complete, you will get another graphic.
HearID is described this way:
HearID Sound analyzes the way in which you hear music in order to create a personalized sound profile that’s tailored precisely to your ears. It can also be applied to all your favorite EQ settings for more customization.
HearID ANC is active noise canceling that not only adjusts to noise levels around you, but also to your ears. Our proprietary HearID technology studies the way in which sound moves within your ears as well as the level of in-ear pressure. It then creates a tailored profile that optimizes noise reduction for you, your ears, and your surroundings.
Now that you’ve set up the HearID and HearID ANC tests, you can check the difference between how the earbuds sound when in ANC, Normal, and Transparency mode. You can also explore Sound Mode, where you can either set the LDAC codec as your preferred audio quality or combine audio and connection quality.
If you are streaming from a mobile device that is LDAC capable, you’ll enjoy that three times more data is transferred from your device to the earbuds, preserving every little detail in the song.
There are a couple of caveats to using the LDAC codec, but you might still think it’s worth it. Using it will cause the earbuds to no longer connect to two devices simultaneously; using it will result in decreased battery life, and you might occasionally experience some connection instability in some environments.
If you opt to use the LDAC codec, you’ll need to install a quick software upgrade.
All that’s left is to set up the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro earbud’s individual controls through the app. You can personalize the earbuds to do the same thing on the right and left sides when they are tapped, double-tapped, held for two seconds, or tapped three times, or you can opt to do different functions depending upon the ear.
I have the following setup: a single tap on the left ear will turn the volume down, and a single tap on the right will raise the volume. A double-tap on the left earbud will skip to the next song, and a double-tap on the right earbud will Play or Pause the audio. Touching either the right or left earbud for two seconds will turn on the Ambient sound, and tapping wither earbud three times will trigger the voice assistant on my phone.
I also have Wearing Detection turned on, and under the Device List, I can see any devices that I have [aired to the earbuds. You can connect up to two devices at the same time to the earbuds.
Fit Test, found under More Settings, was an extremely useful feature. Taking the test in a quiet environment, the earbuds will determine if you have the proper seal or if the ear wing that you are wearing isn’t the correct size. I’ve always just had to guess whether I was using the right size ear wings on other earbuds that offered them, so it was refreshing to find out that I needed to go up a size for the proper fit.
You shouldn’t talk, walk around, or remove the earbuds from your ears during the test.
I find that audio playing through the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro with HearID ANC on is my preferred sound style, but you can absolutely pick different sound effects (EQ styles), including 3D Surround Sound (which can’t be used with LDAC but is excellent for movies and gaming), various Soundcore Signature settings, or you can set your own custom EQ to get the sound that you like best.
I feel like the HearID Sound profile is the best of all of them, which makes sense to me, as it was basically created just for my particular ears.
Here’s where things get really interesting. Unlike other earbuds that I have tried before, I can comfortably wear the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro earbuds for hours on end. This may be the norm for many other people, but after a couple of hours with just about any ANC earbuds inserted in my ears, I will need to remove them as my ears start aching from the pressure; that doesn’t happen with these.
I suspect that the air-filled ear wings have a lot to do with that; they hold the earbuds in place so that I can move, shake my head, walk, play with my pets, or do whatever, and the earbuds always stay in place. Half the time, if I don’t have music playing through them, I forget that I am even wearing them; this is a totally new sensation for me.
Soundcore says that with the Liberty 3 Pro, they use a “built-in structure which allows air to flow in and out of the driver’s front chamber freely to reduce in-ear pressure for comfortable wearing.”
I generally keep the HearID ANC turned on with music playing at about 50% volume; this is about as loud a volume as I can stand to wear them while working and still be able to string together coherent sentences or edit. The ANC cuts our distracting background noise and makes it easier to concentrate as I write. I have been averaging 4.5 hours of use with those settings before each earbud’s battery drains. This is slightly lower run-time than expected, but putting the earbuds back into their case for 15 minutes recharges them to about 75% battery life, which is pretty exceptional.
As for how music sounds when I am listening through the earbuds, it is nothing short of phenomenal. I like to work while listening to various types of music in my Spotify playlists, and everything from rap to rock to indy music sounds so good! There is plenty of bass, the vocals are remarkably clear, and the mid-range never sounds muddy; the result is rich and full sound. I have absolutely no complaints. In fact, I think that the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro TWE sound better than other true wireless earbuds I own that cost much more!
If I am working but need to be able to hear other things that are happening around me, I can switch from HearID ANC to Normal, but if I need to be able to hear if someone is speaking to me, I’ll put them on Transparency mode; I like having all of these options! Best of all, when I get calls on them, no one yet has been able to tell that I was speaking over earbuds; indoors or outside, they sound great, and with IPX4 water-resistance, you don’t have to worry about rain or sweat taking them out.
One last thing that I should mention is that since using the Liberty 3 Pro earbuds, I have received several Over-the-Air firmware updates to them through the Soundcore app; while I haven’t noticed any bugs or other issues during my testing, it’s good to know that Soundcore is being proactive about features and upgrades.
It’s not often that a pair of true wireless earbuds genuinely surprise me, but that’s been the case with the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro. If you are still searching for your perfect pair, I highly recommend giving these a try.
The Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro retails for $169.99; it is available directly from the manufacturer and other retailers, including Amazon.
Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample
What I Like: Extremely comfortable, even when wearing for hours on end; The ANC doesn’t make my ears feel like they are under pressure; Phenomenal sound; 0-75% recharge in the charging case when they run down; HearID nailed exactly how I would hope these would sound; Earbuds have easy to manage gestures; They sound great in calls: Frequent Over-the-Air updates through the Soundcore app; IPX4 water-resistance
What Needs Improvement: I get about 4.5 hours of listening time with the HearID ANC on at 50% volume, but the earbuds do recharge very quickly
The ability to customize itself for your ears is really a great feature!
Seems like a good, affordable option. Comfort is an underated feature if you wear them all day.
I have that problem with earbuds too, in that I can’t keep them in for long before the become extremely uncomfortable. These may work for me.