The Soundcore Liberty Lites are not my first set of bluetooth earbuds, but they are my first experience with totally wireless earbuds. I had my eye on the Zolo Liberty earbuds for a while but could never pull the trigger. When I saw Anker had rebranded and refreshed them with the “Soundcore” moniker and lowered the price, my interest peaked.
If you are interested in an unboxing video, I’m sure YouTube can help you there, but these are packaged in Anker’s standard white and blue, small, sturdy box. In the box you’ll find the Liberty earbuds, charging case, a variety of different sized tips and wings, micro-usb cable and instructions/warranty card.
SETUP
The earbuds and case came with a charge, but the first thing I did was top them up. With only a 600mah battery in the case, that didn’t take long (maybe an hour or so). Pairing with my Samsung S8 was as simple as pulling them out of the case, pushing the button on the earbud and scanning for available bluetooth devices from my phone’s bluetooth settings. After the initial pairing ther earbuds auto connect to my phone each time they are removed from the case and disconnect when they are put back in. Super simple.
BUILD QUALITY
Anker makes their products to last and these are no exception. The charging case is small (approx 3x1x1) with rounded edges making it easily pocketable.The charging port is covered by a small rubber flap (waterproof?). 3 LEDs on the exterior indicate the charge level. The case charges via micro-USB (fine, but come on…it’s time to move to USB-C). The earbuds themselves are all black and made of a premium feeling plastic. A small push button on each can control music (play/pause/skip) calls (answer/end) and bring up your preferred voice assistant (with a double press). Unfortunately there is no volume control. The included tips and wings are a black silicon (four different sizes of each). When putting the earbuds in the case, they magnetically snap into place and each has a small light to let you know it’s charging. Also it’s worth mentioning that because of the specific depth of the case and how the earbuds fit, changing to a third party tip could be tricky.
USE/SOUND QUALITY
As I mentioned, once paired, these will auto connect every time they are removed from the case. Couldn’t be easier. After you figure out which combo of tips/wings work for you, just pop em in and give a little twist back and forth to secure them in place. It can take some adjustment to find the perfect spot for comfort and sound quality, but once in place I don’t feel like they are going anywhere and are pretty comfortable. Sound quality is good, if anything it’s lacking a little bass, but getting a good seal can help with that. Also when you do get them sealed in your ear, be prepared to be isolated from ambient noise. Call audio comes from both earbuds (something the previous version didn’t do).
BATTERY LIFE/RANGE
These are rated at 3.5 for the earbuds and another 9 hours from the case. That seems plenty long for anyone even for all day use. I tend to use them an hour here, an hour there and expect I may only need to charge once or twice a week. I know the Zolo case offered 24 and 48 hours of battery life, but it was also much bigger. I’ll take the smaller case any day. I can get about 40 feet away from my phone before the connection breaks up. Within 40 feet I haven’t had any connection issues.
CONCLUSION
At half the price, these are a great alternative to Airpods. They are super simple to use, sound good and come in a small form factor. I do wish they charged via USB-C, but I’ll deal! And don’t forget to remove the clear plastic on each earbud that covers the charging connection.
