The SoundCore Liberty Lite are the smallest and lightest truly wireless earbuds yet from SoundCore.
I received a pair from a contest on Anker’s forums, and I have to say I’m really glad I did. Here’s what I like about them:
Noise Isolation
Keep in mind, these are not Active Noise Cancelling (ANC, like the Bose QC models), but you know what? IT DOESN’T MATTER because the noise isolation is so good. I don’t know what they did on this model, or if my ears are just perfectly fit for these, but I got GREAT noise isolation while wearing these. A quick story:
I was setting up a video production studio in the library of the college where I work. I had a camera plugged into a monitor that had speakers on it, but I had forgotten that. The mic on the camera and the monitor started feeding back, loudly. So loudly, in fact, that a student came in from outside of the studio to ask me what was wrong. I was sitting right beside the monitor, listening to the SoundCore Liberty Lites, and I didn’t even notice. This was not quiet feedback either, it was a loud, shrill whine. I would even caution those that need situational audio awareness at against using these. They’re that good.
Compact Size
These are really small. Smaller than the head of a dime, in fact:
I expected very little from something so small, both in the way of battery life and in the way of audio quality. I was only slightly disappointed about battery life, and the case makes up for that.
Great Sound
I was really surprised by the sound that comes out of these little guys. The bass is deep, the highs are crisp, and vocals are clearly audible. Usually when you have a set of earbuds, you have to make sacrifices in one area or another. Not so with these – it seems the idea was to make a REALLY GOOD (not GREAT) sounding set of earbuds that would make the $60 price point worth it. When you consider that these little guys are about the same form factor as the twice as expensive set that Samsung is coming out with, that’s a pretty good deal. Of course, they fall short on inductive charging, but I’ll cover that in cons, below. I doubt any other truly wireless solution with this form factor will match these in sound quality.
Truly Wireless
Aside from the set of ANC over-the-ear headphones I own, these are my first truly wireless earbuds, and boy do I love it! Most of my time is spent wearing SoundBuds Curve (which do have strengths over these, more about that in Cons), and I love being free from that wire, especially because I have long hair. I’m always getting tangled in the wire and that’s annoying, to say the least.
Charging Case
The charging case is absolutely necessary with these earbuds. Their battery life is lacking – the longest I got was 2.5 hours of continuous play at 75% volume. BUT, the charging case makes up for that. As a way to store them, it’s essential – I would definitely lose one if they didn’t have a good case. As a way to mitigate low battery life, it’s also essential. I was bummed out when they ran out of battery halfway through my workday the first time I used them, but on the second day I simply put them in the case every time I wasn’t listening and VOILA – they lasted all day.
Cons
There’s a lot to like about these things, but they do have some drawbacks:
-
Low Battery Life – They make up for it with the charging case, but it would affect someone that listens constantly throughout the day.
-
No Inductive Charging – You have to charge the case of these with a micro USB cable, which is conveniently included, but I have really jumped on the qi charging bandwagon, so it seems annoying to plug something into a cable now. The Samsung competitor for these does have this feature, so I feel like it’s possible.
-
No Volume Controls – I don’t want much, but I do want to control volume from my earbuds. I can do that with my Curves, so I’m used to adjusting there throughout my listening experience. It’s a pain to get the phone out every time I want to adjust volume.
-
Phone Call Quality – These don’t have great quality when it comes to phone calls. people on the other end have told me it’s thin and sometimes patchy.
-
Inconsistent Audio Connection – I have noted several times that the audio on these goes in and out for reasons I can’t determine. I have connected them to a Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, 27 iMac, 21.5 iMac, Asus Chromebook Flip C302, and iPhone 6s. One or the other sometimes stops playing for 1-3 seconds, but it always comes back. It does not happen often, so I still really like them, but it does happen. There was even one time where they went out in an alternating fashion – one would go out for a second, then the other, then the other. It was strange.
-
Odd inconsistencies with battery level indications - The case sometimes shows full charge when I know it has less than a full charge. For example, it was showing that there were two lights of charge while it had the earbuds in the case, then mysteriously showed three afterwards. I’m not sure why, but I don’t trust the case to self-report battery level after observing this a few times.
Yeah it seemed like it would take quite an incident to remove the screens from mine.
