A disclaimer: I lost a pair of Apple AirPods right before the Liberty Neos arrived, so I was quite hopeful that these would be a solid replacement given that they’re made by an awesome brand like Anker.
Unfortunately, I would not recommend these as a replacement to AirPods if that’s what you’re after. I’ll dive into the details below.
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Ease of use. While these are not complicated for most people to use, I would hesitate to recommend them to someone like my parents, whereas I didn’t have this worry with AirPods. Once connected via Bluetooth, they will connect automatically when pulled out of the case (note this is different from AirPods that turn on once in your ears). The Neos do not have light sensors, so they don’t automatically pause if you take them out of your ear. There have been 2 times during my 10 days of use that the left and right did not sync, so music would only play out of one side (this has never happened in a year of AirPods use). Also, even the physical element of the product has slight confusion in what ear it goes in. I find myself often putting them in the wrong ear - this is pretty hard to do with AirPods.
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Noise blocking. I realize this is a feature of the Neos, but I find it worth calling out that this limits the use cases I could use these earbuds for. They suction into your ear canal making it impossible to hear anything else. If you use these in an office, your teammates will need to tap your shoulder to get your attention. Some might find this level of blockage a concern when running, riding subways, with kids, and likely illegal while driving as you wouldn’t be able to hear emergency vehicles.
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Using these for phone calls is pretty terrible because you can’t hear yourself due to the noise blocking nature – so you’ll talk way too loud unless you have only one in, but that feels strange with one ear suctioned and the other not. People on the other end pointed out that it was harder to hear me vs AirPods as well.
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They’re bulky. The battery life seems better compared to AirPods, but at the expense of portability and looks. The case is too big to carry in your pocket, and they stick straight out of our ears.
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Click vs. tap (AirPods) is a very noticeable difference for the functions like pause/next/previous/answer/siri. The click on the Neo is hard enough to do that you might feel uncomfortable doing it as often as you’d want because you’re pushing plastic into your ear canal…it’s a pretty awkward experience, whereas it feels really easy + natural to tap the AirPods (although limited in abilities vs. the Neo).
To end on a positive notes about these earbuds: They sound great. Definitely better overall sound compared to the AirPods if you’re listening to music. The suction aspect creates much better bass support. If you’re comparing these with another set of earbuds, I would suggest comparing them to the wireless Beats and not the much more popular AirPods. The flip case + single pods are similar in style, but that’s about it.
