TWS true wireless earphones - under $150
FOUR STARS - The Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro may be the sleekest, most premium wireless earphones you can get your hands on under 150 dollars - but they sound a little artificial, even with the brilliant companion app.
Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro specs:
Bluetooth 5.0 with AptX codec
IPX7 water proof (heavy rain, sweat and shower resistant)
7-8 hours listening on a full charge
Charging case can charge earpieces fully 4 times
Comes with 7 sets ear tips, 3 sizes ear wings and a USB-C charging cable
$150 on Amazon US or Amazon Europe - check current price!
Below this review you can find direct comparisons between the Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro vs Fiil T1X, Samsung Galaxy Buds, Lypertek Tevi and Bomaker Sifi.
Update January 22: Updated the app and sound quality segment of this review with the release of the custom equalizer option in the app!
Design, charging and comfort
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro probably has the most beautiful packaging of all wireless earphones under the 150 dollars mark. Anker impresses with shiny imprints, soft inlays - the whole unboxing experience. The Liberty 2 Pro shouts it's premium enough to compete with the likes of Sony and Sennheiser. And it's not just the box either.
The Liberty 2 Pro itself oozes premium as well - everything looks and feels fantastic. The matte grey charging case has a pebble-like, flat design from soft plastic. The USB-C charging port has a rubber cover, and you open the case by gently sliding the lid open. The earpieces plunge into the case thanks to a strong magnet. Not only does the case have an original design - it just feels sturdy.
The earpieces too are crafted beautifully. They are on the bigger side, with a big plate sticking horizontally out of your ears. The inner plates are grey, laying on a bigger black plate. On the front where the two plates meet, a white LED-light shows the earbuds are idle or currently connecting and pairing. They don't blink when you're listening to music on them, happily. The button placement - on top of the earpieces - is also fantastic.
Inside your ears, the earpieces are kept firmly but comfortably in place with the rubber ear wings you can stretch around the earpieces. Because these stick after your ear flaps, you can use the Liberty 2 Pro for sports easily. As a bonus, they offer big passive noise isolation as well - you can rule out some office sounds by just putting them in.
The battery life of the earpieces is solid, clocking about 7 hours of playtime on a single charge. The case can recharge them up to 4 times fully.
Connectivity and controls
The Soundcore L2P has actual buttons on the top of the earpieces. Pressing them doesn't cause the earpieces to go deeper into your ears. The control scheme is delightfully easy. Press once to play or pause. Press the right button twice to advance a song and long-press it to increase the volume. On the left earpiece, press twice to return a track and long-press to decrease the volume.
How you want to control the earpieces, is up to you, however. You can change the control settings via the app. Unfortunately, it isn't possible to activate the voice assistant and the volume controls at the same time.
Connectivity on the L2P is solid. The earpieces pair and connect fast when you take them out of the case, and it's a breeze to switch between one and two earpieces. The Bluetooth signal appears strong up to ten meters, and sound dips don't occur, even in areas crowded with wireless signals.
Calling and watching movies
Taking a phone call with the L2P is perfectly doable, although the earpieces try to suppress your surrounding noises so heavily, it sometimes has trouble capturing your voice as well. In more crowded areas, you can still be audible to the other end of the line, but you will sound distant and soft. This is the case in more challenging situations, with wind and a lot of traffic passing by close to you. Both indoors and outdoors, it mostly works great.
Watching videos on the Liberty 2 Pro works excellent, with proper synchronization between audio and video and both Android and iPhone. That includes the challenging YouTube-app on iPhone. There is a noticeable delay in the sound when you play games, however.
Also read: The best true wireless earphones under $100
App of Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro (updated!)
This pair of wireless earphones by Soundcore continues to feel premium and impress with the companion Soundcore-app you can install on iPhone or Android. The app easily connects to your earpieces, and then gives a couple of options, next to updating the firmware.
The app shows the battery status of the earpieces, and lets you change the controls on both of them. Furthermore, there are 22 preset equalizers to choose from - more on that in the sound quality part.
More importantly, with a new app update released in January 2020, it's now possible to setup a custom equalizer! Herein, you can tweak the output of the sound frequencies yourself.
Last but not least, you can test your hearing (requiring you to press the screen when you hear sound), and Anker will generate a personalized sound profile for you - a new equalizer you can choose from.
For me, this personalization option didn't deliver a sound profile to my liking or needs - but your mileage may vary. With the custom equalizer option, it's still easy to adjust the sound to your personal liking.
Sound quality of Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro
Most noticeable, the Liberty 2 Pro has a forward segment of upper-mids. It's more pronounced in vocals than in instruments; especially female voices take the upper part in any song. The emphasis on these frequencies causes an airy feeling in the music.
The L2P offers a wide soundstage that makes other bassy-balanced mainstream-tuned competitors like the Lypertek Tevi, Creative Outlier Air and Aukey Key Series T10 suddenly seem closed-in. Within the soundstage, the separation is good, but it can be hard to place instruments around you.
At higher listening volumes, the emphasis on the upper-mids unfortunately comes at the cost of a sort of hiss surrounding higher-pitched vocals. As much as the Liberty 2 Pro wants to treat you with an abundance of clarity in these vocals, the huge elevation and hiss around them can actually make them sound artificial. Happily, the 'hiss' disappears on average to lower music volumes. It's also not as bad as on the Edifier TWS5, for instance.
Underneath the elevated upper-mids, this Anker Soundcore model has a significant presence of lows. Prepare to have the bass pumping hard in your ears when listening to hip-hop or dance genres. It's not the tightest bass, but there's an abundance of it: slams last long and not only fill up the sound, but they can fill your ears as well. Turn the music up, and the bass can be tiresome.
Happily, the lower-mids are still their own identity - there's plenty of presence for darker electronic tones, male vocals, and drums. When a song boasts them out of itself, the lower-mids can sound a little muffled, however.
It's at medium volumes that the Liberty 2 Pro sounds best. Still a bit artificial at times, but smooth and without the overwhelming bass and upper-mids hiss.
It's at this point where the different equalizers of the Soundcore-app come in, and with the new January 2020 update of the app, it's even possible to setup your own equalizer. It would be ideal not to need an equalizer at all, but here it can be beneficial to tone down the bass a bit or to easily switch from the laidback Soundcore sound to the more expressively tuned 'acoustics', for example. There should be something to your liking.
Selected Comparisons
Liberty 2 Pro vs Fiil T1X
The Fiil T1X costs around half of the L2P. It is the best sub-$100 dollars wireless earphone you can buy now. The L2P has a bigger bass presence, but the tighter T1X bass makes music a little more uplifting. The T1X also sounds more natural, balanced, and detailed, with better instrument placement and representation of mids like guitars and pianos. The T1X also has an app with equalizer settings - and even an added low latency mode to synchronize the sound while playing games. Due to its ear-rings, it's just as good for sports as the L2P. The Soundcore does look and feel more premium and better built, however.
Liberty 2 Pro vs Lypertek Tevi
After updating the firmware of the appraised Lypertek Tevi ($90) via the complicated working app, the sound signature of the Tevi changes from clear and bass-anemic to a more friendly, mainstream sound - with less brightness and more bass and lower-mids. In comparison, the L2P offers more forward vocals and upper-mids and has a wider soundstage. The Tevi sounds a bit darker. The Tevi-bass is more controlled and less 'thumpy' than the L2P; but the L2P is the more convenient pair of wireless earphones - with its impressive build quality and a better working app.
Liberty 2 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy Buds
The L2P and Samsung Galaxy Buds share their price point, sturdy build quality, and the inclusion of an app that lets you change the sound character. The Galaxy Buds is more mid-centric sounding, with a more natural presence of instruments like guitars, violins, and pianos. On both sets, vocals can feel a bit surrounded by a hiss, making them sound a little artificial. The L2P has a broader soundstage, the Samsung better tonality.
Samsung Galaxy Buds review here
Lypertek Tevi vs Bomaker Sifi
As one of the best cheapest sub-$50 wireless earphones, the Bomaker Sifi sounds more natural than the Soundcore L2P. The Sifi has more presence in the mids, resulting in better representation of instruments like guitars and drums. Both deliver an airy feeling and above-average soundstage, but the L2P is tuned more customer-friendly with a more boosted bass section and toned-down highs.
Verdict
It's hard to get a nicer, better-built pair of wireless earphones for this price. The Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro looks and feels fantastic, offers excellent comfort even for sports, reduces surrounding noises impressively, and lets you tune the sound with a terrific companion app. It may not offer the most natural sound, but this is a great daily driver.
Four STARS - very good
Buy Liberty 2 Pro/ check current price:
I bought the Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro for testing and reviewing purposes myself. I test and review all audio products equally honest - read about it here.
Consider buying this earphone? I'd really appreciate it if you use the links in this article. It won't cost you extra, yet it will financially support me a bit in my ongoing quest for great affordable audio. <3
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