Soundcore has quickly become one of our favorite smartphone accessory brands. The audio sub-brand from Anker has yet to disappoint with its headphones, earbuds, or portable speakers. Our friends at the audio outlet have let us test the latest offering, the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro and let’s find out if it holds true to the standard in a full review.
Design
I’ve been a big fan of the Liberty Pro series of earbuds, and the new generation three will be very familiar if you’ve seen the previous ones. You will get the same oval, “bullet” style design with a silicone stabilization loop. It’s tried and true for the Liberty Pro earbuds and I like that Anker has kept that design language consistent.
Internally, the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro earbuds are powered by proprietary ACAA dual coaxial drivers tuned by 20 Grammy-award-winning artists. You also get active noise cancellation, multi-point Bluetooth connections, and IPX4 waterproofing.
Controls
On the outer casing of each Liberty 3 Pro earpiece is a touch area for controlling several playback functions. These can be customized to your liking in the Soundcore app, but all the basic volume and track manipulation are there.
The defaults are fairly common. A double-tap of either the left or right earbud will pause the Liberty 3 Pro playback or restart the track. A single tab on the left will lower the volume and the same on the right side will increase the output levels.
Out of the box, a long press for two seconds will activate the different active noise cancellation profiles. This moves between full ANC and what Soundcore is calling Transparency mode. Transparency still offers low-level noise cancellation but doesn’t filter out other voices. This makes it ideal for those in cubicle settings that may want background audio but still need to hear a co-worker.
I personally don’t use this setting much and changed this long press in the Soundcore app. I much prefer having my favorite voice assistant assigned to this option. For me, having Google Assistant ready to go with just a short press is much more useful day to day.
Sound
Soundcore knocks the audio quality out of the park on the Liberty 3 Pro. This has been true for all the generations of this lineup and holds fast here. You will be hard-pressed to find better audio on a wireless earbud in my opinion.
The sound is just well-balanced and rich. You get full highs and mids with the occasional punch of bass like you’d expect from any high-end offering. Anker takes pride in the input of its Grammy artists and you can tell that isn’t just an ad gimmick with the Liberty 3 Pro headphones.
Phone calls are just as superb. I placed numerous cell calls and VOIP sessions with no issues. Both sides of the line were able to communicate with no drops or breakups.
Battery
You have to think about battery life when living the truly wireless audio experience. Again, Soundcore is above the average trend of around four hours for devices like this with a full eight hours of playback per charge.
Add that to the portable case can recharge three full times and you end up with 32 hours of total playback away from the outlet. This is exceptional for this price point and form factor.
When you do need to plug in, you can get three hours of recharge in just 15 minutes with USB-C quick charge. You can also charge via Qi wireless charging, which is always a plus in the Allen household.
Conclusion
Soundcore adds another premium winner to its lineup with the Liberty 3 Pro earbuds. With great sound, superb battery life, and reasonable pricing, you can’t go wrong.
The Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro earbuds can be yours for $179 on both Amazon and Soundcore’s website. These awesome earbuds come in four colors: Midnight Black, Dusk Purple, Fog Gray, and Frost White.
