Review of TWS headphones Soundcore Liberty 4, the flagship with chips

Table of Contents

• Contents of delivery
• Specifications
• Operating time, battery
• Control
  headphones, Soundcore app
• Sound quality, equalizers
• Health with Soundcore - heart rate, stress, workouts
• Impression

Contents of delivery

• Battery case
• Three types of silicone eartips - S/M1/M2/L (M2 installed)
• USB Type C cable
• Instruction
• Warranty

Specifications

• Dual dynamic driver (9.2 and 6 mm)
• Hi-Res Sound, LDAC codec support
• Supported codecs LDAC, AAC, SBC
• Bluetooth 5.3
• 360 Spatial Audio
• Built-in gyroscopes track head position (dynamic music change)
• Posture control, head position
• Silicone earbuds have a double backing - CloudComfort
• Passive isolation control
• Adjusting the headphones to your hearing - HearID Sound 2.0
• Active noise cancellation, each earphone has 6 microphones
• Dozens of preset equalizers, customizable equalizers
• Soundcore app on smartphone
• Operating time - up to 9 hours on a single charge (with noise reduction turned on - up to 6 hours), with a case - up to 28 hours
• Charging USB Type C cable or wireless
• Fast charging from the cable, 15 minutes will give 3 hours of work
• IPX4 headphone, splash and sweat resistant
• Touch control
• Siri support for Apple devices
• Multipoint connection for up to two devices
• Heart rate measurement (workouts can be recorded in the application)

Before my eyes, by the efforts of one person in Russiathe Marshall brand has become not just popular, but a kind of "friend or foe" label. The background of the brand, what it was associated with - all this played into the hands of Marshall's success. Many have tried to repeat it, but without success. It is possible that something similar will happen with Anker's Soundcore brand. It is little known among the wide circles of buyers, but sales are growing very quickly, albeit from a low base. The main thing here is that these headphones began to flicker among different people, many of them can be called informal opinion leaders, and with an emphasis on rational consumption. When not the most expensive thing is bought, but the one that gives good characteristics is chosen, and at the same time there is no need to overpay for the brand. There are no perfect things in the world, but the Liberty 4 model is a very good shot at the latest generation of Airpods Pro, as Soundcore is aggressively working primarily in the US market. At almost half the price, these headphones give a completely different reading of TWS headphones in the flagship segment. The main emphasis is on the sound, but they have a lot of small and big features that can make you fall in love with them.

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When you scold something, usually comments soundso they didn't pay. When you praise - naturally, they paid. My main headphones are the Galaxy Buds2 Pro, and I will be comparing them with them, it will run like a red thread through this text. But you need to understand that this is a different form, different opportunities and plus or minus the same price segment in Russia. I don't like AirPods Pro, they sound too bad for me, and the cat cried for additional features. But we will also dwell on them in the conclusions.

To begin with, Anker understands that any product must be sold first, and do not skimp on packaging. You may see it once when you remove the headphones, but this also gives an impression.

Expensive cardboard packaging, good printing, opens like a book, everything is laid out so that you can see the goods face to face.

TWS headphones usually come with three pairssilicone liners (of course, if they are provided). As soon as they are not packed, they are put in small bags, hidden in pockets. I like how AKG once thought of doing it - on a special substrate inside the box, it works exactly the same here.

Moreover, in addition to the usual and familiar sizesS/M/L, one additional one appeared here - now there are two Ms in the kit. One on the headphones, the second among the spare. I want to focus on the earbuds separately, they provide passive isolation, and it is important that you install them correctly. In the Soundcore application menu, you can check the fit of the headphones, how well you installed them.

Silicone earbuds have a double structure (marketing designation CloudComfort).

It can be described simply: at the end of the silicone tab, a second zone is formed, like a spring, which you, in fact, insert into your ear. Look at the photo.

Let's discard the marketing words, let's see how the headphones sit in the ears.

In shape, they resemble AirPods Pro, in comparisonwith previous Soundcore models, the stem is shorter, which is a good thing. Even with a sharp movement, the headphones cannot fly out of the ears, they hold firmly. Passive isolation is good, but there is no excess pressure, the ears do not sweat much, and there is also no noticeable discomfort when pressure builds up inside. But then they stand up like spacers in the ear canal, this is felt with those earbuds that the application considers ideal for you.

Headphones are available in four colors - white, black, steel (sky blue), dark red (ruby).

It is curious that the design of the headphones and case receivedreddot 2023 award, the designers rated the product as different from the competition. I can’t say that the headphones themselves vary greatly in shape, but the case for them looks very unusual.

It's big enough, see how it looks compared to the Galaxy Buds2 Pro case.

Unfortunately, Soundcore does not list the dimensions of the case anywhere, they are as follows: 55 x 52 x 22 mm.

The top cover slides away from itself, in the pocketit is almost impossible to open it by accident. The indicator light is on the front panel, a kind of smile. The larger the charge, the wider it is. When the charge in the case runs out, the “smile” starts glowing red.

Work with light in this model is excellent, so, withThe first time you set up your headphones, they flash inside the case to indicate that they are ready to pair. Yes, and as standard they are highlighted in the case, which is very nice. Inside there is a key that allows you to start the synchronization of the headphones, if this did not happen automatically.

Operating time, battery

Let's deal with the time of work.The battery capacity of the headphones themselves is not given, but it is not so important, the case indicates a capacity of 500 mAh (1.85 watt-hours). The description on the manufacturer's website says that for fifteen minutes of charging with a wire, you will get at least 3 hours of headphone operation. But here everything depends on the mode in which you use the headphones.

Best uptime with all disabledadditional chips (tracking the position of the head, noise reduction, and so on) - up to 9 hours from a single charge. Two full charges from the case are available (28 hours). Up to 7 hours with noise cancellation enabled, up to 5 hours with surround sound. All these data are for a volume of 50%.

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I have tracking, noise reduction, time turned onearbuds - about 5.5 hours. This is enough for the eyes. Voice prompts indicate that the headphones are low, but you still have about 30-40 minutes before they turn off completely, which is nice. The left and right headphones discharge unevenly, which is unusual. I checked it several times, the feeling that this was done consciously so that you would not be left without communication. Usually, the right earphone turns off first, after 15 minutes the left one.

I did not like that the Soundcore application does not show the percentage of charge (or I did not find this setting), only icons. Moreover, the icons are filled a little more than they actually are.

In the Bluetooth settings on Android, when the headphones are connected, you can see their charge, but here is exactly the same story - the percentage is given for the most charged headphone, in reality it is lower.

Immediately make a reservation that the operating time of such headphonesgreat, I can’t think of scenarios where you need to use them non-stop for more than 5-6 hours, the exception is long flights by plane, but you should use noise-canceling headphones there. Therefore, the operating time is not a limitation, here it is good.

Charging time for the case is less than an hour. Wireless charging is supported and takes up to four hours. It takes a long time, so I usually charge it with a wire, but a couple of times in the city I recharged the headphones from the phone.

In fact, the headphones have fast charging, withWhen charging with a wire, the headphones themselves noticeably heat up, become warm - we take them out of the case and insert them into our ears. Warmth is felt, but it is not excessive, just a feature that I did not notice in other models.

Headphone control, Soundcore app

In order to unlock the capabilities of headphones,you need the Soundcore app. In it, you can customize the behavior of the headphones when you press the stem, up to 6 different functions are supported (one, two and three presses on each earbud).

Do not be lazy, you need to get into the settings and check the fit of the headphones, pick up the silicone earbuds for you. In-ear detection is a useful feature, you can also calibrate the headphones here.

Auto play or pause whenyou take out the headphones, it does not always work correctly. A couple of times I saw the situation that the removed earpiece, which had not played music before, suddenly started to play it.

Dual connection can be enabled in the settings,for example, I have two smartphones and headphones are connected to both. The only question here is that in this case the LDAC codec is disabled (for Apple technology, this is in principle irrelevant initially, for Android it makes sense). Here you can also set the time for the headphones to automatically turn off when idle.

It is easy to control the headphones, just squeeze the stalk, there is no voice control, only one assistant is supported - Siri.

In the settings, you should also select HearID, then youadjust the headphones to suit you and your hearing. A cool thing that really changes the sound picture of the headphones, albeit slightly, is also adjustable and noise reduction.

Sound quality, equalizers

Didn't forget to talk about how they soundheadphones, because that's one of the most important things about them. I liked the sound, it is very different from the same Galaxy Buds2 Pro, they sound great, clear and transparent. Here the sound is different, it is good, but unusual for me. This is a subjective question, and it is worth remembering this. Compared to any AirPods Pro Liberty 4 sound a cut above, they are comparable to Liberty 3 Pro. Clear sound that you can customize by choosing different equalizers or customizing your own.

It seems to me that the engineers made the sound sotargeting AirPods Pro users, that is, this is an intermediate step for them. And the next should be the Pro model, where the sound is revealed even better. The logic here is clear: do not scare away customers with too different sound. In various reviews, I often came across the fact that the sound is not always perceived unambiguously, and this is a problem for those who deal with a huge number of headphones, they can choose the best ones for themselves. The sound is pleasant to those who constantly use AirPods, not to those who sit on the Buds2 Pro. And this is understandable. You need to keep in mind the goal that the company had.

Almost any music on these headphones is revealed quite well, the bass can be insinuating or pronounced, as well as other settings.

Head position tracking is interesting, just like surround sound, but it's better to turn it on for watching movies (not so important for music, especially when walking or running around in the city).

The noise cancellation here is worse than in the Buds2 Pro, inIn the Sapsan car, you can clearly hear the neighbors, although it is impossible to distinguish the speech itself, there is boo-boo-boo in the background. But in the Buds2 Pro, the sound is cut off much more clearly, and this makes the headphones very different. Average noise reduction, in Sony and Samsung it is noticeably better. But if you look at the basic features, then this is not a budget solution, yet the sounds are cut off and give comfort in an urban environment.

The headphones sound good, but, of course, they are worth listening to, since everything is individual here and trusting the experience of other people is a disastrous thing.

Sound transparency can be with a focus on voice or just always work, external sound is processed by microphones, it becomes a bit digital.

Health with Soundcore - heart rate, stress, workouts

The headphones have a built-in heart rate measurement, it worksit is not bad (compared with Galaxy Watch5 Pro, the readings are the same). You can measure your pulse continuously when the headphones are in your ears. There are different training modes, and you can also simply choose “improvisation”, first calibration takes up to a minute, then the headphones measure your heart rate, your calories burned (there is no input for height, weight, and so on, so the data in this aspect is not very accurate). Stress is also measured.

The workouts do not use GPS information from the phone, which makes the possibilities of the same workouts rather curtailed.

It is also possible to check your posture, set up reminders that you need to straighten up.

You need to understand that these are additional features, they are not the main ones for these headphones. Convenient for those who run, but do not use smart watches.

Impression

The cost of Soundcore Liberty 4 in Russia is 10-12thousand rubles (in the US - $ 130 plus taxes, that is, close), which is noticeably less than the price of the latest generation AirPods Pro, but at the same time, the headphones are better on the head in terms of sound, additional features, and operating time. They are just different classes of devices. Similar ergonomics, although the Liberty is a little heavier due to passive soundproofing, they are perceived differently, you need to get used to them. But the victory is definitely behind these headphones.

The same Galaxy Buds2 Pro sound better for me (Imore accustomed to them), better soundproofing and noise reduction, let there be no heaps of additional chips for health. In Russia, such headphones cost about 12 thousand rubles on the gray market, that is, this is the same level of cost. More convenient case. In general, we can say that the competition here is direct, I chose Buds2 Pro for myself. I must say that the Liberty 4 is one of the few headphones that I like at the level of the Samsung model (as well as the Sony 1000XM5 - in sound, but not in ergonomics).

In total, Soundcore turned out to be very cool headphones: an adequate cost, there are no serious minuses. You need to listen to them and then make a decision, but in general they are, frankly, good.

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