Anker SoundCore Liberty Air Review

The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air True Wireless are mixed usage headphones and are very versatile for everyday casual use. Their truly wireless design resembles the Apple AirPods (1st generation) Truly Wireless, but with a glossier finish. They're very portable, and their in-ear fit blocks lots of ambient noise, which is nice for commuting and at the office. They have a fairly neutral sound profile and have an amazing wireless range. Unfortunately, truly wireless earbuds don’t have very long battery life, and their latency is too high for watching videos and gaming. On the upside, they offer great performance for their price, and most users should be pleased with them.



Style

The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air are very low-profile, truly wireless in-ears with a similar design to the Apple AirPods (1st generation) Truly Wireless. They have the same long stalks that protrude outside your ears where you would normally have cables attached. They have a glossy finish that's fingerprint-prone and looks plasticky. They come in an all-black or all-white design.



Comfort

The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air's in-ear fit is decently comfortable but might not be for everyone. They come with four silicone tip sizes for you to find the most comfortable fit. Also, these headphones are very lightweight, and you barely feel them inside your ears. Some may feel some fatigue after listening to them for a while.



Controls

The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air have a decent touch-sensitive control scheme. You get basic functionalities like call/music management and track skipping, but unfortunately, you don’t have any control over your listening volume directly on the earbuds, so you have to change it on your device. On the upside, the control scheme is very easy to use and responsive, but you don’t get any feedback from most commands. You get small audio cues for powering on/off the headphones and during the pairing procedure, but that’s it. Unfortunately, they're not as easy to use as the TREBLAB X5 Truly Wireless or the Jabra Elite Sport Truly Wireless, which have physical buttons with more functionalities. If you like touch-sensitive control schemes, but volume control is a must-have, take a look at the Skullcandy Indy.



Breathability

Like the Altec Lansing True Evo and most in-ear headphones, the Anker SoundCore Liberty Air don’t trap any heat inside your ear, so you shouldn’t notice a difference in temperature when wearing them. This makes them a good option for sports as you shouldn’t sweat more than usual during physical activity.



Portability

These truly wireless headphones are very portable and can easily fit inside small pockets or a bag. They also come with a small solid case that doesn’t add too much bulk, and it can also fit in pockets, which is very convenient.



Case

The Anker Soundcore Liberty Air come with a nice hard case that's also a charging station for the headphones. It protects the headphones against scratches and impacts, but it isn’t waterproof like the earbuds are. The lid closes by magnetic force, but it opens very easily, and the buds might fall out with a significant impact. On the upside, you get a battery life indicator on the case.



Build Quality

The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air are decently well-built, truly wireless headphones. They're made of glossy plastic that feels cheap, but the buds are dense enough to survive accidental drops without too much damage. The case is also decently made and should help protect the headphones. The earbuds are also rated IPX5 for sweat and water resistance, but we don't currently test for this. However, the case isn't waterproof. For slightly better-built headphones without a glossy finish, take a look at the dense and solid Anker SoundCore Liberty Lite Truly Wireless or Anker Zolo Liberty Truly Wireless. If you like the chalk design, look at the RHA TrueConnect, the Anker SoundCore Liberty Air 2 Truly Wireless, or the SoundCore Life P2 Truly Wireless.



Stability

The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air's stability is very dependent on the ear tip you use. If you can achieve a decent seal and fit, the buds barely move inside your ears and are suitable for running or working out. On the upside, their truly wireless design removes the risk of a cable getting hooked on something and pulling out the headphones.



Battery

The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air have a 4-hour battery life, slightly under the advertised 5 hours from Anker. We also expect the advertised 20-hour total battery life with the case charges to be a bit lower (depending on your volume level). On the upside, the headphones have a power-saving feature, and they enter a standby mode if they are connected to a device, but no audio is playing. If the headphones are not connected to a device but are powered on, they automatically turn off in 2 minutes.



App Support

The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air don't have a companion app with customization options to enhance your listening experience.



Bluetooth

The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air support Bluetooth 5.0, so you might get even better results in wireless range and connection stability if your audio source supports Bluetooth 5.0 too. Unfortunately, they can only be connected to one device at a time and don’t support NFC. You can also use the right earbud alone if you want, but not the left one.

Their latency is too high to watch video content or for gaming. It is also higher than the average Bluetooth headphones that usually measure around 200-220ms of delay. On the upside, some video content apps like YouTube and Netflix seem to compensate for the delay, so you shouldn’t notice it too much.



Wired

These truly wireless headphones don't have a wired connection.



Base/Dock

The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air true wireless come with a case that acts as a charging station for the headphones. It can hold about three additional charges, but the case doesn’t have any inputs.






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