amazon ANKER SOUNDCORE LIBERTY AIR 2 reviews
Located between Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro and Life P2 that BiaReview once evaluated, Liberty Air 2 offers a good experience in the price range of $100, with the emphasis on neutral sound quality, easy listening pleasure, and the ability to filter noise when talking with 4 microphones with cVc 8.0 technology.
Apple’s AirPods have one-handedly ushered in the era of true wireless headphones when they launched back in 2016, which is undisputed. However, after 4 years, with the next 2 variants being the AirPods 2 and the AirPods Pro, the Apple headphones are always high-end items not for the masses. Like every other market, this is an opportunity for brands from China, which always take the selling price as an advantage for their products.
Anker is one of them. Commonly known for its accessories such as charging cables, spare batteries, Bluetooth speakers, Anker also owns a series of true-wireless headphones with good quality and reasonable price. Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro and Life P2 that BiaReview has evaluated both give a good impression, and with this article, BiaReview wants to send readers the comments about the Liberty Air 2 headset model – between the other two, and about half the size of Apple’s AirPods 2.
The design is familiar, the charging box is not glossy but more practical
As the name at the forefront, AirPods have “inspired” the design for many true wireless headphones later on, and Liberty Air 2 is no exception, as a blend of AirPods 2 and AirPods Pro. This design allows manufacturers to have more room for components, and the elongated legs provide a better grip than the pea-style design, at least according to the writer’s experience.
Has a slightly higher price than Life P2, so it’s easy to understand when the design of Liberty Air 2 is more elaborate. With two colors white and black, the housing surface of Liberty Air 2 is also highlighted with a silver layer covering the top, the tail dotted with red-orange. If I have considered Life P2 for users who do not like to draw attention and appreciate simplicity, Liberty Air 2 can be said to be in the opposite.
Unlike Life P2 using multifunction physical hardware keys, Liberty Air 2 is controlled via touch operation on the Soundcore logo surface. I always appreciate the stiffer keypad controls, we won’t have to worry about touch sensitivity, sweat hands, … and physical response to manipulation will avoid mistressing.
The controls (default) of Liberty Air 2 are not very scientific, and there is no one-touch operation, specifically:
-Press the left ear twice to skip to the next song
-Press right ear twice to Play / Pause and receive/disconnect the call
-Press and hold left / right ear for two seconds to activate the virtual assistant on the machine
We can change these settings through Anker’s Soundcore app, available on both Android and iOS, but when listening with one ear (mono), only the default setting is used. Liberty Air 2 also has a feature that automatically pauses music when removing the headset, which can be disabled in the Soundcore app, but it’s a bit confusing when it is impossible to automatically play music when put back in the ear.
Liberty Air 2’s charging case is larger than the AirPods Pro but still small, light, not uncomfortable when placed in a jeans pocket. This charging box has a 500 mAh battery capacity, with three small LEDs indicating the remaining battery life.
The lid of the charging case feels solid, the magnet pulls just right, just flicking the wrist to open (like a zippo lighter). Once the lid is open, Liberty Air 2 will instantly connect to the phone without lifting the earphone out of the box, delivering a seamless and fast experience.
Liberty Air 2 uses a Type-C charging port, something that has become standard on today’s mobile devices, and you can also charge the box with the Qi wireless charging dock. Next to the charging port is a Bluetooth reset button for us to connect to another device.
Inside the box, Liberty Air 2 comes with a variety of ear tips of different sizes for users to choose from to suit the ear size, with a USB A to C cable. The ear tip is completed well, slightly softer for my taste, the stuffing in the ear does not hurt.
With an in-ear design, even without active noise cancelling (ANC), Liberty Air 2 still blocks a lot of sound from outside, so it will not be suitable for use when participating in communication information.
The fit and wearing comfort of Liberty Air 2 is similar to that of Life P2, when moderate to vigorous physical activity like jogging or skipping can get loose, not to the point where headphones fall out but make the sound come in and reduces quality. According to Anker, the headphones are IPX5 water-resistant, which means they can withstand sweat while exercising, but you will not be able to swim or … bathe.
where can you get a ANKER SOUNDCORE LIBERTY AIR 2 online
Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Wireless Earbuds, Diamond-Inspired Drivers, Bluetooth Earphones, 4 Mics, Noise Reduction, 28H Playtime, HearID, Bluetooth 5, Wireless Charging, for Calls, Home Office: Buy it now
Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Wireless Earbuds, Diamond-Inspired Drivers, Bluetooth Earphones, 4 Mics, Noise Reduction, 28H Playtime, HearID, Bluetooth 5, Wireless Charging (Renewed): Buy it now
Stable connection, Soundcore application has many “cool” things
In this price range, support for Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, aptX decoders, AAC, and SBC have come standard, and Liberty Air 2 is no exception. This means that Anker’s headphones are suitable for nearly every smartphone at the moment, whether it’s Android or iOS.
With Bluetooth 5.0, we can theoretically listen to music within a range of 7-10m (without obstructions). In actual use, the writer almost does not have any connection problems, signal latency is about 300-500ms, watching movies or listening to music will be difficult to recognize, but if playing shooting games, the headset is wired will be more reliable.
Some users may have a little difficulty connecting the headset to the device for the first time, and it seems to be a common problem as it is mentioned in the user manual. One of the typical reasons is because many devices do not support Qualcomm’s True Wireless Primary-Secondary dual-pairing technology. Even if you see the message “connection failed”, don’t worry, because the main earphone will still transmit the signal to the secondary earphone.
In addition to changing controls, the Soundcore application also brings many other useful features such as battery life monitoring, firmware update, equalizer change with more than 20 preset options or create an equalizer of HearID – Soundcore individually adjusts the sound balance based on your audio “taste”.
The Equalizer that you choose will be saved straight to the headset and automatically applied no matter what device you listen to music on, they are only deleted when you factory reset your ear. According to Anker, listening to music with an equalizer on Liberty Air 2 will not downgrade aptX or AAC decoder to SBC, preserving sound quality.
The neutral sound is easy to hear, the battery is enough for a week
It seems that Anker wants to go a different direction from the Liberty Air 2 when these headphones have a neutral sound quality instead of being as bright as the Liberty 2 Pro or natural bass like Life P2. At any sound range, Liberty Air 2 also shows round shoulders, not excellent, but easy to reach many different subjects.
Listening to music with Spotify Premium and custom equalizer with HearID, Liberty Air 2’s bass range, according to the writer’s perception is lack of force, thin and slightly backward, the “bass head” will not feel satisfied when “bouncing” EDM or Hip-hop, but in return when listening for a long time will not see tinnitus and fatigue. Liberty Air 2’s mids are bright spots, with good instrumental detail, separation, and airy, partly because there is no worry of being overwhelmed by bass. Treble, on the other hand, doesn’t stand out too much, but there’s nothing to complain about either.
With these characteristics, Liberty Air 2 can play well most genres today but will perform best in Pop, Ballad. The narrow, cozy soundstage, choosing the right ear tip size still allows you to immerse yourself in your own musical world without the need for active noise cancellation.
The same 4 mic and integrated Qualcomm’s cVc 8.0 noise cancellation technology, but it seems that the ability to filter the conversation noise of Liberty Air 2 is better than the Life P2.
In terms of battery life, Anker announced Liberty Air 2 can play up to 7 hours of music on a single charge. In my practical experience, the battery life of the headset falls to more than 6 hours, depending on the volume level. This is more than enough for you to entertain on the daily commute or relax at lunch and it is almost 2 hours higher than the AirPods Pro.
Liberty Air 2’s box fully charges four more times or about 26 hours of music playback. This is also higher than the AirPods Pro (24 hours) but lower than the Jabra Elite Active 75t (28 hours).
Summary
Overall, in the $100 price range, it is difficult to ask for more than Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2. The polished design inspired by the AirPods, the easy-to-hear neutral sound quality, and enough battery life for a whole week, Liberty Air 2 also filters out conversation noise well with 4 dedicated mics. Soundcore app support is a big plus when comparing Liberty Air 2 with the cheaper Life P2.
The lack of active noise cancellation is understandable, but it’s very likely that they will change in the near future, as Qualcomm’s new audio chipset becomes more popular. If the successor version of Liberty Air 2 has active noise cancellation without increasing the price too much, it will be a candidate for the title of “killer AirPods”.