Soundcore Liberty 4 NC Are Possibly The Best ANC Earbuds Under $100

The Soundcore Liberty 4 NC are some of the best ANC on the market for under $100.

Soundcore is the audio sub-brand of computer accessory company Anker. Over the past few years, Soundcore has established itself as one of the market's best-performing and value-for-money earbud brands. Now Soundcore has launched its latest noise-cancelling earbuds, the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC.

Priced at a very reasonable $100, the Liberty 4 NC offer a lot for the money. If all you want is a great-sounding pair of earbuds with Active Noise Cancelation (ANC) then these earbuds tick all the boxes. To begin with, Soundcore has upgraded the Liberty 4 NC charging case.

The palm-sized case has a button on the front that flips open the lid to reveal two AirPod-style earbuds with silicone ear tips. The button has a white LED strip to show the charging status of the built-in battery and it also functions as a Bluetooth pairing button if you press it for a little longer.

The Soundcore Liberty 4 NC case has a button on the front for opening the case. The button has an ... [+] LED to show charging status and initiates Bluetooth pairing.

Compared with many earbuds, the Liberty 4 NC are straightforward to get out of the charging case. These days, so many earbuds with a shiny plastic finish are a nightmare to extract from their charging cradles, but Soundcore has sorted this problem with the flip-top lid and easy access to the earbud stems.

Like many true wireless earbuds, the Liberty 4 NC are water-resistant to IPX4 standards. That’s not enough to make them waterproof, but they should be able to handle a little light rain or some sweat from a workout in the gym.

The controls on the Liberty 4 NC are touch-sensitive and a little bit eager to please. Each earbud control has a choice of four gestures which can be programmed via the Soundcore smartphone app.

Each of the Liberty 4 NC earbuds has three microphones for ANC and voice pickup.

There are sensors in the earbuds to detect when you take them out of your ear and the audio is automatically paused so you don’t miss your favorite tune or you can rejoin a podcast at the point you left off. The controls are disabled when an earbud is removed from the listener’s ear, preventing the audio from starting up again simply by handling the earbud.

When it comes to noise canceling, earbuds seldom do as effective a job as a pair of over-the-ear headphones. Well, that’s not the case with the Liberty 4 NC. These earbuds have some of the most effective ANC I’ve heard besides the Apple AirPods Pro 2 or Technics AZ80. They are that good and block out so much sound you may be tempted to use them instead of your Bose or Sony ANC headphones.

To get the best from the ANC function of the Liberty 4 NC, you need to choose the right size of silicone ear tip to suit your ear canals. Get the wrong size and you won’t block out enough sound. Go too large, and the earbuds will keep falling out. Fortunately, the Soundcore app has an ear tip sizing function. Choose the ear tips you think are right for you and the app will test the fit with an acoustic signal and tell you if the fit is correct. That’s a nice touch.

The Liberty 4 NC earbuds have ANC transport modes for planes, trains, buses and autumobiles.

The ANC function on the Liberty 4 NC is also configurable. Using the Soundcore app, you can choose the level of adaptive noise canceling that you want and then just the right amount of ANC will be applied for the environment that you are in. There is also a Transportation Mode for the earbuds, which offers settings for planes, trains, buses and automobiles. It’s a bit of a gimmick and you may just as well use the adaptive ANC, but it’s there if you want it.

Finally, the ANC mode has a transparency function so you can have a certain amount of the external sound fed into the mix to hear traffic or travel announcements. You can switch the transparency mode on and off with a long press on the left earbud. The control doesn’t work when taking calls as the sidetone uses the function.

The microphones built into the Liberty 4 NC are incredibly efficient. If you’ve been put off from using earbuds for phone calls, you may be pleasantly surprised by how well the Liberty 4 NC pick up your voice and cancel unwanted background noise. This clarity is down to using six separate mics for picking up the user’s voice and monitoring surrounding noise, which is then filtered out by an AI algorithm.

The Liberty 4 NC are available in Velvet Black, Clear White, Navy Blue, Light Blue and Pastel Pink ... [+] colorways.

Now we come to the all-important sound quality of these affordable true wireless earbuds. Thanks to single 11mm dynamic drivers, the Liberty 4 NC sound incredibly impressive with a large and open soundstage. The balance of sound between bass and midrange is spot on. Meanwhile, the treble is smooth and controlled and won’t give you a headache after listening. This lack of listening fatigue is due to the low distortion levels of the Liberty 4 NC, which can reproduce music with exceptional clarity.

The clarity on offer will vary slightly depending on the smartphone you use with the Liberty 4 NC. The Liberty 4 NC will default to the hi-res LDAC audio codec when using recent Android phones. For those of us with iOS devices, you are restricted to AAC. There’s not much difference between the two, so iOS users shouldn’t feel too aggrieved that they are missing out on the hi-res codec. AAC is perfectly serviceable for my ears.

The Liberty 4 NC also support Bluetooth multipoint connectivity. This means you can have two phones connected to the earbuds simultaneously. Why would you want to do that? You could be listening to music on your personal phone while expecting a call on your business phone. With multipoint connectivity, you can switch between the two seamlessly. However, if you are using the LDAC codec on an Android phone, multipoint connectivity won’t work, but the Liberty 4 NC will default to a lower codec.

The Liberty 4 NC offers playtime of 10 hours and an overall back up power of 50 hours with the ... [+] charge in the earbuds' case.

A full charge of the Liberty 4 NC will provide up to 10 hours of playtime, but that figure will vary depending on the codec you use and whether ANC is turned on. The better codecs and the use of ANC puts more strain on the battery, so just be aware of that. That said, unless you will be listening for eight hours straight, that figure doesn’t matter.

As soon as you put the earbuds back in their charging case, recharging kicks off and the earbuds get their power topped up. The case holds up to 40 hours of reserve power, bringing the total to 50 hours before the case needs recharging. That’s probably a month’s worth of commuting.

Verdict: The new Liberty 4 NC from Soundcore offer so much for the money. The ANC function is excellent, while the sound quality is superb. You can even tweak the tone of the earbuds using the Soundcore app. The Liberty 4 NC tick every box and are exceptional value for money. The battery life is excellent and the overall build quality is satisfying. There’s little to criticize about these earbuds, so if your budget is limited and you want something that comes close to a pair of AirPods, give the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC a go.

Pricing & Availability: The Soundcore Liberty 4 NC true wireless ANC earbuds are available in Velvet Black, Clear White, Navy Blue, Light Blue and Pastel Pink colorways. The price is $99.99 / £79.99 / €89.99.

More info: www.soundcore.com

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