I recently got my hands on the Soundcore Liberty Neo, which is a product of parent company, Anker. I?ve been using many of their products for years and have always been impressed by the quality and value that they offer. I?d like to share my personal experience using these so you can decide if these are for you.
Soundcore Liberty Neo Box
Let?s start with some basics:
- Price: $64.99 on Amazon (as of the time this review was written)
- Weight of earphones: 0.2 oz
- 3.5 hours of playtime on a single charge (+ 9 extra hours from the charging case)
- Bluetooth 5.0
- IPX5 water resistant (for sweat and moisture resistance)
- Stereo handsfree calls
In the box:
- Soundcore Liberty Neo earphones
- Charging case
- XS/S/M/L EarTips
- XS/S/M/L EarWings
- Micro USB cable
- User manual
- Warranty info
Initial Impressions
The initial unboxing experience was very easy. After sliding the box open, the charging case sits in a tray with the Liberty Neo earphones inside. The rest of the contents below the tray. The case is made of plastic, but has a very sturdy build with a metallic black finish. The earphones themselves are matte black with the Soundcore logo on top of each earphone (each of which is also a button that enables various controls).
When wearing them, they have a very low profile. They?re very light and sit in your ears without wrapping around or anything like that. In many cases, I found myself forgetting that I was actually wearing them. The battery life also seems to be about what Anker advertises (3.5 hours on a charge). I have yet to exhaust the charging case, but i?m less concerned by how much battery life the case contains.
The sound quality is also really great for such a small pair of earphones. I found that the bass is deep and the treble is very clear. One thing i?ve often noticed with true-wireless earphones is that the volume controls are more sensitive than with other Bluetooth earphones. The volume tends to be relatively low from 0?75%, but then there?s a more drastic volume difference in the upper 25%. This isn?t really a big deal, but it just means that you?ll have to experiment with the volume to find your preferred level.
Soundcore Liberty Neo Unboxed
My earphone use cases are fairly versatile, so it was great to test these out in a lot of different ways, but my two biggest use cases are at work and the gym.
Work
Whether i?m taking calls or drowning out the noise at a local coffee shop, quality audio equipment is key to my remote workflow. I found Soundcore Neo to be a great, lightweight option for this. The audio quality on calls was crisp and clear and worked through both earphones (which apparently isn?t always the case with true-wireless earphones).
When listening to music I really couldn?t hear anything going on around me (if sitting at a coffee shop, for example). These earphones have some really great noise cancellation. Even when wearing them while turned off, they still do a great job of muffling the noise around me so I can focus on my work.
The biggest drawback that I found was that, with 3.5 hours of battery life per charge, there?s no way to get through a full workday without having to recharge these earphones in the case. Depending on your particular usage, this may not really be an issue though. If you aren?t continuously using your earphones during work, then you could easily pop them back in the charging case when not in use or during lunch, and they?ll recharge in no time. It?s still something to keep in mind if you don?t want to have to worry about battery life.
Gym
I workout, on average, four times per week. My workouts consist of weightlifting, HIIT, and some cardio. Sometimes I think back and laugh at the days when I used to use wired earphones while weightlifting or doing cardio and having my earphones unplug from my phone. Over time, all of these earphones were damaged, so Bluetooth earphones came and saved the day!
However, it wasn?t until relatively recently that I tried true-wireless earphones at the gym. Even though I’ve been using a cheap pair that offers pretty terrible audio quality compared to the various wired Bluetooth earphones I’ve used for years now, not having any wires get in the way is incredibly liberating. If you?ve never tried this before, you definitely should because it?s a whole different experience. Liberty Neo offers the same freedom that my cheaper pair offers, but it blows them out of the water when it comes to audio quality and battery life. For comparison, the other pair are about $30 and have a 1.5 hour battery life.
When I workout, I like to get into a flow state, and while I can often get there even without earphones, Liberty Neo?s noise cancellation, clear treble, and deep bass really help me get there and stay there throughout my whole workout. It?s very likely that, like me, you?ve had the experience of working out with a pair of earphones that just wont stay in your ears without you having to keep adjusting and pushing them back into your ears. Fortunately, i?ve only had this experience with stock earphones that comes with phones, but regardless, it?s an unpleasant experience.
One of my biggest hesitations with true-wireless earphones is the fear of losing one due to an insecure fit. As Anker so often does with their earphones, they provide four different sizes of eartips and earwings to help you find the right fit for you. I ended up going with the small eartips and earwings which gave me a very secure fit. Even if I shake my head around (which was my ?fit test?), Liberty Neo stays secure. After several workouts, during which i?m doing all kinds of movements, I never felt like these earphones were going to fall out.
Time will only tell how moisture resistant these earphones are, but with an IPX5 rating they should be able to sustain low pressure moisture such as, sweat, rain or splashes of water. A pool submersion test probably wont end well in this case! 😉
Soundcore Liberty Neo in Charging Case
A Few Considerations
Overall, there?s very little for me to criticize about the Liberty Neo. Of course, longer battery life would always be better, but when considering how small and light these earphones are, I can?t fault Anker for this.
I?ve jumped on the USB-C bandwagon (mostly by accident) and my computer and phone both charge with USB-C. It would have been nice to see the Liberty Neo come with USB-C instead of Micro USB, but again, that?s just a personal preference.
Finally, according to Anker, the Liberty Neo is the new metallic black version of their Liberty Lite truly-wireless earphones. What strikes me as a bit odd is that on Amazon, you can get a metallic black model of Liberty Lite for $59.99 (versus Liberty Neo for $64.99). Aside from some slight cosmetic differences, it seems like these are basically the exact same earphones with a slightly different price. It?s unclear if there?s any notable difference in the build or internals of each model, so i?m not sure what to make of this. In any case, i?ve also used the Liberty Lite model and it?s equally great from my experience.
The Bottom Line
Liberty Neo is a great pair of true-wireless earphones. Without comparison, the Liberty Neo offers very good build and sound quality. At this price, it?s pretty hard to beat. Of course, there are options out there from well-known brands that are $100+ or even $200+ that may be better, but given the quality of the Liberty Neo, the warranty, and the stellar customer service offered by Anker, i?m very comfortable with the value of what i?m getting. Just think, you could get two or more pairs of the Liberty Neo for the same price as some of the other options out there!
At the end of the day, the Soundcore Liberty Neo is a versatile, high-quality pair of true-wireless earphones that is comparable to many more expensive options. I recommend it for your own use or as a nice gift.
You can find Anker?s Soundcore Liberty Neo on Amazon.
Do you already have your own Liberty Neo? What do you like and dislike about them? Feel free to comment below!
