Anker has been causing a furore for years with its Soundcore earplugs and with the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro shows what the company has to offer. The earplugs have a suggested retail price of around 160 euros, but can often be scored for a few tens less.
Anchor Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro
Recommended retail price €159.90
Link bluetooth 5.2
Range 20 to 40,000 Hz
Compatibility Computers, Smartphones, Tablets, Nintendo Switch
battery life Eight to 32 hours
Other IPX4, wireless charging
Website soundcore.com 8 Score 80 
- Pros
- Higher segment audio quality
- Wireless charging
- Futuristic Case
- Clear app with equalizer
- Negatives
- IPX4 certificate
- Microphone Quality
- Active noise cancellation is a bit disappointing
Despite its mid-range price, the Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro can easily compete with the higher end guys. And then we mean, for example, the Sony WF-1000XM4 earplugs, which usually cost fifty euros or more compared to this set. That is quite a statement, which should tell you a lot about the earplugs.
Does this mean that this is the perfect set of earphones? Of course you can’t, but there’s a lot to love.
A good first impression
The good impression starts when you open the finely designed box. You will immediately see a selection of ears and wings, with which you can personalize the wearing experience. Try them all out to find the right fit; there is undoubtedly a nice size for you in between. In addition, the charging box immediately stands out. The oval shape is slightly different enough from what the competition offers and has a smooth sliding mechanism for opening the top. The box has a USB-C port for charging; but you can also do that wirelessly via Qi.
As soon as you open the box you will see the earplugs, which are illuminated by small LED lights on the inside. This already gives the experience a premium feeling; they seem to have understood that well at Anker. The earplugs themselves are quite large and bulky, but fortunately they are not heavy and are – more importantly – comfortable in the ears. The silicone tips are not your go-to, but at the same time we can’t expect Anker to offer memory foam at this price point (as we do with the much more expensive Sony earplugs). A blemish on the experience, but fortunately not a major one.
High quality music
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro has drivers of 10.6 millimeters in size, as well as Bluetooth 5.2. They can be connected directly to two different devices, so you can switch effortlessly between, for example, your smartphone and laptop, without too much hassle. They support three codecs: aac, sbc and ldac, from Sony. The predecessor also supports that codec, although that support arrived later through a software update. Unfortunately, there is no (version of) aptX available, but you probably won’t miss it thanks to Sony’s superior ldac.
Why is ldac such a big deal† Well, thanks to that audio codec, you can stream music in high quality. So if you use the more expensive subscriptions from Spotify, Tidal or Qobuz, you can fully enjoy hi-res audio.
The earphones themselves have touch-sensitive surfaces. You can use this to control the music, manage the volume and speak to a voice assistant. You can also directly activate the active noise cancellation or the ambient mode, since the Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro offers both. Within the app you can set what certain taps on the side do.
Furthermore, the earplugs have an ipx4 rating. This means that they can withstand some splashes of water, but that you should not submerge them. There are anc earplugs that have a better certificate; this feels like a minimal addition.
The battery lasts about seven to eight hours in the earplugs. But if you charge them in the meantime, you stretch that number to about thirty to 32 hours. That is above average in both cases. Most earplugs often offer five to six hours of listening time, which can be extended to around 24 hours of use.
High-end audio quality
Due to a good combination of hardware and software, the Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro is able to deliver an impressive sound quality; one that corresponds to what we encounter in a higher segment. As is the case with other anc earplugs, the emphasis here is also on the lower tones. But surprisingly, the higher tones also come out attractively. Nowhere did we get the idea that those higher tones were measured out somewhere or cut off prematurely. And actually provides a pleasant listening experience that is not boring.
The mids are present, but can sometimes be a little overwhelmed by the violence on the high and low side. Although you perceive a lot of detail while listening, it may be that smaller or more subtle details sometimes disappear a bit. Fortunately, you can solve this by using the equalizer. You can choose from a preset profile or create your own. This can be done manually (if you know what you want) or via a hearing test. This test determines what you can and cannot hear (well) and can therefore fully personalize the listening experience.
We recommend that anyone who has their eye on the Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro take this test. Because that can save you a lot of headaches, if you don’t understand why you can’t quite hear certain parts of your favorite tracks.
In general, the earplugs come into their own with music where the bass is central. But with a little adjustment you can also enjoy other types of music more than fine, fortunately. This is not a pony who can do just one trick and is very good at it; the earplugs are intended for different genres.
Six microphones
Finally, we look and listen to the six microphones present. Each earplug has three, which you can use while calling, for example. Your voice is completely stripped of any warmth or subtle details, but that’s to be expected. They also sometimes pick up background noises during calls, which we heard several times during testing. But in a quiet environment they work just fine, although the sound quality is not of a high level. The Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro uses those mics for yet another part, of course.
And then we are of course referring to the active noise reduction. Here too we have to conclude that we have heard better on other earplugs, although it is also true that the performance is comparable with sets from the same segment.
Combine the active noise cancellation with a good set of wings for the better result, but then even more so that some noise seeps in every now and then. Fortunately, you can work reasonably quietly in a busy environment, since many sounds are simply filtered. In any case, you are no longer constantly distracted by all kinds of ambient noise.
Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro – conclusion
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro initially leaves a positive impression, which eventually comes very close to the premium experience of its peers from a more expensive segment. But there are also things that are a bit disappointing. The active noise cancellation could be better and the microphone quality too. Furthermore, the wide sound profile initially tends more towards the bass layer, but you can easily solve that with the equalizer. In general, we can say that the Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro meets the minimum requirements that consumers place on earplugs.
Because after playing with that equalizer, the Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro leaves a musical impression that you won’t soon forget. The audio performance is very impressive, which is partly due to the ldac support. In addition, it is nice that there is wireless charging, that the earplugs last for a long time and that there is a wide selection available in terms of ears and wings. The box also looks fresh and futuristic and the ears themselves are not wrong either. In short, for a price of 100 to 150 euros, this is the set you are looking for.
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