If you fancy the features of the best true wireless earbuds but can't justify the price of AirPods Pro 2 or Sony WF-1000XM4, Anker's new true wireless earbuds could be a great option. The new Soundcore Liberty 4 offer premium features – Active Noise Cancelling, heart rate sensing, high quality sound and spatial audio – without a premium price tag.
I'm not familiar with the Liberty buds but their previous incarnation was well reviewed by plenty of trustworthy sites. Our friends at Techradar gave the 3rd generation 3.5 stars out of five, saying that they offered "a big sound and a nice array of features that make them a solid truly wireless earbud option at the price", and the new version has some significant upgrades to the spec.
As with the 3rd generation, the price of Liberty is pretty low: the Soundcore Liberty 4 earbuds are $149.99 in the US.
What's new in the Soundcore Liberty 4 earbuds?
The new Liberty 4 earbuds have a new, stick-based design reminiscent of Apple's AirPods – Anker have used similar designs before, but not in this particular product – and dual dynamic drivers that promise punchy bass without losing high end clarity. There's 360-degree head tracking for spatial audio – something I'm not entirely convinced about for music, but it's fun with TV shows and movies – and a built-in heart rate sensor that connects to Anker's wellness app when you're working out.
The Bluetooth here is 5.3 for more stable connectivity, and the buds have Anker's HearID active noise cancellation. There are 6 mics for voice calls, and the buds support multipoint so you can connect to more than one device and switch between them quickly. There's support for Sony's high resolution LDAC as well as the familiar AAC and SBC codecs, but aptX isn't supported.
According to Anker you're looking at 9 hours between charges with normal use, dropping to 6 hours with LDAC audio and 5 for spatial audio. The charging case takes total battery life up to 28 hours.
The Liberty 4 buds go on sale in the US on October 7 (directly from the Soundcore website) and October 17 on Amazon. UK pricing and availability hasn't been announced as yet.
