Anker SoundCore Liberty Air 2 review - Long name, great value - Android

Sequels don’t always live up to the original, but Anker must have missed the memo. The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air 2 exceeds any and all expectations we had for a cheap pair of true wireless earbuds. The build quality and Qi-enabled charging case feel premium and the microphone is particularly impressive. Stick around for the strengths and weaknesses of this solid budget-friendly pair of earbuds.

Who is the Anker SoundCore Liberty Air 2 for?

Taking the HearID test creates a custom sound profile that accounts for your hearing abilities and deficiencies.

• Hands-free callers will love this setup, as the microphone is one of the best we’ve tried at the price point.
• Commuters can tune out their trip easily, as these earbuds block out a decent amount of sound without the extra cost associated with noise-cancelling.
• Athletes may want to check these out, as they’re IPX5 certified to resist jets of water from any direction.

What’s the build quality like on the Liberty Air 2?

The weight and feel of the Anker SoundCore Liberty Air 2 feel like you’re using a much more premium pair of buds.

For the price, these earbuds are extremely well built. Everything is made of plastic, but the buds have a premium weight and feel.

The soft-touch matte finish on the case makes the Liberty Air 2 feel like it’s punching above its weight. It’s easy to open the case with just one finger, and the earbuds fit snuggly in place with magnets. Be careful of drops though, the magnetic lid can open and the earbuds can pop out as the magnets aren’t too heavy-duty.

See also: The best true wireless earbuds

The stemmed design is familiar, but the second time around is the charm. Gone is the fingerprint-magnet gloss finish in favor of matte. The stems are easy to grip, and the SoundCore logo serves as a touch-capacitive panel on each earbud.

The housing for each earbud has a sensor that detects when the earbud is inserted. Your music will stop when the earbuds are in the case, though it doesn’t auto-resume when you pop the earbuds in your ears. The angled nozzles are easy to grab, and listening for hours is pretty comfortable.

Get the SoundCore app

SoundCore’s app offers a number of useful features, such as firmware updates and a basic hearing test. The test does more than just tell you that you can hear — SoundCore actually tailors the sound to your abilities via SoundCore HearID. You can toggle this profile and retest yourself at any time.

The app is also essential if you’re looking to remap controls and adjust settings. Custom functions aren’t applied when listening in mono mode; instead, the controls revert to the default for the in-use earbud. Unfortunately, volume controls are one of the settings that fall victim to this situation. This means you won’t be able to adjust the sound with just one earbud in.

Bluetooth 5.0 makes a difference

The Liberty Air 2 earbuds make the jump to Bluetooth 5.0, which is an improvement in both connection strength and battery life. As long as you stay within the 10-meter range, you should be able to enjoy the crisp sound. Bluetooth multipoint isn’t an option, but the earbuds support aptX and AAC to make up for it. This means Android and iOS smartphones can stream high-quality audio to the buds. You won’t notice much delay between the audio and video, which is a huge plus if you’re bingeing Space Force.

Some users have reported challenges with the initial pairing process. This is apparently a common problem, because Anker covers most of the issues in the user’s manual. One of the main causes of the issues is that some devices do not support Qualcomm True Wireless Primary-Secondary dual pairing names. Even if you see a “Connection Unsuccessful” notice you should still be ok. The primary earbud will still relay with the partner, though both are not connected individually.

What’s battery life like?

The sleek black charging case for the Anker Liberty Air 2 features three LED lights to show battery status.

If you’re looking for a pair of comfortable true wireless earbuds that can last all day long, you’ve got a winner. We managed seven hours and five minutes of battery life on a single charge, which is a big improvement over the originals.

The Qi-enabled charging case supports fast charging. A meager 10 minutes of charging gave us an additional two hours of juice to keep the music on. We also found that the case provided three charging cycles before it had to be recharged, which takes just two hours with the included USB-C cable. 

How do the Liberty Air 2 sound?

13/06/2020 08:00 PM

androidauthority.com