Here is my review of the Anker Soundcore Liberty Neo True Wireless earbuds. I was looking for a set of earbuds to use for both work and just normal day to day listening, so I decided to try out a few models. The Anker Soundcore Liberty Neo earbuds (upgraded model) were on sale for a really good price (Currently at $32.99 as I write this ) and decided it was worth checking out. I figured at that price what do I have to lose.
Anker Soundcore Liberty Neo Unboxing.
Here is what’s included in the box as I unpackaged it.
Basically inside the box you get the instructions, earbuds, charging case, mico-usb cable, earwings and some different sized earbud tips. It was all packaged well and they came with what appeared to be a full charge.
Anker Soundcore Liberty Neo (upgraded) listed features:
- Graphene drivers
- IPX7 Sweat-resistant Protection
- Ultra compact and lightweight
- 20 hour playtime (5 hours on a single charge)
- Bluetooth 5
- One step pairing
My thoughts on the specs is that they are great for this price point. Particularly the addition of Bluetooth 5 and IPX7 seat resistant. Basically my understanding of IPX7 is that they can actually be submerged in a couple feet of water for up to 30 minutes. (I did not do a dunk test yet but plan to and will update this once done.) And the fact they use Bluetooth 5 is nice as it should allow longer range and use less power than the previous Bluetooth version, not to mention greater bandwidth.
How they look.
Here they are in the charging case. I really like the fact that the charging case has 3 LEDs on the front to tell you how much of a charge it has. They light up when you pop open the case. The case also has a nice feeling when you open it. I think they did an amazing job here for the price.
The earbuds themselves look good as well. They have a push button on the end of each where their symbol is that you can press for your typical items like play, pause, answer call, end call reject call, next track and previous track. I do want to mention that I did not see a way to adjust the volume from the buds. The volume needed to be adjusted from the device playing the music.
Sound quality
Sounds can always be subjective so it is a little hard to relay to someone else. But I can say I was really impressed with these earbuds on sound quality. They sounded really clear and not muddled, they also had what I considered to be surprisingly good bass quality. I compared them to a decent set of wired earbuds I usually use and they were really comparable in low and mids, but I felt the base sounded better on these Anker. When comparing them to a set of Galaxy buds and if I was going on sound alone I probably say the Anker’s sounds a little better for the music I was listening to. This had me really impressed, and that they are available on sale for under 35 bucks seems like a pretty good deal.
Battery Life
Starting with a fresh charge first thing in my workday. I listened to music and attended conf calls and was able to get a little over 6 hours out of them. There were a few pauses with no music or call so I think i should probably deduct a little time, but they seem to definatly hit above that 5 hour mark and closer to 6 for me. Going into this I knew the specs mentioned 5 hours of playtime so I am happy with that. Although it was a little annoying to hear that battery low warning and have to grab a different headset once they died. But they do give you what they advertise with over five hours playtime.
I also saw it advertised that they give you 1 hour playtime for a 10 minute charge. I did not get a chance to test this, but will update once I do.
Real world use.
Comfort
So i have been using these for a couple weeks now. While i do really like them overall, here are a couple issues I have found with them that i wanteed to mention. The fit was great. I had no issues wearing these for the 6 hours until they died on me and needed a recharge. They were very comfortable to wear. The only issue I could find with comfort is when I go to pause my music or answer a call its an actual button you push on the earbud. So in a sense you are pushing the bud further into your ear as you push it. It wasn’t horrible or anything, but just be aware its not a touch sensor like the galaxy buds use.
Dual Device connectivity
The other issue i had with them was using in a work environment. It would not allow me to be connected to both my laptop and my desktop at the same time. Basically I had to chose connectivity to one or the other. For me i like to be able to use my laptop for sounds and i also want to be connected to my phone for incoming calls. So I was stuck toggling back and forth between them. They did stay paired to both devices, but would only connect to one at the time. So I would disconnect from my phone if I wanted to connect to my PC for sound and vice-versa. My over the ear headset does allow two connections at once. That along with the only ~6 hours of battery has me using the over the ear headset most of the time.
But again, that being said, I am VERY happy with these and will be keeping them for working out, running around the house etc. They are super lightweight and feel very good while wearing the long term. But for work I am resorting back to a headset that can pair with two devices at once.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Price
- Sounds Quality
- Fit comfort
- IPX7 rating
Cons
- Case charges with Micro-USB ( I would have preferred USB-C)
- Push button to pause and answer etc.. pushes the earbud into your ear each time you press. Not very comfortable.
- Could not connect to two devices at the same time (Laptop and phone)
- no volume control on earbuds
Summary
I love them. They are comfortable and have great sounds quality. And best of all they will not hurt my pocketbook if I lose one or they break. For the price I am not sure how Anker was able to do it. They also have an 18 month warranty on their Anker and Soundcore headphones per this link here on their website. Do they have a couple things that could be improved upon? Sure, they could add USB-C charging and make it connect to two devices at once. Once that is available they will pretty much be the bee’s knees as far as I am concerned. But really for the price I have no complaints. As a matter of fact, I have been listening to them as I write this blog entry. I am sure I will get my moneys worth from them and then some.
While your here, you may like this post I did for some cool LED lighting for you room HERE.
