The wireless earbuds market is already crowded with a lot of options, and Anker’s audio brand Soundcore has added one more to it. Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro is the company’s latest offering with support for features like Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), Qi wireless charging, ambient sound modes, HearID, and more. It is currently selling for Rs 9,999 in India. Soundcore is promising that its TWS earbuds will offer good sound quality and battery life. Let’s find out if this is true.
Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro design, build
The earbuds feature a stem-style design, similar to most true wireless earbuds in the market. The ‘Soundcore’ logo is strategically embossed on the upper side of the stem. The company has also added text branding at the bottom of the stem, which suggests that Soundcore really wants people to know when someone is using their products, as you will rarely notice both brand name and logo on earbuds. I don’t mind the branding as they are placed neatly and are not very prominent.
Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro is available in the Crystal Pink colour option. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
One will also notice the Soundcore logo on the case. I got the Crystal Pink colour model for review, which a lot of people thought is a compact powder and too pinkish. Thankfully, the company is also offering Onyx Black, Titanium White, and Sapphire Blue colour options. You can go for any one of them if you are looking for a classy pair of wireless earphones.
The earbuds have a two-tone matt finish and silicone tip. The company ships nine different-sized ear tips with the case, which is just great as you can try each one of them to get the best seal for better noise cancellation. The default medium size that you get with the earbuds offered me a good fit. The earbuds are pretty lightweight and I had no issues in wearing them all day. However, I was a bit scared of losing them as I found them budging when I went for a run. This didn’t happen when I went out for some grocery shopping or while doing any other vigorous work. The buds are also IPX4 rated, so they can withstand sweat and water splashes.
What I liked most about the Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro is the case’s sliding mechanism, which is unique and fun. But, the case is not very compact, compared to most of the products in the markets. You can’t just shove it in your jeans pocket and you will have to keep it in a bag. It is also sleek and quite durable. The case has a pairing button, which is hidden well. The case has three lights for indicating battery status, which is a much-needed feature.
The company ships nine different-sized ear tips with the case and Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
Controls, connectivity, Soundcore app
The Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro supports touch-based controls, which one can customise using the company’s Soundcore app. You can assign three functions to each earbud. You get controls for play/ pausing tracks, volume, ANC and transparency modes, and summoning a voice assistant on your smartphone. The touch-based sensors worked well most of the time and rarely missed my commands. The earbuds even have sensors that can detect whenever they are taken out of the ear, which automatically pauses the music and resumes when you tuck them back in the ear.
I have to admit Soundcore offers one of the best apps for audio products. You can modify touch controls, play with EQ settings, change Ambient sound modes, personalise sound experience, test earbuds fit, check battery status and play tracks in the app. All the features are truly useful and you will not find them on most of the apps from other brands.
A look at the Soundcore app. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
Soundcore offers a feature called HearID. The earbuds play different types of sounds for your left and right ear, asks you to confirm if you can hear it, and accordingly saves an EQ setting as per your hearing sensitivity. The company gives an option to modify the EQ setting based on the registered HearID curve. This feature does make a difference and offered a better sound experience than the default mode for me.
There is also an option to test whether the ear tip fits you well or not. This actually works and gives you an insight into whether you should use a different set of ear tips or if the seal is good enough for an enhanced listening experience.
Connectivity is just seamless. I never had to reconnect the wireless earbuds to my phone. The moment I took out the earbuds, they would connect even if the phone was not nearby. There was no incident of a connection drop. The pairing process is very simple and the setup takes less than 10 seconds.
The Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro is priced at Rs 9,999 in India. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Ambient sound modes, performance
There are three Ambient Sound modes – Noise Cancellation, Transparency, and Normal. The first one includes Transport mode for suppressing low-end frequencies like engine or road noise, Indoor mode for eliminating voices, Outdoor mode for cancelling out noise in city spaces and a Custom mode for adjusting noise reduction level as per your preference. All these noise-cancelling features are self-explanatory and help offer a better listening experience.
Though, the outdoor noise cancellation feature was sometimes not very useful as I was able to hear some high-pitched sounds. I was mostly using the transport or custom mode to get the best experience.
The Transparency mode also gives you some controls like Fully transport and Vocal mode. One can use the Vocal mode when travelling via a local train or metro to just listen to the announcement while avoiding the background noise. You can also just take out earphones as the music will get paused and will resume when you wear them again.
The wireless earbuds feature a stem-style design. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
The wireless earbuds support Bluetooth codecs like AAC and SBC, but lacks support for Qualcomm’s aptX, which is not expected at this price point. The Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro is mostly tuned for offering deep bass, and the highs and mids are slightly less emphasised, so a few music tracks may not sound very detailed. I enjoyed listening to tracks like “Lean On” and Animals by Martin Garrix. The earphones are good for those listeners who enjoy popular genres of music like pop, EDM, and hip-hop.
The earbuds also offered good call quality. Some of my friends asked which earphones I’m using as the voice clarity was really good for many of them. This happened when I was indoors. The call quality is also good enough outdoors and the ANC feature really helped offer much better voice clarity.
The Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro can last for more than four days if your usage is average. I was able to use it for 4-5 hours per day, which is usually more than enough. The battery life is really impressive and I was never worried about charging the case before time. The company also bundles a USB-C cable for charging. I was even able to wirelessly charge the Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro, but this takes longer than usual to top up the battery. So, it is better to charge the case using the regular charger.
The case supports a sliding mechanism. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro: Should you buy it?
The Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro is a good option under Rs 10,000 price segment for EDM and bass lovers. The other reason behind this is also its noise cancellation feature, which works well. You also get a well-designed app as well as a captivating design. Though, the case is a bit large. The call quality is also good and additional features like wireless charging, IPX4 water resistance rating, ANC, and ambient sound modes do justify the price.
Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro is available in the Crystal Pink colour option. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
The company ships nine different-sized ear tips with the case and Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
A look at the Soundcore app. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
The Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro is priced at Rs 9,999 in India. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
The wireless earbuds feature a stem-style design. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
The case supports a sliding mechanism. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
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