Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro True Wireless Earbuds, Bluetooth Earbuds with Astria Coaxial Acoustic Architecture, in-Ear Studio Performance, 8-Hour Playtime, HearID Personalized EQ, Wireless Charging

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Ryan Ward - Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2020

Wow, while not cheap, Anker has something figured out here!!!

First off let me start off by stating I have tested a LOT of headphones over the years. I'm extremely technical in my IT field and that obsession with tech translates into every other aspect of my life. I'm extremely picky and while I'm not rich, I'm comfortable enough to get the best of things I really love. Don't let this fool you though, I'm also super cheap where I can be. As a matter of fact, this review is predicated on me moving on from something "cheap" to obviously NOT even close to cheap. When it comes to home audio I've been a Sennheiser fan for many years. I've had some higher-end Sony's over the years and even once had a pair of studio Denons. When it comes to earbuds though, frankly put I never have been overly impressed. I found a solution for around 40 dollars that would last around a year + and while they weren't anywhere NEAR a full ear covering headphones quality they also didn't make my ears cringe. I have gone through a lot of different headphones from true wireless like these (soo many) and a few of the same non true wireless/ wireless Bluetooth style ones like from Bose. I returned ALL but these and the Bose. For a company that first hooked me with their awesome battery banks, this is quite the leap and I admit I was very hesitant at first but now I am very glad I got them! I was planning only keeping one and when the Bose impressed me, it admittedly raised the bar for others. Even without that though every other true wireless had some caveat I didn't like. Either the sound was terrible, the case was horrible, charging was too frequent or inconvenient. etc. The biggest difference between these, Bose and the cheaper options was how the headphone had to fit “PERFECT” to sound good. These just fit great, stay put and sound impressive without having to overly manipulate to get them just right. I even had a few had touch controls and constantly needed to be adjusted. ANNOYING!! I’ll take the physical button over touch in this case. The sound on these immediately impressed me and got my attention compared to the other true wireless style ones I have. Then I did the personalized EQ via the Soundcore app. Game changing. I believe I have pretty high hearing ranges and these headphones feel like they tailor right to them. Highs are CRISP with no tinny sound and you really hear the range of instruments. Pop on some Rap/Hip Hop and you’ll immediately notice these are no slouches when it comes to bass. Honestly anymore bass and it would make my ear itch. Full disclosure, I have a 500+ watt surround sound system on my computer and grew up with subs in my cars. These sound AMAZING! I'm telling you these sound so good, you'll notice your bad quality MP3's 100 times worse and even will notice sounds that made it past studio mastering. (amp feedback etc) Just at a bit higher volume than the bose does. No joke these are that good. The case is wireless charging so you don't have to fuss with ANOTHER cable if you so choose. To be honest, I've had them for a few days now and haven't even needed to come near charging and I've been playing with them FAR more than I'll ever use headphones on a regular basis. Its almost 10 pm now, I've been rocking music non stop on them all day. I took some calls on it and even left music playing while buds were out and I was eating. (eating and earbuds is just weird imo) Anyways. Since I've got them, trying to use the crap out of them the lowest I've seen the ear buds get down to is 80%, immediately afterwards putting them in the wireless charger, which still shows 3/3 bars. WOW. Considering the intended use for these and likelihood they won't be my gym headphones and the Bose Soundsports will fit that role, I'll probably have to set the wireless charger on the Qi Charger once or twice a month at this rate. One unintended surprise is I will use them more than I EVER thought for I found in about 75% of the ones I touched, you can't just go single ear easily without having to do steps to ensure it pairs right the next time to both or bla bla bla. I'm a network engineer by trade and still don't want to go through unnecessary hoops for basic functions. These just work, you pull out the right ear piece, put it on, and you can make calls on it. I didn't have to do anything special to have them be headphones again as normal next time. Smart. While on that track, the noise cancellation is top-notch. People can hear me very clearly no matter where I am, I allowed my 14 year old to try them and proceeded to talk all kind of smack to him to see if he could hear me. Until I was fairly loud and right next to him, he was none the wiser. :) Gaming performance on these is like most aptx devices, OK but not great. Definitely better than earlier codec versions of Bluetooth . Built in youtube app is FAR better than watching video in the browser etc (likely to hardware acceleration) I’m going to do some testing in dev options and see what I can do. Only cons I could think of it not being cheaper but that immediately disappeared when I heard them. They are clearly a premium product. Active noise cancellation would be a good feature but personally I don’t travel or need to listen to them in noisy environments etc. TLDR Awesome bass, clear highs with overall great sound. Alexa / Google assistant works fantastic!! Only con would be if you don’t have 150 dollars to buy them yourself or ABSOLUTELY need active noise cancellation which I would imagine you probably wouldn’t be buying earbuds? Buy them now. Come back and thank me later 😊 Anker, great job! I see why you guys are rocking it!

3.0 out of 5 stars

By Krab_Cakes - Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2019

Noticeable Background Static and Cannot Pair to Multiple Bluetooth Devices

I was between the Jabra's and these, I bought these because they had usb-c and wireless case charging over the Jabras. These are cecent headphones with high quality sound and noise isolation. They fit well in the ear, I ran a couple of miles and they were still snug. Why 3 star rating? 1. There is background static, I'm not sure why it's there but its unacceptable. It's pretty loud between pausing and playing. It less noticeable when you're playing actual audio 2. No support for multiple Bluetooth devices! I have a personal phone, a work phone, tablet, bluetooth treadmill. For me to pair to each device I have to unpair the other device. Way too much of a hassle! 3. There are not enough control options in the soundcore app. Only double press and long press. For the price paid, I'm going to have to return these.

4.0 out of 5 stars

By Patrick Tran - Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2019

A headset with great potential squandered by its overpowering bass.

Introduction I do my best to keep my expectations in check when judging the sound coming out of these buds. I paid ~$160 and for that price and lower, I could get me a good pair of headphones from companies that focus purely on audiophile products like Sennheiser or HIFIMAN that will sound much more accurate and be overall much, much more enjoyable. However, these are in-ears, that are bluetooth. This is going to clearly not going to give you the true audiophile, reference-quality experience that over-ears can provide you. So if that's what you're seeking, Anker has not yet achieved that in this form factor. Sound The whole "10 grammy guys approved these" could be misleading. You might expect (and I certainly had hopes) that behind all the PR jargon of being so studio quality that they would at least sound as neutral as possible. The description says the drivers in these things provide "stunning power," and honestly, yeah they're pretty dang powerful when it comes to the low-end. Ear rattling at high volumes, and still too overpowering at lower volumes. The bass itself doesn't fall victim to distorting, but I find it too forward and wide, and a tad too much of the details in the mids and highs become lost in songs with heavy bass. It does have a benefit of making songs with lower levels of bass exciting to listen to though. You could also find these enjoyable if you happen to be a basshead and you need wireless buds. Not off to a good start there, but there's actually a lot potential in these if Anker actually tries to grab the growing mobile audiophile market by the taint. Again, these are truly wireless in-ears so I'm not expecting much. Definitely on the bright side (hehe), these things got some pretty smooth highs and I think the mids are just... nice. Not too forward nor recessed for my tastes, and it's got a good amount of detail to it. Soundstage is the one thing that really impressed me on these buds. There's surprisingly a good amount of width for this form factor. Same opinion on the imaging as well, since it wasn't hard to tell the positioning of the instruments and different sounds in songs I've listened to. I mainly used these for music rather than calls, but as someone who doesn't call a lot, it's still noticeable that my calls were clear and any outside noise is reduced acceptably. By now, you can get a sense that these buds are not too shabby in the audio department. Maybe too pricy, but not too shabby. Depending on your ears, you could find these to be a lot of fun to listen to. I certainly never thought I hated the sound coming out of these. Comfort My ears usually hates the fit of in-ears. These fit fine out of the box. There are a good amount of sizes for the tips and wings so I'm sure you'll most likely get them deep in there with the proper size. I usually bust a move when the music is playing and they don't fall out. I keep them in for probably an hour max each time for whatever activities I use them for, and they have yet to cause any pain. They protrude out of your ears in a not-so-attractive way though. Looking at myself in the mirror, they look like earplugs that aren't completely in my ear. At least they're smaller than I expected! Practicality The earbuds hold a good charge and so does the case itself. I'm actually really thankful the case is compatible with wireless charging since it doesn't seem to be a common feature with earbud cases at the moment, even with the more expensive alternatives. It's a surprisingly nice quality-of-life feature that saves me the hassle of reaching for a cable. Packaging I feel like they could ship me these buds in broken glass and toilet paper and I wouldn't care. But if you're on the search to add another one to your ever growing packaging collection, I like the material of the outer packaging. The box is colorful, has a good weight, and it's bigger than it needs to be, Conclusion For my total paid of $161.61, they're not bad. If you're looking for something that just sounds casually good and you're on the move, these will 99% get the job done with satisfaction for you. They sound substantially better than Airpods and they're not far off in price. Held a better connection for me in comparison as well. If you want something closer to the dream of reference grade wireless buds or you're trying to find a compact option to mix songs on the go, these aren't going to be it. Although I might be spoiled by headphones, these in-ears got me thinking that there's enough soundstage and imaging for bluetooth earbuds to eventually become a acceptable replacement for them. If Anker put some more time tuning the sound on these, they could dominate. But, I could probably say that with any of the numerous companies jumping on this TWS headset market right now. Until then, wait for a sale.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By David M - Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2019

Great Once Firmware is Updated

I listen to a lot of Dance Music. On these, the sound is awesome, provided you update the firmware. Prior to updating the sound had screw scratching noises with the synth percussion, and that was not good. Anker went above and beyond with my issue, and I am pleased to say that the firmware update fixed the scratching sounds. Now, these sound robust and crisp and what I would expect from an Anker product. Thank you Anker for updating the firmware and solving my issue. I'll use these all the time now for exercising.

3.0 out of 5 stars

By Nash - Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2019

Had higher expectation but quite disappointed

Base is good but quite overpowering. Sound quality is good but not the best. Sony mf-1000xm3 has much better sound overall. Fitting is awful...tried all eartips but still keep on slipping. Comfort wise they are ok.