The $99.99 Soundcore Liberty 4 NC noise-cancelling true wireless earphones are a well-rounded addition to Anker's affordable lineup. They offer excellent active noise cancellation (ANC) for the price, produce robust bass depth, and pair with an excellent companion app that includes an 8-band EQ. Android users even get support for the high-end LDAC codec and Google's Fast Pair connection feature. We would have preferred a more weatherproof build, but that doesn't hold these earbuds back from unseating Anker's Soundcore Space A40 ($99.99) as our Editors' Choice winner for true wireless noise cancellation under $100.
Good Connectivity and Battery Life
Available in Black, Cosmic Blue (deep blue), Earth Blue (light blue), Pink, or White, the stem-style Liberty 4 NC earphones look decently stylish. They ship with four pairs of silicone eartips (XS, S, M, and L) and feel snug in the ear. Internal 11mm dynamic drivers produce a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz.
They support Bluetooth 5.3 and work with the AAC, LDAC, and SBC codecs, a nice range of options at this price. If you prefer AptX Adaptive and LC3 for their lower latency, however, you can check out the EarFun Air Pro 3 ($99.99). In any case, Google's Fast Pair integration allows for rapid connections on compatible Android devices, while multipoint support lets you connect with up to two devices at the same time.
The capacitive touch panels on the outside of each earpiece feel responsive and have a sensible default control layout. Single taps handle playback on both ears, double taps control track navigation (left for previous, right for next), triple taps do nothing by default, and long presses on either side switch between the ANC and Transparency modes. In the app, you can adjust the control layout to a degree, as well as add volume controls.
An IPX4 rating is underwhelming, but standard for the category. Neither light rain nor sweat should cause problems, but don't place the earpieces directly under a faucet or submerge them. For the same price, the IP68-rated JBL Endurance Peak 3 earphones make a lot more sense if you frequently go out in wet conditions.
The charging case (which isn't protected against water at all) has a flip-top lid and a button on the front that opens it. That's a welcome upgrade over those that require you to pry open the top (a problem for enclosures with slippery exteriors). The earphones dock flat into the charging cradle, which includes internal white LED lighting. There’s a USB-C port on the bottom for charging via the included USB-C-to-USB-A cable, but you can also just drop the case on a Qi wireless charging pad to refill its battery.
Anker estimates that the earphones can last roughly 10 hours per charge and says the case holds an additional 40 hours of battery life (both figures are with ANC off). If you turn the ANC on, those numbers drop to 8 and 32 hours for the earbuds and case, respectively. This is competitive battery life, but your codec choice and typical listening volume will both affect your real-world results. Anker claims that charging the earphones for 10 minutes should get you about four hours of playback time.
Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC App Experience
The Anker Soundcore app (available for Android and iOS) is among my favorites because of its sleek design and extensive feature set. It shows battery life readouts for each earpiece and the case at the top. Below this, the Ambient Sound section lets you switch between Noise Cancellation, Transparency, and Normal modes.
If you select Noise Cancellation, you can further choose between three sub-modes: Adaptive Noise Cancelling, Manual (which has selectable levels 1-5), and Transportation (which offers plane, train, bus, and car options). An Environment Detection sub-setting within the Adaptive Noise Canceling mode allows the earbuds to detect external and in-ear sounds in real time and adjust noise reduction levels accordingly. It's not clear what the Adaptive Noise Canceling mode does if you don't use the Environmental Detection option, but I didn't detect much of a difference with it on or off. In Transparency mode, you can opt for either the Fully Transparent or the Vocal mode (which enhances conversational intelligibility). You can also enable Wind Noise Reduction for both the Noise Cancellation and Transparency modes, though that can inadvertently decrease their overall intensity.
The next section, Sound Effects, offers 22 presets (including the default Soundcore Signature, Acoustic, Bass Booster, Classical, Podcast, and more) and a custom EQ with eight bands that cover 100Hz to 12.8kHz. This section also has a 3D Surround Sound feature that I suggest leaving off (it produces a weird effect that sounds nothing like surround audio) and the HearID Sound tool (which builds a custom sonic profile based on your hearing). Stick with the custom EQ for the most control over the audio output. Otherwise, a Safe Volume section can detect your listening levels and lets you set a maximum volume between 75dB and 100dB in 5dB increments. Just note that anything beyond 90dB isn’t much of a limit.
The Controls section allows you to assign various touch operations to single, double, triple, and long presses of the earpieces. Not every control is available for every kind of gesture, but the range is generous. The Settings section rounds out the experience. Here, you can toggle the Auto Play/Pause feature (for when you insert or remove the earbuds), enable the low-latency Gaming mode, and try out the Sound Leak Compensation tool that accounts for any audio leakage. Furthermore, you can install firmware updates, turn off prompt tones, conduct an in-ear fit test, and access the audio-based feature for locating a lost earbud.
Top Noise Cancellation for the Price
As mentioned, the app has many options for customizing the ANC experience, but that's not necessarily an advantage; the best implementations I've tested don't require any user intervention. For what it's worth, the Adaptive Noise Cancelling mode seems to work similarly to the Manual mode at the max level (5). The Transportation mode might be worth trialing depending on your environment, but most people should choose the Adaptive Noise Cancelling mode or the highest manual setting.
All that aside, the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC earphones performed very well in our noise cancellation tests. They substantially lowered powerful lows like from an airplane and seriously reduced the volume of a crowded cafe recording. The circuitry let past a thin band of higher frequencies and didn't lower all sounds uniformly, but neither behavior is a major drawback for the price.
Most importantly, the Liberty earphones slightly outperform the Soundcore Space A40, our previous frontrunner, cutting back lows slightly more effectively and doing better overall against the varied mids and highs of a cafe. Of course, pricier options like the AirPods Pro ($249) and the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II ($299) offer even better noise cancellation if you're willing to spend significantly more.
Capable, Customizable Drivers
I left the default Soundcore Signature audio profile mode on for testing, but the EQ is an effective tool for tweaking the bass, mids, and treble response.
Sub-bass-heavy tracks like The Knife’s “Silent Shout” benefit from distortion-free reproduction of the lows at both maximum and moderate volumes. The earphones didn't have a problem handling the sub-bass at the 34-second mark of Kendrick Lamar’s “Loyalty,” delivering the lowest of the deep bass notes with appreciable rumble. Meanwhile, the vocals on this song get enough high-frequency attention to maintain their presence in the mix.
Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with a greater mix of frequencies, better demonstrates the sound signature. The drums get some extra attention but never sound out of line. A low-mid richness enhances Callahan’s baritone vocals, which sound crisp thanks to a high-mid focus. The acoustic strums sound bright overall. You might desire a little more presence in the mids, but that's easy to dial in via the in-app EQ.
On orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, the earphones push the lower-register instrumentation slightly forward in the mix. But the higher-register brass, strings, and vocals retain their natural brightness and prominence. It's easy to recognize the sculpting, but all the musical elements are in balance.
Three mics on each earbud work together to improve calls and recordings: A dedicated voice mic sits at the end of the stem to pick up your voice, while feedback/feed-forward mics help reduce background noise. A test recording on my iPhone sounded clear, with noticeable low-frequency emphasis. The AirPods Pro take a different approach by capturing a more highs-focused signal. Which is better comes down to your preference, but Anker's earphones cost $150 less.
Affordable ANC Done Right
Anker's Soundcore Liberty 4 NC earphones balance strong bass depth with bright highs, work with an excellent companion app, and offer above-average connectivity. Perhaps most importantly, they deliver the best active noise cancellation we've experienced in this price range. Of course, you can pay far more for the AirPods Pro or the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II and get even better audio quality and noise cancellation, but if you're looking to spend under $100, the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC earphones easily earn our Editors' Choice award.
