Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro TWS Review – Size Matters

As it turned out, my daughter nicked my Galaxy Buds Plus over Christmas, which impelled me to pick up a pair of Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro as a replacement. Sonically, at least, they’re an upgrade.

Packaging and accessories are first-rate, with numerous fitting wings and tips and a cleverly-designed (if oversized) charging case. Pairing the Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro with my phone was easy and 8hr battery life is excellent. The earbuds themselves are nicely built but big and bulky—they extend out from your ears garishly—and proper fit requires rotating clockwise after insertion, which does provide for good seal and isolation, although comfort is so-so. Call, play and volume are controlled by very small buttons on the top of each bud.  As others have commented, the buttons are initially frustrating to locate and use, but I grew to appreciate their design and found them less fiddly than the touch control panels on most TWS sets.

Somewhat atypically, the $149 Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro sport a hybrid BA/dynamic array which OOTB present a slightly warm, V-shaped signature with meaty note texture, a decided midbass bias and a very wide soundstage.  Downloading the Soundcore app gives you the option to change the default sound setting to either a personalized EQ profile (which you form by listening to test tones on the app) or to one of a dozen or so preset EQs ostensibly created by Grammy-winning producers and which range from flat/balanced to bass-heavy/hip-hoppy. I dutifully tried creating my own profile but found it less engaging than most of the presets (which I guess is why I’ll never be a Grammy-winning producer). The app is actually very inventive and fun to play with.

In any setting, the Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro nails the technicalities—bass is punchy but well controlled, instruments are well-separated and accurately placed and stereo imaging is really exceptional. Tonality is pretty good, not great—notes have a lot of body, voices are reproduced clearly and there’s a notable lack of tizziness or sharpness at the high end. Compared to the Galaxy Buds Plus, the Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro are less detailed, but also less clinical and much richer and more engaging. However the Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro can sound a tad bloated and over-colored–these lack the unforced, natural timbre of the Cambridge Melomania—as with the Galaxy Buds you do not lose the sensation that you’re listening to digitally-processed sound. 

Comparisons to comparably-priced wired IEMs like the Shozy Form 1.4 or BQEYZ Spring II further highlight the Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro’s limitations—the Shozy and BQEYZ are significantly more resolving at the high end and truer to the source overall, although the Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro actually has tighter bass than either. That said, the Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro are well-suited to outdoor/gym use—they’re loud, expansive-sounding, great for podcasts and also play well with lower-quality files.

The Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro are not optimized for critical listening by finicky audiophiles, and purely for sound quality I rate them a tier under the Cambridge and about on a par with the Klipsch T5.  However, the Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro are certainly feature-rich and good for how most people will use them. I see these discounted to $110 or so, which esp. compared to mainstream competitors from Sony, Sennheiser, etc., registers as good value. Recommended.

Contact us!

DISCLAIMER

Bought it myself.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

About my measurements.

You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.

RELATED…