Soundcore Liberty Liberty 5

The Soundcore Liberty 5 true wireless earbuds deliver top-notch sound, exceptional call clarity, and effective ANC at a price that undercuts major brands. The battery life is fantastic, and the IP55 rating adds durability. However, the frustrating squeeze controls and a slight hiss during silent moments keep them from being a flawless pick.

If you're hunting for true wireless earbuds with noise cancelling that don't cost a fortune, the Soundcore Liberty 5 probably landed on your radar. And for good reason. These buds pack a laundry list of premium features: LDAC and Hi-Res Audio support, wool paper diaphragm drivers, a six-mic call setup, and adaptive noise cancelling that adjusts on the fly. The case promises up to 48 hours of total battery life, and with fast charging, you're rarely tethered to a wall outlet. In our database, these sit among the best on the market for ANC, microphone performance, and raw social buzz, all while hovering in the $90 to $130 range.

That's a seriously tempting spec sheet, and on paper, they read like a direct jab at Sony and Bose. But Soundcore didn't just copy the playbook. They added a couple of their own tricks, like a voice-focused ANC mode that's supposedly twice as effective at hushing chattering commuters. The catch? Those fancy squeeze controls and some quirks in the noise canceling might test your patience.

After spending a week with them, we can say this: the Liberty 5 nails the audio and call quality part, but it stumbles on the little interactions that make or break daily use. If you want a set of buds that sound fantastic on the subway and keep your voice clear on Zoom calls, these do that. Whether they'll frustrate you comes down to how much you hate fiddling with stem controls.

We measured the Liberty 5's active noise cancellation and came away impressed. It's a standout, landing in the top tier for our ANC tests. Low-end hum from subway cars and HVAC systems gets stamped out efficiently. The adaptive algorithm that recalculates every 0.3 seconds works well enough, though in our testing, higher-frequency chatter didn't get quite the same level of mute as the marketing suggests. Still, for blocking out the world on a commute, it's one of the best at this price point.

Sound quality is equally strong. The wool paper diaphragms and LDAC streaming give music a wide, detailed presentation. Bass hits tight and clean, though the default EQ leans a bit heavy on the low end. Luckily, the companion app lets you tweak that, and with a few adjustments, you get a balanced mix that pulls out vocal textures and instrument separation nicely. The microphone array is the real surprise. Call clarity is best-in-class, ranking above nearly every rival we've tested. Even in noisy environments, your voice comes through loud and clear.

At $90 to $130 depending on sales, the Liberty 5 undercuts heavy hitters like the Sony WF-1000XM5 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra by a wide margin, yet it includes LDAC, a killer mic array, and ANC that trades blows with them in many scenarios. You get a lot of premium tech for not a lot of cash. If you prioritize sound and battery above all else, these are a steal. That said, the Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro sometimes dips into similar sale territory and offers a more polished control experience and equally good sound, though its ANC isn't quite as broad.

Stacked against the Sony WF-1000XM5, the Liberty 5 holds its own on raw sound and call quality, and its battery life is actually better. But Sony's noise canceling handles voices more naturally, and its adaptive sound controls feel less glitchy. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2nd Gen still destroys everything when it comes to pure ANC strength, yet it lacks LDAC and costs nearly twice as much. If microphone performance is your obsession, the Technics EAH-AZ100-K is the only pair we'd rank above these, and the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 delivers a slightly more refined audio profile but also at a higher price. For under $130, the Liberty 5's combination of codecs, call quality, and endurance is hard to beat, even if the controls remind you it's a budget design underneath.

If you're heavy into fitness and need earbuds that stay locked in during burpees or sprint intervals, these are a shaky bet—our fitness score of 67.2 reflects that. Anyone who values touch controls or on-bud volume adjustment will also get frustrated; the Galaxy Buds3 Pro or Sony's XM5 pair are smarter picks there. And if you record in ultra-quiet spaces and a subtle hiss would drive you nuts, consider the Technics EAH-AZ100-K instead.

The Soundcore Liberty 5 is a hugely capable pair of earbuds that punches above its price on sound, battery, and microphone quality. We think most people will be thrilled with the music and call performance. The weak link is the physical interaction. The squeeze controls work inconsistently, and no amount of app tweaking fixes that. If you can live with pulling your phone out to skip tracks or adjust volume, or if you simply don't mind a learning curve, you'll love these. But if you expect seamless on-bud management, you might feel a little disappointed.