If you are in the market for an Apple AirPod style earbuds without the big price tag, then the Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2 is your best bet. The Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2 gives you a better sound and battery life than the AirPods for much less. Its currently priced at $100 on Amazon at the time of this review.
The earbud comes with an impressive spec sheet, features, and customization, putting it at the top list of AirPod alternatives. The liberty Air 2 is not that perfect, but its features make up for what it lacks, for example, they don’t have active noise cancellation but the extended tips give you a tight seal and passively muffles the ambient noise.
In the Box
Anker Ships the Liberty Air 2 with a wireless charging case, a USB-charging cable, a quick start guide, and five pairs of ear tips (extra small, small, medium, large, and extra-large).
- Anker SoundCore Liberty Air 2headphones
- 5 tip sizes
- Charging case
- USB-C charging cable
- Manuals
Design
The earbuds follow the same stemmed design as the older version. The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air 2’s build quality is good for the attainable price. Both the earbuds and the case feel less plasticky and slightly more premium than the Anker SoundCore Liberty Air. The originals had a glossy finish, but these have a much more refined matte finish on the case and both earbuds. The earbuds housing conceals a sensor that detects when the earbud is inserted or removed from your ear and only pauses the playback.
You can get the earbuds in 2 different colors, the black and white one. As you can see, our review unit is the white model, which features a matte-gray finish on the front and red accent near the bottom stem. The earbud is has a IPX5 rating which simply means that they will be able to handle light sweat and water contact.
The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air 2’s touch-sensitive control scheme is decent and comes with four programable controls that can be customized in the companion app.
Case
The case is compact and supports wireless charging. It can also be charged via USB-C connectivity. There are three LED lights that give you the status of the charge. There is also a multi-function button under the case that can be used to hard reset the earbuds, enter pairing mode, or check your battery status.
Sound Quality
The Soundcore Liberty Air 2 audio quality sounds good thanks to the diamond-coated drivers and the company’s consultation with award-winning recording producers to create distinct audio profiles. The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air 2 has a well-balanced sound profile that’s slightly bass-heavy but without the bass being too over-powering. The bass is punchy, and the mid-range is slightly recessed. You can tweak the sound to your satisfaction or select a preset sound profile from the companion app.
For calls, the Liberty Air 2 sound quality is great, thanks to the new 4-mic system with cVc (clear voice capture) noise reduction technology that picks up vocals in quiet settings. We didn’t experience any connectivity issues during our use.
Battery
When compared to the original Liberty Air, the Liberty Air 2 comes with improved battery life. Anker rates the battery at 7 hours on a full charge and a 10-minute charge gets you 2 hours of playtime. The charging case holds up to 28 hours, which equates to 4 additional charges. During our listening session with low to medium volume, the earbuds last for 6 and a half hours.
App
The Anker companion app is one of the best we’ve used in a while. It offers 20 EQ presets as well as an 8-band graphic EQ to fully customize your sound profile. The app contains Anker’s HearID feature, which creates an EQ personally for you. One more appreciated feature of the app is, it allows the user to button-map the four available touch-sensitive buttons the way you like.
Verdict
The Anker SoundCore Liberty Air 2 is a decent truly wireless earbud. They are comfortable for music listening sessions and have a good stable fit that makes them good for sports. Their sound profile is versatile enough for most music genres. Its price range puts it in the conversation for best wireless earbuds under $100. So, if you are in the market for an inexpensive earbud that sounds great and has a decent battery life, then I’ll suggest you check out the Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2.
