Liberty Neo

I am a staunch supporter of "Buy-once-cry-once", I firmly believe you get what you pay for. As a self-professed "gear snob" most of the items I purchase are in the upper spectrum of the price range. I truly never look for ANYTHING "cheap", especially when it comes to electronics. However, I also understand the law of diminishing returns...and audiophile-quality earbuds would be wasted on my ears (too many years of shooting guns, playing heavy metal and riding Harley's with straight-pipes). So my earbud needs were simple, I just wanted a wireless pair to use at work so I could watch video or listen to podcasts on my phone without disturbing my coworkers. And although audiophile sound quality may not have been my criteria, I DID want functionality and comfort...and I was willing to pay more for earbuds that worked well right out of the box and would not fatigue my ears. I started my search considering brands like Sony, Klipsch, Bose, Audio Technica, Sennheiser, B&O, etc...but was surprised to see so many negative reviews on high-end earbuds. It seemed the higher-priced offerings were not necessarily "better". Then I came across the Anker Soundcore Liberty Neo and saw they were among the highest rated for customer satisfaction. The low price had me very skeptical, but I have used other Anker products in the past with great results...this combined with the $15 OFF coupon made this purchase a no-brainer. Once charged they effortlessly paired with my Galaxy S10 on the first attempt. The fitment was snug and comfortable, and they stayed in place even with activity. So far, the battery life has been better than expected, I have gone 4-hours straight without needing to recharge (they're rated for 3.5 hours). Sound is crisp and clear, and bass response is superb for a set in this price range...truly. I originally purchased these for speech (Youtube vids, streaming news, podcasts, etc), but they hold their own with music...especially with some tweaking on Spotify's built-in EQ. I did a direct, side-by-side comparison to my Bose IE2 (wired) earbuds using a Dream Theater track off Spotify at max volume, and the Anker Liberty Neo were just as loud and just as punchy as the Bose (which cost five-times the amount of these Liberty Neo...in 2015 dollars)!! I wasn't just pleasantly surprised...I was shocked! The design appears it would not lend itself well to "workout" or sports...but these stayed put even while I was running. Obviously this is going to be dependent on each end-users personal fitment, but they stayed snug in MY ears and did not fall out. I made one phone call using these, and my party said they heard a LOT of background noise...so the mic is not great, and outdoor (or noisy room) calls may suffer. But for listening to music or watching video, they're awesome. You can use the earbuds independently (one at a time) while the other charges, HOWEVER, to use the left earbud while the right one charges YOU MUST DISCONNECT AND THEN PAIR THE LEFT EARBUD ONLY...otherwise the Bluetooth will disconnect when the right earbud is placed on the charger. The procedure for this is in the Q&A section, and it absolutely worked for me. The only two things I wish these had, feature-wise, was a charge level indicator for the earbuds and a built-in USB charging cable (like JBuds) since charging cables in my home seem to grow legs and walk off. I cannot speak to their longevity as I have only had them for a week, but, for the price, if they last a year I will have got my money's worth and THEN some. Hell, I've paid more for a pizza!! So my 5-star rating has more to do with the bang-for-your-buck factor than audio quality or features. If they were more expensive I would have taken away one star for limited battery life and a microphone that is very sensitive to ambient noise (wind, noisy room, etc). But for thirty-five bucks, these are absolutely FIVE STAR earbuds!!

I have owned more ear bud headphones than I can count. I won't even try. Usually, I am very disappointed with some aspect. My favorite wireless pair were made by Sony with "extra bass". I like a strong bottom end, so to speak. Anyway, I destroyed multiple pairs of those because of my running and profuse sweating. They just cannot handle all the water I produce. My last pair was a JBL set that sounded good, and never were affected by my running sweat. They died a few days ago, and so I found these. Anker is a good brand name, and their products are historically good quality. With so many good reviews and the price very reasonable, I decided to try them. I have learned that speakers and headphones have a "breaking in" period and usually sound better after you have used them for a while. Out of the box, these sound great. Seriously, they sound as good as the best ones I have ever owned. And I am very critical when it comes to sound quality. The only complaint I have, and it really isn't a complaint, is that they are definitely bass heavy. I like that, but some may want a more flat sound. Beyond the heavy bass (which I like), the mid and upper range sound very well balanced. I ran for an hour with them today. They stayed put in my ears with no problem. I did not use any of the extra ear things that go on the outside of the buds, to help hold them in your ears I guess. They were firm and solid and I never worried about them falling out during my entire run. I cannot say yet if they can handle my sweat, but if they cannot, I will definitely update this review. If you see no update, they are good. I read a few reviews that complained about lack of bass. That is not possible with these. Earbuds that fit inside the ear must seal in your ear or the bass will disappear. This is the case with every single "inside" earbud I have owned, so if someone says these have no bass, it is because they did not seal them in their ears properly. I use the biggest rubber ear insert to ensure all air gaps are closed, which also blocks out any exterior noise. These do not cancel noise, but they block noise when properly sealed in the ears. When I was in my 20s, my ears were the smallest ever. Tiny little ears. Now in my 50s, my ears are bigger. Why is it that ears grow as you age? Anyway, since I have normal size ears now, I expect anyone with normal size ears will not have a problem getting these to seat properly. That is all I got. I love them. Excellent value and excellent purchase. Update: just wanted to add that I tested them with YouTube on my phone and the audio was synced well with the video. I saw that another reviewer complained for them the audio was out of sync. It could be they have an older device with an old bluetooth radio (my phone is a Galaxy Note 9), or some other reason. I disconnected the earbuds and used the speakers on my phone, and the audio was synced exactly the same way as when I used the earbuds. Therefore the wireless connection did not add any delay as far as I can tell. Holy moly macharal! I just walked all over my house with my phone on one far side, and not once did my earbuds disconnect. I have NEVER been able to walk that far away from my phone and still get a connection. My house is not huge, but no bluetooth set has ever had a reliable connect more than halfway through my house. I think this is due to the latest bluethooth tech, but the fact these buds work so far away is amazing. OK, so I have yet to find any single complaint about these buds. The only thing I can see as an issue is reliability, because I have no long term experience, and can they handle my massive sweat volumes? Time will tell. I will update this review if they fail. For now, awesome. Huge fan.

Update: Anker has sent me a replacement pair of these earbuds, and I have to say, I'm impressed. They sound great (for the price and type of headphone, don't expect Bose over the ear headphone sound from any true wireless bud at this price range), they fit great (I love that they include a sleeve without any ear-tips for that extra bit of help staying in), and this new pair has excellent connectivity. I did my normal "leave my phone upstairs and walk downstairs and see how far I can go without losing connectivity" test, and these true wireless buds actually kept up with my many pairs of non-TWS bluetooth headphones, which has only happened a couple times with the TWS buds that I have. Long story short, these are great TWS earbuds for the price, and you never have to worry about something going wrong because Anker has the best customer service I've ever dealt with. Seriously. I've only had a couple of wires stop working sporadically and the issue with these earbuds, and all it took was a quick email or two and I had a new wire/etc... sent to me. I may sound like an Anker fanboy, but that's because I am. There are only a few negligible nitpicking problems with these that stop them from getting 5 stars. I have another pair of true wireless buds that can connect either bud separately, and if you pick the right bud up first, followed by the left, they auto pair and you have stereo sound. These Anker earbuds don't have that option as only the right earbud works on it's own (as far as I know). Also, it's hard to figure out how to pair the headphones together again without finding the manual. I often keep one earbud in at work and tried that with the left earbud for these, and aside from it not working with just the left, I have to figure out how to re-pair the two earbuds together. Not a big deal, but not as easy as it could (and should) be. Final thought: Would I buy these again if I lost them? Yes, for sure. Note: This is my old review. I try to leave them up for posterity. I -love- Anker products. I have more of their chargers, cords, earbuds, etc... than any other brand. I was expecting greatness (for the price) out of these, as I do with every other Anker product. Unfortunately, these missed the mark, by a lot. First, they just don't sound that great. I have true wireless headphones from no-name brands that sound better no matter the ear tip, ear wing, etc... that are included, and even quite a few of my own. Second, the connection -does not--seem like Bluetooth 5.0. These headphones can switch back and forth losing signal in either ear just by walking with my phone in my pocket and my hand moving over my phone. Some of my cheaper headphones don't do that as much, honestly. Lastly, they just aren't that good (at all) at isolating noise, despite the various tips and everything I have used. I may have received a faulty product due to the connection issues, but since the audio quality is so lackluster (compared to my other cheaper headphones), I'm just going to return them to Amazon. Don't get me wrong, Anker has a great warranty and excellent customer service, I just feel my money would be better spent elsewhere than on these headphones. Everything else Anker? You're good to go through.

I have an unhealthy obsession with buying new earphones. I'm a very active guy, and I always find an excuse to buy new pairs of headphones. New race coming up, new pair. New ultra-marathon, several new pairs. Earphone fell out during a run, new pair. Cord uncomfortable at gym, new pair. The woman is very unhappy with my collection of literally over a hundred pairs of headphones that I've racked up over the past decade or so. One problem is that I simply cannot find a pair that checks "all the boxes". The vast majority simply don't fit me correctly; my ears are incredibly finicky and I've returned many pairs over the years (if the policy allowed) due to a fit that just didn't work for me at all. I still have several dozens where I either held on and kept trying longer than I should have (past the return windows) or ate the restocking fees on. And several dozen more that get the job done, but require regular adjustments. To date, there have been precisely three pairs of earphones/buds that fit me "correctly". The first was the Adidas Sennheiser CX 685 from 2012 or so. The second is the JBL Yurbud Inspire 100 -- only the 100, anything higher has microphones or magnets that gently wiggle them out of my ears. These Liberty Neos are the only the third pair in over a decade to fit me correctly. Good timing too, since I was down to my last pair of Yurbuds (I believe they've been discontinued, and the rest my stock of nine all eventually went dead, though I still love them for wired earphones). I've gone through eight pairs of these newer "true wireless" style (including the more expensive Jabra Elite 65t and the Apple Airpods), and the Neos have outperformed ALL the rest overall. Now, everybody's ears are different. What works for me might not work for you. And MOST people don't have as difficult of a time as I do with finding a pair of earbuds that just fit "right". But for ME, I simply haven't found anything that fits perfectly like these do. They jam comfortably and deeply into my ear, creating a perfect seal, but don't hurt. Some earbuds jam even further in and either hurt or end up having their silicon tips "squished" by the movement of ear/jaw, distorting the sound. Others make a great seal but gradually create this "vacuum" effect as the seal plunges in and out of my ear canal. The Neos just work for me. A close runner-up is the Elite 65t, but it's not as good. Again, these are just my ears, your results may vary. The sound quality on the Neos is fantastic. Properly "clean", not overly-processed. Great, balanced sound. Enough bass for my basshead tendencies. To be fair, good fit and decent bass are far more important to me than fantastic sound quality/reproduction, so I'm probably not the true authority here. But they sound pretty great to me. Not the best, but I've nothing to complain about. The controls could be a downside for some. A lot of people take issue with the lack of volume controls. I personally don't care about that, as I tend to set my volume and leave it for hours at a time while out running. What DOES bother me is how stiff the little buttons are. You really need to press down (and hold) while jamming the earbud into your ear to skip tracks. I find myself using my watch or phone controls to skip tracks more often than not. That said, I also don't like touch-sensitive controls and I frequently press too few/many times on softer-touch buttons as well, so I can't honestly say the Neos fall behind competitors in a way that matters to me. Battery life is better than claimed. At average volume, I get an admirable 5:20-5:40 on most of my runs. At low volume, I've been able to exceed six hours twice. At almost-max volume, I came in just under five hours. The "battery low" alert seems to kick in anywhere from 30-60 minutes before it actually goes dead, progressively getting more frequent until it just shuts off. I don't mind that these charge via micro USB, as I have plenty of other devices that still do as well. That said, the little rubber charging-port cover is a bit tricky to move completely of the of the way unless your plastic at the end of your charge cable has a very slim profile. I found myself frequently fighting the swing-away cover and inserting the cable at an angle (or being unable to fully insert at all). So I simply ripped the rubber door off. Keep this in mind if this kind of thing bothers you. I couldn't care less. All in all, I'm extremely happy with these headphones. So much so that I just ordered the higher-end "Zolo by Anker" model for that 8 hour battery life. I just hope the fit is exactly the same. Now for that note on customer service... I originally had ordered the 3.5-hour version of these earbuds. This was a mistake on my part, and I actually thought I owned the 5-hour version. To further compound this issue, the current, upgraded listing replaced the old product very shortly after I ordered, and that old item is now listed as a new lower-end model. My order history now links to this new item. If I go back into my order history/emails, it's clear that, at the time I ordered, this was listed as having a 3.5-hour battery life. Yet I thought I had the newer 5-hour version all along. My mistake, 100%. That said, even with the 3.5-hour version, battery life was a bit under target. My best was 2 hours and 40 minutes, and that's at the lowest possible volume with a clean line-of-sight connection and performing no button-press actions. Had I known I owned a pair rated for 3.5 hours, I would've shrugged it off as "close enough". But, since I thought they were supposed to last five full hours, I tried contacting Anker and asking about obtaining a replacement pair. They kindly informed me that I actually own the older model (which, again to my surprise, they were right). BUT, given that they still came in below the claimed 3.5 hours, they were sending me a replacement pair. And furthermore, since the model I owned was technically now a lower-end model, they sent me the "current version" of the one I ordered, meaning I got a courtesy warranty-covered upgrade to the 5-hour model! Now that's some fantastic customer service. I've had horrible, copy-and-pasted-scripted-denial warranty-claim experiences with far more established headphone companies (Plantronics, Sony, and JBL), so to have a real human interact with me and kindly offer a replacement without hesitation was incredible. I reiterate that your experiences may vary, but Anker has earned in me a customer for life.

Currently I have three sets of earbuds, all similarly priced, and these are the best. They do everything well, no glaring weaknesses. My other earbuds from Jlabs and Duoten aren't bad, but they each have problems that can be really annoying. Let me break it down in a few categories that I find important. #1 range and connectivity Anker 5/5 Jlabs 4/5 Duoten 2/5 I have never had a single issue with these wandering around at work or at home. If I'm within a reasonable distance even without line of sight these don't cut out and I like how seamlessly they reconnect when I do go out of range. #Fit Anker 5/5 Jlabs 3/5 Duoten 4/5 They don't fall out. The other ones sometimes do and I find it to be extremely annoying. However I have to give the JLabs and the Duoten some credit here because for the number of times that they've fallen from my ears to the concrete floor at work over the past year, I'm impressed that they both still work. The JLabs even fell into the sink, fully submerged and still work. I can't assess the durability of Anker at this point because they don't fall out. #3 Audio quality Anker 5/5 Jlabs 3/5 Duoten 3/5 I'm giving 5/5 because they are the best quality I've tried. I'm sure it gets better especially if you spend more but for the price, these are fantastic. I've never gotten so much bass from any earbuds ever. It's actually more than I prefer but its better than not enough because I can turn it down in EQ settings. I'd rate Duoten a 4 if it didn't make so many weird noises that hurt my ears. They sound great 99% of the time but that one percent is just painful and ticks me off. #4 Charging pod quality Anker 5/5 Jlabs 3/5 Duoten 2/5 One of my biggest pet peeves with wireless earbuds is that they don't properly seat in the charging pod. So far the Anker set works100% of the time even with the largest rubber pieces attached. The other ones constantly tick me off either because they aren't charged or because they aren't seated and they activate themselves when I'm wearing another set of earbuds and I can't figure out why the ones I'm wearing aren't working. I don't think it's fair to compare battery life at this point. I've only had these for a couple weeks. The others don't last as long but they've got a lot more charge cycles on them. They all have decent battery life. Pretty amazing really, considering how small they are. But I would only have one pair if the batteries on any of them lasted long enough. #5 Controls Anker 4/5 JLabs 3/5 Duoten 1/5 I'm docking one point to Anker for not having volume control on the earbuds. However, it would be way worse if it did have volume control at the expense of other functions. Since there is only one button on each earbud, you can't have everything. Maybe a future version could have two buttons on each earbud and that would allow for volume controls. JLabs does a good job of this. All the functions of Anker plus volume are relatively easy to use and not do something unintended. However, the buttons on Jlabs are so hard to push it's like I'm jamming the earbud into my head, and it actually hurts sometimes. Anker button is nice, just the right amount to make it click. Duoten is the worst ever. it's touch sensitive. Like the entire earbud is a touch sensitive button. Constantly making accidental redials. It's horrible. Anker wins again. #5 Waterproof Anker 5/5 I just had one of my Anker earbuds fall into super hot dishwater, fully submerged. I couldn't find it for at least thirty seconds. Once I got it out of the water, i set it on my kitchen table and disconnected the bluetooth. I let it sit and air dry for about 24 hours. Then I put them in the charging pod for an hour or so. I'm wearing them now and they still work great.

I have had the Soundcore Liberty Neo earbuds for about two weeks. now. In the past I have used and very much enjoy the sound quality of the Jaybird X series (X2, X3, X4). I wanted to have a spare pair in case I forget the Jaybirds and really like the truly wireless earbuds, but for a spare was looking for something that was not as expensive. I also tried the Liberty Air, but found those did not stay in my ears when working out at the gym, so I gave them to my son, who loves them. Because these have the air stabilizers I figured that this is what I need for my ears (the Jaybirds have the ear stabilizers and they stay in my ear with no issues, although they also have the cable between the two buds). The Liberty Neo's do stay in my ears very well. Maybe not perfect, as my left ear seems to be the problematic ear and I feel the left starting to get loose occasionally, but truthfully, I trust these and I am not worried that they will pop out while doing a strenuous exercise, like happened with the Liberty Air. The other thing is that for me, these make perhaps the best seal I ever had on a set of earbuds and thus the noise isolation I find to be superb. These block out the sounds in the gym very well, better than the Jaybirds or anything else I have tried, so for me, that is a big plus. For sound quality, I think these sound very nice. I compared them to the Jaybird X4's that I have and think the Jaybirds sounds is a little more rich and fuller and the Jaybirds get more volume, so I do not need to have my phone volume up as high, but even though the Jaybirds are better, the difference is not that great and these sound very good. It was only when switching back and forth between the two that I can hear the difference. If I just pop the Liberty Neo's in my ears and start the music without the direct comparison to my ears they sound great, perhaps about the same. Now the Jaybird's have an app that I can customize the sound with and the Liberty Neo's do not. From what I see, if you want that extra level that perhaps equal (or maybe betters something like a Jaybird) then the Liberty 2 Pros seem to be the pair to get from the Soundcore brand. I am almost disappointed that I did not opt for them, but they are significantly more money than the Liberty Neo's and in the end these do sound great. My biggest complaint I think is with the case. To me they just do not open wide enough. I see some reviewers show that the case broke and I am wondering if that is because they tried to open it too far. I showed these to someone else and could see them open it up and hear the case make some noise as they were expecting it to open wider. I would expect a case to open to around 90 degrees, but I would say these open to maybe 60 max. That means it is a little harder to access the buds, especially when taking them out, and that I need to be careful to not open them too far. Not that major of a detriment, however something to be noted. The micro-USB charging port is not a big deal to me, as an iPhone user it will still be another cable to carry regardless and I have plenty of both micro and type C, so for me, people make too much of that. Battery life seems terrific to me, they can certainly last me through my workouts with no issues and being able to charge in the case means I always show up in the morning fully charged. I like that Soundcore provides more different sizes of ear tips and wings than most others out there. As I mentioned, I think I am getting the best seal with these and that is important for sound quality as well as noise isolation. They connect quickly, were easily paired to the iPhone and I was able to pair the left earbud separately so if I just want to use the left, that works as well. The way to do that for me, with the newer version (A3911031) is to turn the left earbud off completely by holding down the button until you see the LED turn red, then press and hold to turn it on in pairing mode (fast blinking). Overall these are excellent truly wireless earbuds and work very well and for the price they represent a terrific value. I very much recommend these, especially to those that find issues with earbuds that do not have the stabilizers (wings) to stay in your ears. They provide stability of fit, an excellent seal and very good sound for a budget price. Well worth a purchase. UPDATE: I saw a YouTube review of these and found out that the case does open further than I thought. It stops and if you push it a bit more it clicks and locks open at something closer to 90 degrees, so that is much better and it is now easier to get to the earbuds. This helps them to be even better to me, so I am really glad for this purchase.

as much as I want to keep them, I can't! Here's why: 1) The Fit They're just too large! I *do* have wonky ears that are difficult to fit, I'll admit, but I've never actually been in pain from earbuds before. These come with the EarWings, which are a great addition, but the two larger sizes actually ended up hurting my concha/inferior crus (the sticky-outy part where you tuck the EarWings) pretty badly. The smaller size might be comfy, but it won't actually stay in place. I also just think the actual housing of the buds affects the way they sit in my ears. 2) The Design They're just too high-profile. Check out the pics, but basically they stick out way too far, no matter how they're seated in my ear. Also, despite them being too high-profile, if you press the outer button, you end up pushing the earbud in way too far for comfort. Siri takes two pushes of the button and I ended up having to take out the earbud entirely afterwards and re-seating it. Additionally, the case, while being "no larger than a car key" at the front, is actually 1.25 inches deep - much too large for a women's pocket (or any pocket other than maybe a jacket, imo). 3) The Function I actually really liked how these sound, in spite of the ill fit. The only thing that kind of bugged me was that they were so very in-ear that I could hear my heart beating if I wasn't around any noise...they have a little bit of a "whoh-whoh" reverb when running because of it. That said, I can attest to the fact that they do block out noise. Very well, in fact, since I left my car lights on because I didn't hear the alarm telling me to turn them off, lol. In all, the sound quality was great for the price, so I do think these would work for the majority of larger-eared people, just not me! There are some definite cons, and I'm not the biggest fan, but I do see how they could become someone's else's go-to earbuds.

I purchased the 2019 Upgraded, Anker Soundcore Liberty Neo True Wireless Earbuds. When reading my review - please keep in mind I am using these to mostly listen to audiobooks and make phone calls. The Good: The biggest pro's are the noise cancellation and how they fit. I have a hard time finding earbuds that are a comfortable fit so this is a big concern. These earbuds fit great and it is easy to forget that I have them in. I thought based on pictures that the size was huge and would be an issue but this was not the case. I am able to wear them for long periods of time without any discomfort. These earbuds also cancel out a lot of noise - way more than a person realizes. I enjoy using these earbuds on phone calls and definitely notice the difference when I switch earbuds. The Bad: My biggest complaints are the slightly lower volume levels compared to other earbuds, longer charging time, and an intermittent audio glitch. There is no volume control on these and they seem to have a lower standard volume level than my other earbuds (which are more expensive) . Since they seem to take awhile charging - I have a different brand of earbuds to swap with. No big deal there unless you can't carry around another pair. Now the audio glitch is interesting. I haven't noticed anything on calls and it doesn't happen all the time. I don't know how to describe it. It doesn't happen very often and only lasts a second or two. The Ugly: I am not sure of the purpose of the big band around the earbud but those things seem to slide around. I removed them completely to eliminate the hassle and didn't notice any difference. The button on either earbud are solid and respond nicely when answering calls or turning my audiobook on and off. Only the right side has the microphone to talk on the phone. This is the 'master' side. There is NOT anyway of shutting off one of the earbuds at a time to lengthen total listening time by using them consecutively. When on calls - the person I am talking to seems to hear me okay and I am able to turn up the phone volume enough to hear them. In Conclusion: These are good earbuds for the money. If you are looking for an inexpensive pair of earbuds that do a decent job - these will do. Please keep in mind the bass line isn't anything to write home about when playing music. Music sounds okay but that's about it. If a heavy baseline in music is a requirement for you please check out other earbuds. If listening for hours on end is required - these are cheap enough to buy a second pair to swap with continuously. Please keep in mind - I know it sounds like my "other" pair of earbuds are better but please remember they cost over twice as much as this pair and are made for music. This pair of Anker earbuds outperforms my more expensive pair in: noise cancellation, ear fit and comfort levels, and call quality.