After the first tease of its AI chip, Anker announced the first earbuds with the feature during its Anker Day event. The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max both use the chip for what the company calls Whisper Clear voice processing. Of course, the usual earbud features are here – active noise cancellation (ANC), voice controls and personalized sound – but there are unique tools available in these models as well. That includes the AI Note-Taker on the Liberty 5 Pro Max and dual touchscreen charging cases.
Let’s start with what the Thuso chip does in both sets of Liberty 5 Pro earbuds. Silicon is used around eight microphones and two bone conduction sensors to ensure perfect voice performance in noisy environments. Using an AI model, the system separates the speaker’s voice from the background noise so that it can be heard clearly on the other end of the calls. Anker says the bone conduction sensors allow the setup to capture the user’s voice at low volumes, as long as it’s at “moderately quiet settings.” The Thuso chip also enables voice commands, offering 20 control options and various functions, with Anker claiming a response time of less than a second.
Both the Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max have Soundcore’s Adaptive ANC 4.0 that uses those eight microphones to process audio data up to 384,000 times per second. This function constantly monitors both external noise and any sounds that may enter the ear before adjusting the ANC in real time. Anker says its noise-removal algorithm can deal with a wide range of sounds – including human voices. In addition, the company claims that the ANC performance on its new earbuds is twice as effective as the Liberty 4 Pro.
To customize the sound in your ears, both sets of earbuds offer HearID 5.0. This feature creates a personalized EQ based on a short hearing test. With the help of AI Sound Enhancement, the earbuds provide sound restoration that can recover up to 65 percent of the “quality” that is often lost due to Bluetooth compression.
In terms of battery life, the Liberty 5 Pro and Pro Max will last up to 6.5 hours on a charge with ANC enabled. If you look at the charging cases, the total usage time is 28 hours for each model. Multipoint Bluetooth connectivity is also included in both, such as Bluetooth 6.1, Apple Find My and Google Fast Pair. Also, both sets of earbuds are IP55 rated for dust and water resistance.
There is one main area where the two new models differ in their smart cases. The Liberty 5 Pro case has a 0.96-inch TFT touchscreen on its front edge while the Liberty 5 Pro Max case has a larger 1.78-inch AMOLED display. The Pro Max is also equipped with an AI Note-Taker that can take notes, including identifying speakers and activities, after meetings in the Soundcore app. This feature isn’t available on the Liberty 5 Pro, but Anker offers AI-based rendering on both models. Translation is available on the earbuds with the Liberty 5 Pro, and is available on both the earbuds and the case with the Liberty 5 Pro Max.
Both the Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max are available today for $170 and $230 respectively. The Liberty 5 Pro is available in black, blue, pink and white while the Pro Max will come in black or gold.
