You may have heard of Anker, an electronics manufacturer that has made it big in the US with affordable and solid products in many categories – especially battery packs and various types of chargers.Â
Today’s product we have Anker SoundCore Liberty Air 2 Pro, a relatively expensive set of true wireless plugs in the Anker world, with active noise reduction and what Soundcore calls “PureNote” technology for better sound. The price is still not higher than around a thousand kroner, even though not many stores carry the product.
Air 2 Pro should not be confused with Air 2, which does not have active noise reduction, or Liberty 2 Pro, a more sound-focused set of dual drivers.
The story of Bose’s Sleepbuds has been motley, to say the least. First, some reacted to Bose using public funding to launch the sleeping plugs in the first instance in 2018. Then Bose had to withdraw the entire product after several customers experienced battery problems. They even apologized to the customers.
Now version two is here. The battery has been replaced, and according to Bose, should be far more reliable than before. The Bluetooth antenna has been upgraded; Bose claims to have changed the external material to prevent the plugs from “rubbing” against the pillow at night. The ability to mask noise has become even better. Thanks to a new speaker inside, better passive attenuation, and a more extensive arsenal of masking sounds.
| SoundCore Liberty Air 2 | Bose SoundSport Free II |
| Comfortable to wear | Nice case with powerful magnets |
| Good battery life | Mostly comfortable to wear |
| Stable connection | Smart LEDs that tell the status |
| Value for your money | Weaker battery life |
| Not waterproof | Quite expensive |
Specification
| SoundCore Liberty Air 2 Pro | Bose SoundSport Free II | |
| $ | CHECK PRICE | CHECK PRICE |
| Brand | Anker | Bose |
| Released | January 2021 | October 2020 |
| Model | Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro | Bose SoundSport Free II |
| Weight | 2.4 ounces | 0.317 ounces |
| Dimension | 4.61 x 2.4 x 6.73 inches | 0.98 x 1.1 x 0.5 in inches |
| Type | In-Ear | In-Ear |
| Colors | Black, Blue, White, Pink | Onyx Black, Titanium White, Sapphire Blue, Crystal Pink |
| Driver | 11mm Dynamic | |
| ANC | Yes | No |
| Foldable Design | No | No |
| Microphone | Yes | |
| Music Controls | Yes | Yes |
| Speakers | Yes | Yes |
| Impedance | – | 16 |
| Frequency Response | 20Hz-20,000Hz | |
| Bluetooth | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Water Resistance | No | IPX4 |
| Codec | SBC, AAC | SBC, AAC |
| Battery Type | – | 55mAh Lithium Polymer |
| Battery Life | Up to 26 hr | Up to 26 hr |
| Connector Type | USB-C, Qi wireless charging | USB-C, Qi wireless charging |
Design
In terms of design, the Liberty Air 2 Pro is not a little reminiscent of Libratone’s Track Air +, but we will not be offended if you would instead draw the comparison with Apple’s AirPods thanks to the long stick down to the mouth. We think the matte white color may be a bit more dressy than Apple’s high-gloss white, and it will probably also be significantly more resistant to grease marks and scratches.
The case is a kind of gray-melted plastic, with a glossy Soundcore logo in the middle. The lid is opened by pushing it up with your thumb and can easily be opened with one hand – although we may have to make a slight reservation about how it will feel when you inevitably get dust and dirt into the sliding mechanism.
Soundcore is also quite generous when it comes to how many rubber tips they attach to the package. Here you get nine sizes from XXXS to XL, so if you do not have extraordinary ears, you should be able to find a size that fits.Â
The case is slightly larger than, for example, Apple’s AirPods Pro case and completely bordering on what we would call pocket-friendly – of course, a bit depending on what kind of pocket you should have it in. Three small diodes in the front tell about battery status, and a button on the back is used to pair the plugs. Charging is done “naturally” with USB-C – possibly wireless since there is a Qi coil inside here. Not quite common in this price range.
These do not sit as well in my ears as Jaybird Vista 2 or Bose Sport Earbuds, both of which have wings to hold them in place. But also AirPods Pro and several other models without wings sit a notch better than Liberty Air 2 Pro – without that means that they do not sit well. They do not feel as locked in as some others do, for whatever reason.
The product’s actual design is essentially the same as before, with tiny plugs, soft wings that hold them in place in the ear, and a rather large and lavish case that the plugs are clicked into with magnets to charge.
The plugs are – as before – very comfortable to wear. If you have used Bose’s regular earplugs with wings, you have a good indication of how they are designed, only that these are even softer and even more comfortable. It comes with three sizes in the box – small, medium, and large, where the standard size medium worked fine.
In addition, the plugs are considerably smaller than regular earplugs for music and other things, which of course they must also be for it to be possible to sleep well with them – at least as long as you sleep in some other way than on your back.
The undersigned’s sleeping position is, for example, on the stomach, and even though the plugs are very compact, it can be challenging to find a position that means that they are not “in the way.” If you do not lie exactly right, you can quickly end up with the plugin the ear facing the pillow ending up in a kind of vacuum that makes you not hear the masking sound.
The case otherwise has, as mentioned, a fairly high premium feel, with Apple-like brushed aluminum, small LEDs that tell about battery and charging status, and a rubberized underside that gives friction to the surface. Bose has also added an extra contact point where the plugs are attached to the case (has gone from two to three), mainly to ensure they sit where they should during charging.
The magnets seem solid, and it is effortless to get the click plugs in place. You will also receive confirmation from the LED below that the plugs are fitted as desired.
Connectivity
The call quality is something Soundcore itself emphasizes, among other things in that a total of six microphones will bring you clearly and distinctly through to the other party. They essentially do that too. The microphones somewhat attenuate the surroundings, but fortunately, avoid silencing away you and the surroundings if there is some noise around you. The downside to this is that it can be difficult to understand if it is very noisy, such as walking along a busy road or blowing fresh. Overall, we experienced them as above average in this area.
The Soundcore app also has its fit test that tells you if you have a good enough seal against the ear canal, as we have seen more and more brands offer lately.
Bose itself claims that Sleepbuds II produces more sound at the lower frequencies that are beneficial for noise masking than the first generation did, and we are inclined to agree. At the same time: There are limits to what you can manage to “mask” away by putting another sound on top, so if your partner snores very loudly and sharply, you may still wake up. If you like sleeping with the window open and have a busy road nearby, this is great, and we also know that many people want to sleep with some sound. Then Sleepbuds II will be right up your alley.
A nice new feature is that the plugs now have a built-in alarm, so you can set a time for waking up. That said, a rather abrupt alarm right into the ear canal is not exactly a very comfortable way to start the day.
Audio Quality
The Liberty plugs do not sound bad at all. Still, for the undersigned, the hearing test gave an even fuller and more open sound image with a notch more impact at the bottom of the register. The elements are 11 millimeters, which are pretty significant elements for genuine wireless plugs to be.
The sound image is otherwise large, airy, and well-balanced, with a warm and pleasant sound. The treble is pretty, sharp, and well-resolved without being cutting and tiring. There is generally very little to complain about the Soundcore sound, especially considering the price of these. They have plenty of deep, pumping bass and are very engaging to listen to, without any parts of the soundscape taking over.
You have to go all the way to the absolute best true wireless plugs to find something marginally better than these, and they often cost three times as much. Then we think, for example, of the Sony WF-1000XM4 and Sennheiser Momentum TW 2. We are mainly talking about an even more refined and detailed treble reproduction and perhaps a slightly firmer bass.
The noise reduction is also reasonably good. They are almost at the AirPods Pro level in pure decibels, but the Soundcore plugs are a bit ashamed that they produce slightly more electronic noise than the Apple plugs do. It probably does not bother you much if you listen to something, but it can be noticeable if you sit with the plugs in your ears and want to enjoy the silence.
Here too, however, the Soundcore plugs perform better than what the price tag might suggest. You can also change the noise reduction mode in the app, with three choices: transport, indoor and outdoor. The different modes should prioritize slightly different noise frequencies, but in practice, you will probably find that the transport mode works fine no matter where you are.
The exception is if it blows a lot, where the outdoor mode has a more robust wind filtration than the others – at the expense of some of the noise reduction power. In such circumstances, it may still be worth switching.
The plugs have no button but can recognize touches at the top of the “pin” on each plug – where the Soundcore logo is located. Out of the box, you have the option of either double-tapping or holding down the “button,” and by default, it is set up as follows:
- Double-tap:Â Play / pause (right) and next song (left)
- Hold:Â Turn noise reduction on / off.
You can also choose to activate a single tap on each of the plugs, and here you can also get volume control. At the same time, the touch panel is so sensitive that it takes no more than a slight adjustment of the fit before you increase or decrease the sound, something we found so annoying that we turned it off again. Otherwise, you can select most of the functions for the other commands as well, which we always appreciate. In any case, the standard layout works perfectly well, and we have not experienced any problems with them not perceiving touches.
If you are not so familiar with Sleepbuds, then it is Bose’s completely wireless earplugs that will help you sleep. They do not play music, only different sounds / white noise that will cover other noise around you, such as snoring or traffic.
For the sake of order, Sleepbuds does not have noise cancellation but instead leans on passive noise reduction and thus masking sound in your ears. These sounds can be aircraft cabin noise, waves crashing against the beach, or the wind fluttering in leaves on the ground.
Bose’s argument is that noise masking is more effective against “uneven” sounds such as the partner’s snoring or the sound from a party upstairs, while active noise reduction – which Bose is best known for – works best when it comes to the type of even noise we experience on a plane or on the bus.
Bose divides the sounds you can choose from into three categories – noise masking, natural landscape, and “soothing,” of which the first two are different noise images that are not very different from each other.Â
The different audio tracks are also stored on the plugs, and you have room for about ten other ways at any one time – if you want to add something new, something else must be added. Since Sleepbuds only has so-called Bluetooth LE, ie low-energy Bluetooth, you get a reasonably light transfer speed. If you want to add new sounds, it can in theory, take as much as 10-20 minutes, but we mainly experienced that it was done in a couple of minutes.
Battery
The battery life is stated at seven hours per charge, in addition to almost three more charges in the case, a total of 26 hours. It is probably without noise reduction activated, but our experience is that noise reduction does not cost much battery time, with somewhere between five and six hours with noise reduction activated. That’s pretty good. Often you have to compromise a bit on battery life on less expensive wireless plugs, but not here. A quarter of an hour with the cable connected should otherwise provide enough power in the case for three hours of listening – and the bonus is that the case also supports wireless charging.
Something you might want is waterproofing, but here there is no IP certification to report. It may be worth considering if you plan to use them a lot for exercise. You also do not get any support for the Aptx codec, but it almost seems to be on its way out with everything but the most expensive earplugs. That said, you also get decent sound with AAC, which is supported here, but it can potentially have something to do with the synchronization between audio and video on some phones.
A negative consequence of Bose’s rebuilding of Sleepbuds is that they have switched from very energy-tight silver-zinc batteries to slightly less energy-tight nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. It has reduced the playing time per charge from 16 to 10 hours. You do get three extra charges in the case, up from one in the previous generation, but battery life is perhaps my most powerful objection to Sleepbuds II.
Sleepbuds II does not quite live up to its promise. There seems to be a constant small energy drain, which makes the feeling that annoyingly often comes to powerless plugs. That said, 10 hours is still more than enough to keep you with sound in your ear through most nights of sleep.
Conclusion!
We would not have been surprised if Liberty Air 2 Pro had cost twice what they do. They deliver solid in most areas – with good sound, good noise reduction, good battery life, and high comfort. They do not sit as effortlessly as plugs with wings and some other models, but the fit is still perceived as good enough to use them in most contexts – perhaps except very energetic training.
In practice, Soundcore seems to have taken most of the features that have worked well with other brands, and the combination is perfect.
If you have thought about Apple’s AirPods Pro or Sony’s WF-1000XM4 but think they are a bit too expensive, this is a competent and much cheaper alternative. We can only hope that they appear in more stores eventually.
We had no major issues with first-generation Sleepbuds, but apparently, there were quite a few others who had. Enough that Bose pulled them back, went back to the drawing board, and came back with a new and upgraded model. The battery that caused the problems with the first version was replaced with a more reliable but less energy-efficient NiMH battery.
Unfortunately, it has cut the battery life somewhat, but otherwise, we feel Sleepbuds II does the one job they do in an excellent way. They are so small that they can sleep comfortably in most cases. The masking sounds are reasonably effective and so unobtrusive that even the undersigned, who usually prefer absolute silence when sleep, manage to fall asleep with them.
