Odi Productions
In this article, I’m going to share my HONEST Soundcore Liberty 4 NC review for those who are wondering whether they are WORTH IT. I’ll also be comparing the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC vs AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, AirPods 4 ANC, Beats Studio Buds Plus, Powerbeats Fit, and more!
I’m going to do my best to share whether these earbuds are worth it, and ideally who these headphones are for. I bought these earbuds with my own money, and was NOT sponsored, paid, or received a free copy for review. All thoughts are my own.
I’ll be sharing my critical opinion with 10 years of experience as a professional music producer, audio engineer, and tech journalist. I also run the RecordingNow YouTube channel with over 25,000+ subscribers and over 5 million views.
Let’s dive right in!
Soundcore Liberty 4 NC Review in Short
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC is easily one of the best wireless earbuds under $100 we’ve tested that starts to approach flagship-level noise cancelling and sound quality for a fraction of the cost. Competes with AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, AirPods 4 ANC, Beats Studio Buds Plus, Beats Powerbeats Pro 2, Sony WF-1000XM6, Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen.
Pros and Cons
- Above average noise cancelling
- Strong bass response
- 50-hour battery life
- Incredible value under $80
- Microphone quality is average
Order HERE for the LOWEST PRICE AVAILABLE (Do NOT pay retail):
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Disclosure: These affiliate links may provide a discount and in return, give us a commission in order to keep this website 100% independent to ensure honest unfiltered reviews 🙂
Comfort + Features
Comfort
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC shares a very similar “stem” design like the AirPods Pro 3 and Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro.
I find the Liberty 4 NC to be quite comfortable and fairly easy to get a decent seal.
Despite being an in-ear, the Liberty 4 NC doesn’t need to go as deep into the ear canal to get its seal, similar to the Galaxy Buds Pro versus the AirPods Pro.
Features
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC was originally released in June 2023, so it has many modern wireless earbud features:
- IPX4 water resistance rating (resistant to sweat and splashes of water)
- Built-in microphones for taking calls
- LDAC
- Bluetooth 5.3
- Multi-point connection
- Adaptive Noise Cancelling
- Transparency Mode
- Native apps for both iOS and Android
Microphone Quality
If there’s one aspect of the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC that exposes its budget price, it would be the microphone quality, not the sound quality or noise cancelling.
While the mic quality is serviceable on the Liberty 4 NC in quiet environments, it is pretty underwhelming compared to the more expensive flagship earbuds from Apple, Sony, and Samsung to name a few.
Against the entire class of wireless earbuds we’ve tested, I’d rate the mic quality as average with room for improvement against background noise and delivering clearer, more natural voice pickup.
Battery Life
- With ANC on: 8 hours of battery life on a single charge
- With ANC off: 10 hours on a single charge / 50 hours total with charging case
- Fast Charge: 10 minutes = 4 hours of playback
This battery life is one of the best-in-class, which tends to be around 6 hours with noise cancelling turned on, and 24-30 hours with the charging case.
Comfort + Features Score: 9.5 out of 10
Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) Performance
I’ve previously tested almost all of Soundcore’s line of wireless noise cancelling headphones, and typically found the noise cancelling to be above average, especially for the price.
This is true of the Liberty 4 NC as well, which has pretty good noise cancelling performance for a sub-$100 wireless earbud.
There is a higher “elite” tier of noise cancelling from the more expensive flagships like the AirPods Pro 3, Sony WF-1000XM6, and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2.
But the Liberty 4 NC is a fraction of the cost of those premium flagships, and delivers about 80-85% of the performance for cheaper.
Noise Cancelling Score: 8.0 out of 10
Sound Quality
As I mentioned in the “Noise Cancelling” section above, I’ve previously tested almost all of Soundcore’s wireless headphones lineup, so I’m quite familiar with their “house sound”.
Soundcore products tend to be quite consumer-friendly and V-shaped in their tuning, and this is very true of the Liberty 4 NC as well.
The Liberty 4 NC features a relatively large 11mm driver that delivers massive bass and sub-bass for an earbud.
My initial impression was that the consumer-friendly tuning is very bass-forward with a bit of a brighter treble, and mids slightly recessed.
I actually found the stock sound to be more palatable than most of their full-size headphones with similar tuning, as the Liberty 4 NC still sounds fairly cohesive and not as muddy.
On the technical side, these support the hi-res codec of LDAC, which is rather rare for budget audio gear and tends to be featured on the more expensive “audiophile” products. On paper, this translates to higher bitrate source quality, leading to higher sound quality as a whole.
To conduct this test, I used my Questyle QCC Dongle Pro to unlock aptX and LDAC support:
![Questyle QCC Dongle Pro2 [MFi Certified] USB-C Bluetooth Audio Adapter with LDAC, LHDC, aptX Lossless & aptX-Adaptive, Auracast](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/210l-SzPH6L._SL500_.jpg)
If you’re an iPhone user, or if your phone doesn’t support aptX codecs, then I highly recommend you pick up the dongle above which will cover both LDAC and aptX Adaptive high-res codecs. It’s the only one of its kind that supports both, to my knowledge.
When I switched the Liberty 4 NC to LDAC instead of regular SBC, I did notice a slight boost to the sound quality that increased the resolution and made the strong bass response more controlled and textured.
While I wouldn’t call these audiophile-worthy, I actually really enjoy the “fun” sound and massive bass from the Liberty 4 NC from a mass-market consumer perspective.
I’d still put them slightly below the current flagships like AirPods Pro 3, Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, and especially the Sony W-1000XM6.
Being a sub-$100 earbud, I’d say the Liberty 4 NC exceeded my expectations for the price and find them fun to listen to for modern genres with bass as the focus.
Sound Quality Score: 7.9 out of 10
Value
The Soundcore Liberty 4 NC retails for $99.99 USD but can be found on sale for as low as $57 to $79.99.
Factoring everything in, I’m genuinely surprised with what the Liberty 4 NC is delivering at a budget price point.
I find the sound quality and noise cancelling performance to be way above expectations for being half the price of the flagship earbuds.
The battery life is also one of the longest we’ve tested, and I find the comfort and fit to be very agreeable.
I’d say the one real critique is that the microphone quality is average, but taking everything else into account, this is an easy perfect value score for me.
Value Score: 10 out of 10
Overall Scoring Breakdown
Comfort + Features (15% of score): 9.5 / 10
Noise Cancelling (25% of score): 8.0 / 10
Sound Quality (50% of score): 7.9 / 10
Value (10% of score): 10 / 10
Total: 8.38 out of 10
Is the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC Worth it?
Honestly, the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC far exceeded my expectations at this budget price point.
I’ve tested all of the flagships from Apple, Sony, Bose, Samsung, and more, and the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC is starting to approach that level for a fraction of the cost.
What stands out to me is the sound quality, noise cancelling, comfort, and battery life.
The only knock is its average microphone quality, so if that’s important to you, consider upgrading to the flagships which are excellent these days.
Some very strong alternatives in this class of wireless earbuds are:
- AirPods 4 ANC
- Beats Studio Buds Plus
- Beats Powerbeats Pro 2
- Beats Powerbeats Fit
- AirPods Pro 3
- Sony Linkbuds Fit
- Beats Studio Buds
- Nothing Ear 3
- Sony WF-1000XM6
- Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen
- Status Pro X
- Sony WF-1000XM5
- Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4
- Google Pixel Buds Pro 2
- Apple AirPods Pro 2
- Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro
- Technics EAH-AZ100
- Bowers & Wilkins Pi8
- SoundPEATS H3
- Denon PerL Pro
- OnePlus Buds Pro 3
Order HERE for the LOWEST PRICE AVAILABLE (Do NOT pay retail):
Save money with RENEWED!
Disclosure: These affiliate links may provide a discount and in return, give us a commission in order to keep this website 100% independent to ensure honest unfiltered reviews 🙂
How We Tested and Our Methodology
RecordingNOW.com is a 100% independent publisher with over 10 years of experience testing and reviewing consumer electronics and headphones.
We currently purchase the products we test with our own money, and are not paid by any company or manufacturer to influence our opinions or decisions.
After purchasing the product, we conduct up to hundreds of hours of detailed hands-on testing in a controlled, acoustically-treated environment.
ODi Productions is our resident expert and author of this article, with 10 years of experience as a professional music producer, tech journalist, and audiophile.
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