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Anker’s Soundcore brand has been quietly revolutionising the budget headphones space over the past couple of years and it’s just released its latest effort in world audio domination. The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max build on the Soundcore Liberty 4, which our headphone specialist, Andy White, called “very near flawless” back in 2023. The new Liberty 5 Pro Max adds a 1.78in AMOLED touchscreen and built-in AI note-taking facilities.
The product also includes parent company Anker’s new Thus AI chip, which helps the hardware process audio and turn it into text, in much the same way as the company’s coin-shaped Soundcore Work device. All you do to start recording is double-tap a button on the charging case.
All the processing and recording takes place on the charging case rather than the earbuds themselves, although the AI chip does improve core functions such as sound and call quality, as well as active noise cancellation. Anker is claiming a 100% improvement in ANC over the Liberty 4 Pro headphones, and the world’s best call quality, which it has certified via Guinness World Records.
I got the chance to test the headphones at their launch in London and I was reasonably impressed with the ANC; the headphones killed off a good amount of the raucous chatter that was going on around me. Comfort levels seemed spot on, too. But it was difficult to tell how good the sound and call quality was because the event was too busy, and not the ideal environment for testing headphones. The proof of this particular pudding will be in direct comparison to TWS headphones such as the Sony WF-1000XM6 and the Apple AirPods Pro 3.
As for the touchscreen, I was able to give this a good old try, and found it surprisingly bright and usable. As is usual for displays like this, you swipe left and right through various screens (or widgets in the official nomenclature) and each one gives you control over various aspects. There’s one screen for play/pause and skip, one for selecting the ANC/transparency modes, and you can switch between the various preset sound levels and spatial audio modes as well.
The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max will set you back £200 and will be available from Amazon in June. If that’s too expensive for you, the Liberty 5 Pro, which are launching at the same time, are a cheaper £150. These lack the Max’s note taking capabilities and have a smaller touchscreen, but are otherwise identical to the flagship headphones.
