Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max

Everyone who does online meetings knows background noise can be a big nuisance. Things like a child crying in the background when you're giving an online presentation from home, or noise blocking both your voice and what you can hear when working in a busy café. Especially when it comes to noise cancellation for microphones, I've found it hard to find a device that does a decent job. That's why my interest was immediately sparked when I had a chance to test the Liberty 5 Pro Max, because Soundcore claims these are the "World's clearest earbuds for calls", alongside having some interesting AI features. Are these buds really that amazing?

With a clear use case for meetings in mind, I've tested the Liberty 5 Pro Max for the past weeks and I've been both very impressed and a bit disappointed at the same time. Starting with the things that impressed me, the performance during calls is without doubt the highlight of this device. I take a lot of meetings, and I do a fair few of them from a home with kids and occasionally in a café or another public place. It turns out the world's clearest earbuds for calls isn't just a marketing phrase: it's genuinely the best thing about these earbuds. The real trick isn't the noise cancellation you hear in your own ears, but what the microphones do to your voice for everyone else on the call.

I tested this on several occasions and came away impressed every time. On one, I sat in a busy café with loud music playing, a crying child somewhere behind me, and the usual clatter of cups and dishes all around, and the people I was meeting with didn't pick up a single bit of it. My voice came through crystal clear, to the point they were surprised I was in such a busy spot at all. Another time I was in a meeting in one room at home with the door open while people chatted in the next room, and again, none of it bled through. If you have a corporate job full of calls, or you simply like working from a noisy coffee shop, this is a headset that will genuinely make your life easier, and that alone is a strong reason to consider it.

The audio quality for listening to music is very good too, so this isn't a case of a one-trick device. Whether you're going through a podcast, a meeting, or a music mix, the earbuds sound rich and clear, and the active noise cancellation does a solid job of shutting out the world when you want it to. Battery life is decent rather than remarkable, and I did notice the right earbud tends to drain a little faster than the left every time. An hour of use with a mix of music, a podcast, and a meeting took about 10% of battery life off the buds, which can be recharged inside the case a couple of times.

The case is one of the other things I like, despite its fairly uninspiring design (it's basically a black box with a shiny top). I like how the case features a 1.78-inch AMOLED screen, which you can use for volume control, starting next tracks, equalizers, and more. It also allows you to set a custom wallpaper or background, which offers a lovely element of personalisation. The case also slides open in a way that gives it a bit more of a premium feeling. Unfortunately, the touch controls aren't perfect, as tapping the little buttons often fails to register at all, though swiping works considerably better.

Not unimportantly, I found the earbuds to be very comfortable to wear for longer durations. They also fit my ears really well, with no chance of them falling out due to the good quality of the rubber ear tips. A pleasant addition as well are the ear fins on top of each bud: they help tremendously with holding the buds when taking them in and out of the case and your ears. Other buds can actually be quite fiddly and prone to launch from your fingers at inconvenient moments.

To get the most out of the earbuds, you'll want to install the Soundcore app. This features a clean interface that's easy to navigate. It also includes a HearID feature that theoretically builds a personal sound profile by walking you through several steps to set your preferences. However, I couldn't detect any difference between the various options when I sat down to try out the feature. Perhaps it isn't working quite as intended yet, but for me it added nothing.

The app also bundles in an AI assistant, which I'll admit puzzled me a little, since I'm not sure why I'd want to talk to a general-purpose AI through my earbuds when ChatGPT, Claude, and others are right there on my phone, so I didn't really test it. More logical is the integration with Calm, giving you limited free access to part of the app's library of meditation and relaxation audio.

In line with the focus on meetings there are some AI features that come with the device, either on the case or working through the Soundcore app. To me the standout AI feature is the AI note-taking, as it works really well. If you record a conversation, it produces an accurate transcript that could be genuinely convenient for interviews, or for anyone whose work depends on reliable notes. In Dutch, I estimate it transcribed about 80% accurately, with just minor edits needed afterwards. As a journalist, I can immediately see the appeal.

Soundcore also goes out of its way at every step to flag the privacy implications of recording, and points to the various security standards it complies with. Also at other times, the app prompted standards and compliance proof for some of its features. I couldn't tell you exactly what all of those mean in practice, but it's reassuring privacy is clearly being taken seriously rather than glossed over, though I doubt regulated industries will allow use of such a device for audio recordings.

Another AI feature I had really high hopes for, is the AI translation feature. Unfortunately, this was my main disappointment with the device. It's worth saying it isn't plastered across the box, so Soundcore isn't overselling it too hard, but it's advertised as a feature and I wanted it to work. The setup is clever in principle: one person holds the case and speaks into it while it plays the translation aloud, and the other wears the earbuds and hears their translation in-ear.

The problem with the AI translation is the lag. I tried it a few times between Dutch and English and between English and German, languages I speak easily and where I expected a best-case result. Every time there was a delay of anywhere from five to thirty seconds before a response arrived, sometimes read aloud and sometimes not. That effectively kills the feature, because the obvious use case is travel, walking into a bakery or a restaurant abroad and speaking with a stranger to order some food. No natural conversation survives a half-minute pause between every line. I'm guessing it just takes too long for the audio to be processed and sent back to the device.

I had a few other, smaller frustrations as well. The multi-device connection is handy in theory, letting me switch effortlessly between music on my phone and a meeting on my laptop. However, for some reason the case sometimes stays connected, while the earbuds don't. This led to an "impossible to disconnect" message a couple of times, where the only reliable fix was restarting the laptop, which is exactly the sort of thing you don't want to be dealing with in the minute before a call starts. Another time I joined a meeting on another headset and had no sound, because the earbuds were still sitting in my bag nearby and had quietly grabbed the audio.

Coming to my final verdict: I think the Liberty 5 Pro Max are excellent earbuds, despite a few shortcomings. It's simply great to know you have earbuds you can wear in any situation and be confident no noise leaks into your calls. The call quality is truly class-leading, the sound is very good, the note-taking is genuinely useful, and the smart case is a clever, likeable bit of design. If you live in meetings and value professionalism, this is close to an easy recommendation. At around €200 I think it's worth the money. Unfortunately, the AI translation doesn't hold up in the real world, and the recurring connection troubles and an ineffective HearID chip away at what could have been a near-faultless package. In all though, this is a very good pair of earbuds, and an outstanding meeting companion.