Most earbuds become background devices after a few days.
You put them on during a commute, use them for meetings in public spaces, listen to a playlist, and then forget about them until the battery runs low.
The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max was a little different.
After a week of daily use, I found myself reaching for it not just to listen to music, but also to record meetings, work in noisy public spaces, keep track of lectures, and make use of its voice memo and note-taking features. Somewhere along the way, the earbuds stopped feeling like audio accessories and started feeling more like productivity tools.
The biggest selling point of these earbuds isn’t necessarily the audio quality. Not because the sound is bad. Far from it. Rather, Soundcore’s latest flagship earbuds offer a collection of features that go beyond the traditional listening experience, and after a week of use, some of them proved more useful than I expected.
Noise cancellation that keeps up with city life
The first thing I noticed during testing was just how well the noise cancellation handled the daily Metro Manila bustle.
The Liberty 5 Pro Max features the best active noise cancellation (ANC) I’ve personally experienced on a pair of Bluetooth earbuds. Compared to earbuds I’ve used regularly, Soundcore’s latest offering delivered noticeably stronger isolation.
Whether it was conversations inside coffee shops, traffic noise during commutes, or the constant background hum of a busy city, the Liberty 5 Pro Max consistently did a good job shutting out distractions.
To be fair, that advantage is somewhat expected. These earbuds sit at a higher price point than most and are meant to compete with newer-generation premium earbuds. Still, expectations only matter if the product actually delivers, and in this case it does.
The ANC became so reliable that I often found myself deliberately choosing busier public spaces to work in. It gave me the confidence to focus in environments I would normally avoid for work or study sessions.
Excellent call quality
Strong ANC is one thing. Call quality is another.
The Liberty 5 Pro Max uses a combination of microphones and bone conduction sensors to isolate your voice from surrounding noise, and in practice, the results were impressive.
Part of my daily routine involves attending online meetings, clocking into work shifts, and joining group calls. Hearing the person I’m speaking with is important, but having them hear me clearly is equally important. A call is a two-way interaction after all.
Whether I was seated inside crowded establishments or moving between locations, people on the other end consistently reported hearing me clearly despite the surrounding noise.
Combined with the strong ANC, the earbuds created an experience where both sides of the conversation felt isolated from the chaos happening around them.
For remote workers, students, and professionals who regularly take calls on the go, this alone could be a major selling point.
AI features that are actually useful
The feature I was most skeptical about ended up being one of the most useful.
With AI being attached to practically everything these days, many consumers have become understandably skeptical. We’ve all seen features that sound impressive in marketing materials but add very little to the actual experience.
That wasn’t the case here.
The AI note-taking and recording features proved surprisingly useful during lectures, interviews, meetings, and casual discussions. Being able to quickly record conversations and revisit important details later became something I found myself using more often than expected. I can even set markers live during conversation when something notable pops up.
I wouldn’t say it completely changes the way I work overnight, but it does reduce friction. There were fewer moments where I had to scramble for a notebook, open another app, or switch devices just to capture information. I simply hit record and let the transcription tools handle the rest.
The same can be said for the voice controls.
It sounds like a minor feature until you actually start using it. During workouts, I could skip a song without stopping mid-set to reach for my phone. While cooking, I could ask Google for instructions while both hands were occupied.
They’re small conveniences, but they’re also the kind of everyday interruptions we’ve become accustomed to. Having one less thing to think about adds up over time.
Unlike many AI-powered features that feel added purely for marketing purposes, these tools offered something genuinely useful. They’re not perfect, and the voice assistant could use some refinement, but Soundcore is heading in the right direction.
Rather than introducing entirely new ways of working, these features simply make existing tasks easier.
Battery life and customization
Considering the amount of technology packed into the Liberty 5 Pro Max, battery life was one of my biggest concerns going into this review.
With ANC, AI-powered features, recordings, and a smart touchscreen case all running in the background, I expected battery life to suffer.
That never became an issue.
Throughout a week of daily use, battery anxiety was practically nonexistent. The earbuds comfortably lasted through lectures, work sessions, calls, workouts, and commutes. I could have them on for 4 hours in my ear and they would not die on me.
Part of that comes down to how earbuds are naturally used. You’re rarely wearing them continuously throughout the day, and every time they return to the charging case, they’re topping up for the next session. I would have to charge the case every 2 or 3 days with how I was using it.
The companion app also deserves some mention. Customization options are extensive without becoming overwhelming. Audio profiles, control schemes, ANC settings, and other adjustments are all easy to access and configure in the app if they couldn’t already be accessed via the case controls.
It’s the kind of flexibility premium earbuds are expected to offer, and Soundcore delivers.
Comfort and design
The Liberty 5 Pro Max is definitely larger and heavier than many earbuds I’ve used before.
Fortunately, the added weight rarely became noticeable during everyday use. More importantly, the earbuds never slipped out during testing.
I wouldn’t necessarily choose them for sprinting or high-impact activities, but I would feel perfectly comfortable using them for walking, weight training, commuting, and general daily wear.
As for the design, I think Soundcore struck a good balance.
The earbuds are sleek and clean without looking generic. Their silhouette feels distinct enough to stand out from the countless rounded earbuds currently flooding the market without becoming overly flashy.
Sound quality
The sound quality section appears this late for a reason.
I don’t think sound quality is the biggest reason someone would buy the Liberty 5 Pro Max.
That said, the audio performance is good. Music sounds detailed, clean, and enjoyable across a variety of genres. The companion app also offers enough customization to tailor the listening experience to your preferences.
Most users looking for premium earbuds will be satisfied with what they’re hearing.
The premium experience here isn’t solely in the audio. It’s everything surrounding it.
The ANC, call quality, smart case, note-taking tools, and productivity-focused features create an experience that feels meaningfully different from many traditional earbuds.
Nitpicks
No product is perfect.
The touchscreen case, while useful, can occasionally feel a little finicky. Unlocking the display sometimes requires an extra swipe before you can access the controls you actually want.
The earbuds are also on the heavier side compared to some competitors. While this never became uncomfortable for me, some users may prefer a lighter fit.
These aren’t dealbreakers by any means, but they’re worth mentioning.
Verdict
The Liberty 5 Pro Max does everything you’d expect a premium pair of earbuds to do.
The ANC is excellent. Call quality is among the best I’ve personally experienced. Battery life proved to be a non-issue, and the customization options made it easy to tailor the experience to my preferences.
But ultimately, you’re getting these earbuds because of what they offer beyond the traditional earbud checklist.
Recording meetings. Keeping track of lectures. Managing information without constantly reaching for a phone.
Some of these features sound gimmicky on paper. After a week of use, many of them felt genuinely useful. The use cases aren’t hyper-specific to my profession either. Students, remote workers, professionals, and even casual users can benefit from at least some of what Soundcore is offering here.
The Liberty 5 Pro Max doesn’t reinvent what earbuds are supposed to do. It simply does more.
And for once, those extra features don’t feel like filler. Most of what they added here feels like practical additions that genuinely improve the experience.
