Unboxing

Liberty 4 headphones ordered from HEKKA e-mail shops. The shipment was traveling from a Chinese (CN) warehouse, transportation in Lithuania was handled by Venipak couriers. No additional taxes or duties. It arrived at the post office in 26 days from dispatch. The time gap is not long, but the package was sent after Christmas, so it is likely that at that time all the couriers were busy with festive orders. 

The manufacturer really put a lot of effort into the packaging design. The package opens from the right side and folds into three different sections. In the first one, after pulling the plastic tab, the instruction with the USB-C / USB-A cable comes out. We can ignore the instruction because of incomprehensible CN characters. In the second section, there are even 3 rubber ear tips of different sizes, size M has even one more spare. And in the third section, the headphones themselves and the case for carrying/charging them.

Quality

The manufacturer offers two colors to choose from: Cloud White, Midnight Black. The ones I received for review are black. Headphone case in matte black color. Easy to hold in your hand and carry in your pocket. After taking it out of the package, I had to look for a way to open the case, only then I realized that I need to push the top cover with my finger. It glides easily, but not so much that you should worry about accidental opening.

When the cover is moved, the plastic inside is shiny. A small button is placed in the middle between the charging jacks of the headphones. This button is for manually activating or resetting BT pairing. USB-C charging port on the top edge, and LED light on the bottom edge. The sliding lid features a shiny blue soundcore logo. 

The headphones themselves are medium in size, black in color. The feet are comfortable to hold when placed in the ears. On the side, the foot buttons are not sensitive to touch, you need to click lightly with two fingers or as the manufacturer describes "Squeeze Once/Twice" (similar to AirPods Pro).

The rubber bands of the earphones are double-layered. The hole for mounting on the speaker is not round, but oval, so third-party rubber bands will not fit. They are transparent in color for heart rate tracking. Yes, yes, you read that right, these headphones have built-in heart rate monitoring. In summary - the quality is excellent!

Functionality

Liberty 4 is equipped with the following audio quality codecs: Hi-Res Wireles, ACAA, LDAC. These technologies ensure high-resolution sound reproduction, as well as its transmission via BT connection. LDAC provides higher sound quality but increases power consumption, only supported by Android phones. ACAA - thanks to two dynamic speakers aligned on the same axis, the sound is maximally clear and transparent. ANC - noise canceling technology. ANC can be personalized in the app, you just need to do some tests.

Ambient Sound

HearID ANC - ambient noise cancellation modes.

• Adaptive mode - automatically analyzes the surrounding noise and accordingly selects the most suitable level of noise reduction.
• Manual mode - manual level of noise suppression, you can choose from the following: Moderate, Weak, Strong

Normal - with this option, no noise suppression or transparency filters are activated.

Transparency mode - this option will allow you to hear the surrounding sounds. For example if you want to listen to music undisturbed and at the same time hear what is happening around you. Mods:

• Fully Transparent - the surrounding sound is transmitted as it is.
• Vocal Mode - in this case, the human voice is more prominent from the surrounding sound, lower frequencies are suppressed.

Sound Effects

Spatial Audio - the function provides a sense of spatial sound. Quite useful for watching movies or playing computer games.

• Fixed - provides a 3D listening experience.

• Head Tracking - reacts to turning the head sideways. If the head is turned to the right, the sound is directed to the earpiece on the left and vice versa. Tracks head movements.

  Sound Field Modes - different scenarios for sound.

• Music mode - feel as if the sound is directed directly at you.

• Movie mode - feel like you're in a movie theater.

HearID Sound

The function allows you to individually set the sound EQ according to the hearing level of your ears. When this function is selected, a series of beeps of different frequencies will be played first. It is selected whether this beep is heard or not. Later, an excerpt of the song is played and they are also asked to choose which sound is more pleasant. By clicking Advanced settings, you can additionally choose from the following: 

• Initial Curve – EQ determined after the tests.
• Custom HearID - you can create your own EQ.
• Favorite Music Genre – the ability to choose from already created EQ presets according to the music genre.

The most important parameters

• Duration of operation: when recharging from the case - 28 hours. (ANC off), 24 hours (ANC on), 3 p.m. (Spatial audio); earphones on one charge - 9 hours (ANC off), 7 a.m. (ANC on), 5 p.m. (Spatial audio);
• Charging types: USB-C / wireless charging;
• Connections: Bluetooth 5.3;
• Management through the soundcore APP;
• The headphones are fully charged in 1 hour.
• The case is fully charged in 2 hours.
• Moisture resistance: IPX4 earphones only;

What did we like?

Product packaging - I only give the manufacturer a "fat" plus for the packaging design. I was really pleasantly surprised. The case has a convenient design, the LED light flashes when charging both with a USB cable and when using wireless charging. 

When the cover of the case is opened, the LED lights on the headphones' speakers also pulse. It gives such modern lighting. Headphones - comfortable, easy to put in the ears. It's great that the set comes with spare rubber tips.

Functionality - I was even surprised by the possibilities of adjusting the sound. At the beginning, I might have been skeptical about the surround sound setting, but after listening to different genres of music, I realized that they really only give a positive effect. Transparency modes come to the rescue in an office environment.

ANC has no problem suppressing ambient noise, whether it's street noise or rattling office keyboards. The interlocutors did not complain about the crackling sound both when using the computer and when talking on the phone. Since BT 5.3, dual device support is no longer new.

Button control - as far as I have tried other headsets, manufacturers usually only allow standard actions. Soundcore lets you customize the controls. As an example, if one earpiece is loud, the other earpiece does not necessarily have to be muted by the same action.

Setting the click level to a stronger setting won't click as easily when taking the headphones out of the ear/case. A "click" sound is heard through the headphones when you press the buttons. Mode switching between ANC, Normal, Transparency also has its own separate sound. 

Sound - thanks to ACAA technology, the speakers work very cleanly. I can say that every instrument is heard bright and clear. Battery – if you compare the manufacturer's description of battery life with the Q45 headphones, this time the manufacturer has really indicated quite precisely how long the headphones will work on a single charge or when charging from the case.

Neck Position Tracking – This feature is definitely worth paying attention to. We often sit in the wrong position when working with the computer, so messages to "stretch" the neck/back will prevent the formation of "computer hump".  

What we didn't like?

Packaging - The manufacturer's official website has instructions in multiple languages, and the CN packaging comes with the letters CN. You could make life easier for yourself and make everyone multilingual. There is no information on the package about the possibility of wireless charging. I found it only after reading the product description on the manufacturer's page. In the package, the rubber backs of the headphones are nicely placed, if you don't want to lose them, you will have to put the package somewhere safe. I don't think a small fabric bag in the set would cost much.    

Case - although it is matte, after a while fingerprints start to collect on the plastic. The lid is shiny when opened - nice, but I would like the same matte texture. Everyone understands that if it is shiny, you will have to clean it more often to keep it that way. There is no indication that it can be charged wirelessly. I would like some kind of LED mixing so that the headphones are charging. 

Headphones - since the plastic is shiny, it causes some inconvenience when removing it from the case, it slips from the fingers. If they were placed in the case a little wider apart from each other, the removal would be much more convenient. For some reason, the right earbud's battery drains a bit faster than the left one. Sensory buttons - When changing Ambient Sound with Liberty 4 buttons, different beeps mean different mode, so you will have to learn what each means. Space Q45 is announced by a charming female voice. 

Sound - when switching Ambient Sound modes, the music plays much livelier in a second, that is, much more low frequency and midrange. Such an instantaneous sound could not be adjusted with the help of EQ, so that it would play constantly. If this is just a software bug, I really hope that it will be fixed soon. Most of the EQ presets emit a high-frequency "hiss" even with soundocre Signature EQ on, in short, the high frequencies are pushed too much.

Functionality - the battery display in the app is in bars, it would be more convenient and clearer for me to see the percentages. The result of the pulse measurement depends a lot on how well the headphones are placed in the ears. When running, sweat collects around the headphones and they move on their own, so the results will slightly deviate from reality.

Verdict

These are not the first headphones from Soundcore that I had to try. I'm using the Space Q45 myself and I'm very happy with both the pickup and sound quality as well as the functionality. Would I choose these Liberty 4's for my personal everyday use? Hardly. Why?

First is the sound quality. A colleague has a soundcore Life P3, so it was very interesting to compare how the Liberty 4 of the same manufacturer sounds and how the Life P3 sounds. Both my colleague and I came to the unanimous opinion that Life P3 is superior in terms of sound quality. If the mentioned bugs were fixed, then it would be possible to consider. If compared to the previously reviewed variant 1MORE PistonBuds Pro, these also play no worse than the Life P3, perhaps you would like a little more high frequency, but it is still better than hearing "hissing".

Second - headphones with a pulse measurement function, I can't really imagine, but who needs it? If a person is engaged in sports, he will definitely have a smart watch that will track pulse, SpO2 and other parameters. While running, it is common to listen to "motivating" music. Those who don't want to have a phone while running use smart watches with memory and play music there, connect headphones and go to the track. Plus, if you hold the watch closer to your hand, it will show more accurate calculations than in-ear headphones.