I was in a bar in Munich when I decided to properly test the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max. Not the easiest test either, a long distance call back home to Ireland, in a room full of people, with a lad standing right beside me shouting his order in over the counter. I asked whoever I was on the phone to, “could you hear that”. They said “hear what”. Genuinely one of those rare moments where a bit of tech actually manages to wow me these days.
The Liberty 5 Pro Max are Soundcore’s flagship earbuds, priced at €249.99 in Ireland and the EU. They sit at the top of Anker’s Soundcore range, built around active noise cancellation and a charging case with a 1.78 inch AMOLED screen that doubles as an AI meeting recorder. That’s a lot to ask €250 to cover, and after weeks of actually wearing them, my take is that some of it earns the price tag completely and some of it doesn’t.
- Call quality that actually shut the room up
- The ANC beats my Sony WH-1000XM5s, and I don't say that lightly
- Comfortable, until my ears started arguing with me
- Transparency mode still hasn't been solved by anyone
- The ear bud case with a screen, genuinely eye catching, occasionally annoying
- What the AI Note-Taker actually records, and what it doesn't
- Battery life, where the box and my real world experience don't quite line up
- The Goosed verdict
Call quality that actually shut the room up
The call quality is the headline feature and it’s not marketing spin. That Munich bar test is the clearest example I can give you, the noise was obvious to me on my end, but the person I was calling couldn’t hear any of it, not the music, not the crowd, not the lad shouting his order two feet from my head. Soundcore advertised these buds with Gary Neville taking a call in a stadium, and having tested them I’m not sure that was overplaying it. I’d nearly believe it. If you spend a lot of your working life on calls in noisy places, this alone could justify the spend.
Wider sound quality was also solid. I didn’t play too much with the EQ settings except for boosting the bass a little which is common out of the box for me. Overall, I listened to a wide variety of music, podcasts and movies without thinking too much about the buds, focusing instead on the content. That’s all I really ask for.
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The ANC beats my Sony WH-1000XM5s, and I don’t say that lightly
My usual noise cancelling reference point is the Sony WH-1000XM5, and I found the Liberty 5 Pro Max better at handling dynamic, changing noise, from streets to the kind you get on a flight. Flights are the gold standard test for ANC – mixing droning engines and screaming kids – and these held up well there, arguably better than the Sonys, though I’d stop short of calling the Sonys the benchmark to beat in the first place, but they are my own benchmark.
Some of that might come down to the in-ear seal giving an extra layer of passive isolation that an over-ear pair can’t match. Either way, combined with the call quality, it’s a genuinely strong package for anyone taking calls somewhere loud.
Comfortable, until my ears started arguing with me
Fit wise, these are comfortable buds. That said, I know I’m more sensitive to ear fatigue than most people, and after an hour or two I need them out or I at least begin to become more aware or them. If you already struggle with fatigue from in-ear buds, I’d be honest with you, no in-ear design is really the answer, it’s more a question of degree.
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These caused noticeably less discomfort than some other buds I’ve tested recently, but they’re not immune to it either. Anyone who wants genuinely all-day wear without ever thinking about their ears again is better served by an open ear design, accepting that you lose proper noise cancellation in the trade.
Transparency mode still hasn’t been solved by anyone
I haven’t used a transparency mode from any brand that sounds natural yet, and the Liberty 5 Pro Max doesn’t break that streak. It has that same processed quality, like somebody’s holding two Pringles cans to your head and talking into them. I’m also not convinced transparency mode is solving the right problem to begin with, if you need to hear someone properly, just take the buds out, it’s a bit rude to leave them in and talk over them anyway. The actual answer to this, if it matters to you, is an open ear design you can leave on all day and just have a normal conversation without touching anything.
The ear bud case with a screen, genuinely eye catching, occasionally annoying
The screen on the case gets attention. I had someone on a flight ask what the hell it was, assuming it was a phone in its own right, and I had to talk them down before they went and bought a pair on the spot. It’s a proper conversation starter. The problem is there’s no obvious way to stop the screen waking up on its own, so I’d regularly open my crossbody to find it lit up and assume the battery was gone. A physical on off button would have sorted this in seconds.
Functionally, it works fine as a Bluetooth remote for skipping tracks and controlling volume, and it doubles as a camera shutter, which is a nice touch but not something I’d pay a premium for on its own. It’s a bit gimmicky. Useful gimmick, but a gimmick.
What the AI Note-Taker actually records, and what it doesn’t
The case unlocks AI transcription, and this is the part that surprised me most, in a good way and a frustrating way. It’s genuinely useful for high emotion, high information conversations, I found myself using it in a couple of situations where someone was talking through something heavy and technical, and being able to read it back afterwards, or run it through an AI tool to catch what I’d missed, was genuinely valuable. The quality of the transcription itself was solid and extremely useful. If you think a tool like this is only for high-powered executives, think again. Imagine being able to listen to your doctor and not worry about missing something extremely important. You can just read it back later.
Here’s the catch. I assumed, reasonably, that you’d be able to record a call, say a Teams meeting on the bus without putting it on loudspeaker. Having tested out the Viaim RedDot AI transcription buds, this was my general expectation.
You can’t. The Liberty 5 Pro Max only records in person conversations or loudspeaker calls through the case’s own microphone, it does nothing for a call actually running through the earbuds. That feels like a genuine missed opportunity given how good the call hardware already is. Now, it could be something I’m missing or perhaps it’s coming with a software update, but for now – I couldn’t work it out.
You also don’t get much included for free. Soundcore gives you 120 minutes of transcription a month for two years, after that you’re looking at a subscription, roughly €18 a month or around €111 a year for the mid tier, up to €225 a year if you want unlimited. It’s a genuinely useful feature that I’ll keep using, but it’s clearly one that’s designed to become a recurring cost rather than a one off purchase. In a world of subscriptions and “death by a thousand cuts” I don’t need by buds doing that to me too.
But I have to admit, if you use the feature enought and in the right circumstances – it becomes a very nice assitant to have.
Battery life, where the box and my real world experience don’t quite line up
This is my biggest gripe. Soundcore’s own figures put ANC on battery life at 6.5 hours from the buds, up to 28 hours with the case, though that drops to closer to 4 hours from the buds and 17 hours total once you’re running ANC alongside the other AI features. In my own use, with the screen and note taking features actually turned on, I was landing at the lower end, three to four hours from the buds themselves, and the case died on me more than once too, which I’d put down to the screen waking up unprompted in my bag and draining it.
Fast charging genuinely helps here, five minutes on charge buys you about four hours back, and the case supports Qi2 and MagSafe wireless charging too, which worked without issue on my own charger. But if you’re planning to lean on every smart feature these offer, don’t expect to match the number on the box.
Finally, flipping between my phone and laptop worked smoothly and without any dropouts. It’s worth mentioning because it’s genuinely well implemented here, but I’d stop short of calling it a selling point in 2026, plenty of earbuds at this price point handle multipoint pairing just as well now. It’s table stakes rather than a reason to choose these specifically.
The Goosed verdict
The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max are a genuinely considered purchase rather than an easy recommendation for everyone. If you regularly take calls in loud environments, the call quality alone could pay for itself, and the ANC is strong enough to hold its own against far more established names. But you’re paying €249.99 for a package where the standout features are call quality and ANC, while the case’s headline trick, AI transcription, only works on in person conversations and comes with a subscription tucked behind the free tier. Battery life also needs a realistic expectation set before you buy, not the number on the box.
If you take a lot of calls somewhere loud, or you’ll actually use face to face AI note taking regularly, these earn their price. If neither of those apply to you, you’re paying a premium for a screen you might find yourself wishing had an off switch. The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max are available now at €249.99 direct from Soundcore.
Disclosure: This product was gifted to the author. This means it was provided free of charge to be reviewed but the brand supplying it did not insist on a review, nor do they have any control over the content within this review.
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Great, good, ok, solid.
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