Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro vs Liberty 4 NC: Is newer better?
The Soundcore Liberty 4 NC set a high bar for budget earbuds, and it’s still one of the best values for under $100. The Liberty 5 Pro arrives at $169.99 with a redesigned look, newer hardware, and a lot more ambition. But spending $70 more is TKTK, so here’s how they actually stack up.
How has this article been updated?
This article was originally published on May 28, 2026, and this is the first version.
What’s it like to use the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro compared to the Liberty 4 NC?
The two earbuds have different designs. The Liberty 4 NC uses a familiar stem-style earbud with a square case and straightforward capacitive touch controls. The Liberty 5 Pro moves to a stemless oval shape and adds optional concha fins for stability. Both are comfortable, but the Liberty 5 Pro is larger, and the case is bulkier than you might want in a tight pocket.
The Liberty 5 Pro’s case also sports a narrow touchscreen on the front for checking battery levels and cycling through sound modes without touching your phone. The lid slides open rather than flipping like on the Liberty 4 NC, and the case charges over USB-C or Qi. The Liberty 4 NC case charges the same way but has no touchscreen. Both carry an IP rating for sweat resistance — IP55 on the Liberty 5 Pro, IPX4 on the Liberty 4 NC — so neither is strictly a workout bud, but both can handle the gym.
Controls on the Liberty 4 NC are via capacitive touch on the flat of the housing, while the Liberty 5 Pro uses swipe gestures. Both are customizable in the Soundcore app.
Do the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro or Liberty 4 NC have more features?
The Liberty 5 Pro has a clear edge here. Both earbuds offer multipoint, adjustable ANC, an eight-band custom EQ, and HearID personalized listening profiles. The Liberty 4 NC adds 22 EQ presets to that list, though many are variations on the bassy default and arguably too many to be useful.
Where the Liberty 5 Pro pulls ahead is with features you wouldn’t expect at this price, including real-time language translation and Anka, a hands-free AI voice assistant. These run on Anker’s new Thus chip, which handles AI processing locally on the earbuds rather than in the cloud. The Liberty 5 Pro also adds Dolby Audio with head tracking and the Easy Chat auto-transparency feature for quick conversations.
How do the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 4 NC connect?
Both earbuds support Bluetooth multipoint, SBC, AAC, and LDAC. The Liberty 4 NC uses Bluetooth 5.3; the Liberty 5 Pro uses the newer Bluetooth 6.1. Both support Google Fast Pair for quick Android pairing, and both default to AAC on iPhone.
Is battery life better on the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro or Liberty 4 NC?
This is one area where the Liberty 4 NC holds its own. It lasts nearly 10 hours with ANC on in testing — a strong result. The Liberty 5 Pro is rated at 6.5 hours with ANC on.
Both earbuds offer around 50 hours total with the case (ANC off), and both fast-charge to 4 hours of playback in 5 to 10 minutes. Both cases support USB-C and Qi wireless charging.
Do the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro or Liberty 4 NC block noise better?
The Liberty 5 Pro comes out slightly ahead here. At full strength with a good seal, it attenuates the perceived loudness of outside noise by an average of nearly 84% — effective enough to cut through bus noise and low-frequency hum. The Liberty 4 NC performs well, too, with an average attenuation of 81%, and it handles transit noise and traffic well.
Both earbuds offer five manual ANC levels, Adaptive mode, and wind reduction. Passive isolation is also decent on both.
Do the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro sound better than the Liberty 4 NC?
Both earbuds deliver a lot of bass emphasis by default, with enough midrange clarity to keep most music enjoyable. The Liberty 4 NC’s bass emphasis is significant but doesn’t bury the mids entirely, and the Spoken Word EQ preset gets reasonably close to a neutral presentation. The Liberty 5 Pro has a similarly strong low-end push— punch and power are front and center, especially on bass-heavy tracks — though vocals and instruments still come through with good clarity and presence.z. Vocals and most instruments come through with good clarity and presence on both.
The Liberty 5 Pro adds a little extra presence to hi-hats and cymbals compared to the Liberty 4 NC, though cymbals can sound slightly closed-in, and the custom EQ doesn’t fully fix it. One thing to be aware of: enabling AI Sound Enhancement on the Liberty 5 Pro introduces noticeable distortion. With ANC off, the Liberty 5 Pro actually sounds more balanced overall, though that means EQ adjustments don’t carry over.
Objective Measurements
The frequency response profiles of both earbuds are broadly similar: significant bass over-emphasis below 200Hz, mids that follow our preference curve reasonably well, and an elevated treble region. The Liberty 4 NC shows a boost between roughly 5kHz and 8kHz; the Liberty 5 Pro has its treble bump slightly higher at 8–10kHz, adding air to transients before the rolloff. If bass-heavy default tuning isn’t for you, the custom EQ in the Soundcore app is the fix on either earbud — the Liberty 5 Pro’s Clear Vocals preset is particularly effective at reining in the low end.
How would most people rate the sound from 1 to 5?
Both earbuds score identically on MDAQS: an Overall score of 4.9, which is among the highest of any wireless earbuds tested. The Liberty 4 NC scores 4.9 for Timbre, 3.9 for Distortion, and 4.8 for Immersiveness. The Liberty 5 Pro matches with exceptional scores across the board at the same Overall rating. By this measure, they’re on equal footing — the algorithm predicts most listeners will enjoy the sound of either earbud.
What do the Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Scores mean?
- Timbre (MOS-T) represents how faithfully the headphones reproduce the frequency spectrum and temporal resolution (timing information).
- Distortion (MOS-D) represents non-linearities and added noise: higher scores mean cleaner reproduction.
- Immersiveness (MOS-I) represents perceived source width and positioning: how well virtual sound sources are defined in three-dimensional space.
Do the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro or Liberty 4 NC have a better microphone?
The Liberty 5 Pro uses an 8-microphone array with 2 bone-conduction sensors. In ideal conditions, call clarity is good, though occasional pops or cracks are present. In noise, background sounds are reduced rather than eliminated, and the speaker takes on a reverberant quality in wind.
The Liberty 4 NC uses six microphones with an AI algorithm. It performs comparably in quiet conditions and handles street and wind noise well, though it can struggle with keystrokes in an office setting. In both cases, voices remain intelligible across environments — neither earbud is a standout for calls, but neither is a liability either.
Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro microphone demo (Ideal conditions):
Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC microphone demo (Ideal conditions):
Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro microphone demo (Wind conditions):
Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC microphone demo (Wind conditions):
Should you get the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro or Liberty 4 NC?
Both earbuds deliver strong value for their respective prices. The Liberty 4 NC remains one of the best options under $100 — solid ANC, nearly 10 hours of battery with ANC on, LDAC, and a comprehensive app. The Liberty 5 Pro costs $70 more but brings slightly better ANC, more modern connectivity, and a suite of AI features that are actually useful rather than just marketing bullet points.
If you’re already happy with the Liberty 4 NC, the Liberty 5 Pro isn’t a dramatic leap in sound quality by any means. But if you’re buying new and have the budget, the extra $70 gets you better ANC, genuinely useful extras, and hardware that’s built for the next few years of Bluetooth standards.
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