Soundcore's New ANC Earbuds Highlight The Audio Industry's Biggest Improvement

Anker today announced the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro, a new pair of true wireless earbuds that offer some interesting active noise cancellation functionality. In addition, Anker says that the Liberty 3 Pro earbuds come with upgraded dual drivers, so it sounds like these earbuds could offer a significant upgrade over their predecessors.

The Liberty 3 Pro uses HearID noise cancellation, which will automatically adjust the ANC level of the earbuds based on environmental noise levels and in-ear pressure. Anker says this will result in a "unique, tailor-made sound profile" for each user, which is a pretty big deal when you consider the price point of these earbuds is set at $169.99.

Typically, automatic ANC, like what Anker is touting here, is the domain of more expensive wireless earbuds. That's not to say that $170 is some small amount of cash, but it doesn't usually fall within the price range that we'd normally expect to see automatic ANC at. With that in mind, these earbuds could wind up being a suitable competitor to wireless earbuds that are significantly more expensive.

Of course, that's assuming the Liberty 3 Pro has the sound quality to match a high-end feature like smart ANC. Anker, for its part, says that these earbuds have been outfitted with a new dual-driver setup that includes a balanced armature driver from Knowles and a 10.6mm dynamic driver.

We'll see if the Liberty 3 Pro has the audio chops to compete with higher-priced wireless earbuds soon enough, as the earbuds are launching today. Assuming they're as good as Anker boasts in today's announcement, we may have a far less expensive alternative to more expensive earbuds like the Apple AirPods Pro on our hands.