Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless vs Apple AirPods (3rd generation) Side-by-Side Headphones Comparison

Tested using Methodology v1.8

Updated Jan 17, 2025 08:32 PM

See Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless Review

Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless Picture

Apple AirPods (3rd generation) Truly Wireless Picture

TypeIn-ear

Noise CancellingYes

EnclosureClosed-Back

WirelessTruly Wireless

TransducerHybrid

MicYes

TypeEarbuds

Noise CancellingNo

EnclosureOpen-Back

WirelessTruly Wireless

TransducerDynamic

MicYes

Variants

Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless (Black)
Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless (Blue)
Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless (Pink)
Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless (White)

AirPods (3rd generation) (Lightning Charging Case - White)
AirPods (3rd generation) (White)

Review

See Apple AirPods (3rd generation) Truly Wireless Review

Our Verdict

Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless

Apple AirPods (3rd generation) Truly Wireless

The Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless and the Apple AirPods (3rd generation) have different strengths, and you may prefer either depending on what you're looking for. The Anker have ANC and a much better noise isolation performance. They also have a more stable fit, and you can customize their sound profile with a graphic EQ and presets in their companion app. On the other hand, the Apple's open design lets you hear ambient sound, which some may prefer. Their battery performance is also much better overall.

Check Price

White

Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless

White

AirPods (3rd generation)

Black

Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless

Lightning Charging Case - White

AirPods (3rd generation)

Blue

Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless

Pink

Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless

Notice: Two or more of the products selected have been tested with different test methodologies, so some of the results below aren't directly comparable. Learn how our test benches and scoring system work, and read more about the latest changes to our headphones test methodology.

Threshold

0.10

Neutral Sound

6.9

7.1

Bass Accuracy

7.9

6.3

Passive Soundstage

0.6

2.9

Mid Accuracy

8.4

9.0

Peaks/Dips

6.7

7.5

Full Comparison

Neutral Sound

6.9

7.1

Commute/Travel

7.9

6.2

Sports/Fitness

8.1

7.8

Office

7.1

5.9

Wireless Gaming

5.6

5.3

Wired Gaming

5.5

5.1

Phone Calls

6.4

5.4

Design

Style

Design Picture 2

Type

In-ear

Earbuds

Enclosure

Closed-Back

Open-Back

Wireless

Truly Wireless

Transducer

Hybrid

Dynamic

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Comfort

7.0

Comfort Picture

Weight

0.02 lbs

Clamping Force

0 lbs

N/A

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Controls

7.2

5.5

Controls Picture

OS Compatibility

Not OS specific

Ease Of Use

Decent

Great

Feedback

Mediocre

Good

Call/Music Control

Yes

Volume Control

Yes

Microphone Control

Channel Mixing

Noise Cancelling Control

On/Off

Talk-Through

On/Off

Additional Controls

Voice Assistant

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Breathability

9.2

Breathability After Picture

Avg.Temp.Difference

0.8 °C

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Portability

9.5

9.7

Portability Picture

L

1.4" (3.6 cm)

1.2" (3.1 cm)

W

1.0" (2.5 cm)

0.8" (2.1 cm)

H

0.9" (2.3 cm)

0.6" (1.6 cm)

Volume

1.30 in³ (21.30 cm³)

0.62 in³ (10.20 cm³)

Transmitter Required

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Case

8.0

8.5

Case Picture

Type

Hard case

L

2.4" (6.1 cm)

2.1" (5.4 cm)

W

2.3" (5.8 cm)

1.8" (4.6 cm)

H

1.2" (3.0 cm)

0.8" (2.1 cm)

Volume

6.60 in³ (108.15 cm³)

3.28 in³ (53.80 cm³)

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Build Quality

7.5

8.0

Build Quality Picture

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Stability

7.5

6.5

Stability Picture

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Headshots 1

Angled Picture

Side Picture

Headshots 2

Front Picture

Rear Picture

Top

Top Picture

In The Box

In The Box Picture

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Sound

Sound Profile

Normalization Frequency

1,200 Hz

Bass Amount

4.05 dB

-5.1 dB

Treble Amount

-1.16 dB

-2.3 dB

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Frequency Response Consistency

9.4

7.5

Consistency L

Consistency R

Avg. Std. Deviation

0.13 dB

0.5 dB

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Raw Frequency Response

Raw FR L

Raw FR R

Bass Profile: Target Compliance

7.9

6.3

Bass Profile: Target Compliance

RMS Deviation From Target

3.03 dB

7.8 dB

Low-Frequency Extension

10 Hz

40.02 Hz

Low Bass

4.28 dB

-10.47 dB

Mid Bass

3.81 dB

-1.36 dB

High Bass

0.87 dB

-0.53 dB

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Mid-Range Profile: Target Compliance

8.4

9.0

Mid-Range Profile: Target Compliance

RMS Deviation From Target

2.18 dB

1.13 dB

Low Mid

-0.1 dB

-0.09 dB

Mid-Mid

-2.29 dB

-1.29 dB

High Mid

-2.37 dB

1.06 dB

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Treble Profile: Target Compliance

7.2

7.5

Treble Profile: Target Compliance

RMS Deviation From Target

4.16 dB

2.9 dB

Low Treble

-3.05 dB

-1.79 dB

Mid Treble

3.51 dB

-2.93 dB

High Treble

-9.1 dB

-9.72 dB

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Peaks/Dips

6.7

7.5

Peaks/Dips Graph

Peaks

2.54 dB

1.39 dB

Dips

0.93 dB

2.08 dB

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Imaging

8.5

9.2

Group Delay

Phase Response Mismatch

Weighted Group Delay

0.82

0.25

Weighted Phase Mismatch

1.33

1.69

Weighted Amplitude Mismatch

0.44

0.24

Weighted Frequency Mismatch

1.38

1.18

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Passive Soundstage

0.6

2.9

PRTF

PRTF Accuracy (Std. Dev.)

N/A

PRTF Size (Avg.)

N/A

PRTF Distance

N/A

Openness

1.5

9.3

Acoustic Space Excitation

0.9

3.4

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Virtual Soundstage

0.0

2.9

Virtual Soundstage

Head Modeling

Speaker Modeling

On/Off

Room Ambience

Head Tracking

On/Off

Virtual Surround

Spatial Audio

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Weighted Harmonic Distortion

7.7

7.6

Weighted Harmonic Distortion

WHD @ 90

0.235

0.405

WHD @ 100

0.147

0.127

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Test Settings

Firmware

03.54

6F21.

Power

Connection

Bluetooth 5.0

Bluetooth

Codec

SBC, 16-bit, 48kHz

Test Instrument

Audio Precision APx517B

EQ

Soundcore Signature

Adaptive EQ

ANC

Transport

No ANC

Tip/Pad

Silicone (small)

Default

Microphone

Integrated

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Isolation

Noise Isolation - Full Range

8.5

1.7

Noise Isolation - Full Range Graph

Noise Cancelling

Yes

Overall Attenuation

-22.24 dB

-3.75 dB

Isolation Audio

Bass

-21.62 dB

-0.02 dB

Mid

-15.53 dB

-0.95 dB

Treble

-28.64 dB

-11.36 dB

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Noise Isolation - Common Scenarios

1.9

Noise Isolation - Common Scenarios Graph

Airplane Noise Attenuation

-3.32 dB

Airplane Noise Isolation Audio

Office Noise Attenuation

-3.35 dB

Office Noise Isolation Audio

Street Noise Attenuation

-3.57 dB

Street Noise Isolation Audio

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Noise Isolation - Voice Handling

Female Voice 1

Male Voice 1

Female Voice 2

Male Voice 2

ANC Wind Handling

ANC Wind Handling Graph

ANC Wind Noise

N/A

Leakage

9.2

7.0

Leakage

Leakage Audio

Overall Leakage @ 1ft

26.06 dB

39.46 dB

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Microphone

Microphone Style

Integrated

Yes

In-Line

Boom

Detachable Boom

Mic

Yes

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Recording Quality

5.0

6.0

Microphone Frequency Response

Recorded Speech

LFE

465.81 Hz

67.27 Hz

FR Std. Dev.

5.79 dB

3.25 dB

HFE

2,031.87 Hz

1,659.96 Hz

Weighted THD

0.059

3.887

Gain

6.21 dB

18.34 dB

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Noise Handling

6.9

5.5

SpNR

SpNR

38.1 dB

12.16 dB

Noise Gate

Always On

Speech + Pink Noise Handling

6.5

5.5

Speech + Pink Noise Audio Sample

Speech + Subway Noise Handling

7.5

5.5

Speech + Subway Noise Audio Sample

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Active Features

Battery

5.4

7.2

Battery Type

Rechargable

Continuous Battery Life

3.5 hrs

6.8 hrs

Additional Charges

2.0

5.0

Total Battery Life

10.5 hrs

40.8 hrs

Charge Time

1 hrs

0.8 hrs

Power-Saving Feature

Standby mode

Audio While Charging

Yes

Passive Playback

Charging Port

USB-C

Lightning

Show Text

App Support

8.0

5.0

App Picture

App Name

Anker Soundcore

iOS Interface

iOS

Yes

Android

Yes

macOS

Yes

Windows

Equalizer

Graphic + Presets

ANC Control

Adjustable

Mic Control

Room Effects

Playback Control

Button Mapping

Yes

Surround Support

Yes

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Connectivity

Wired Connection

0.0

Cable Picture

Analog Audio

USB Audio

Detachable

Length

N/A

Connector

No Wired Option

Latency - Analog

N/A

Latency - USB

N/A

Recorded Latency

N/A

Recorded Latency Connection

No Wired Audio

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Bluetooth Connection

7.1

7.2

Bluetooth Version

5.0

5.0+H1 chip

Multi-Device Pairing

NFC Pairing

Quick Pair (Android)

Quick Pair (iOS)

Yes

Line Of Sight Range

266.00 ft (81.08 m)

205.05 ft (62.50 m)

Latency - SBC

215 ms

184 ms

Latency - aptX

N/A

Latency - aptX Adaptive (High Quality)

N/A

Latency - aptX Adaptive (Low Latency)

N/A

Latency - LDAC

N/A

Recorded Latency

Recorded Latency Codec

SBC

AAC Support

Yes

PC Latency (aptX HD)

N/A

PC Latency (aptX-LL)

N/A

iOS Latency

106 ms

Android Latency

109 ms

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Wireless Connection (Dongle)

0.0

Line Of Sight Range

N/A

Latency - Dongle

N/A

Recorded Latency

N/A

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PC Compatibility

Analog

Wired USB

Non-BT Wireless

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PlayStation Compatibility

PS4 Analog

PS4 Wired USB

PS4 Non-BT Wireless

PS5 Analog

PS5 Wired USB

PS5 Non-BT Wireless

Xbox Compatibility

Xbox One Analog

Xbox One Wired USB

Xbox One Non-BT Wireless

Xbox Series X|S Analog

Xbox Series X|S Wired USB

Xbox Series X|S Non-BT Wireless

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Base/Dock

2.2

Type

Charging Case

USB Input

Line In

Line Out

Optical Input

RCA Input

Dock Charging

Yes

Power Supply

USB-C

Lightning

Show Text

Check Price

White

Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless

White

AirPods (3rd generation)

Black

Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless

Lightning Charging Case - White

AirPods (3rd generation)

Blue

Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless

Pink

Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Truly Wireless