The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC Truly Wireless are the budget sibling of the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 True Wireless. The manufacturer touts an improved active noise cancelation (ANC) system with several presets available as well as a manual and adaptive mode that adjusts in real-time to the amount of ambient noise around you. They support LDAC codec for higher-resolution audio streaming, and their companion app features a graphic EQ with 22 presets to give you control over the mix. They also have an IPX4 rating for protection against water splashes and spills.
Our Verdict
The Anker Liberty 4 NC are very good for sports and fitness. They're lightweight and comfortable for long training sessions, and their ANC can keep you isolated from background noise in a busy gym or along a road with heavy traffic. They also have a transparency mode with optional wind noise reduction, so you can stay aware of your surroundings. However, they don't fit very deep in-ear and can move around depending on the shape of your ear. Still, they'll stay in place during a moderate run or weight session on a bench but aren't stable enough for CrossFit or HIIT. Fortunately, their nine-hour battery will last you a few workouts before needing a recharge, and they have an IPX4 certification for resistance to water splashes.
- Lightweight and comfortable.
- Great ANC performance.
- Buds can fall out over time depending on the shape of your ear.
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC are very good for commuting and travel. Their ANC system does a great job of isolating you from the deep rumble of plane engines and ambient noise from chatty passengers. Their nine-hour battery life will also last you long flights without needing a recharge, and their onboard controls are extremely customizable, allowing you to play/pause music, change the volume, and change the ANC setting without taking your phone out.
- Lightweight and comfortable.
- Great ANC performance.
- Buds can fall out over time depending on the shape of your ear.
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC are decent for the office. These earbuds have a lightweight and comfortable build, as well as a nine-hour battery for all-day listening. There's also a quick charge feature that gives you four hours of playback time off a ten-minute charge in their case. Their great ANC performance will isolate you from ambient chatter and noisy PC fans, and they can connect to two devices simultaneously. That said, they're only okay for taking calls. Your voice on calls will be comprehensible but sound bassy and lacking in detail.
- Lightweight and comfortable.
- Great ANC performance.
- Buds can fall out over time depending on the shape of your ear.
- Microphone makes your voice sound dark and muddy.
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC aren't suitable for wireless gaming. Their Bluetooth-only connection means you can't use them on most consoles. They have a Gaming Mode you can enable in-app to lower their latency on PCs and mobile devices. However, PC audio lag is still quite high, so you'll experience noticeable audio/visual desync.
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC are wireless earbuds and can't be used for wired gaming.
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC have good audio reproduction accuracy. Their frequency response mostly matches their bass-boosted sound profile, though treble peaks and dips may make sibilants bright or dull, depending on the pitch. Slight bass emphasis bleeds into the mids and can clutter mixes, while a roll-off in the high treble cuts some airiness. Meanwhile, the earbuds' L/R drivers are well-matched in amplitude, frequency, and phase response. At typical and elevated listening volumes, vocals and instruments are free from audible coloration from harmonic distortion.
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC have great noise isolation performance. They handily attenuate most noise, insulating you from the chitchat of the office to the rumbly engines of a busy street. In the other direction, they leak a thin version of audio you're listening to at the level of a quiet room.
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC have a mediocre microphone. Your voice will be reproduced as bassy and lacking detail, and the earbuds' noise handling will struggle to separate your voice from the environment, muffling your voice in the process.
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC has fantastic frequency response consistency. They use oblong ear tips to help you hone in your fit alongside an in-app fit test. Once fitted, they sound virtually the same across repeated sessions. In-ears tend to have more consistent frequency response than over-ear fits, so that's not surprising, but there's no substantial loss of bass.
Performance Usages
Changelog
- Updated Apr 20, 2026: This review has been updated to Test Bench 2.2, which removes the Cumulative Spectral Decay (CSD) test, retiring its waterfall plot visualization from our reviews. You can read more about this change in the changelog.
- Updated Apr 08, 2026:
We added a reference to the EarFun Air Pro 4+ in the Bluetooth Connection box.
- Updated Mar 26, 2026:
This review has been updated to Test Bench 2.1, which removes the Group Delay test and rebalances scoring for the Harmonic Distortion test and Audio Reproduction Accuracy performance usage. For more details, consult our full changelog.
- Updated Mar 24, 2026: We've converted this review to Test Bench 2.1, which features minor updates to our sound tests.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Anker Liberty 4 NC are available in five color variants: 'Velvet Black,' 'Light Blue,' 'Navy Blue,' 'Clear White,' and 'Pastel Pink.' We tested the 'Navy Blue' variant, and you can see our unit's label here. We expect our results to be valid for the other variants as well.
If you come across another variant, let us know in the comments, and we'll update our review.
Popular Headphones Comparisons
The Anker Liberty 4 NC are wireless noise cancelling earbuds. They're a cheaper sibling of the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 True Wireless, and while their ANC does a great job at eliminating undesirable ambient noise, like rumbly bus engines and chatty coworkers, their lower cost means they don't come with as many extra features, like a heart rate monitor or head tracking support for Spatial Audio. While not as sports-oriented as the Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro Truly Wireless, they're still stable enough for use during a light run or workout. That said, they'll still fall out during more intense exercise since they don't have any extra stability features and don't sit deep in the ear. They're also significantly more customizable than more premium in-ears, like the Apple AirPods (3rd generation), and come with multiple EQ and ANC options to choose from.
If you're looking for more options, check out our recommendations for the best wireless Bluetooth earbuds, the best noise cancelling earbuds, and the best Anker headphones.
The EarFun Air Pro 4+ and the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC Truly Wireless are both feature-rich budget ANC earbuds that share a stemmed design. In truth, they're neck and neck in almost all performance metrics bar one: battery life. The Anker last about twice as long as the EarFun on a single charge, so they're the obvious pick for most people. We'd only recommend the EarFun over the Anker if you know you want access to Bluetooth codecs like aptX adaptive.
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC Truly Wireless are a bit better than the CMF Buds Pro 2. Although they share similar characteristics like bassy tunings, the Anker are more comfortable and less bulky in-ears with a slightly nicer-feeling plastic finish. Their continuous battery life with ANC on is nine hours compared to 6.5 hours with the CMF. Combined with the case's recharges, the Anker has 45 hours of battery life, while the CMF has a total battery life of only 26 hours. That said, the CMF have a higher IP55 rating than the Anker's lesser IPX4 rating. The CMF also boasts a slightly better mic system than the Anker. Otherwise, these earbuds have more in common than they don't: LDAC codec support, comprehensive graphic EQ (you get more bands on the Anker), multi-device pairing, and ANC that punches above the price tag.
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC Truly Wireless and the Anker Soundcore Space A40 Truly Wireless are very similar earbuds. The Liberty 4 NC have a bassier sound than the A40, which EDM fans might appreciate. However, both can be adjusted with the companion app's graphic EQ and presets. Their ANC systems both work incredibly well, and they both have around the same continuous battery life. Ultimately, your preference between the two will come down to what kind of design you want. The Liberty 4 NC have a bud and stem design that is slightly more stable, but the A40's bud-only design takes up less visual real estate and has a more subtle look.
The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC Truly Wireless and Nothing Ear are both stemmed earbuds with very capable apps. The Anker buds use conventional touch controls and boast better noise isolation overall. Their battery lasts longer with more charges in the case, too. The Nothing buds use pinch controls, which are harder to trigger accidentally but are an acquired taste. Both the case and the buds have a higher IP rating against dust and water, and the case isn't as thick. Their sound is less bassy by default, with a more controlled bass and subdued treble. That said, both earbuds' apps have a plethora of EQ presets and extensive custom-EQ options.
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Test Results
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Comments
Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC Truly Wireless: Main Discussion
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Let us know why you want us to review the product here, or encourage others to vote for this product. Comments transferred from merged discussions are also included.
Update: This review has been updated to Test Bench 2.2, which removes the Cumulative Spectral Decay (CSD) test, retiring its waterfall plot visualization from our reviews. You can read more about this change in the changelog.
Yeah I’ve been been ear detection problems as well. The sound changes a lot while I’m wearing them too.
Has anyone had issue with the ear detection in these headphones? (Not a play/pause issue) I’ve had them for maybe a week and have noticed the sound of the headphones shift and change whilst I’m wearing them. The bottom end cuts out and highs get a lot sharper and then fade back in to where I had them set, as if I had switched them to listen through mode. I had the Life P3s prior and had no issue with this at all, and there was no ear detection
Anyone else having these problems?
To anyone considering buying these:
I have used many earbuds and these have the worst fit and stability by far. They constantly fall out and are not comfortable at all. On the rare occasions they stay in, the auto play/pause detection kicks in and stops playback over and over.
When in LDAC mode, multipoint is not just disabled, it becomes extremely difficult to switch devices. You have to manually disconnect from the current device and then manually connect to the new one, instead of just connecting from the new device and having the earbuds switch automatically.
The ANC is also very weak compared to my Bose QC II earbuds, despite having only a slightly lower score listed here. The case is also not easy to hold without accidentally closing it again when removing or putting the earbuds back in.
Going to stick with Sony and Bose as usual from now on, like before.
Update: We’ve rectified an issue that affected the Bass, Mid, and Treble Compliance scoring, as well as Peaks and Dips with these headphones.
Hi, thanks for flagging this to us, I’m sorry that this purchase didn’t work out for you. Performance that’s this different from our measurements is something we would have flagged in our process, so it’s possible you didn’t experience as much bass as you wanted for a few reasons:
You’re right that there isn’t much difference in the bass between default and bass-boosted EQs, as you can see in this graph from the review. It’s also worth noting that the Skullcandy Indy ANC are on a different test version from the Liberty 4 NC (v1.5 vs v2.0). In this case, that means they were tested on different testing rigs, and their target curves (used as a reference for the bass amounts) aren’t the same.
I hope this helps give you more information, and if you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Well who ever tested these have issues with hearing! I bought these because of this review I was like sheeesh 7db+ bass? No way…. I finally got them and all I can say I have return them in 3 days. They sound like a soda can! Skullcandy Indy ANC was my daily driver but unfortunately right bud stopped playing. All I can say is if you are looking for a good bass like a real subwofer Liberty 4 NC is 1000% garbage! There is no difference between default or bass boosted EQ. Please don’t lie people that this is bass, you already tricked me to buy this garbage…
Update: This review has been updated to Test Bench 2.0, which adds the following tests: Stereo Mismatch, Group Delay, Cumulative Spectral Decay, PRTF, Harmonic Distortion, and Electrical Aspects. We’ve added new performance usages and updated the text throughout the Sound tests and side-by-sides. We also remeasured the impact of ANC on frequency response with Firmware 4.88.
As requested, we were able to retest these earbuds with the latest firmware and did indeed notice a slight change in the bass range FR. You can see our results here. Thanks for flagging this, we’ll add it to the review shortly!
Thanks! I’ve asked our testing team to look into it
My firmware is 04.88. Looking into it would be nice as I would create wavlet profile to correct frequency response for normal mode as i did for nc above.
Thanks for this feedback! Would you mind letting us know what firmware version you’re using? On 4.69 there seems to be no difference in the bass range but we’re happy to look into this and potentially retest with the latest firmware.