The Anker Liberty 5 Pro Max pairs the Liberty 5 Pro’s award-winning audio hardware with AI features that let the charging case record conversations and produce transcriptions and summaries. The “Max” distinction here reflects added AI capability rather than a larger physical size.
Sound quality and noise handling
The Liberty 5 Pro line was named by Guinness World Records in April this year as the world’s best-sounding wireless (TWS) earbud following laboratory measurements. Anker’s implementation uses ten sensors and a Thus AI chip to improve call clarity and noise suppression; the company cites roughly 100 dB as a reference noise level from which the system noticeably attenuates interference. In practice, the earbuds kept the caller’s voice intelligible in relatively noisy environments during tests.
Noise cancellation also works in the other direction to improve listening: the earbuds block ambient noise effectively and maintain enjoyable music playback provided the user tunes settings in the companion app. The Soundcore app (available for iPhone and Android) exposes HearID personalization, and the Liberty 5 Pro Max supports HearID 5.0 Preference Test — a useful tool for users who do not know how to manually EQ sound to their taste.
The retail package includes five sizes of silicone eartips and two types of stabilizing wings so users can find a seal that balances comfort and isolation.
Case, display and recording workflow
The charging case has a 1.78-inch touchscreen for controlling the device and its smart features. The screen is slightly less responsive than modern smartphone displays and takes some getting used to; it can also show a custom photo as background.
Crucially, voice recording is handled by the case, not by the earbuds themselves. Recordings can be started from the case display, but the easiest method is a quick double-press of the left-top button on the case. Recordings do not require an active phone connection to start; recorded audio is transferred to the phone when the case and phone reconnect (the case maintains its own Bluetooth link to the mobile device). During meetings, parts of the recording can be flagged via a small flag button on the case’s display for later reference.
Playback aligns the transcript with the audio and the system can identify and colour-code individual speakers.
Language performance: English, French, Hungarian
During testing the system handled English and French recordings robustly: transcriptions were accurate and speaker separation worked well. Hungarian summaries also performed well, but the Hungarian automatic transcription quality was mixed — some Hungarian audio resulted in inaccurate transcripts. Switching among different large language models did not reliably fix those Hungarian transcription issues, which appear to stem from limitations in the underlying language models rather than the Anker implementation.
Despite imperfections in Hungarian transcription, the AI-generated summaries captured the essence of conversations reliably. Users can specify the role, tone and level of detail for the summaries and request outputs such as task lists from the conversation.
Connectivity and extra features
The earbuds support multipoint Bluetooth and can stay connected to up to three devices simultaneously, allowing quick switching between, for example, a laptop, a phone and a tablet. The case can also act as a remote shutter for a connected phone camera via the Soundcore app without additional camera-side settings.
Durability and battery life
The Liberty 5 Pro Max has an IP55 rating (partial protection against dust and protection from low-pressure water jets), so it tolerates rain and splashes but should not be submerged. With average volume and active noise cancellation on, the earbuds provide about 6.5 hours of continuous play per charge and roughly 28 hours total with the case. In very noisy environments, continuous runtime can fall into a 2.5–10.5 hour range; higher volume also reduces battery life.
AI minutes, subscriptions and prices
A free allowance of 120 minutes per month is included for 24 months from activation. Paid tiers increase that allowance: the Pro tier costs HUF 6,690 per month for 1,200 minutes, while the Unlimited tier is HUF 10,999 per month. Note that all activity counts toward the monthly limit, so re-generating transcripts consumes additional minutes.
In testing the team could generate summaries from a free account, although Anker’s documentation states that automatic AI summaries require a paid plan. Pricing and feature availability may therefore vary in practice.
List prices in Hungary: the Liberty 5 Pro launched at HUF 75,000, and the Liberty 5 Pro Max at HUF 105,000 without discounts. Both models frequently appear at discounted prices — the Pro around HUF 55,000 and the Pro Max near HUF 70,000 in some promotions.
Conclusion
For users who value excellent sound and want an independent recording workflow that can transcribe and summarise meetings, the Liberty 5 Pro Max offers a unique combination: a high-quality TWS audio experience plus an AI-driven, case-based dictation system. If you never need standalone recording or automatic transcriptions, the standard Liberty 5 Pro delivers the same core audio hardware at a lower price, making it the better value in that case.
The subscription pricing for expanded AI minutes may feel steep compared with general-purpose AI plans on the market, but comparable smart-dictation devices also adopt similar pricing. Ultimately the choice depends on how regularly you would use the AI recording and processing features: frequent users will find the Pro Max compelling; others may prefer the non-Max model for its sound at a lower cost.
