Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro True Wireless Earbuds (Open Box)

First off let me start off by stating I have tested a LOT of headphones over the years. I'm extremely technical in my IT field and that obsession with tech translates into every other aspect of my life. I'm extremely picky and while I'm not rich, I'm comfortable enough to get the best of things I really love.Don't let this fool you though, I'm also super cheap where I can be. As a matter of fact, this review is predicated on me moving on from something "cheap" to obviously NOT even close to cheap. When it comes to home audio I've been a Sennheiser fan for many years. I've had some higher-end Sony's over the years and even once had a pair of studio Denons.When it comes to earbuds though, frankly put I never have been overly impressed. I found a solution for around 40 dollars that would last around a year + and while they weren't anywhere NEAR a full ear covering headphones quality they also didn't make my ears cringe.I have gone through a lot of different headphones from true wireless like these (soo many) and a few of the same non true wireless/ wireless Bluetooth style ones like from Bose. I returned ALL but these and the Bose. For a company that first hooked me with their awesome battery banks, this is quite the leap and I admit I was very hesitant at first but now I am very glad I got them!I was planning only keeping one and when the Bose impressed me, it admittedly raised the bar for others. Even without that though every other true wireless had some caveat I didn't like. Either the sound was terrible, the case was horrible, charging was too frequent or inconvenient. etc. The biggest difference between these, Bose and the cheaper options was how the headphone had to fit “PERFECT” to sound good. These just fit great, stay put and sound impressive without having to overly manipulate to get them just right. I even had a few had touch controls and constantly needed to be adjusted. ANNOYING!! I’ll take the physical button over touch in this case.The sound on these immediately impressed me and got my attention compared to the other true wireless style ones I have. Then I did the personalized EQ via the Soundcore app. Game changing. I believe I have pretty high hearing ranges and these headphones feel like they tailor right to them. Highs are CRISP with no tinny sound and you really hear the range of instruments. Pop on some Rap/Hip Hop and you’ll immediately notice these are no slouches when it comes to bass. Honestly anymore bass and it would make my ear itch. Full disclosure, I have a 500+ watt surround sound system on my computer and grew up with subs in my cars. These sound AMAZING!I'm telling you these sound so good, you'll notice your bad quality MP3's 100 times worse and even will notice sounds that made it past studio mastering. (amp feedback etc) Just at a bit higher volume than the bose does. No joke these are that good.The case is wireless charging so you don't have to fuss with ANOTHER cable if you so choose. To be honest, I've had them for a few days now and haven't even needed to come near charging and I've been playing with them FAR more than I'll ever use headphones on a regular basis. Its almost 10 pm now, I've been rocking music non stop on them all day. I took some calls on it and even left music playing while buds were out and I was eating. (eating and earbuds is just weird imo) Anyways. Since I've got them, trying to use the crap out of them the lowest I've seen the ear buds get down to is 80%, immediately afterwards putting them in the wireless charger, which still shows 3/3 bars. WOW. Considering the intended use for these and likelihood they won't be my gym headphones and the Bose Soundsports will fit that role, I'll probably have to set the wireless charger on the Qi Charger once or twice a month at this rate. One unintended surprise is I will use them more than I EVER thought for I found in about 75% of the ones I touched, you can't just go single ear easily without having to do steps to ensure it pairs right the next time to both or bla bla bla. I'm a network engineer by trade and still don't want to go through unnecessary hoops for basic functions. These just work, you pull out the right ear piece, put it on, and you can make calls on it. I didn't have to do anything special to have them be headphones again as normal next time. Smart.While on that track, the noise cancellation is top-notch. People can hear me very clearly no matter where I am, I allowed my 14 year old to try them and proceeded to talk all kind of smack to him to see if he could hear me. Until I was fairly loud and right next to him, he was none the wiser. :)Gaming performance on these is like most aptx devices, OK but not great. Definitely better than earlier codec versions of Bluetooth . Built in youtube app is FAR better than watching video in the browser etc (likely to hardware acceleration) I’m going to do some testing in dev options and see what I can do.Only cons I could think of it not being cheaper but that immediately disappeared when I heard them. They are clearly a premium product. Active noise cancellation would be a good feature but personally I don’t travel or need to listen to them in noisy environments etc.TLDRAwesome bass, clear highs with overall great sound. Alexa / Google assistant works fantastic!! Only con would be if you don’t have 150 dollars to buy them yourself or ABSOLUTELY need active noise cancellation which I would imagine you probably wouldn’t be buying earbuds?Buy them now. Come back and thank me later 😊 Anker, great job! I see why you guys are rocking it!