TaoTronics SoundLiberty 79

At first sight, the SoundLiberty have a lot to offer: Bluetooth 5.0, waterproofing according to IPX7, and a specified runtime of eight hours, which can be extended to 40 hours with the charging case which uses a USB-C connection. All these features come wrapped up in an attractive design. All in all, it’s a solid first impression.

Features

These True Wireless in-ears are supplied with three types of earpiece in S, M and L, as well as two pairs of sleeves that can be stretched around the earbuds. One pair has a hook, which is very short and may not fit in some ears. The headphones are supplied with a small, oval charging box, which has four LEDS to indicate its charging status. It can be charged via the supplied USB-A to USB-C cable. In addition, the package includes a short manual and as well as some more comprehensive documentation.

When you open the charging case for the first time, the in-ears will be paired with an available device and when this is complete, it’s acknowledged with a sound. From this point on, the SoundLiberty will couple with the chosen device each time the case is opened. After the connection has been established, you can also just remove one earbud from the case and use it in single mode.

The Bluetooth 5.0 protocol ensures a trouble-free and powerful connection even through walls within a building. In addition to SBC, the SoundLiberty also has AAC for better sound. The claims of eight hours of runtime seems a bit exaggerated, though. In our test, they ran for six hours at medium volume before they ran out of power and had to be put back into the charging case, and insertion into the case became a bit tricky when the sleeve with the hook was on the earbud. Then it became necessary to push the earbuds into the case so that they were sucked into the recess and fixed magnetically so that the current could flow.

Controls

These in-ears are controlled via touch sensors on the back of the earbuds, but due to their design, they do not give any haptic feedback and sometimes react somewhat unwillingly. A single tap on the right increases the volume and a tap on the left decreases it, three taps on the right skips forward one track, the same on the left skips back one track, and a long tap calls up the voice assistant. However, in our test, the start/stop function, which requires a double-tap on the left or right, did not always work reliably. In principle though, the full remote control is a big plus, and you can keep your player in your pocket.

For telephony, TaoTronics intend that their “Smart AI Noise Reduction Technology” acts as a selective noise suppressor and will effectively eliminate background noise and interference during a telephone call. And indeed, our test call yielded a decent result, with good speech intelligibility for the person we called.

Sound

SoundLiberty 79 perform surprisingly well in terms of sound. The bass delivers a decent sounding foundation and fills the space full and wide, it really pounds and has lots of drive, especially when you’re listening to current chart music. But it can sometimes rumble a touch. The mids aren’t that broad, but they are solid. They are pushed back a tad by the lively highs, which now and then sounds a little bit artificial. Nevertheless, SoundLiberty 79 impress with basic tuning for everyday listening without making excessive demands on resolution and detail.