TaoTronics SoundLiberty 94 (TT-BH094)

Package

Included in the package are the in-ears, a charging case, three earpieces (S, M, L), a USB-A to USB-C cable, documentation and a short introduction, which takes you quickly and easily through the first (and also second) steps in pictographic form, so that unpacking, fitting and pairing is quick and easy.

Hardware

SoundLiberty 94 are sweat-resistant according to IP05, light and comfortable to wear in the ear. The charging case is small enough to fit in your pocket, has four charging lights and a USB-C port. The in-ears are held securely in the magnetic recesses inside and can be recharged up to three times after playing their specified eight hours without ANC. However, at a medium volume, I only managed to play for about six hours without ANC.

In the ear

These in-ears are tightly sealed in the ear with the appropriate adaptor so that a good seal against external noise is already in place. This benefits the Active Noise Reduction, which on the SoundLiberty 94 works with two microphones on each side of the housing – one is directed outwards and the second inwards. This is intended to enable a suppression of around 35dB. But first of all, the noise level increases when the ANC is switched on, which is not unusual in headphones of this class, but is less disturbing. The stronger noise is more noticeable with audiobooks, podcasts and quiet passages of music. The effect of the ANC is mild. A slight diving bell effect sets in and the environment is deprived of some low frequencies, which will suppress the noise of a rumbling tram, but still lets the voices of the people on the platform be heard. This is OK and miracles should not be expected in this price range.

SoundLiberty 94 have a sound which is smooth and balanced overall. The 10mm drivers, with the SBC or AAC codec, deliver a good bass foundation with plenty of mid-range, and above that, there are well-drawn highs that are neither too dull nor too shrill. I found this tuning very pleasant because it is not particularly artificial. With ANC switched on the sound wanders a little towards the bass and mid frequencies, which become fuller and more dominant, but this hardly diminishes the overall impression. Simply put, SoundLiberty 94’s sound is pretty good because they are quite discreet and well rounded straight out of the box.

The built-in microphones provide good voice quality for calls.

Remote

All the key functions of the SoundLiberty 94 can be controlled directly from the ear, simply by tapping the feedback-free remote panels on the back of the in-ears. This sometimes leads to somewhat erratic reactions which are due to the fact that you have to tap up to three times to perform an action. Volume reacts to one tap at a time – softer on the left, louder on the right. Two taps on the right is for Start/Stop, Ambient mode is on the left and mixes outside sounds with the music. It is a bit weird that it briefly stops the music; I had to tap left twice and then right twice. ANC is activated or deactivated by tapping and holding left. This is confirmed, as in ambient mode, by a voice that speaks so softly in the background when the music is loud, that you can hardly understand anything. So sometimes you don’t really know whether ANC is on or off. Tap and hold on the right to call up a digital assistant. Tap three times to jump through the tracks, and this also lets you control calls.

Special features

You can also use each earpiece of the SoundLiberty 94 as a stand-alone unit, but this means that the in-ear that is currently active is always running in ambient mode – making it pretty noisy. Interestingly, you can start or stop the music via the individual earpiece, no matter if left or right, but with the volume, you can only decrease with the left or increase with the right, and only toggle forwards or backwards.

Another special feature: ANC is always on when you take the SoundLiberty out of the charging case. Pay attention to this, because it means there will be surprises with the runtime, which is significantly reduced by using this feature.