The test of TaoTronics SoundLiberty 53 is in recent days, a pair of completely wireless earphones that remotely recall the Apple AirPods due to the elongated shape which on the one hand improves stability and on the other ensures correct operation of the built-in microphone. .
However, they do not rest on the ears but are inserted into the ear cavity and there they remain firmly in place thanks to the in-ear rubber pads that offer good soundproofing from external noise. Between Bluetooth 5.0 and over 40 hours of total autonomy, they are a good compromise for quality and technologies.
How they are made
As we said it is the shape that makes them partly different from most of the True Wireless solutions currently in circulation. These earphones are compact, very light and characterized by an external body in satin polycarbonate, black in color and rather robust to the touch.
On the internal side of the “stick” there are the two contacts for recharging the internal battery while at the end the hole for the microphone is clearly visible accompanied by the symbols “R” or “L” to recognize the right earphone from the left one. The protuberance that slips into the ears is accompanied by a rubber pad that can be replaced with the others included in the package to adapt the individual earphones to the shape of your ear by choosing the size – S, M or L – that best suits your needs.
The cover of the headset is made of metal instead of plastic and this is certainly a more robust and long-lasting protection as well as easier to clean after prolonged use of the earphones. Another peculiarity that brings them closer to Apple's AirPods concerns the absence of buttons: to control music playback, in fact, it is necessary to touch the flat surface on the outside of each individual earphone.
The case is very compact and has an elongated shape, similar to that of a thin bar of soap which, however, grips very well in the hand. The outer shell is the same as the earphones and the satin finish offers a good grip when held in the hand.
The opening is a clamshell one, with a top cover that simply goes to protect the earphones stored inside. Each headphone has its own cavity recognizable by the letters “L” and “R” printed near each of them and thanks to a magnetic system a firm locking of the headphones is ensured for correct charging on the move in case they are stored in the inside of a bag together with other objects.
The base of the case is much more full-bodied than the lid also because it is right here that the charging system and the battery are placed, which extends the overall autonomy to the aforementioned 40 hours. The microUSB port for battery charging is visible on the back.
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How do they work
First of all it is not necessary to turn them on. The moment they are extracted from their housing they will turn on automatically, a process that can be easily recognized by the blue flashing of the LED positioned along the frame of the external facade.
For the first pairing, all you have to do is extract them both from the case, activate Bluetooth on the smartphone to be paired and search for the name of the earphones in the list of nearby devices. It is not necessary to carry out any other operations and from this moment the earphones will always be ready to pair with the smartphone as soon as they are removed from the case.
By extracting only one they can be used in mono mode while pulling them out both as well as hooking up to the phone will connect to each other to ensure the use of both in stereo mode.
As anticipated there are no buttons available, so to control playback it will be necessary to touch the external touch surface of the individual earphones. Different touches, between single taps and long presses, will activate different functions so at first use it is advisable to browse the user manual, completely in Italian, to find out how to adjust the volume, skip tracks, call up the voice assistant and manage phone calls.
How are they doing
The TaoTronics SoundLiberty 53 earphones sound fairly good. In the opinion of this chronicler they are excessively charged at low frequencies, thus limiting their listening to specific genres of music generally listened to to give energy during training.
In fact, they lose a lot if they are used to listen to classical music and the like while with Podcasts and audiobooks they work well even if sometimes the listening voice can appear darker than it actually is.
The touch control system is a nice feature because it ensures a better waterproofing of the earphones and greater durability over time as it eliminates one of the most worn mechanical components, however we believe it should be developed better because sometimes the touches are partially recognized (thus activating unwanted operations ) or are not recognized at all. However, we cannot tell you if it is a hardware limitation or a function that can be improved and corrected with a firmware update.
The stability of the connection is very good. Here, as we said, there is Bluetooth 5.0 which clearly offers several advantages if used with smartphones that support it. However, our tests took place on an old iPhone 6 with Bluetooth 4 and overall the signal seemed very clean to us even if by placing two walls between the earphones and the phone for a distance of just over 7 meters as the crow flies. .
Equally satisfactory is the quality of the call. The directional microphones in fact ensure a better acquisition of our voice and this means that those on the other side hear us very well even if they are used in full city traffic. They therefore represent an advisable solution if you decide to use them in stereo or mono mode to answer phone calls while driving.
Conclusions and price
The TaoTronics SoundLiberty 53 earphones are good overall. The build is great and the audio quality is average. Excellent choice if they are used especially on calls and if there is no need to be there to skip tracks every minute: in that case the unresponsive touch controls could make you lose patience, better to hold the smartphone and do everything from there. The price, at the time of writing equal to 69.99 euros on Amazon, is above the average of many other headsets in this category, but here it is clear that you pay above all for the solid construction, the particular design of the microphones and the Bluetooth technology. 5.0.
