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You’ve probably heard of Anker. The company is known for its high-quality and ever-so-affordable tech accessories, such as portable power banks, wall adapters and charging wires. Anker makes its own well-reviewed audio products, too, which are mostly Bluetooth speakers and earphones, but the company recently started a separate “smart” audio brand: Zolo. The difference from Anker’s other audio devices is that Zolo aims make devices that are more compatible with smart home systems — aka they’ll work with Alexa, Google Assistant, Cortana and Siri. The first products under the Zolo name are two truly wireless earbuds, the Zolo Liberty ($99) and Liberty+ ($150).
Both are similar in abilities and design and can work with your phone’s smart assistant. The higher-end Liberty+ earphones have slightly better drivers and can amplify ambient noises, in case you’re riding a bike and want to hear the cars coming up behind you. They also come with a more powerful charging case and Bluetooth 5.0 instead of the Liberty’s Bluetooth 4.2. The Liberty earphones are available now, while the Liberty+ won’t be available until 2018.
I tested Zolo’s less talented Liberty earphones for 72 hours, partially because final review units of the Liberty+ weren’t available, but mostly because the Liberty earphones are more interesting. At $60 less than AirPods ($159) and with roughly the same skill set (fast pairing being the exception), they could be a viable alternative to Apple’s best-in-category product. In the past few weeks, I’ve also reviewed several other wireless earbuds, including the Bose SoundSport Free and the B&O Beoplay E8 ($299) — so how does Anker’s first entry into the space of truly wireless earbuds stack up?
The Good: At $100, the Zolo Liberty is the cheapest truly wireless earbud (by a brand I trust); other companies, like Syllable, whom I had never heard of, sell sub-$100 wireless earphones (here), but I haven’t tested them and would be hesitant to trust that they’d work well. The Zolo Liberty earbuds also, and a bit to my surprise, sound fantastic. The audio is really immersive and clear, which is thanks to its graphene drivers and snug, naturally noise-isolating fit. There’s no dealing with an app. Out of the box, these earphones have a number of tap controls to pause/play music and switch tracks. I could access Siri by double tapping the right earbud, too, ask it about the weather and soccer scores, and to call my brother. The built-in mic worked well for calls.
Who It’s For: Anybody looking for an affordable pair of truly wireless earbuds. It doesn’t matter if you own an iPhone or Android, these will work seamlessly with both.
