Are you looking for a pair of wireless headphones? You probably don’t even know where to start, other than maybe choosing between different versions of Apple AirPods. That said, what really matters is just knowing what features you want and then going from there. If you’re looking for the best headphones for making phone calls or conferences, we’ve seen recent buyers recommend two brands in particular: Huawei’s FreeBuds Pro 5 and Anker’s Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro. Simply put, people don’t recommend Apple or Bose as the best for phone calls.
When it comes to the Anker and Huawei headphones, owners shared anecdotes about their personal experiences with the clarity of a recording when talking to people. Sometimes the person on the other end would even comment on how much clearer the call was. Part of the secret, critics say, is the role bone induction plays with mics and noise processing for both pairs. One person on Reddit was convinced to choose the Soundcore Liberty over the FreeBuds and reported having a pleasant experience during a business call at a karaoke bar.
While this alone won’t make a difference in a purchasing decision, we should also note that FreeBuds are not readily available to US customers due to an existing ban on Huawei products for national security reasons. Meanwhile, Anker products are available on the company’s site, as well as Amazon, with the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro costing $170. And if you need any more reason to buy the Liberty 5 Pro, we’d have to say that it was one of our favorite gadgets from earlier this year.
What do Huawei and Anker say about their headphones?
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Anker, which still intermittently uses its old Soundcore brand for audio products, and Huawei both say they handle call quality the same way. Anker uses eight microphones and two bone conduction sensors as well as a dedicated AI chip to clean the Liberty 5 Pro’s sound capture and processing systems. Huawei is a little more coy, barely mentioning its “acoustic bone sensor” in the specifications of the FreeBuds Pro 5. Instead, the company says it collects information from two drivers to inform its AI model. Both sample noise around 400,000 times per second and claim the ability to reduce up to 100 dB of background noise. Anker claims it can pick up users’ voices at up to 30 dB in quiet conditions, while Huawei touts wind attenuation up to 22 mph, the equivalent of driving a car through a neighborhood.
If you’re curious about what a bone conduction sensor is, a component supplier for the FreeBuds 3 line claims its technology tracks vocal cord vibrations through your skin to detect and sample your voice for accuracy. There are other, more complex sensors that can do the same job to different degrees. Ultimately, this is just one aspect of the holistic approach that should deliver clear vocals, whether you manage to find FreeBuds or end up going with the Liberty 5 Pro.
