Phone Headphone Review TaoTronics SoundLiberty 88

An excellent choice if you want your wireless earbuds to be a calling headset first, and music listening earbuds second.

TaoTronics SoundLiberty 88’s are a lightweight, wireless classic earbuds packed with many useful features. They’re comfortable to wear, while the secure fit is entirely missing.

They’re not particularly musical. Instead, they provide excellent midrange clarity, which helps with the vocals and detailed instruments. There’s also a decent microphone onboard, making these a good pick for frequent callers.

Recently we reviewed the TaoTronics SoundLiberty 92, which is in many ways similar to SoundLiberty 88. They’re both trying to mimic AirPods, making the ultimate alternative to Apple’s beloved wireless earbuds.

However, 92’s are better for music, whereas 88’s are more specialized for phone calls and midrange clarity.

Comfort & Fit

Star Rating 3.0 Good

These weight like a feather, which makes them barely noticeable when having them in your ears. On the other hand, the fit is terrible, but that is to be expected.

SoundLiberty 88’s have a plastic construction with a matte black finish. Because of that, they’re incredibly light, almost to the point of forgetting they’re in your ears.

The bud’s size is the same as the original AirPods, with no sharp corners to cause pain. We found them very comfortable, even after a long listening session.

The fit is a different story altogether. It does depend on the user to user, but there’s nothing on them to keep them in your ears. Therefore, if you find other classic earbuds secure, these shouldn’t be a problem. Otherwise, you’ll continuously be picking these off the floor.

In the case of SoundLiberty 92, those have a slight dip at the beginning of the stem, providing a marginally better grip compared to 88’s.

Noise Isolation

Star Rating 1.5 Meh

Classic earbuds with no silicone tips or foam covers can’t provide a sufficient seal around your ear canal. Therefore, they are unable to offer any noise isolation. SoundLiberty 88 are the same.

While using the 88’s, we can hear everything around us. Even when the music is playing, and someone walks in the room, the outside noise is quite present. That is why we can’t recommend these for public transport or walking near a busy road.

Check the best noise cancelling earbuds instead.

Of course, if you want to be aware of your surroundings, these might be a better choice for you.

Bluetooth

Star Rating 3.5 Almost Great

With version 5.0, the Bluetooth connection is stable and pairing quickly, although it starts to break when trying to pass the second brick wall.

The pairing process is quite easy and similar to many other true wireless earbuds. You simply place both earbuds out from the charging case, and they show up in the Bluetooth menu on your device.

After that, every time you pick them up from the case, they automatically reconnect to your transmitting device.

The connection is stable, with no weird hick-ups when the transmitting device is near your earbuds. However, if you want to take only your earbuds on the other side of the house, stutters start to appear right before trying to pass the second brick wall.

Is There a Delay when Watching Video?

Video and audio when watching YouTube seem to be in almost perfect sync. Only the most demanding users might notice some lag.

Battery

Star Rating 4.0 Great

On a single charge, you can expect around 5 hours of battery life, which is on par with the “classic earbuds” alternatives. Being able to quick charge is a nice addition.

Compared to more traditional in-ear wireless earbuds, classically designed ones often provide just a few hours of playtime. That is why the SoundLiberty 88 earphones sit somewhere on the top in that category, lasting up to 5 hours per charge.

The pocket-size charging case can hold up to 20 hours of additional juice, while also providing a quick charge option. The latter is able to add another 2 hours of playtime in just 10 minutes.

Durability

Star Rating 4.5 Almost Perfect

Looking straight at them, they appear nothing special. But they’re quite tough little buds, with IPX8 water-protection on top of it.

While their housing is made entirely of plastic, they don’t feel too cheap. Sure, the earbuds are lightweight, but they also show no major weak points that could potentially break.

Buds themselves are also IPX8 water-resistant, which is maximum protection. Not sure why you need such a high IP rating. But if they ever get dropped in the water up to 1.5 meters of depth, you can rest assured they’ll survive just like the best waterproof Bluetooth headphones.

The charging case is also made of plastic, with the same matte black finish. It’s very slim and can easily fit in the pocket. The lid doesn’t wobble when shaken, and it also closes with a satisfying thump.

Features

Star Rating 4.0 Great

88’s are well-packed with useful features. Touch controls with a bunch of commands, pause/play feature to automatically play or pause the music, and a decent microphone with a noise reduction for phone calls.

TaoTronics Soundliberty 88 has more features than you might expect. The most noticeable one is the little sensor on the inner side of the bud. The latter is detecting whether the earbud is inside your ears or not. When you take one bud out, the music automatically stops playing. As soon as you place them back in, playback resumes.

One of the 88′ main selling points is the single microphone at the bottom of the stem. It uses noise reduction to remove unnecessary surrounding hum while taking a phone call. It does its job pretty well, but more on that in our microphone test.

You can also control these with touch gestures located on the top of the stem. Controls are very responsive and offer quite a lot of commands that you quickly master. For specific commands, like volume up or down, a small beep indicates that you pressed the right spot on the earbud.

The latter is somewhat of an issue, since the stem is relatively thin, and you don’t know where exactly to press.

TaoTronics SoundLiberty 88 controls:

Play/pause – double press on either side

Volume up – press and hold on the right side

Volume down – press and hold on the left side

Next song – triple press on the right side

Previous song – triple press on the left side

Answer call – single press on either side

End call/decline call – press and hold on either side

Voice control – press and hold for 2 seconds on either side

Sound

Star Rating 3.0 Good

These are incredibly unoffensive, lacking bass, great clarity in the midrange, and rolled-off treble. That makes them suitable only for specific genres of music.

These aren’t exactly the best bass earbuds. The lows are lacking. They’re barely audible, with a decent kick and no rumble. Consequently, the midrange doesn’t sound as full as it should.

However, the mids are the highlight of these earbuds. They’re very clean and natural sounding. Vocals are almost lifelike, but the lack of bass presence makes them sound slightly off. Regardless, these should be very good for voice calls and podcasts.

Treble is forgiving and smooth. It rolls-off fairly quickly to eliminate any sign of sibilance or brightness. There isn’t much detail up on top, but the sound is airier than the 92’s.

We can’t recommend these for the music alone. They’re clearly meant for taking voice calls, with only one frequency range where they excel.