TaoTronics SoundLiberty Pro P10 ANC Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling TWS Earbuds hands-on and review

TaoTronics claims that its SoundLiberty Pro P10 ANC Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling TWS Earbuds exclude unwanted noise by up to 38 decibels (dB), which is done through "feedforward and feedback" mics: specs that should underpin the ANC in their name, and also for improved call clarity. The earbuds are also rated for ambient and anti-wind modes with "HiFi Stereo Sound" via their 9mm drivers. 

Buzzwords such as these notwithstanding, I have to admit I'm not normally a TWS person. In fact, I still use my OnePlus Bullets Wireless earbuds for their general use-cases: I like the ear-hooks you don't often get with TWS earbuds, and if one of them ever did fall out, they are still secured via their wires. Then again, they lack ANC, which is why I invested in my Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones, which got me through lockdown and all its increased daily noise around the neighborhood. It will be interesting to see if these SoundLiberty Pro P10s can possibly match up to them.

The music playback from the buds is better than I expected, and also louder than I expected. On the other hand, it was a little flat, especially in tracks that cover a wide range, such as my go-tos such as Mastodon's Colony of Birchmen and Toundra's Kitsune. They tend to squash bass while also de-escalating high notes, and seem determined to stick to the mids in general. They don't disclose the codices they use in their packaging, although their product page reveals that they support SBC and AAC, with no mention of anything else such as aptX for reduced latency. On this note, I find that they are subject to slight dips in audio syncing, especially when it comes to human dialog, when used to watch content.

This audio is paused and re-started through a double-tap of the touch control pad found on the top of the right earbud. Their Ambient Mode, on the other hand, is activated through double-pressing the touch control of the left earbud, which also stops playback. Another 2 taps of this touch-pad turns anti-wind mode on, although it doesn't make much of a difference to be honest. Triple-tapping the right earbud skips a track.

These controls work well enough, although there were some mis-hits as I took up using the earbuds at first. Triple taps seemed easy to mistake for double-taps and vice versa, although that effect has receded as I've become more and more accustomed to wearing them.

As for their fit, they have never fallen out or felt loose while walking around, even for prolonged periods. One did catch on the straps of my mask once, although luckily it fell into said mask at the time. Otherwise, I found them more comfortable than I expected.

In terms of calls, I found myself taking them on the earbuds without even really thinking about it. The person on the other end never guessed that I was using TWS earbuds, and claimed not to notice any lack of quality even when I asked if they could hear me clearly.

The P10s also have a mono mode, by which one earbud still works when it is taken out of the case alone. Obviously, the ANC does not work in this mode, however.

Finally, the earbuds are rated for Bluetooth 5.2. They pair with quite decent speed, and have fewer failures in automatically switching between devices compared to the WH-1000XM3s (it's the headphones' one main weakness for me).