Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro Fit

[a.kimmel]

I love the sound of the Liberty 3 Pros, but I can’t for the life of me get a good fit. They seem in constant danger of slipping out of my ears, or are uncomfortable, or are not keeping any of the external noise out. So far, I’ve only been able to use them sitting on relatively quiet trains, but once I get up and start walking around, I feel them feeling very precarious. Working out with them: I lie on my back and they start to slip out.

What’s the secret? it’s driving me up the wall. What the hell are these fins for? Do I have mutant ears that lack whatever ridge it is that they’re supposed to latch on to? I’ve started staring at people’s ears on the TV and on public transport to see what secret they must possess.

[The_Professor]

The hook goes into Cymba

but some people don’t have one, or it’s smaller or higher up so for those the hook doesn’t work. Above image is one it would work on, below one it can’t work.

You first need to try all the tips to get a tight fit, then try all the hooks. You rotate forwards the hook into the Cymba if you’re lucky to have one in the spots the different hooks go for.

Don’t feel bad if none work. None work for me either. So I use their Q30 headphones and still use their (discontinued) Slim wired buds so when they fall they fall to the chest which is better than lost to the ground.

[Duane_Lester]

As stated the fins are there to basically lock the earbuds. You can think of it as a key, you put the key in and then turn it to lock it.

As different people ears are well different, you have to find eartips and fins that will work best for your.

I will say even with all the fins and tips that are given, a small group of folks will not be able to wear them. We see folks state different earbuds hurt their ears or they can not get it to fit.

This is probably one of the more important things to make sure you get the best experience out of your earbuds.

[a.kimmel]

Now THAT is phenonemal. Thanks so much! It’s an incredible help and quite an eye opener – I had no idea that my ear had so many parts and names! I kept thinking I was missing something much further down in my ear “shell”, but now I will get to jamming my cyma right away!!!

Thanks again!

[The_Professor]

You begin with the hook rearwards at the back of the Concha Cymba. You rotate it forwards until it is resting on the Helicis Crus.

The degree of the bud being in or out his determined by your canal. A smaller tip allows the bud to be further in, a big tip has it further out. Then the hook has to be at the right spot to hook into the Cymba against the Crus.

So one way to find out is begin with no tip fitted, and try different wings until it’s not able to fall off as the hook is trapping it. Then try different tips to then make a seal.

Also the act of pressing and rotating helps bind the tip in the canal.

The L3P is smaller than its predecessor the L2P, but even so is still quite a size and some people won’t have a large enough Concha Cavum so the whole bud is way out and the hook concept simply is impossible.

Good luck.

[a.kimmel]

Thanks again – this is invaluable. It feels as if my concha symba is quite high, and I can’t quite hook even the biggest wing under the inferior crus, but at least I know what I’m aiming for.

[The_Professor]

It’s quite possible your ear cannot work with L3P, and if so then something like the LA2P, or P3 may suit your ear better. They have a different problem, they rely on the intertragic notch being the same size as the stem width, the P3 being narrower I think.

To Soundcore’s credit they have bundled a lot of different tip and wing sizes they are trying their best!

Consider photo your ear and hold phone camera pointing video while you try to fit, as that may make it obvious what isn’t working.

So the bulk of the bud is resting in the Concha Cavum. If your Covum is big enough then a wing pushing against the underside of the Superior crus will be squeezing the bud between the superior crus and the intertragic notch. However if your Concha Cavum is too small for the L3P then this will only work if your Anti Helix is big and the Superior Crus is protruding so the hook pushes the bud into the Concha Cavum.

I don’t get annoyed with anyone saying a bud doesn’t work as there is no right best bud for everyone, for some the stem style works better and see other threads where some say stem style are dumb (they are wrong, just we’re all different).

[Steve976]

I hope you are able to get a good fit. They are great Earbuds and mine fit like a glove. That being said, everyone’s Ears are different.

[VertigoXX]

I suggest to spend some time to vhoose right earwings

[foppy]

Thanks @The_Professor. I actually adjusted the way I’ve been wearing them which might lead me to keep them.

I have small ears, and they fit well in my left ear, but my right ear has been causing pain/headaches. By keeping them almost vertical in my ear, they rest easier in my ear with less pressure. This comes at a cost of worse passive noise isolation (since I’m not really twisting them in as much), but I really dig the sound quality and multipoint on the L3P and don’t want to return them unless I have to.

I’d also add, a pair of Spinfit CP1025 seems to help a lot with comfort for me. I have a pair of CP100+ on the way as well (CP1025 and Cp100/100+ are recommended by Spinfit) before I make a final decision.

I guess If I could have everything my way, I’d prefer a stem-style design with hybrid dual drivers and multipoint. That way there’d be less to fit in my ear. The Soundpeats H2 and Edifier Neobuds Pro hit the stem-style design with a Dynamic Driver and Knowles Balanced Armature, but they both lack multipoint and have some other deal-breaking concessions.

I’m interested to see what Soundcore does with the Liberty Air 3 Pro. Maybe it’ll fit the bill.

[The_Professor]

They did an amazing job managing to shrink the whole design from L2P to L3P given the dual drivers.

There is no inherent technical reasons they can’t make a stick dual drivers design, but my instinct is they won’t as plenty of LA2P owners say sounds great. Yes it would be logical to have a LA2P successor which was launched a year ago. Given what they did with the P2i I think a “LA3P” would be a slimmer stem I’ll do some screenshots differences to show what I mean.

You love multipoint. Does it work for you with your combination of devices? I see the threads with issues sharing with MBP and Windows. I found enough workarounds I don’t need it.

[foppy]

Yeah, the earbuds themselves are impressive engineering. But, they are a larger earphone, and that means it’s a no go for some. It is what it is.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they kept the dual driver for just one model as well, but one can hope it’ll make it to the inevitable ‘LA3P’. I think if they want to go smaller/slimmer (and they should), they should slim down the Life P3. Make the Life series as small and convenient as possible, and make the Liberty series sound as good as possible.

As far as multipoint, I think most manufacturers are making a huge mistake by overlooking it. It is by far the most convenient feature apart from the ubiquitous dual connect feature all earphones have now. Most people have at least one PC/laptop and a phone, and it’s so nice to be able to switch between the two without having to fiddle with bluetooth settings or take out my earbuds and put in my dedicated computer ones or vice versa.

In fact, while ANC is all the rage right now, I’d MUCH rather have multipoint than ANC if I had to choose between the two. I consider TWS earbuds convenience machines first and foremost, and quality listening devices as a firm second. Put simply, if you want higher sound quality, you aren’t buying TWS earphones, you’re buying wired IEMs or headphones. It’s that simple.

Buuut… we all love the convience.

[The_Professor]

Multipoint is physically easier and lower cost to implement than ANC so I’d expect to see multipoint to become ubiquitous earlier.

BUT…

The chips used must be able to switch BT versions, the entry-level ones used by Soundcore cannot presently.

ANC is much harder to do well, so much has to be done just-right, I am surprised it is coming faster than multipoint - the inference is there is more of a market pull for it so the engineers doing it faster. The cheaper ANC is not that good (although still useful in some circumstances) and relies on the physics that lower frequencies can be computed with fewer microphones and further out from the canal.

[a.kimmel]

Thanks to everyone for their comments and info. I’ve been struggling and, while I can get a better fit, it’s still doesn’t feel that secure. Added to which, on my two recent longer commutes with it, while they’re fine sitting still, on the move – changing trains, walking across concourses or along platforms – the sound keeps dropping out, like little hiccups. I’ve switched from my Shanling M6 to my Moto 8 Power phone, and it’s the same with both, and very irritating. Despite the great sound, I do’t think these are worth the hassle, so back they go.

[a.kimmel]

Ah, well, no they don’t – I thought I had more time in my Amazon returns window, but my deadline is…well, today I’ve found, so it looks like I’ll have to make the best of them. And use them standing very still.

[The_Professor]

Sorry to hear you’re outside of the return window. It is indeed to “know what you want” - for tech purchases a test list of what matters to you and make a yes/no decision rapidly helps.

We share the struggle with buds not staying in, no easy answers, either good luck or not.

For the sound dropping out when walking, that can be due to many root issue.

• I think the L3P has wear detection? If so disable it helps as that stops misfiring of thinking jiggling while moving is the buds taken out of ears.
• make sure you’re getting a BT 5 connection, as BT 4.2 will make one bad master and if the phone is opposite side of body of the master , and if interference (movement makes interference, as does lots of other BT users nearby) then you get cutouts.

[a.kimmel]

Thanks – I’ll take a look at the wear detection issue, as I think that might be it. I’ve even resorted to taking the device out of my pocket and carrying it in front of me, all of inches away from the earphones, to no avail.

[The_Professor]

There’s always the possibility you have a dud unit but as they are tested in factory that is the least likely and more likely you have something uniquely bad luck local to you. And if you did begin a warranty swap process then they’d likely suggest similar ideas below to eliminate.

Is your phone BT 5.0 or higher?

Before BT 5.0 one bud was master, communicated with phone, and it forwarded the signal to the slave bud, as such the slave signal had to travel through the skull and the master signal had double the effort from the signal from the phone. So you first must try to ensure you have at least BT 5.0 connection.

If not done already / recently delete the pairing and reset the buds. Reboot phone. If Android boot to recovery and wipe cache (not data) and boot. Then pair again. You do need to leave a few minutes after resetting buds until you attempt to pair, that’s not clear in the reset instructions.

I’d also suggest have faith in Soundcore customer service, in my experience if you give goodwill you will get goodwill, put your experiences and what you’ve tried already in an email , with proof of purchase and serial number to service@soundcore.com and understand you are communicating with someone who wants to make you happy so keep it positive and factual. Nearly always results in a good outcome.

I have a lot of sympathy for your issues, I’d suggest sticking with Soundcore due the (you should see soon) good customer service. If the L3P doesn’t suit you probably either the LA2P or Q35 will suit you and customer support has creative ways to help you get there.

[a.kimmel]

Thanks again – I’ve taken off the wear detection, and will see how it goes on my next commute.

How do you find out what version BT your device has? I’m afraid I can’t work that out.

I’ll also try the deleting and rebooting method, althogh something else weird seems to have cropped up, in that on my Moto G8 Power phone, no matter what audio software I use, I can’t get any sound through the Soundcores. It’s playing, says it’s attached to the Soundcores, but nothing’s coming through. I think a reset is due!

I’m glad that Soundcore has a good customer service section. It’s a rare thing, these days!

Thanks again for you patience and clarity.

[The_Professor]

I don’t know how you find out the current version of connection but look up your phone’s specs they’ll be a good guide what the hardware is capable of.

A quick search finds this guide

https://www.nstec.com/where-are-bluetooth-pair-information-stored-android/

No sound - usually as there’s 3 of 4 different settings which can go awry.

Phone Bluetooth connection has media, phone, contacts. Has to enabled for a 3 , sometimes if you’re connected to two things at once only one of them is connected. Make sure you’re only connected to one thing and make sure it’s enabled for calls and media and contact sharing.

You then have app media settings, phone media settings and some buds have their own volume controls on the buttons and some have volume in the app.

The L3P has multipoint so it can be connected to two things at once but only one can be playing media so if you’re playing media on one connected device you won’t hear anything on the other. Multipoint is finicky if not all at same Bluetooth version and a power off then on may fix it if stuck at different version.