You CAN re-sync single/orphan Liberty earbuds (tested Air, Air 2, 2 Pro)

I know there has been much discussion here about wishing there was a way to acquire a single Liberty earbud to replace a lost one - and whether once you had one whether it would be able to be synced given serial numbers, etc…

I happen to have a number of “orphan” earbuds/cases for both the Liberty Air and Air 2 as well as full sets of each. I also own 2 full pairs of the Air 2 Pros. Following the reset instructions in each owner’s manual, I successful switched around earbuds from different cases and re-paired them without any issues. Specifically I did this with:

Liberty Air (model with the SN # in the charging case)
Liberty Air 2
Liberty Air 2 Pro

I was sure before doing any of this testing that all the buds had the latest firmware to avoid any mismatches.

Right now I have (2) orphan left earbuds in the Air and (3) orphan left earbuds in the Air 2. I also have an empty Air case that charges fine. If somebody either needs one of my “lefts” or that case…or is willing to part with/sell me an orphan “right” in the Air or Air 2, hit me back by reply and we’ll figure out a way to help each other.

And Anker/Soundcore…let’s figure out a way to make it easier to replace a lost earbud since you went to all the trouble to allow resets…OK?

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Thanks for the share and good info to know

Interesting. That information is good to know. Thanks for sharing.

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I think the big question is on the Liberty air 2. There are 3 firmware floating on those. I will assume when you did this, the firmware may be located in the cases??? if your different set have different firmware versions. If not, then you probably can swap out earbuds of only the same firmware versions.

Example

Earbud A had 1.xx, Earbud 2 had 2.xx. The case came with earbud 2. When swapped together and reset, did earbud A change to 2.xx or was both bud having 1.xx and thus paired due to the same version.

I think the big question is on the Liberty air 2. There are 3 firmware floating on those. I will assume when you did this, the firmware may be located in the cases??? if your different set have different firmware versions. If not, then you probably can swap out earbuds of only the same firmware versions.

Example

Earbud A had 1.xx, Earbud 2 had 2.xx. The case came with earbud 2. When swapped together and reset, did earbud A change to 2.xx or was both bud having 1.xx and thus paired due to the same version.

I think your points about firmware are valid, but as I said in my original post the intent was to prove that you could re-sync different single earbuds without concern that there was some artificial SN # restriction, etc. I was aware of the different FW versions (and in the case of the Air - different physical reset processes) and so you do have to do some checking/prep for this to work across those three Liberty versions I did the test on.

The good news is you can re-sync - the challenge is making sure you have earbuds with common FW before you start.

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In general, I never believed same buds same hardware were physically tied to each other or case. I always assumed the sync between then done by the case.

Otherwise in the factory you’d have a ridiculous scenario where a pair of buds is “born” (manufactured) and one of then fails test and they ditch a working twin. So I always thought there’s a set of independent left buds, independent right buds, each manufactured individually, and then a final assembly in the case, a special hardware signal sent to the buds and if one of the buds fails then another bud put in an sync and then packaged.

I would expect the tying of left+right is done by a control signal from the case.

Possibly this intuitive view is not true for all buds, but it feels right for most buds.

I agree - it just appeared from all of my reading that nobody had actually tested/verified that presumption with these versions of Soundcore buds (which is hard if you don’t have multiple sets like I do), so that’s why I did the test and shared the results.

That’s good to know. I’ve always thought that restricting a set TWS earbuds to only pair to one set was a bad move and a waste of money and resources. I think manufacture don’t want to deal with lost singles and the difficulties at selling and replacing missing earbuds.

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Thanks for letting me know that it is possible to do this :+1:t2:.
I am glad that it can be done and you do not have to throw away individual elements of the set in the trash.

I am willing to accept it is a special sync message required to pair the buds, and that a special command is required from the case, but never felt that could not be done by a user. Each bud permanently physically tied to a twin makes no manufacturing sense. It would double the wastage in the factory.