- VERDICT
The LG Tone Free earphones might be best known for their UV germ-killing case, but the exceptional sound quality is the real headline.
The top-line feature of the LG Tone Free wire-free earphones when they were announced was that the charging case uses ultra violet light to kill 99.9 per cent of germs – but it’s the audio quality that will be the first thing to get your attention.
Yes the UVnano case, an industry first, can kill bacteria and E. Coli and this was a relevant feature during the COVID pandemic in a time of social distancing and hand sanitizer.
When the earphones are resting inside the case you can see the blue/purple glow below the medical grade silicon ear gel tips which is the ultra violet light doing its thing and disinfecting the buds. It only take 10 minutes inside the case.
But you buy earphones to listen to not to clean and the LG Tone Free earphones certainly deliver an excellent listening experience.
That comes courtesy of its partnership with Meridian Audio which brings its advanced audio technology including three-dimensional sound through HSP (headphone spatial processing) and DSP (digital signal processing).
They also have echo cancellation and passive noise cancellation thanks to the snug fit from the silicon ear tips which can seal away any ambient sound.
They do a great job blocking out the outside world and you’re not paying hundreds of dollars extra for active noise cancellation which achieves the same result blocking sound waves using the product’s microphones.
On the design side the LG Tone Free earphones have head-centred weight distribution which gives them a nice balance and fit on your ears.
They are quite light and comfortable to wear.
The earphones have small stalk below the bud which is where the microphone is located.
And how do they sound? In a word – amazing.
The LG Tone Free sound – tuned by Meridian Audio – has power and authority.
It can deliver the nuances of a violin string, the crashing cymbals of a drum solo and the satisfying deep bass of a dance track.
In other words, no matter what type of music you prefer or the type of listener you are, the LG Tone Free have got your back.
If you do want to tweak the sound a little you can access some pre-set equaliser options within the Tone Free app which can boost either bass or treble and creating a more immersive or natural sound.
There are even two custom equaliser that lets you make the adjustments you want and save them as separate profiles.
We went with the bass boost and it did improve the bass only slightly. Most of the time we were happy with the sound without any adjustment.
Our only criticism is the max volume could be a touch higher.
Yes the passive noise cancellation can help prevent outside sound intruding on your music but it would still be nice to have the volume in the back pocket to drown it out a little more.
The outside of the earphones have touch controllers that have just the right sensitivity that allow users to play and pause their music, adjust the volume and also make and answer calls.
You can also also activate ambient mode by pressing and holding either ear bud so you can hear the outside world through the onboard microphones for those times when you’re running or in the gym or need to hear someone talking to you.
Speaking of calls, the LG Tone Free is an excellent way of taking your calls.
The microphone quality is exceptional – the people we were speaking to said they could hear us quite clearly.
And we could hear them in great quality as well.
The LG Tone Free has up to six hours of battery life and another 12 hours from the case so that’s 18 hours all up.
Speaking of the case, it is quite small and easy to pocket. And of course it has that UV cleaning going on as well.
The LG Tone Free are priced at $279 and available now.
VERDICT
The LG Tone Free earphones might be best known for their UV germ-killing case, but the exceptional sound quality is the real headline.
