We try before you buy: LG's high-tech wireless earbuds
I've never been a wireless earbud person. Despite being an Apple product die-hard, I've never owned a set of AirPods, choosing instead to wear my ancient Sony wireless noise-cancelling headphones every day of my life for the last four years.
While I once joked I wanted to be buried with these headphones, they do have their shortcomings. Like most over-ear headphones, they're a little bulky, and although I've become accustomed to exercising and running with them, I could stand to use something a little lighter while working out.
So, when a pair of LG TONE Free T90 Earbuds slid across my desk, I was more than happy to take the earbuds out for a little trial to see if I preferred them to my comfy, familiar headset.
NOTE: Prices are accurate at time of publishing.
LG TONE Free T90 Dolby Atmos Wireless Earbuds
Usually $399, you can save $100 and buy yours now for $299 on Amazon.
What are the LG TONE Free T90 Dolby Atmos Wireless Earbuds?
As soon as I realised how high-tech these earbuds were, I was pretty keen to try them out. One of the most important things for me in wireless listening is sound quality, and the T90s are the world's first Dolby Atmos Earbuds with Dolby Head Tracking. If you're not sure what that means – I definitely didn't – Dolby Atmos is a surround-sound technology that expands on existing systems, ultimately removing horizontal and vertical limitations to the way we process sound. They're also designed to reduce vibrations, allowing them to deliver high-quality sound. And with active noise-cancellation included, they had all the features I needed for a great listening experience.
Beyond sound quality, their charging case has UV Nano Self-Cleaning technology, which kills 99.9 per cent of bacteria that might be living on the earbuds. This is a relief because seeing the inside of some friends' charging cases for their AirPods has honestly left me a little queasy.
Trying them out
I first tried the earbuds out while on a walk. The initial size was a bit of an issue, I kept feeling them slowly slide out of my too-small earholes, but thankfully LG provide two sets of rubber tips for the earbuds, so I could switch to the smaller ones once I was home. However, in the initial trial, it caused a few issues. The earbuds respond to touch controls, and tapping on them once will pause the song. So, when I had to keep pushing them into my ear once they started sliding out, it became really difficult to get into a rhythm with my music.
Getting used to them
After some trial and error, I began to like the headphones a lot more and relied upon them more frequently. Their shape is well-designed to sit in the ear, and once I was able to switch to the smaller rubber tips (which took a bit of effort), I was able to wear them a lot more comfortably.
When it comes to taking calls, they're much better than the Sony headset. I've never been able to figure out how to take calls on my Sonys, whereas the T90s adapt seamlessly to my phone for any call. Because they're so tiny, they often disappear behind my hair, giving me that unhinged appearance of talking to myself while I walk down the street – and I'm still enjoying the strange looks I get while I tell my mum all about my day.
Their sound quality is also really, really good. As established, I'm not great at understanding the tech behind it all – my qualifications extend to 'liking music', and it always sounds great with these in my ears.
They also have excellent battery life. Over-ear headphones don't have charging cases, so the fact I could give these a bit of extra juice throughout the day was a massive pro. The earbuds themselves can go for nine hours on a single charge, while the charging case can give them an extra 20.
The one con
The one thing I don't like about the T90s is ultra-specific – their noise cancellation isn't quite strong enough to cancel out the sound of my ragged breathing while I'm running.
As a long-time runner, I've found my Sony headset drowning out the sound is something that's able to push me along, as I'm not constantly reminded how hard the run is by the sound of my own panting. After only running with them on over the last few years, it was a bit of a shock to take to the treadmill with the T90s and hear just how unfit I sounded. However, this is a pretty specific issue to have, and I still love wearing the T90s while I'm doing other types of exercise.
With that being my only dislike, these earbuds are amazing quality. They're currently on sale on Amazon for $299, a similar price to some AirPod models with a lot less promise.
So, if you're a long-time over-ear obsessive who's ready to take the plunge into earbuds – these are an excellent option.
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