LG, a South Korean company, has been a renowned manufacturer of consumer and home electronics for many years. Their products can be found in a variety of electronics shops, including TVs, monitors, washing machines, refrigerators, and even laptops and computer systems.
Among their wide range of products, LG makes some solid sound systems and accessories, including wireless earbuds. The LG TONE Free UT90Q are a good example of this - Dolby Atmos wireless Bluetooth earbuds with a list of features as long as your arm.
The UT90Q comes in 2 colours - Charcoal Black and Snow White, which changes the look of the earbuds themselves as well as the charging case they come in. Aesthetically they look amazing, and they feel just as good - each earbud weighs just 5.3g, and the charging case adds another 39.3g on top.
The charging case also contains powerful UV lights, which sanitise the earbuds when you place them inside. LG claims that this kills up to 99.9% of bacteria, and sanitises the entire ear gel.
The battery life is great, with 9 hours of charge in the earbuds and 20 hours in the case, for 29 hours in total from one charge. The case can be charged using a cable for Fast Charging, and it also supports wireless charging.
The earbuds connect using Bluetooth 5.3 and are also compatible with Google's Fast Pair Service, and BLE. They're not just Bluetooth though, thanks to a genius little feature that LG calls "Plug and Wireless".
The earbuds come with an aux cable that's a 3.5mm jack on one end, and a USB-C on the other. This means you can plug the jack into any device with aux output, and plug the other end into the charging case. The case then communicates with the earbuds, acting like a Bluetooth receiver for devices that don't have Bluetooth natively.
LG also claim that they offer the "World’s 1st For Dolby Atmos Wireless Earbuds". The earbuds offer head tracking, which apparently identifies the location of the sound as you turn your head.
This lets it recalibrate, and place you at the centre of the scene. To quote LG, this "adds dimensionality and clarity to your stereo contents, so you feel like it's happening around your head."
It's a feature you didn't know you were missing until you have it, and it works fantastically. It can be controlled using the LG TONE Free app, meaning you can switch it on and off at will (it can be a bit disorienting when you're trying to focus on something else and just want a bit of background noise).
In terms of manufacturing quality, the earbuds are reasonably premium. They are light but don't feel cheap, with the exception of the stems which at times can feel a bit hollow and plastic.
They're also IPX4 rated - meaning the earbuds are resistant to water splashes from any direction. This makes them great for outdoor and sports use, as well as giving peace of mind if using them somewhere with water nearby where splashes are a risk.
LG claim to have ditched titanium in favour of Pure Graphene, which is apparently lightweight and thin, but as strong as the titanium that's more commonly used. They claim this reduces vibrations and offers clearer mid-high frequencies.
The driver is also 89% larger than their previous model, increasing from 8Φ to 11Φ, and like with a lot of their sound products, LG has paired with Meridian to provide an immersive experience and Headphone Space Processing (HSP) technology.
The result is a pair of earbuds that offers some of the best sound quality I've ever heard from an earbud, offering full bass to crisp highs and pitch-perfect mids. The app offers five equaliser settings, namely "immersive", "natural", "bass boost", "treble boost" and "3D sound stage". These are effective, but a little more specific customisation would be welcomed.
When it comes to noise cancelling, LG has invested a lot into the earbuds to make them as quiet as possible. Alongside medical-grade Silicon tips, which block noise and reduce potential skin irritation, they have three microphones and a Voice Pick-Up unit.
Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) is generally done with a minimum of two microphones, which pick up the sound from the outside world so that the earbud can send sound waves into your ear that cancel them out.
LG has added a third which detects sounds from the gap between the ear and the earbud. When the earbud is worn incorrectly, the sound would normally leak in through this gap. Having the extra mic here allows LG to catch this sound on the way in, and neutralise it with the rest of the sounds from the outside world.
Add to this the Voice Pickup Unit, which detects voices to make sure you're not frozen out of conversations while the ANC is turned on, and you have a really impressive and functional ANC setup. The difference between it on and off is worlds apart, and when music is playing you quite literally cannot hear anything that's not coming from the earbuds.
The earbuds can be used to take calls, and the Voice Pickup Unit monitors your voice and the sound around you to pull your voice out from the background. This improves call quality for your recipient.
In addition, the earbuds offer a "whispering mode", meaning you can take the right earbud out and hold it close to your mouth to whisper into the mic. This means you can have a clear and private conversation, even in a noisy space.
As well as controlling the earbuds in the app, you also get touch controls on the earbuds themselves, including the ability to skip songs, answer calls, and even toggle ANC on and off.
LG TONE Free UT90Q Verdict: 5/5
These earbuds might come with a hefty price tag, but LG is offering a premium product for that price tag. The sound quality is immense, and the earbuds are so feature-rich it feels like they can do everything.
With ANC, spatial sound, Dolby Atmos and head tracking, there is something for everyone. In addition, they're comfy to wear, have a decent battery life, and can even be connected to devices that don't have native Bluetooth.
They even come in eco-friendly packaging and include a decent-length USB-A to USB-C charging cable. What more could you need?
The LG TONE Free UT90Q are available now from the LG Store for £199.98.
