The LG ToneFree T90s earbuds take an especially big bite out of the competition
I’ve made no secret of my love for Apple’s AirPods Pro 2. In fact, I love them so much I even bought my partner a pair so he could understand why I wear them every day – though I wish I’d picked them up when they were discounted, but I digress.
Being a headphone reviewer, I get to listen to a plethora of headphones and earbuds, and while I’ve definitely come across some top-performing pairs like the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, I’ve always returned to my trusted AirPods for their sound quality, noise cancellation and seamless connectivity with my iPhone. I really do believe them to be among the best wireless earbuds you can buy.
At least that was until LG came along with its latest set of flagship earbuds, the ToneFree T90S.
TechRadar’s LG ToneFree T90S review went live back in August but, at the time, they weren’t available in Australia where I’m based. I was eagerly awaiting details of their arrival as our review painted them to be a truly talented set, chock full of useful, innovative features and delivering “supremely balanced audio.” I was also intrigued by their ability to support Dolby Atmos – LG claims the buds to be the first true wireless set to support the 3D sound technology across all content and devices.
The AirPods Pro 2 support Dolby Atmos spatial audio when connected to an iOS device and with music being streamed via Apple Music, while the aforementioned Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds employ a proprietary Immersive Audio mode that also provides device-agnostic spatial audio but technically not fully-fledged Dolby Atmos. I’ve personally never been one to immediately jump on the spatial audio bandwagon, but I was prepared to give LG the opportunity to see if it could prove to me that it’s the next best thing in personal audio.Size doesn’t always matter
One of the main reasons I love the AirPods so much is just how well they fit in my ears (I’m a bit picky when it comes to headphone comfort, which is why I also love the Sonos Ace). The whole process couldn’t be simpler: just take them out of the case and pop them into my ears, no fidgeting required. I’ve come across other pairs of in-ear headphones that either take a while to feel good in the ear, or they just feel uncomfortable no matter how much I try.
Fortunately, I experienced no such issues with LG ToneFree T90S, which surprised me considering just how small they are. Both the earbuds themselves and the case are incredibly compact and, to be honest, I wasn’t immediately sure the two of us were going to become friends.
