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On a typical workday, I managed to get through just over seven hours of semi-constant use, with the headphones connected at all times. That’s in addition to the FN6 being used to send and receive audio during a Zoom call. That’s pretty impressive, and while it might not see you through to the end of a full day on a single charge, LG’s got you covered with speedy charging in the case.
Speaking of conversations, call quality is another soft spot for the FP8. Friends and family we spoke to said we sounded echo-y and less crisp compared to other earbuds, but said we came in louder than traditional speaker phone. The result makes us leery about using these as your go-to pair for business calls and are probably best suited for short phone calls when possible. For its audio division, LG gone to great lengths to highlight its collaboration with long-time hardware manufacturer, Meridian Audio, and it’s not hard to see (or hear) why. The included charging case also boasts a minimalist aesthetic, but there’s an almost unexplainable yet alluring quality to its circular chassis. Speaking of which, diving into the accompanying Tone Free app provides the chance to manipulate the equalizer settings with four pre-set modes: immersive (default), bass boost, natural and treble boost. If none of these take your fancy, there’s also two custom slots to employ your own unique interpretation.In terms of design, the LG Tone FP8 borrows a few pointers from the Apple AirPods Pro. Both sets of buds use silicone eartips that fit snugly into the ear canal by way of an ear-conforming shell that extends out to a small nub that runs outside the ear. Aesthetically there are a lot of similarities – but not enough to make them exact replicas of one another. The charging case itself has a party piece, of course: it uses UV light to clean the earbuds free from bacteria when they’re inside and the lid is closed. Until we see a wireless speaker with an integrated hand sanitiser dispenser, this is the product feature that’s most appropriate for the times. Taking the FN6 wireless earbuds out of the circular charging case, and it’s hard not to make immediate comparisons with Apple’s top-end wireless earbud. However, there are a few subtle differences to be found, and the earbuds themselves are incredibly stylish.
Bass sounds (of which there are plenty here) are textured and carefully hefty, with more than enough detail available to make the difference between actual instruments and machine-derived sounds obvious. There’s plenty of control on display, too, so the tune rumbles forward at the correct sort of pace – there’s no overhang and, as a consequence, the tempo is convincing. Once the audio information is on board, it’s dealt with by a pair of 6mm full-range neodymium drivers, the tuning of which has had significant input from British hi-fi pioneer Meridian. It’s not the first product on which these companies have collaborated, but it nevertheless brings quite a bit of audio credibility to the HBS-FN7 proposition.Battery life, with active noise-cancelling switched on, is an entirely unremarkable 16 hours or so, all in – that’s five hours in the earbuds themselves and another couple of charges in the case. That figure rises to more like 21 hours if you turn noise-cancelling off. With a wide array of washing machines in its product portfolio, LG knows a thing or two about cleanliness, so it makes a lot of sense to see the inclusion of a UV cleaning mechanism with the FN6. Sure, the feature is nothing new, but this is one of the first times a big brand (Philips also has a pair of self-cleaning earbuds) has jumped on the technology. According to LG, the case kills about 99.9% of bacteria on the earbuds between uses – which is kind of comforting if someone in your house, say a girlfriend, likes to borrow your earbuds without telling you and doesn’t ever clean them. Maybe I’ve become too accustomed to assuming that every pair of true wireless arriving in a pill-shaped charging case, but the FN6’s housing stands out because of that. The LGs don’t manage the rhythmic aspects of the recording with quite such assurance, though. They don’t quite have the fluidity the tune demands, and ultimately end up sounding slightly lumpy when they really should undulate.
Wireless connectivity here is via Bluetooth 5.0 with SBC and AAC codec compatibility. That’s fine for handling even the biggest high-resolution audio files from any of the streaming services that offer them, but nevertheless, it’s not quite at the cutting edge. For us, the buds were perfectly sized, they fit in the ear snugly and created a perfect passive seal without any effort at all. In case you need a larger or smaller eartip, LG includes both in the box, but we’d wager most folks should be fine with the medium pair that comes attached. It’s a strange thing to admit in the midst of a pandemic, but there’s a case to be made that the LG Tone Free FN6 couldn’t have been released at a better time. To make the digital assistant available, you’ll have to go into the Touchpad settings in the companion app and select ‘Voice Command’ on either the left or right earbud, or both. When enabling the feature on my Android smartphone, I was met with responsive and speedy results. The results were practically the same on macOS with Siri pulling up Apple Music and calendar requests with ease. LG Tone Free review: App and special features According to LG, you can expect 10 hours per charge in the buds and around 24 hours total for the case with ANC off. When it’s on, we got around 6-ish hours of battery life and 18 with the case, which feels like the going average for noise cancelling earbuds.Noise-cancellation is a success of the slightly qualified kind, too. Set to ‘high’ there’s an unarguable reduction in external sound, though nothing like as comprehensive as, say, Sony’s WF-1000XM4 can achieve, let alone Bose’s spookily effective QuietComfort Earbuds. Set it to ‘low’ and the effect on ambient sound is negligible. But call quality is good – incoming callers sound crisp and complete, while we have no complaints from people in receipt of our phone calls either. Verdict What I found to be a lot more impressive was the FN6’s ambient sound mode. Going for a cycle with the ambient mode switched on, I found the FN6 reached the perfect balance of feeding me just enough of my music that I wasn’t missing out, whilst letting in plenty of sound from the surroundings. On a busy London street, these are the earbuds you’d want. Battery – plenty to get you through the day The EQ is where you’re likely to invest most of your time, but be warned, it’s quite more technical than others we’ve tested. Instead of keeping things simple by categorizing the different frequencies (lows, mids, highs), this EQ has you adjusting what look like decibel levels, which, unless you’re an audio expert, requires a steeper learning curve. You can skip the entire process of creating your own music profile by selecting from the four available presets: Immersive, Natural, Bass Boost, and Treble Boost. LG developed a brand-new app that carries the same name as the buds, and offers a host of practical features, including a built-in EQ, toggle controls, and smart settings that adapt to the user’s needs.
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