LG Announces New TONE Free True Wireless Earbuds

Tsing

The FPS Review
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LG has shared a press release detailing its new lineup of TONE Free true wireless earbuds, the "perfect everyday companions for today's on-the-go lifestyles."

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Reading that article... I'll wait for some real world tests because I count at least 3 perhaps more sound processing pieces involved in those headphones. Between ANC, Position tracking, Dolby Atmos Processing, and two others I can't even remember... yea it's either going to be amazing or kill batteries in like 5 minutes.
 
I honestly do not understand the appeal of wireless earbuds.

It's just one more thing that needs charging and can have a dead battery when you need it.

And it's worse because it doesn't offer a benefit over wired earbuds. You are probably going to have your source (phone, or whatever) on your body anyway, so what does eliminating the cable really buy you?

It's stupidity
 
Zarathustra said:
I honestly do not understand the appeal of wireless earbuds.

It's just one more thing that needs charging and can have a dead battery when you need it.

And it's worse because it doesn't offer a benefit over wired earbuds. You are probably going to have your source (phone, or whatever) on your body anyway, so what does eliminating the cable really buy you?

It's stupidity
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Eliminating the cable is the most important thing, I hate earphone cables, it gets tangled into everything. No matter how much care you take when putting it away when you pull it out again it will have all the contents of your bag tangled in it. It keeps getting in the way. It irritates and tickles my skin.

Plus I never have my phone on me when sitting at a desk (when I'd actually use earbuds), it's on the desk in front of me. And half of the time I forget it when trying to move to another workstation and end up ripping them out of my ears with the cables.

Thank goodness I'm working from home since covid and I don't have to deal with earphones and cables now.
 
MadMummy76 said:
Eliminating the cable is the most important thing, I hate earphone cables, it gets tangled into everything. No matter how much care you take when putting it away when you pull it out again it will have all the contents of your bag tangled in it. It keeps getting in the way. It irritates and tickles my skin.

Plus I never have my phone on me when sitting at a desk (when I'd actually use earbuds), it's on the desk in front of me. And half of the time I forget it when trying to move to another workstation and end up ripping them out of my ears with the cables.

Thank goodness I'm working from home since covid and I don't have to deal with earphones and cables now.
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Hmm.

I guess I can sort of see that small benefit. For a while in 2012 I used a clip-on microphone in my game setup, which I yanked off my shirt a few times before I got used to taking it off, befor standing up. To me just conditioning yourself to not be a bull in a china shop is probably the better solution though :p

I've never had this issue with earbuds or headsets though, as it is pretty difficult to miss that they are in your ears or on your head.

To me the benefits greatly outweigh the drawbacks though. The drawbacks being:
  • Inherent loss of audio quality with wireless formats (wake me when bluetooth supports uncompressed high bitrate two channel audio)
  • Inherent reduction in reliability (who hasn't had bluetooth devices that just won't connect or won't work for some reason, or randomly drop out, and no one knows why)
  • The need to keep them charged. I know if I had a set, they'd always be dead when I needed them the most.
  • Increased risk of loss
  • Added complexity and cost

I work from home, and spend most of the day every business day at home, with a wired headset on my head, and have no problems at all. You couldn't pay me any sum to go wireless. It just isn't worth the headache. I have speakers, but I don't want to be the *** in a meeting who is causing all the echo's and noise problems, so I never use them for that.
 
I have a cheap pair of wireless earbuds I picked up last year just for making phone calls while out on the job site. I had expected to can them once the job was completed, but I actually use them a good bit: they are convenient and easy to use. I haven't run them dead yet, but I don't listen to them for hours on end either. And they fit well enough that I use them as earplugs often -- I'm sure they aren't OSHA noise reduction certified or anything, but they keep my ears from ringing if I'm mowing the yard or something, and hey, music is a bonus. These do not have active noise canceling, if I get another pair, that will be something I may look for.

The case has it's own little battery, and it keeps the earphones charged up whenever I want to use them.

They don't sound particularly great - either has earphones or from the microphone for calls - but they get the job done. And they were pretty cheap, so I don't feel like it's some wasted investment even if I were to lose one. I've taken to retiring my conference call - style external speaker for calls in favor of these -- lower background noise for other people on the calls, and other people in the room don't have to hear the entire conversation.

Not having wires at all is a surprisingly big benefit - I was always getting them caught on things or snagging my glasses or something.

The biggest downside is that half the time other people don't know I have them in or are using them.
 
Zarathustra said:
Hmm.

I guess I can sort of see that small benefit. For a while in 2012 I used a clip-on microphone in my game setup, which I yanked off my shirt a few times before I got used to taking it off, befor standing up. To me just conditioning yourself to not be a bull in a china shop is probably the better solution though :p
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There is a solution to a problem, then why not take it? This actually sounds bullish to me.
Zarathustra said:
I've never had this issue with earbuds or headsets though, as it is pretty difficult to miss that they are in your ears or on your head.
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I don't miss that they are in my ears, I miss that the cable is connected to the computer or phone, and I can't move freely.
Zarathustra said:
To me the benefits greatly outweigh the drawbacks though. The drawbacks being:
  • Inherent loss of audio quality with wireless formats (wake me when bluetooth supports uncompressed high bitrate two channel audio)
  • Inherent reduction in reliability (who hasn't had bluetooth devices that just won't connect or won't work for some reason, or randomly drop out, and no one knows why)
  • The need to keep them charged. I know if I had a set, they'd always be dead when I needed them the most.
  • Increased risk of loss
  • Added complexity and cost
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  1. Really, you want to talk about audio quality, in a noisy environment playing compressed music through a streaming service (probably), on let's be honest limited capability microscopic drivers.
  2. As opposed to random dropouts due to cable breakage and connector wear? Tomato tomato.
  3. You know how the charging issue can be eliminated? By using a cable, through which they become wired earbuds, you know like the ones you are advocating for. Besides if you can keep track of your phone charge, you can keep earbuds charged too. These newer ones have a battery that lasts through a day of usage.
  4. I've lost plenty of wired earphones, so it's not like that is not a concern with wired ones.
  5. Sure, then why don't you drive a Ford model T? Who needs added complexity and cost?
Zarathustra said:
I work from home, and spend most of the day every business day at home, with a wired headset on my head, and have no problems at all. You couldn't pay me any sum to go wireless. It just isn't worth the headache. I have speakers, but I don't want to be the *** in a meeting who is causing all the echo's and noise problems, so I never use them for that.
Click to expand...
You couldn't pay me to use any kind of earphones or headphones unless it is absolutely necessary. Headphones are heavy, cumbersome and make my head warm. Earphones never quite fit right in my ear, plus I hate being unaware of my surroundings. When I worked in an office I always had to take them out when I've seen people talking (are they talking to me? are they talking about me? is what they talk about relevant to me? Are they talking about a problem I have a solution to? etc, etc.) But if I must use them because I can't use speakers, wireless is absolutely preferred over wired.
 
Zarathustra said:
I honestly do not understand the appeal of wireless earbuds.

It's just one more thing that needs charging and can have a dead battery when you need it.

And it's worse because it doesn't offer a benefit over wired earbuds. You are probably going to have your source (phone, or whatever) on your body anyway, so what does eliminating the cable really buy you?

It's stupidity
Click to expand...
I have the ISOtunes Sport Advanced buds that I wear all the time. 26 db passive noise reduction, active noise cancellation for shooting sports and ambient sounds while allowing conversation to come through, and decent quality speakers for listening to music. Wear them while doing yard work, shooting, on a plane. Worth every penny of the $140 I spent on them.

The benefit for me is not having a wire dangling around while using my zero turn or other yard equipment. Or handling firearms.
 
Riccochet said:
I have the ISOtunes Sport Advanced buds that I wear all the time. 26 db passive noise reduction, active noise cancellation for shooting sports and ambient sounds while allowing conversation to come through, and decent quality speakers for listening to music. Wear them while doing yard work, shooting, on a plane. Worth every penny of the $140 I spent on them.

The benefit for me is not having a wire dangling around while using my zero turn or other yard equipment. Or handling firearms.
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wow noise cancellation for shooting purposes in earbuds. that's rare.. most say they are not rated for that sort of peaky noise cancellation.
 
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