LG TONE Free FP9 wireless earbuds review: Good for most part, but expensive

The LG TONE Free FP9 is a new addition in the South Korean electronics maker LG’s hearable line. Successor to the LG TONE Free FN7 (review), the new model brings incremental but meaningful upgrades with regard to design, acoustics, connectivity, features, and battery life. Like the predecessor, the earbuds boast UVnano technology in the charging case, active noise cancellation, and support for spatial audio. That said, the LG TONE Free FP9 wireless earbuds come across as a complete package. But how good are they in real life experience? Let’s find out:

Design

The LG TONE Free FP9 has the same design as that of the predecessor, albeit with some minor changes. Starting with the earbuds’ charging cradle, it has grown in size but not significantly. It is pocketable, but the changes in its dimensions seems unwarranted from a design perspective. Nevertheless, the case gains matte finish over glossy of the predecessor that makes it easy to handle and less susceptible to accidental drops. A new addition to the case is a slider button on the left side that replaces the pairing button available on the predecessor. It is through this button you enable the wired connectivity option to connect the case with devices sans Bluetooth such as treadmills, in-flight entertainment system, etc. Essentially, the case here works like an external Bluetooth dongle but limited to use with TONE Free FP9 earbuds. It is a niche feature but a well thought one. Important to note, not all devices support this feature.

Other than size, texture, and slider button, rest everything is in the same order as on the last year model. The case has two LED indicators on the front – one for the battery level and the other for UVnano status. On the rear side, there is a USB-C port for wired charging and connectivity. The case supports wireless charging. Inside the case, there is a blue accent light that glows up every time you open the case. The light is for aesthetic purposes, to give a sense that the case has UVnano tech to remove bacteria from the earbuds. Speaking of UVnano tech, it is integrated in the case to sanitise the earbuds’ speaker unit and mesh around through ultraviolet radiation. This feature works only when the case, with earbuds resting in it, is on charge.

Coming to the earbuds, they have the same stem-based design of the predecessor but of significantly smaller footprint. Moreover, the new contoured design has better fit and grip compared to the earbuds of the previous model. Like the case, the earbuds gain matte finish, which make them easy to handle and operate. Yet, one need to be cautious using them because of weak ingress protection (IPX4).

LG TONE Free smartphone app

The LG TONE Free FP9 are supported by an easy-to-use smartphone app named TONE Free, which is available on Google Play Store for Android devices and Apple App Store for iPhones. The app is supplementary, but essential for experience. It is through the app you can customise the earbuds sound profile and touch controls, and manage other settings. That said, the app simplifies things and makes a good companion to manage the earbuds without any hassle.

Features and performance

Starting with audio, the sound output lacks loudness but not quality. The earbuds sound balanced and clear with good channel separation for stereo effect. For personalised audio experience, there are five different pre-set equaliser settings accessible through app – immersive, natural, bass boost, treble boost, and 3D sound stage. It is the 3D sound stage equaliser, which enables spatial sound effects. Though good, it is not on par with Dolby Atmos in terms of quality and surround sound experience. Alongside pre-set equalisers, there are two custom equaliser settings for manual audio output configuration. For calls, the LG Tone Free FP9 have three microphones on each unit – two on the outer surface (one to cancel echo and reduce ambient noise and another to pick voice) and one inside each earbud for active noise cancellation. The earbuds work well for calling purposes.

Coming to features, there is an ANC with high and low mode for comfortable experience. Likewise, there are two profiles for ambient sound settings. Both the ANC and ambient sound mode work as intended, but they are not the best in terms of experience. On top of these regular features, there are interesting value-added features such as whisper mode. This mode is currently under testing, therefore, available as a beta through smartphone app. As the name suggests, it lets the user talk while holding the right earbud near to the mouth. It works, but needs serious work to mature.

Battery

Like other things, the improvement with regard to on-battery time is incremental. The earbuds work for about seven hours with ANC disabled and five hours with ANC enabled. These on-battery time figures are good but peers offer better. Taking the case battery into account, the earbuds work for about 15 hours on a mixed usage. Charging the case with earbuds in them takes about an hour, which is again good but not the best.

Verdict

Priced at Rs 18,990, the LG TONE Free FP9 is expensive. It is good for most part, but not the best. In comparison, the premium wireless earbuds (Galaxy Buds Pro) from Samsung offer better value for money.