LG might be out of the smartphone game but their Tone true wireless headphones are sticking around. And, in typical LG style, they’re evolving a little — the company spent a lot of time putting audio first in its handsets before the Big Close, and that innovation seems to live on in its headphone lineup.

Setting the Tone

The South Korean tech-maker has announced a new batch of its in-ear buds, as well as a collection of new features not seen in the lineup before. There are three sets of buds making their way to “key markets” (that’s all we’ve got for now) this month — the LG Tone Free Wireless Earbuds FP9, FP8 and FP5 in-ears are set to drop.

We’ll get into the differences in a second, but new features for the series include spatial audio (powered by the company’s own Meridian tech) “that seems to originate from all directions”, and which allows for 3D Sound Stage, a feature that uses spatial up-mixing to create a fuller sound.

But it’s the Whispering Mode that’s really unusual. We suppose technically you could do this with any set of ‘buds but Whispering Mode allows users to talk into the right earbud as if it was a dedicated microphone, using the three embedded mics. The feature is being punted as useful in places where silence is essential, like libraries, or when you don’t want everyone in the Spar to overhear the play-by-play of your argument with that muppet next door whose don’t won’t stop… ahem, anyway, moving on.

Weirdly, LG’s Tone FP8 seem to be the headliners here, included wired and wireless charging and the company’s UVNano sterilisation tech in addition to the active noise cancelling, IPX4 rating, Find My Earbuds feature and up to 24 hours of battery the range (mostly) shares. The FP9 buds keep UVNano while including something called Plug and Wireless. They do lose wireless charging, however, while the FP5 drops wireless charging and the sterilisation tech altogether, as well as two hours of battery life overall.