LG has slowly been making a name for itself in the wireless earbuds scene. A relative unknown with their earlier earbuds releases, the company now has a diverse lineup of devices ranging from fitness-centric earbuds to even UV self-cleaning ones. Their latest, the LG TONE Free T90S, falls under their premium category, though competitively priced against comparable earbuds.

The LG TONE Free T90S is an updated successor of the LG TONE Free T90, featuring a tweaked design for the case and earbuds while still offering many of the high-quality features from the original earbuds.

With the choices of wireless earbuds at an all-time high, does the TONE Free T90S stand out amongst its peers?

Design

Departing from the stem design of the T90, the new LG TONE Free T90S features a more compact and ergonomic shape. This is meant to provide a more comfy wear in the ears, but I didn’t actually like the fit for the default tips that it came with – it was just a little too big for me. Luckily, the earbuds do come with a decent assortment of ear tip sizes to change and now it sits more nicely.

That being said, the shape of the earbuds still does bug me a little. More so compared to other earbuds, I am very conscious that these are in my ears—even after adjusting the positioning, I still feel the earbuds always ever so slightly push down on the bottom. It’s not a deal breaker, but it’s not something I have completely gotten used to yet. Everybody’s ears are different though, so this may not be a concern for you.

Unfortunately, the controls on the LG TONE Free T90S are not very good. There’s no physical button, so instead, you have to rely on the touch-sensitive outer face that sticks out for your gestures. The gestures themselves are quite robust, giving you multiple control options with up to three taps and a long press, but that flexibility is redundant if does not work consistently.

The touch-sensitive area is simply not responsive. Half the time, it does not detect the touch gesture and gets especially egregious when trying to do double or triple-tap commands. You really have to jab your finger onto it in order to get it to respond consistently, but that’s just not comfortable at all.

Moving on to better aspects, I do like the charging case. Like the earbuds, the case also has received a new look. It is now pill-shaped with a matte exterior, but more importantly, it is far smaller than the circular puck-like design on the T90. It’s one of the smallest cases for wireless earbuds that I’ve tried and I appreciate that it does not take up an inordinate amount of space in my pockets—I barely notice it when out and about.

LG TONE Free T90S: Charging Case — The LG TONE Free T90S case is nicely pocketable

One thing that wireless earbuds have yet to truly be experimental with is colour and the same goes for the TONE Free T90S. It’s just the standard black and white options available—the black looks good on it, but is otherwise pretty generic.

The LG TONE Free T90S is also rated with IPX4 resistance, so it should be able to survive light showers and exercise use.

Performance

A word you’ll see lots of times among the features of the earbuds is graphene; LG is very proud to be using it for the drivers. Specifically, the company uses pure graphene instead of the more conventional coated graphene to provide reduced vibrations and allow for “well-balanced and precise sound”.

The TONE Free T90S is an outstanding performer in most genres. The EDM/pop-rock-influenced Hallucinations from PVRIS punches hard bass-wise for the rapid beats in the chorus. Meanwhile, the hard-hitting guitar rifts are heard clearly without muddling the vocals for Paramore’s Ignorance.

However, I will note that these aren’t the loudest wireless earbuds. While they don’t sound soft, the TONE Free T90S doesn’t go as high as other earbuds – I feel that some songs would hit better if the volume was just a notch higher.

Active noise cancellation (ANC) is also available on the LG TONE Free T90S and it works well in blocking off external sound, though a little still seeps through. Ambient mode similarly is a good performer and notably has three modes (Moderated Ambient Sound, Natural Ambient Sound, and Conversation mode) that work better for their respective scenarios.

There are also occasions where the sound performance reverts to what I think are the factory settings, which don’t sound good at all. It’s an easy fix, you just need to connect to the LG TONE Free app and reselect your preferred EQ, but it still is annoying when it happens.

Speaking of the app, there are an excellent number of options available for users. I mentioned the EQ settings, and there are five presets available – Immersive, Natural, Bass Boost, Treble Boost, and 3D Sound Stage – as well as two customisable EQ slots (which are pretty robust in terms of how you want to personalise it). Besides that, you can change the touch gesture commands and locate your earbuds if you’ve misplaced them. If you have the earbuds connected to multiple devices, the app also helpfully lists all the devices and you can easily switch between or disconnect them with a tap.

LG TONE Free T90S: TONE Free app — The LG TONE Free app is feature-rich

Dolby Atmos is supported on the LG TONE Free T90S and you can find the toggle for Dolby head tracking right here in the app too. It works well and is an exciting feature for those looking for a wireless device that has it. Personally, I still don’t get the hype for it—I much prefer listening to an all-enveloping sound when watching my media.

There’s also the Plug & Wireless option which I feel is an underrated feature. You can connect the charging case to non-Bluetooth devices through the included USB-C or 3.5mm connector and the case will function as a transmitter for the earbuds to provide wireless audio. It works as advertised when testing it out on my desktop PC and PS5, with the app also allowing you to choose between high-quality audio or low latency.

LG TONE Free T90S: Plug & Wireless — Plug & Wireless lets you use the earbuds with more devices, like gaming consoles

Not just for the convenience factor, it has been a great help in warding off wired earphone fatigue for my PC. It is quite a shame that very few wireless earbuds have this functionality; not even the flagships offer it.

Finally, the LG TONE Free T90S’ last big feature is UVnano. It’s pretty much a signature for LG wireless earbuds, having appeared in their very early devices. Essentially, when you are charging the earbuds, the case uses UV lights to sanitise them and LG says that it helps clear bacteria by up to 99.9%. If you’re more on the cleanliness side, this is a cool feature.

Battery

Using the LG TONE Free T90S with ANC turned on will get you around 5 hours of battery life, which is on the average side. For context, premium-level wireless earbuds like the AirPods Pro 2 and Samsung’s Galaxy Buds3 Pro offer 6 hours of battery life, though they both are much more expensive. Without ANC, I found the T90S to last about 9 hours which is what LG touts.

You’ll get a total of 36 hours with the charging case. To fully charge the case, it’ll take 2 and a half hours. Unfortunately, it does not seem to have a quick charge feature if you need it in a jiffy, but it can at least support wireless charging.

Verdict

As a device that lies on the upper mid-range spectrum of wireless earbuds, the LG TONE Free T90S offers much in addition to its solid audio and ANC performance. The small size makes it easy to bring around and the dedicated app also brings lots of functionality. Notably, the Plug & Wireless feature adds flexibility in using the earbuds for various devices.

However, earbuds are only as good as how they operate and that is my biggest caveat with the T90S. The touch gestures are a massive downer, especially given that these are the functions users will use the most. I also don’t like how I have to occasionally re-sync my EQ settings every so often.

It’s a competitive space here for wireless earbuds, and the LG TONE Free T90S still brings a lot of value for the price. But it isn’t without some accommodations on your end.

The LG TONE Free T90S is available for purchase on LG’s official website.

Photos by Russell Loh of the DANAMIC Team.