How To Repair Lg Hbs-780 One Side Foesnt Work

Our Verdict

The LG Tone Complimentary HBS-FN6 come with a neat charging case that tin can kill "up to 99.nine%" of the bacteria that lives on the speaker mesh of your earbuds, and they're comfy to wear thanks to a lightweight build. Unfortunately, the sound quality on offer is pretty abysmal – and that'southward what counts when it comes to headphones.

For

Bacteria-killing charging case
Comfortable fit

Against

Muddled sound quality
Sibilant treble frequencies

TechRadar Verdict

The LG Tone Costless HBS-FN6 come with a nifty charging case that can impale "up to 99.9%" of the bacteria that lives on the speaker mesh of your earbuds, and they're comfy to wear thanks to a lightweight build. Unfortunately, the sound quality on offer is pretty abysmal – and that's what counts when information technology comes to headphones.

Pros

+
Leaner-killing charging case
+
Comfortable fit
+

Cons

-
Muddled sound quality
-
Sibilant treble frequencies
-

I-minute review

The LG Tone Complimentary HBS-FN6 earbuds are true wireless earbuds fabricated for an historic period in which people are looking for increased protection against pathogens, coming with a UV lite-touting charging case that LG says tin impale "up to 99.ix%" of bacteria on the speaker mesh of the buds.

Whether this works isn't something we tin can say for sure without access to a lab, but the idea of non needing to regularly disinfect our earbuds is certainly an bonny prospect – and as any music aficionado knows, ear infections that make wearing earbuds or headphones uncomfortable aren't much fun.

Unfortunately, this is one of the few noteworthy features the LG Tone Free have to offer, alongside skilful connectivity courtesy of Bluetooth 5.

The design of these wireless earbuds is pretty unassuming, taking an aesthetic cue from the AirPods Pro – though they don't offer the noise-cancelling smarts of Apple's earbuds. They're lightweight and comfy to article of clothing, and a choice of silicone eartips plus IPX4 water resistance rating makes them suitable for employ while working out.

In truth, however, the audio quality offered by the LG Tone Free buds isn't very good at all – trebles audio harsh and distorted, while the bass manages to be both underwhelming and muddy at the same time.

Their only saving grace here is that they handle mid frequencies fairly well (think pianos, vocals, and guitars), especially in simpler musical arrangements. Nevertheless, once you give them anything much more complicated than a solo guitar and voice to deal with the soundstage becomes a muddled mess.

We'd expect more that for the price you're paying – even if they can kill the bugs that hope to infect your ears.

true wireless earbuds — (Image credit: TechRadar)

LG Tone Gratis HBS-FN6 price and release date

Launched Jan 2022
$150 / £130 / AU$280

The LG Tone Free HBS-FN6 were get-go announced at CES 2022 in Jan, and went on sale shortly after. They cost $149.99 / £129.99 / AU$279 – though discounts are sometimes available – putting them at the lower end of the truthful wireless price scale.

If you tin live without the bacteria-eliminating UV calorie-free charging case, the HBS-FN4 are a cheaper alternative, coming in at $99 / £79 (about AU$140).

wireless earbuds — (Image credit: TechRadar)

Design

Lightweight design
IPX4 h2o resistance
UV light charging case

Coming in blackness and white, the LG Tone Costless buds expect pretty similar to the Apple tree AirPods Pro, with protruding ear stems and silicone eartips – although they don't offer the noise cancellation that you'll become with Apple'due south earbuds.

The buds themselves are slick and lightweight, with a sleeky cease on the housings and a matte finish on the impact-sensitive ear stems. Yous get a pick of three sizes of eartip in the box, and they feel very comfortable to wear, with a secure fit that makes them suitable for using while out and about.

The earbuds also come with an IPX4 h2o resistance rating, which means you can utilize them while working out without worrying that a little sweat or rain will harm them – y'all definitely can't take them swimming though (for that, we'd recommend checking out the best waterproof headphones of 2022).

The touch-sensitive controls are housed at the very top of the ear stems; y'all tin can employ these to play / suspension your music, adjust the volume, answer phone calls, and activate Ambient Sound mode, which allows some environmental noise to pass through the buds – it's a handy feature if y'all need to apace tune into your surroundings.

We found that the controls are a petty finicky, and you do have to be very deliberate in the way you press them, lest your taps be misinterpreted by the buds.

The charging instance has a round, featherlight design and flip-height lid, and information technology's definitely among the smaller charging cases we've tested, which ways you can easily slip it into your pocket when not in employ – and thanks to its wireless capabilities you lot can charge it up on a wireless charging mat.

On the forepart of the charging instance is a small LED that gives yous an indication of your remaining battery life, while a USB-C charging port tin can exist found on the dorsum.

As mentioned, LG says the charging case is capable of killing 99.9% of leaner on the speaker mesh of the earbuds. When yous place the earbuds inside the case it blasts them with UV low-cal, sanitizing them for the next fourth dimension you use them – the charging instance does demand to be continued to the USB-C power cable in lodge for this to work.

Information technology's a scrap contemporary – and LG doesn't say whether the UV light is too capable of killing viruses, which in hindsight, may take be more useful during the current Covid-19 pandemic – just nosotros can see how this feature may be reassuring to those who often share their earbuds with others.

Nosotros've certainly never heard of anyone becoming sick from bacteria on their earbuds, merely what's the damage in taking extra precautions?

Audio performance

Muddled soundstage
Harsh trebles
Sibilance in high frequencies

Nosotros first tried the LG Tone Free HBS-FN6 earbuds by listening to Crystal Castles' Not In Love, and the sparkling synth ostinatos cut through the mix with clarity as Robert Smith's distinctive vocal commanded the runway; however, the remainder of the instrumentation suffered from a dirty sound that fabricated information technology hard to pick out the different instruments.

Experimenting with the equalizer does yield some better results when using the Natural preset, but the bass frequencies tend to overpower the rest of the soundstage, while the trebles sometimes audio a fiddling sibilant, with an annoying hiss when the volume picks up.

The LG Free Tones fare better with less circuitous tracks; in Drunkard Kid Catholic by Bright Eyes, the pianoforte sounded clear and brilliant, while whining guitar lines wrapped fugue-like around Connor Oberst's angsty vocal. There was still that irritating sibilance in the high-frequency percussion, though, which detracted from the otherwise well-counterbalanced mids.

It seems these earbuds sound best when playing clean pop music. In Kimbra'south Cameo Lover, the bass initially sounded tight and controlled, though it did begin to bleed into the other frequencies as the chorus picked up. The sparser verses with harmonized bankroll vocals sounded pretty good – but as more than instruments are introduced, the soundstage became dislocated, with a lack of clarity across the lath.

Putting our theory to the examination, nosotros tried the buds out on Fleet Foxes' Oliver James – a song that relies purely on Robin Pecknold'due south resonant a capella vocal – and we constitute that the LG Free Tones sounded far clearer and more detailed, although that hissing quality was still there.

Battery life and connectivity

18-hour battery life
Bluetooth 5
Easy to pair

The LG Tone Free earbuds offer a half-dozen-hour bombardment life, with an additional 12 hours contained within the wireless charging instance; a quick five-minute accuse will give you an 60 minutes of juice if you're in a hurry, too.

That battery life is fairly underwhelming. While the buds themselves are longer-lasting than the likes of the Apple AirPods, the 18-hour full is significantly lower than yous get from many of the best true wireless buds available today.

We found that pairing the LG Tone Frees with our Nokia 7.2 was absolutely seamless, and that's thanks to Bluetooth 5 connectivity. We didn't experience any annoying connection dropouts while nosotros were using them, and once you lot've paired them initially, they'll automatically connect with your telephone when you place them in your ears.

Should I buy the LG Tone Free HBS-FN6?

Buy them if...

Don't purchase them if...

The all-time true wireless earbuds of 2022

Olivia is TechRadar'due south Senior Editor - Home Entertainment, covering everything from headphones to TVs. Based in TechRadar'south London offices, she's a pop music graduate who worked in the music industry before finding her calling in journalism. She's previously been interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live on the subject of multi-room audio, chaired panel discussions on variety in music festival lineups, and her bylines include T3, Stereoboard, What to Sentry, Peak 10 Reviews, Creative Bloq, and Croco Magazine. In her spare fourth dimension Olivia likes gardening, painting, and hanging with her cat Ethel and golden retriever Dora.