Since the arrival of Bluetooth, our choice for headphones and earphones has become more varied than ever. From full-size cans to earbuds that rest around your neck, we can enjoy wireless sound no matter where we are. Full-size, wireless headphones are often bulky affairs with a myriad of buttons on the ear cups that take a while to get used to. There needs to be some housing for all of those components and of course a battery, so the large size of these headphones is often justified. What LG have tried to do with the Tone Infinim however, is to house those components in an elegant accessory that rests around your neck, while giving you retractable earbuds to easily rejoin a conversation without cables weighing you down. There are big, easily found buttons to accept a call or pause your music, and as these have been tuned by Harmon Kardon, there are some lofty promises of excellent sound quality, as well. So, have LG made Bluetooth listening convenient and good-looking?
Design and Comfort
From a design standpoint, the Tone Infinim are definitely one of the better looking Bluetooth headphones that you can buy right now. They’re available in a range of colors, LG sent me the gold to review, which will go nicely with an LG G4 of course. They’re designed to rest around your neck, sort of like a piece of jewelry we suppose. They do just that and look good, just as long as you don’t have a thick neck like I do, then it looks more like a choker than anything else. Of course, if you’re a medium sized person, it should rest around your neck comfortably. They only weigh 1.8 oz, so they’re not heavy at all. I’m confident that they’ll stand the test of time as well, they feel well-built and sturdy in the hand, too.
The large play and call buttons on either side of the Tone Infinim are easily located while on the move and they respond well to pushes. The fact that they’re slightly concave makes them easy to find as well. Elsewhere though, buttons can get a little tricky; there’s an on/off button and there’s a volume up and down rocker as well as a skip rocker on the other side. These take a little getting used to, as does the mechanism to retract the earbuds themselves. For what’s it worth, LG have included enough cable on each earbud to suit pretty much everyone.
The cable that these earbuds rests on however, is pretty thin and the buds themselves aren’t all that comfortable in your ear. Perhaps LG could have added a smaller again silicon ear piece as they were a little large for my small ears even with the smallest buds. It’s a shame these aren’t of better quality and fit, as they’re sort of the main box to tick; they need to have good earbuds. Aside from that however, these are good looking and they’re quite comfortable.
Sound Quality
Features are fun and all, but if a set of headphones don’t sound good, then they’re not really fit for purpose. The thing with Bluetooth is that, even with APT-X support, the quality is never going to be the same as it is with a wire. Much the same reason that WiFi will never quite be as immediate and instant as Ethernet. In the case of the Tone Infinim, LG and Harmon Kardon have done a good job of creating a clear and crisp pair of headphones.
On the whole, they sound pretty good, but unfortunately there’s not much bass here, and things lack a sense of warmth. Depending on what you’re listening to, because the Tone Infinim is so clean and crisp, sounds can come across as somewhat harsh and abrasive. You can change things like this in the settings of your music app of course, but ultimately the whole thing feels like it’s missing a little something. That something is perhaps some needed bass and a warmth found in other headphones.
Phone calls sounded good, about as good as any other Bluetooth headset out there, and callers said I sounded okay. This was to be expected as there’s not much to making a Bluetooth headset, but having a nice, accessible button to pick up or end a call was a breath of fresh air and something I appreciated.
Of course, these are Bluetooth headphones designed more for portability than anything else, and in that regard, they work perfectly. They’re not the greatest sounding out there, but they’re clear and they offer a reasonable compromise between sound and portability.
Verdict
The Tone Infinim are an interesting product from LG, they might not have the best sound quality out there, but they definitely have a lot on offer, especially if you’re just fed up of cables. These are Bluetooth headphones for people that want to stay mobile and wear something easy, lightweight and not sacrifice quality entirely for the pleasure. They’re not exactly cheap or especially strong in the sound quality department, but they’re far from disappointing, and well worth it for someone on the move or perhaps even for something lightweight at the gym.