LG may be synonymous with displays and other home appliances, but it also makes decent audio products that didn’t get enough attention in the mainstream media. One feature that makes the LG TWS earphones stand out is their UVNano technology, which claims to kill bacteria using the UV lights inside the charging case. LG with its Tone Free Fit TF7 earbuds is focussing on fitness enthusiasts with features that would appeal more to the people who are on the go most of the time and still appreciate good sound quality. The earbuds offer ANC, are tuned by Meridian, are IP67-rated, and come with an almost premium price tag of Rs. 9,490, but should you get these? Let’s find out in this review.
LG Tone Free Fit TF7 Review: Design and features
Most earbuds have a pretty basic look and feel nowadays, but not this one. The earbuds come in a polycarbonate case that has a matte-finish coating with the ‘Tone’ branding up top that is not very distracting to look at. The case sports a dual-tone colour scheme inside that is refreshing to look at. The case has a USB Type-C charging port and two LED indicators, one for the battery/charging status and another for UV light.
The charging case has a matte-finished coating
The charging case is quite large and will always remind you of being in your pocket. Opening and closing the case is also a little difficult with one hand, which will always put you in a dilemma of dropping the earbuds whenever you try to open the case with one hand. Despite the matte-finished coating on the case, I didn’t notice any scratches or scuffs on it after using it for a few weeks.
The earbuds also sport a similar design language as the case, with a grey matte-finished housing and a green accent to match the charging case. The in-hand feel of these earbuds as well as the charging case is quite premium.
The wing-shaped silicone ear hooks have a snug fit and do not cause any discomfort despite using them for prolonged hours. They can be controlled using the touch controls on the earbuds themselves, which respond well and aren’t activated accidentally, which is the case for most earbuds in this price range. At 5.9g for each earbud, they do not feel very heavy in the ear, and due to the no-stem design, they do not stick out of the ear either. The earbuds weigh 43g with the charging case, which is not very heavy either.
LG Tone Free Fit TF7 uses medical-grade silicone ear gels
The TWS earbuds ship with a USB Type-A to USB Type-C charging cable, two pairs of ear plugs, and two pairs of ear hooks as well.
The LG Tone Free Fit TF7 is positioned as a premium pair of TWS earbuds at Rs. 8,990 in India, and the features justify the price tag. It supports Hybrid ANC, Headphone Spatial Processing (HSP), a built-in UV LED light to reduce bacteria present on the earbuds, and the LG Tone app on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store to tune the earbuds however the user wants to. The earbuds have three pairs of mics for calling and ANC combined.
Controlling the earbuds is very easy with touch controls. The default controls can be a little difficult initially but can be modified with the LG Tone Free app. I liked the response time for the controls quite a lot; it is accurate, and I didn’t find myself accidentally triggering them, as they require you to touch them right in the centre of the earbud.
Charging this is fairly simple; all you need to do is plug it in when you see the red light on your charging case. Knowing the battery percentage of these earbuds is somewhat hard, at least when paired with an iOS device. I used these with my iPhone 14, and whenever I connected them, all I could see was a random number on the battery status widget, which was frustrating. Each time, I had to open the LG Tone Free app to see what percentage of the battery was still left on the earbud or the case. For Android, this was not an issue and I could see the battery levels accurately.
Connecting them to my MacBook was not very pleasant. I used them with my MacBook Air M1, and each time I had to connect them, I had to put them into pairing mode and connect them again. For the iPhone as well, the earbuds took more than a second until I could use them. Connecting these to an Android device was easy, especially with the inclusion of Google Fast Pair. It does have support for Bluetooth multi-point which is a plus if you carry multiple devices at the same time.
LG Tone Free Fit TF7 Review: App and specifications
The LG Tone Free app is a fairly light application on the Google Play Store, at 80MB and 95.5MB on the Apple App Store. You can customise the earbud sound output and make them sound a certain way using the custom EQ settings or choose from one of the presets. Touch controls can also be configured to a certain degree using the application if you do not like the default touch controls. These features will only be accessible if the earbuds are connected through Bluetooth.
The LG Tone Free Fit TF7 offer a decent response time for touch controls
The charging case is particularly large for daily commuters; there is no way you’ll forget it is inside your pocket. The LG Tone Free Fit TF7 sports 6mm drivers and comes equipped with Bluetooth 5.3 and an IP67 rating, meaning it can be drenched in sweat and still work normally according to LG.
These earbuds use LG UVnano technology to keep them bacteria-free. It uses the UV light present inside the case to do so; it can be somewhat distracting at night, but this feature can be turned off through the companion app if you do not want the blue light shining at you every time you open the charging case.
Each earbud sports a 68mAh battery, and the charging case comes equipped with a 390mAh battery.
LG Tone Free Fit TF7 Review: Performance and battery life
These earbuds have impressive specs on paper and offer a pretty good user experience in real life. For my music listening, I prefer Apple Music, be it on iOS or Android. I had the High-Res Lossless settings turned on both, and these earbuds were able to play songs at 16-bit/44.1 kHz ALAC Lossless smoothly and without any hiccups.
These are co-tuned with the British audio products manufacturer Meridian, and you can make them sound identical to the more expensive earbuds after some tuning in the LG Tone Free app.
To give you a reference, I listened to Chlorine by Twenty-One Pilots, which starts with some lyrics and bass and escalates to fast-paced drums. At 30 percent volume, I could hear every instrument perfectly fine, with the lyrics not distorting.
For louder volumes, I chose City Slums by Divine and Raja Kumari, and at 100 percent volume, and ANC turned off, I found myself immersed in the music without being interrupted by the earbud noise that is usually caused at higher volumes. The earbuds offered the right amount of thump for bass, and I was not missing out on the lyrics despite the high volume. I felt that the volume wasn’t loud enough, as I would expect it to be at 100 percent, but the audio quality was generally pretty good.
With the ANC turned on, I tested Goodbyes by Post Malone, playing at 100 percent. This is where I felt the lyrics pinch a bit too much; this was with the ‘Natural’ setting turned on in LG Tone Free under EQ. I played around with these EQ presets, which, in my opinion, were a lot, but the issue persisted, and in the end, I had to turn down the treble to be able to listen to the music properly. I did not face this issue while listening to other songs a lot. You can create up to two custom EQ presets in the app. Coming back to the ANC, I used these in a crowded office that has very loud centralised air-conditioning. It managed to eliminate voices but the air-conditioner’s sound was still audible. In an outdoor setting, the earbuds did manage to eliminate noise from the crowds but failed whenever a loud car came into the scene. I used these for a lot of my meetings and calls as well.
In an outdoor setting, you will have to speak louder to be audible. Speaking at lower volumes indoors with these earbuds will distort your voice, which is not ideal when you look at the premium price tag.
LG claims that these TWS earbuds offer a battery life of up to 10 hours without ANC and up to 6 hours with ANC turned on, similar to what I got in my testing. I was able to get 5 hours of playback with ANC turned on and about 10 hours without ANC. I got a decent 15-hour battery life off the charging case. Charging these TWS earbuds was fairly quick; charging them fully took less than an hour.
LG Tone Free Fit TF7 Review: Verdict
The LG Tone Free Fit TF7 is a great pair of TWS earbuds with some of the most premium features included in the package for the price. They offer good ANC with many customisation options through the companion app available to iOS and Android users. The sound is great for the most part and has a good build quality for the earbuds as well as the case if you don’t mind carrying a big case around in your pocket. The earbuds will appeal to people who are on the go and exercise often as they do not come off easily and sound great.
