Australian technology news, reviews, and guides to help you
Australian technology news, reviews, and guides to help you

LG set to bring spatial sound to Tone Free in 2022

LG’s collaboration with Meridian Audio gets more interesting, as LG earphones add a variation of spatial to its ANC earphone line-up.

Samsung isn’t the only company with a new pair of truly wireless spatial-packing earphones on the way, as LG talks about what it has coming, as well.

There are a few models on the way for LG’s truly wireless earphones, which have been expanding over the years, and kind of kicked off where LG started collaborating with English audio-house Meridian.

Back when they first launched, they rocked up not just packing support from a known audio specialist, but also some special blue lights focused on cleaning germs and bacteria off your earphones.

While we saw that largely as a gimmick, it’s one that is sticking around for version three, as LG ups the ante and looks to improve on its personal audio tech in 2022.

A few models are being prepped for release, it seems, as LG looks to premium ANC truly wireless earphones, with a fitness-focused style or two on the way, as well.

LG’s T90 will be its 2022 flagship pair, using graphene on the inside for vibration reduction to presumably keep the bass strong but not overblown, while LG’s collaboration with Meridian will see the latter develop a processing technology for spatial audio, as well as an approach to balance tone, the company says.

Perhaps more interesting will be the T90’s use of Dolby Atmos, which will see support for head-tracking in a similar way to what you can do with AirPods and AirPods Pro on Apple Music, though LG hasn’t yet said if Android 13 will be required, given spatial audio is one of the features arriving on that operating system.

Active noise cancellation is a big part, and LG is updating the tech there, too, with support for an algorithm that aims to automatically adjust the sound using microphones inside the ear, with another algorithm filtering out external noises to cut back on feedback. From the sound of thing, it appears LG is going for an almost adaptive approach to active noise cancellation, so we’ll just have to wait and see to find out how effective this is.

There are also improvements to the voice pickup system for calls, support for up to 29 hours of charge, and a way to turn the Tone Free T90 earphones into a Bluetooth transmitter for use with video game systems and aircraft, plugging in using a Type C cable.

That’s what will be LG’s premium pair of truly wireless earphones, though they’re will be another model coming in the Tone Free Fit, models rated for IP67 water, dust, and sweat resistance, with a degree of active noise cancellation also thrown in, though LG hasn’t said if the tech is quite as strong as what will be in the T90.

Don’t expect the spatial head tracking stuff in LG’s Tone Free Fit models, but at least there’ll be some active noise cancellation, it seems.

What there also isn’t is no word on pricing in Australia, which will be likely around the $200 to $400 mark depending on the model, with availability expected in the next couple of months.

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