When LG announced its neck-worn earbud/speakers -- the Tone Studio -- a collective groan went up in the Engadget Slack channel. These things were ridiculous, or so they seemed. Well, about that -- I just strapped on a pair of Tone Studios and they're a lot less ridiculous than you might expect. In fact, they do what they were designed to do surprisingly well.
Let's start with the basics: there are four speakers here, two on the top of the neckband that blast out highs and mids, and two on the bottom that focus on delivering the bass. Once the Tone Studio is connected to an audio source -- in my case, via Bluetooth to an LG tablet -- all you have to do is start playing something. Anything. There's no additional work on the software side needed to get everything working properly, which is a nice touch. Too onerous a setup process would've made this thing an utter nightmare.
Gallery: Hands-on: LG's Tone Studio | 7 Photos
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+3Most importantly, it actually sounds quite good. Maximum volume is plenty loud for listening to tunes in a crowded press room, and it does a pretty great job of simulating surround sound (thanks to the integrated DTS support). Two demos in particular stuck out: while watching the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I could hear TIE Fighters whizzing around my head as though I were in space myself, and gameplay footage of Grand Theft Auto V was full of rumbly gunshots and corresponding vibrations whenever the player pulled the trigger.
The Tone Studio is surprisingly flexible, too. If you don't want to be that jerk walking down the street blaring music from your neck, you can pull out the tethered earbuds and listen more discreetly. And if you have a home theater system or a laptop that you want to connect to, you can use a standard 3.5mm cable with the Tone Studio's aux-in jack. Using that physical connection has the added benefit of firing up the integrated 32-bit audio DAC, which is supposed to improve the quality of the sound bursting forth from those speakers. I didn't notice a huge difference, but it might depend on the kind of content currently being consumed.
Now obviously, these speakers aren't perfect. There's a notable lack of bass here, so EDM fans who want thumpy audio on the go might want to consider a standalone Bluetooth speaker. I've never been a fan of LG's Tone earbud tips either -- they feel big in my ear canals but lack the kind of sturdiness you get out of higher-end in-ears. Still, LG managed to do pull off an interesting little audio coup for itself: it built a pleasant surprise. These things ultimately might be a little silly, but that doesn't mean they're useless. We'll take these things for a proper spin when they officially launch -- there's no firm price yet (I'm told around $220-$240) but they'll start shipping around March.
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