Whatever you do, don’t wear LG’s Tone Studio speakers on the subway. Please. The company’s new neck-mounted speakers are surround sound for your face, putting you smack in the middle of a movie, TV show or game — complete with haptics.
At CES this week, LG introduced the Tone Studio and the Tone Free, a pair of true wireless earbuds that join the Apple AirPods, the Samsung Gear Icon X and probably a dozen other competitors popping up like little wireless mushrooms here at CES. The Tone Free are okay, sure, but there’s nothing like the Tone Studio.
LG has had neckbuds for years; Bluetooth stereo headsets that go around your neck, with little earbuds that extend up from the main body. The Tone Studio has the traditional buds, for discreet use, but also has two speakers facing up and two facing down on the neck-mounted portion. The speakers run for about three hours before they need a charge.
That gives you full, four-channel surround sound pointing up at your ears. The downward-facing speakers deliver rumble, judder and thud directly into your collarbone. LG showed them to me with some classical music, an action movie and a game, and they were very much like wearing a sound helmet. The stereo effect was especially striking.
I already want one. I live in an apartment with several other people, and…