Top positive review
I absolutely love these headphones
By D. Fite on Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2016
I absolutely love these headphones. This is my first set of this style so I can't compare them to other sorts of headsets as far as feature comparison or a better/worse performance. I came off of the earbuds that come with a Galaxy S6 for the sake of this review. Build quality : Sufficient. They are a bit floppy and I worry about the earbud cables eventually getting weakened. They have a stress relief little cable guide but when you are using it, it's pretty easy to restrict cable length such that you can't fit them into your ears. The magnets are a good addition but they're too weak to really be of much value. The earbuds inevitably just fall out of the little sockets. Battery life : Great. I can get two days of usage depending on how much music I used them for and if the noise cancelling was on the entire time. The charging system is kind of lame: it uses a micro-USB connection but it's recessed in such a way that you NEED to use their charging cable to get a good solid connection. Comfort : I typically have these on with collared shirts. I wear them all day and often more. They're definitely comfortable around the neck especially with a collared shirt. You feel them a bit in a T-shirt but definitely not terrible. For the earbuds they're sufficient for the style. There's drawbacks with what it takes to get a rubber ball into your ear and have it be a relatively sealed/tight fit. Noise cancelling : Works quite well. Turns the annoying whirrr of a server rooms several hundred 40mm fans into a pleasant "white noise" sound of the ANC taking over. I was actually surprised about this feature as I didn't even get what it was until about 2 weeks after I bought it I saw the switch. It definitely taxes the battery though. Audio quality : I was VERY with the audio quality. I would consider myself a self-proclaimed "audiophile" but not the type who is willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money on audio equipment to listen to music in less than idea environments Bass is solid, the mix is sufficiently spread. It may not win awards but it is definitely good sound across various types of: death/metal, instrumental, electroswing, ambient music, etc. Call quality (audio) : Calling with it is good. A lot of times I need both earbuds in to be able to sufficiently hear the other party but the nature of the earbuds definitely help a weakness of mine when it comes to hearing. I'm happy with how it sounds on calls. Call quality (talk) : I've gotten a few complaints that it can be hard to hear me in some situations. I've also heard that it has zero noise cancelling tendencies for calls so the other party hears EVERY sound around you. I've not yet verified if ANC helps with this. I doubt it does. Convenience : It works fine for me. I haven't much used the speech based dialing or other features but I often switch the headset between my Pixel XL, Galaxy S6, and ASUS Zenbook, for various applications. It's even possible to (sometimes, often intermittently) get it connected to a phone AND the laptop at once. This is great and an unintended feature. Often to get it to break a pairing I have to turn it off, turn it on, and quickly try to pair from a phone/device and it's usually the first device to grab the headset successfully. Overall I'm VERY happy with these earbuds. I wish it had ambient noise cancelling on calls, but the other features work so well I would buy again.
Top critical review
28 people found this helpful
An Ultra Upgrade
By Aliza Hausman on Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2014
UPDATE 12/7/2014: I purchased these in May and after light usage, I've had to stop using them. Callers cannot hear me. I get a bunch of static. My HBS-730 set which I bought in November still get the job done. What Ultra has that Tone+ doesn't: The Tone+ (HBS-730) weighs 1.16oz. Ultra has shaved off some weight at 1.03oz. Despite this, the way the Ultra is shaped and weighted, it actually feels heavier in your hands and around your neck at first. You get used to it if it falls just right over your collarbone and neck. The LG website doesn't list them but we can assume that the Ultra comes with the call waiting, call reject, last number redial, auto reconnect, multipoint connection (Advanced in Ultra's case), Easy Pairing, Battery Status Alert, etc that all came with the Tone+. According to the LG website's lovely comparison chart though, the Ultra doesn't offer calling waiting, call reject, last number redial, auto connect, voice activated dialing, battery status alert, easy pairing, A2DP (Advanced Audio Disribution) or AVRCP (Audio/Voice Remote Control Profile). So, no promises here. The talk time is 15 hours for the Tone+ but now only "up to ten hours" for the Ultra. But the Standby Time now promises up to 20 days vs. the 15 days for the Tone+. Music Play is still up to 10 hours for both. Charging time is the same at less than 2 hours. I regularly charge my Tone+ and I use it for phone calls and the gym and on-the-go so the five hours less doesn't do me too much damage in the long run. Of course, with the lightweight comes only VERY SLIGHTLY different dimensions but with an altogether different look: The Tone+ is 5.34" (W) x 6.59" (L) x 0.67" (H) but the Ultra is 5.34" (W) X 6.30" (L) X 0.55" (H) Both also share the memory flex strap with magnetic ear bugs that we know and love but that the Ultra now refers to as the trademarked 3D NeckBehind (Around-the-Neck Wearing Style with Body-Contoured Fit) Design. As someone who suffers from chronic neck pain, I was skeptical when I purchased my Tone+ but now I cannot imagine any other headphones for phone calls and the gym! Expect the same level of comfort from the Ultra...except that if you're upgrading from a Tone+, it might take a little getting used to the different feel. The Ultra now has Google Voice Actions Integration which may or may not be a necessity for iPhone users. I easily access Siri often using the headset. Though both claim noise reduction and echo reduction, Ultra goes as far as to say that it has ANC (Ambient Noise Cancellation) and the new JBL Signature Sound and the aforementioned Advanced Multipoint. And yes, the ANC is a big deal. I noticed a major difference not just in phone calls but particularly in sound quality. This upgrade wants you to believe that even bluetooth headphones can offer you the best sound for your tunes. Ironically, on the LG website, the Tone+ is beating the Ultra slight in reviews with 4.5/5 happy reviewers vs. 4.4/5. So it's just a schmidgen. But really, it gives the Tone+ 92% positive reviews and the Ultra only 80%. I would take this with a grain of salt considering that only a handful have reviewed the new Ultra and thousands have reviewed the Tone+. Likely the price is a deterrent for some people. I've had my Tone+ headset for a while (as has my husband) and we drag them around all over the place and they still work and look just like new. So, yeah, the Ultra is almost twice the price of the LG Tone depending on where you get it. And as the LG Tone stands up to time fairly easily you may not need (but you may want) an upgrade. Owners have said that the Tone Ultra is much more Android friendly than the Tone+ which is very iPhone friendly and go as far as offering that you stick to the Tone+ if you have an iPhone. Personally, I didn't have any trouble with the Ultra using my iPhone. In fact, I was really impressed by the difference in quality as I was expecting the Ultra just to be a fancy looking Tone+ with "new" useless additions. There are complaints about the battery life of the new Ultra. iPhone users definitely seem unhappy with the Ultra. In fact, while the Tone+ claims to be compatible with Android, Apple and other Bluetooth enabled devices, the Ultra does not on the LG website. But again, I've had no problems with my Ultra on my iPhone or even on my iMac. While the Tone+ says it offers on/off vibration, the Ultra seems intent on peddling Google Voice Actions. Is Google Voice Actions the headphone's version of Siri? The shape of the tips/ends of Ultra are noticeably different. Very Star Trekky. No, seriously, the shape reminds me of the Enterprise! Gone are the circular buttons. Instead, there is a small triangular button for play and an equal sign button for pause. On the other side, there is a button shaped like a telephone receiver. And the Rewind/Fas Forward buttons and Volume buttons are hidden away underneath on the sides of either ends. The earbud hollers are rounder. It comes with two on/off switches which are now inconveniently on the inside of your headset (facing your neck instead of facing out like on the Tone+). One switch turns on the ANC: Ambient Noise Cancellation aka "active noise cancellation." The other is a power switch with an LED indicator tucked away discreetly unlike the way the "phone" button used to glow before. There's no doubt this is sleeker and some would argue much better looking. I'm pretty attached to the way my Tone+ headphones look so I'm not sure how I feel about them. The earbuds are the same size but the seemingly minor change to the earbud holders (rounder, not squared in any direction) make them more snug in your ears...and a bit heavier. The ANC definitively makes the sound quality better. It gets a little getting used to the placement of the ANC switch, power switches and the volume and rewind and fast forward buttons. Especially because as I've mentioned they're noticeably smaller and more discreet. I felt myself fumbling for the buttons and I have pretty small fingers so I can see someone with larger fingers fumbling even more. What really blew me away was the quality of the sound when I played some music off my iPhone. Wow. I felt like I was listening on quality headphones. The sound was incredibly rich! It felt like I was at an orchestra. The violins building on one side and the guitar and the drum in the other.The Tone+ does not even compare with regards to sound. The quality from my iMac wasn't as good but it was pretty near my non-Bluetooth Bose headphones! So if you want some really cool sleek looking bluetooth headset with amazing sound quality, the Ultra is definitely worth the upgrade though the Tone+ are really awesome themselves if you don't want to pay the extra cash just yet. This headset is really a middle ground between an awesome bluetooth headset for your phone and the gym and awesome bluetooth headphones...period. Enjoy! I'm now the proud owner of (2) Tone+ headsets and one Ultra...at least until my husband realizes how deliciously awesome the Ultra looks.
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