Headphones come in all shapes and sizes, but we never seen a pair of Bluetooth headphones quite like LG’s Tone Infinim HBS-900.
On first inspection they look like a normal pair of headphones where the band goes on top of your head, but that’s not actually correct; the HBS-900s actually sit around your neck like a necklace of sorts, once in position each end of the band houses an earbud which is attached via a retractable cable. The unique design means you can place the band around your neck, under a shirt collar, or underneath a jacket collar and you’ll probably forget you’re even wearing it. Once in place, the earbuds can be pulled out of each end of the band and then placed inside your ears. Size-wise they fitted comfortably around my neck – which I’ve been told is quite large – but if you have a small neck you might find they move around a bit when running or doing exercise.
It’s an interesting solution and perfect for people on the move, or who like to listen to the music whilst jogging or cycling. The sound is taken care of by Harmon Kardon, a German audio company that has years of experience when it comes to high quality audio equipment. Sound-quality is good, especially as the earbuds aren’t that big. Basslines come through clearly though you do need to get a decent connection within your ear canal to get the best results, which can be tricky as the buds don’t seem to come in different sizes. Elsewhere, there’s other clever touches – when taking a call the actual band vibrates, so you’ll never miss a call, even when you’ve taken out the earbuds out. And you’ll never get the cables tied in a knot either as the both earbuds can be automatically retracted into the band with the touch of a button, which is one of the main bugbears of almost all wired earbuds.
There’s a lot to like about the HBS-900s, they’re comfortable to wear for long periods of time, especially as you can wear the band under a collar or scarf. Battery life is pegged at an impressive 14-hours from a single charge, which is more than enough for a full day’s use. And the bluetooth sound quality has been improved via the AptX audio codec, which promises “CD-like quality” sound over Bluetooth. You’ll need a device that supports the new tech to take advantage of the improved sound quality. You can check out a list of devices that support AptX here, which supports quite a few products and devices, though, unfortunately Apple’s iDevices aren’t supported just yet.