LG xboom Buds review: Boom Boom Wow?

When I started writing for Expert Reviews, true wireless earbuds like the LG xboom Buds would have cost twice as much. In 2019, noise cancellation was a technology primarily reserved for premium headphones. Nowadays, it’s a nigh-on guaranteed inclusion on earbuds around £100, unless they’re specifically designed for environmental awareness.

Affordable ANC isn’t the headline grabber here, however. The big news is that the xboom Buds are the first in a new line of LG audio products created with pop culture icon will.i.am. I discussed whether the collaboration is more than canny celebrity marketing here, but now I’ve had the chance to spend a few weeks with the buds, it’s time to deliver my verdict.

LG xboom Buds review: What do you get for the money?

The xboom Buds sit squarely in mid-range noise-cancelling earbuds territory at £120. That’s a reasonable step up from our best-value pick – the Sony WF-C700N (£68) – but less than half the price of our favourite all-rounders, the exquisite Technics EAH-AZ100 (£260).

They’re not stacked with the premium features available on the EAH-AZ100, but the offering here is robust. The xboom Buds support the latest version of Bluetooth (5.4), multipoint pairing with two devices and Auracast broadcasts, although the latter technology is yet to truly catch on.

Bluetooth codec support is limited to SBC and AAC – LG is very much targeting the mainstream rather than audiophile market here – but the 10mm drivers do have a graphene coating, which typically results in less distortion than with cheaper diaphragm materials. Graphene aside, the xboom Buds rely on will.i.am’s sonic expertise to stand out from the crowd. The multi Grammy Award winner is described as the “Experiential Architect” of the new xboom range and has helped LG craft the audio profiles for the buds and three xboom Bluetooth speakers.

A choice of three sizes of silicone eartips should help you achieve a sound-isolating seal, and the buds have silicone earhooks preinstalled for additional in-ear stability. These can be swapped out for the hookless silicone rings in the box.

LG is selling black and white versions of the buds, which have an IPX4 rating for water resistance and a stated battery life of up to seven and a half hours with noise cancellation engaged. The accompanying charging case takes total listening time to 24 hours (30 hours with ANC off). An LED indicator on the case gives you a rough idea about how much battery remains, while exact percentages for both the buds and case can be accessed via the LG xboom Buds app.

I’ll go into more detail about what’s available in the app below, but there’s a good mixture of customisation options and useful functionality for buds in this price range.

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LG xboom Buds review: What do they do well?

The xboom Buds don’t support high-resolution audio, which is a shame, but I thoroughly enjoyed their will.i.am-tuned sound. Both the Natural and Immersive EQs did a great job of communicating the infectious exuberance that characterises most of the artist’s back catalogue.

Are they the most accurate or detailed earbuds around? No. But their delivery is lively, energetic and above all, fun. The sound they produce is the kind that makes me want to grab a drink, hit the dancefloor and live my best popstar life. It’s warm – positively toasty, in fact – the bassline drop on #thatPOWER by will.i.am and Justin Bieber pulsated with a potency that may prove a little too much for some but fully sated my low-end cravings.

Although powerful bass is central to what the xboom Buds do, I found the buds to be well-balanced. Bieber’s melodic vocals were bright and crisp and will.i.am’s rap lyrics remained intelligible over the throbbing bassline, with the nuances of his uniquely processed voice articulated distinctly.

Female vocals are also treated with an understanding hand, but sound better when using the Natural rather than Immersive EQ. The latter boosts lows and highs to successfully create that “in the club” feeling, which worked fantastically on Carl Bee’s house anthem Sinfonia, with the string component of the track shining brightly over the deep, rhythmic drums. On songs like Fergie’s Glamorous, however, it left the mid-range sounding a little recessed –  switching to the Natural profile immediately gave the vocals more presence.

If you fancy yourself able to come up with a more suitable EQ than will.i.am, you can play around with the eight-brand graphic equaliser in the xboom Buds app. Changes made there have a noticeable impact on sonic performance, and I did save a couple of custom presets for more sedate genres, where I found will.i.am’s tuning a little too vivacious.

EQ controls are just one of several ways in which you can customise your experience using the xboom Buds app. Touch controls, which cover every key command and work fantastically, can be reassigned simply and effectively, and you’re free to toggle the highly responsive wear detection on or off.

The xboom Buds LAB section of the app feels lifted straight from Samsung’s Wearable app but includes some worthwhile stuff. The Game Mode is useful when watching video content or playing mobile games and I particularly like the Profile option. This allows you to save ANC, equaliser and touch controls settings to a custom profile, meaning you can create combinations for different scenarios and quickly switch between them. I also really like “Intelligent Sorting”, which automatically reorders features in the app based on how frequently you use them. It’s a small but clever inclusion.

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LG xboom Buds review: What could be improved?

Given that will.i.am, a style icon and notoriously snazzy dresser, acted as “strategic counsel” on the design of the xboom Buds I’m disappointed by how bland they look. Nothing about them stands out and they’re surprisingly devoid of personality.

Earbud form is dictated by function to some extent and the build quality is very solid, but why not throw in some funky colour options, a few flourishes here and there or something a little different to better represent a man of such extravagant tastes? Perhaps LG wanted to focus on musicality rather than fun, but to me it’s a missed opportunity.

When considering ways in which the xboom Buds could be improved, their ambient sound modes and ability to cancel out higher frequencies immediately came to mind. The buds dampen low-end external noise effectively enough but their performance when dealing with anything else is, as the cool kids would say, mid. Voices, train announcements and the like remained a distraction when I was listening at moderate volumes.

The two ambient modes fared disappointingly during testing. Listening mode seeks to introduce ambient sounds while delivering music with “an expanded sense of openness”, but I found the outside world sounded muddy. The Conversation mode, meanwhile, lowers the volume of audio in a bid to let you chat to others. With volume set to around 40% and this mode engaged, I couldn’t hold a meaningful convo with a colleague sitting right next to me.

This is likely linked to the quality of mics in the xboom Buds, which proved poor performers in my experience. Voice recordings sounded muffled, with words occasionally clipped and lost, and it was a similar story when on the phone.

The Whispering Mode, which locks microphone usage to the right earbud and has you hold it close to your mouth when on calls, felt like it might come in handy when trying to have a private conversation in public. However, I could only hear every third word in the recordings I made while testing it.

LG xboom Buds review: Should you buy them?

I really enjoyed the sonic experience delivered by the LG xboom Buds and appreciate how easily their impressive range of features and customisation options can be accessed via the well-thought-out companion app.

However, I Gotta Feeling they’ll struggle to find a foothold in a competitive market due to their uninspiring design, below par ambient modes and sketchy call quality. You can find more effective noise cancellation and transparency on the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds (£129), while the Cambridge Audio Melomania M100 deliver superior performance in most areas for the same money.

So, while their sound quality makes me want to Pump It, the xboom Buds aren’t earbuds to really Scream & Shout about.