Libratone Q Adapt Lightning Review - Review 2022

By removing the traditional three.5mm headphone jack from the iPhone 7, Apple actually created two new markets for earphones. The first is the completely wire-free variety, like the AirPods. The second category has gone largely unhyped, and that's a shame. As their name suggests, the Libratone Q Suit Lightning earphones ($179) utilize the Lightning jack on iOS devices to receive audio. Most earphones nether $200 aren't going to provide quality noise counterfoil, then the Q Adapt Lightning present a wonderful surprise—racket counterfoil isn't Bose level, but information technology'southward far better than whatever $180 earphones should exist expected to deliver. Audio functioning is also very strong, and through a gratis app, the EQ is adaptable. Because the earphones deliver on multiple fronts, and won't break the bank, they earn our Editors' Choice.

Design

As far as looks go, the Q Adapt Lightning earphones ( at Amazon) aren't necessarily the most striking of Libratone's designs. A minimal plastic build in beige, greyness, off-white, or pink keeps things pretty low-key. The nearly hit element is the clothbound cable, which uses a shoelace-style fabric running from the remote control to the Lightning port.

The inline mic is placed in its own tiny compartment, at chin peak, rather than inside the remote control compartment, equally is frequently the instance. This means the remote tin can be lower down on the cable, around mid torso, assuasive for an easier operating view. The remote has a central multifunction button that controls playback, call management, and track navigation. At that place are dedicated plus and minus buttons for volume. A fourth button exists solely for the racket counterfoil circuitry, which has four modes (more on that in the next section).

The built-in mic is solid. Despite picking upwards a off-white amount of background noise, vocal clarity is never an issue. This is thanks mostly its platonic placement—it won't rustle against vesture unless yous're wearing a puffy glaze collar or a large scarf.

The three included pairs of eartips (S, M, and Fifty) are also somewhat innovative. At first, they look like flange-manner tips. In reality, they're typical dome-shaped tips, but each has a dome base of operations, equally well. This base is the part that fastens on to the earpiece, and angles the tip toward your ear culvert. The fit is secure, though at times you can feel the weight of the cable pulling at the earpieces slightly.

Information technology could be argued that the Lightning port is a superior connection for transmitting sound, as the iii.5mm analog jacks on nigh phones consist of relatively cheap components. Ane downside of the Lightning-port-as-headphone-jack design is that you lot can't accuse your iPhone and heed through the port simultaneously, though most users probably won't need this specific combination of uses on a regular basis.

Libratone Q Adapt Lightning inline

The earphones are also unique in that they're probably the only active noise-canceling pair that don't need to be charged—all of the juice comes from your mobile device. Does the mean they end upwardly beingness a siphon for your phone'southward battery life? Obviously, they volition end up pulling a scrap more from your battery than earphones that don't employ active noise counterfoil, but we didn't find our iPhone 6s draining too rapidly in testing. Information technology'southward comparable to what yous might expect from connecting a Bluetooth pair.

In addition to the eartips, the earphones besides transport with a cablevision cinch to manage slack and cablevision thump, besides as a pocket-sized carrying pouch with a magnetic squeeze.

Noise Cancellation

Before we get to audio quality, let'due south discuss the racket cancellation, which is referred to by Libratone as CityMix, and has 4 modes: Level 1 (80 percent of exterior noise is allowed through the mics), Level 2 (sixty percent passes through), Level 3 (30 percentage), and Level iv (full-on dissonance counterfoil letting as little outside sound in as possible). And so there'south Hush mode, which uses the mics to fully bring you the outside world's racket. These levels are accessible by pressing the dedicated push button on the remote. Yous tin also use the free Libratone app to switch between modes.

So how does the noise cancellation audio? Well, it's non as exemplary as the Bose QuietComfort 20 ($249.00 at Amazon) , simply that pair costs $80 more. For $180 earphones, the noise cancellation is surprisingly quite good. Sure, you hear the typical loftier frequency hiss that less expensive racket-canceling circuitry creates as a byproduct, but it'due south non unpleasant—it's similar a very quiet tape hiss. Furthermore, the earphones do more to eliminate in-room audio than whatever other sub-$200 model we've ever tested.

The fact that no charging is required makes this an even stronger achievement. Simply put, for the price is the best noise cancellation we've tested to date.

Performance

Audio performance is strong. For starters, the app also allows you to switch between EQ modes—there'southward Neutral, Extra Bass, and Enhanced Treble. We recommend keeping things in Neutral, which is still a quite sculpted, bass-forrad sound signature. The other two modes gracefully raise the bass or treble without making either adjustment sound ridiculous.

In Neutral, on tracks with intense sub-bass content, similar The Knife's "Silent Shout," the earphones evangelize a strong, deep depression frequency experience with some serious thump. At pinnacle, unwise listening levels, the drivers don't misconstrue, and at moderate volumes, the bass response is still quite powerful. The highs are too boosted to a notable degree, then the mix is well balanced—the bass doesn't stand out too much, except when it's already pushed frontwards in the mix, similar on this rails.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass, sounds more than subdued than The Knife'due south bass-heavy affair. Libratone adds some bass presence to the drum's thump, but nothing that seems overdone. Callahan's baritone vocals likewise receive some added richness in the lows and depression-mids, merely in that location'southward plenty of treble edge to lend everything some added clarity and keep the mix from feeling dirty. That said, some users might enjoy the Enhanced Treble setting on tracks like this—the bass response is still there, but the vocals and guitar strums get a little more than sheen and presence.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West'south "No Church building in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives enough high-mid presence to retain its snappy dial and push button through the layers of the mix. That said, it receives far more help in the lows than we typically hear—thus information technology has more than depression frequency pump and less high frequency dial. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the trounce accept a powerful presence, nevertheless the vocals don't seem like they're doing battle for your attention—the high-mids give all three vocals on the track plenty of definition and clarity. This is a very boosted, manipulated sound signature, only Libratone has done a commendable chore of keeping things counterbalanced and clear despite the obvious sculpting.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' "The Gospel According to the Other Mary," go an extra helping of bass response, which brings out the lower register instrumentation somewhat, merely zero is boosted or shaped to an unnatural caste. The higher annals brass, strings, and vocals all the same sound well-baked and bright, and they own the spotlight—fifty-fifty with the boosting, the lower register instrumentation plays mostly a supporting office on orchestral tracks.

Conclusions

The Libratone Q Adapt Lightning earphones offer vibrant, rich, heady audio that will definitely appeal to those who favor a bass-forward sound signature. If it's first-class in-ear noise cancellation yous're primarily after, the same Bose QC20 is our current favorite of the wired, in-ear options. If you lot don't demand the noise cancellation and want first-class audio performance using the Lightning port, the Audeze iSine20 earphones deliver an incredible, albeit very expensive, experience. If you couldn't care less about the Lightning port or noise counterfoil, the Bowers & Wilkins C5 Series 2 is a strong, stylish culling. And if you want a wireless option that works well your iPhone, the W1 scrap-equipped BeatsX is a top choice.

Simply when y'all throw in the Q Adapt Lightning's racket cancellation circuitry, the fact that you don't need to charge them, and the Lightning connexion, you have a very versatile product. That makes them the best Lighting earphones we've tested in this toll range, and our Editors' Option.