We had high hopes for Libratone's $199 Track+ Bluetooth earphones, as the company's Q Adapt In-Ear is easily the best budget-friendly in-ear noise-canceling pair we've tested.
The good news is that there's some solid noise cancellation here.
The less good news is that it doesn't always work well.
And on the audio front, there's not enough treble presence to balance out the montrous bass.
While the earphones do a lot for the price, Bose's QuietControl 30 are worth the $100 premium for a significant advantage in overall performance.
Design
The neckband-style Track+ earphones are available in black or white models, both of which look modern and spare.
An IPX4 rating means the pair is water resistant, but shouldn't be submerged.
The micro USB port is not covered, so be careful when cleaning the earphones or wearing them in heavy rain.
The earpieces have fins that rest against the ear, as well as silicone eartips (there are four total pairs in various sizes, though only one pair of fins).
The angled stem of each earpiece attaches into a rounded, rubberized cable that extends to a weighted compartment on either side of the neckband.
The right compartment houses remote control buttons and an inline microphone.
There are three buttons on the remote control—a central multifunction button operates playback, call management, voice assistance, and track navigation, and the outer plus/minus buttons control volume levels.
The left compartment houses a power/pairing button when held down, that also controls the ANC (active noise cancellation) when tapped.
The cabling between these two compartments, which rests behind the neck, is flat instead of the rounded cabling near the earpieces.
One thing Libratone gets right is fit—the in-ear fit is not only quite secure, but quite comfortable.
The eartips seem especially soft and cushioned, while still effectively sealing off the ear canal, which is essential for quality bass response and ear-to-ear audio balance.
The mic offers above-average intelligibility.
Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we could understand every word recorded clearly.
Nothing sounded fuzzy, and the mic didn't sound far away—two common Bluetooth in-ear mic issues Libratone successfully avoids.
To operate noise cancellation—which Libratone dubs CityMix—you tap the power/pairing button, and the ANC will switch between its various modes (more on those in a moment).
If you double-tap the button, ambient monitoring is enabled and you can hear your surroundings easily without taking the earphones off.
There's also a free app, which many ANC models now offer.
The Libratone app allows for switching between four ANC modes: -20dB (Maximum), -12dB (Medium), 0dB which is actually passive and really only using the eartips to block out wind noise, and +6dB which is called "pass-through" and lightly boosts the surrounding noise (as opposed to the aforementioned ambient monitoring mode, which more dramatically boosts the ambient mics for heightened monitoring of your surroundings).
These settings can all be achieved manually, but the app adds a Smart mode that will auto-adjust the ANC levels according to your surroundings.
The app also integrates access to Tidal and Spotify (assuming you have a subscription), as well as your own device's music library and a plethora of internet radio stations.
Finally, it's how Libratone sends out firmware updates to fix bugs or improve features like CityMix, so while it's not essential to use the app for regular operation, it's advisable to download it and check in once in a while to ensure you're up to date.
Libratone estimates battery life to be roughly eight hours, but your results will vary not only with your volume levels, but your mix of ANC usage and music playback.
Performance
The Track+'s noise cancellation performance is sometimes solid, sometimes not terribly impressive, and not always predictable.
First off, there are really only two ANC modes—Medium and Maximum.
The 0dB mode is not employing active ANC, it just uses the eartips to block out sound.
And pass-through mode actually boosts the noise around you.
With the two ANC modes that actually decrease noise, there's a notable difference between -12dB (Medium) mode and -20dB (Maxiumum) mode, but it's the -12dB mode that seems more effective, as -20dB adds far too much audible hiss.
The Medium mode also handled powerful low frequency rumble better than Maximum mode, eliminating a little bit more of the rumble's overall volume.
The same was true for the sound of tapping keys on a computer keyboard, music being played in the same room, and ambient city noises.
Neither mode tamps down sound levels as effectively as Bose's QuietControl 30, but the Medium mode comes closest to this ideal.
Smart mode, meanwhile, shifts between modes that you can't access in manual mode, like -16dB or -3dB.
It must be said that Maximum mode (-20dB) needs some serious work.
It's notably less effective than -12dB, and, really, any level between -12dB and -20dB that the Smart mode can access.
Therefore, we don't recommend using Smart mode in loud environments, as it will almost always default to -20dB, which, paradoxically, isn't as effective as -12dB.
Additionally, switching between modes manually using the onboard buttons, you don't get any guidance from verbal prompts or status lights, merely click noises that don't sound any different between the various modes.
That makes it hard to know which mode you're in.
We tested the audio performance in Neutral listening mode, as well as without the app at all.
In Extra Bass and Enhanced Treble modes, you get what you imagine, but what you don't get is any adjustable control over the boosting or cutting, and this amounts to a fairly limited EQ tool.
We recommend staying Neutral or simply avoiding the app for listening to music.
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the earphones deliver a palpable thump and don't distort at top volume.
There's some serious heft to the low frequency presence, but it lacks some of the higher frequency balancing we expect when the bass response is this powerful.
Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the general sound signature.
The drums on this track sound huge—thunderous and unnatural.
Bass lovers might drool over this, but there's not enough high-mid presence to keeps the song crisp and balanced.
Things can sound almost muddy at times, as if the entire frequency range is passing through a filter that tamps down the high-mids and highs significantly.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," this is illustrated further.
The kick drum sounds huge in the lows, and the sub-bass synth hits sound massive, but the high-mid attack of the drum loop that we usually hear is dulled.
The vocals are delivered with decent clarity, but again, could use some more treble edge.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound comically unbalanced, with the lower register instrumentation thrust forward so much in the mix, it nearly overtakes the higher register brass, strings, and vocals.
Conclusions
Anyone seeking an accurate mix, or even a balanced mix, will have trouble with the Libratone Track+'s sound signature.
Even serious bass fiends might have a problem with the balance here.
The disappointment is that the drivers could probably easily be tweaked to match the powerful bass response and you'd have a great sound signature.
Between this and the mixed noise cancellation performace, the Bose QuietControl 30 remains the only truly great wireless ANC in-ear pair we've tested.
If you just want solid, exercise-friendly wireless in-ears, consider the Jaybird X3 or the JBL Reflect Fit.
And if you really want in-ear ANC but at a lower price, Libratone's wired Q Adapt In-Ear provides decent performance.
Pros
The Bottom Line
Libratone's wireless Track+ earphones offer a promising blend of features, but are held back by overpowering deep bass response and mixed noise cancellation.
