JLab is no newcomer when it comes to offering some great sounding headphones whether you’re looking for over-ear, in-ear, or true wireless headphones. You can find many of their headphones under $100, including their latest JBuds Air Sport True Wireless Headphones. These headphones offer up to 40+ total hours of playback time, with 34 hours from the charging case and an extra 6 hours just from the headphones alone. JLab’s C3 Signature Sound is also onboard with three EQ levels to adjust your music. Continue reading the full review below.
Specifications
The JLad JBuds Air Sport True Wireless Headphones have the following features and specifications:
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5
- Speaker: 8mm drivers, JLab C3 signature sound
- Battery
- 40+ hours total, 6 hours in earbuds
- 60mAh per earbud
- 930mAh Charging Case
- IP66 sweat resistant
- 3 custom EQ sound
- Be Aware Audio
- Auto On & Connect
What’s in the box:
- JLab JBuds Air Sport
- Charging case
- 3 sets of gel ear tips
- 1 set Cloud Foam ear tips
- Manual
Design
The JBuds Air Sport look like your typical wrap around the ear earbuds but without the cable. The outside of the earpieces are identical, with JLab’s logo attached to the plastic earpiece. The wrap around earpiece is made out of a flexible silicone feeling material which allows it to bend some to fit around your ears. On each earpiece, there are two little holes where the LED sits letting you know the earbuds are ready to pair or paired by flashing white and blue to solid white respectively.
Flipping the earbuds over to the inside you’ll see the gel ear tips that can be replaced with either a smaller or larger one or you can use the included Cloud Foam ear tips, which are blue. Two gold plate connectors are on both earbuds for wireless charging. Finally, an “L” and “R” are etched into ear earbud indicating left or right earpiece.
The charging case is on the larger side but will be easier to find if you do end up misplacing it somewhere in your backpack, purse, room, or office. The top of the case is indented with JLabs logo. The front of the charging case has three LED lights that will turn white when you open up the case showing the battery life of the case. When charging the headphones, the two end LEDs will turn blue and start flashing slowly indicating that they’re charging. Once fully charged, they’ll be solid blue.
Underneath the case, you’ll find the USB charging cable that can either be plugged into a computer or power brick that you plug into an outlet. Opening up to view the inside of the case are slots in the shape of the earbuds so they can easily fit into place and connect to the gold charging points.
The Cloud Foam ear tips were much more comfortable than the included gel ear tips. After a while, my ears would start to hurt until I switched to the foam ear tips. After that, my ears didn’t hurt as much.
Ease of Use
When taking the wireless earbuds our of the charging case, the right earpiece is on the left and the left earpiece is on the right. It’s different but something you’ll have to get used to when you take the earbuds out of the case.
First things first, the right earpiece is the “master” earpiece, so once it’s on your ear, touch and hold the sensors for 3 seconds to power on the earbuds. After the earbuds power on (and you’ll hear “hello”), both earbuds will connect to one another and also are ready to be paired to either your Android or iOS device. From your device, tap “JLab JBuds Air Sport” and they’ll pair pretty quickly.
Now, here comes the part where you’ll have to remember a few things such as EQ change, track skip/back songs, activate Google Assistant/Siri, and more. Starting off with the right earbud since that is the master side, a single tap will turn the volume up, double-tapping will play/pause playback, a press and hold for 1 second will skip to the next track, triple tap to turn on or off Be Aware Mode, and press and hold for 3 seconds to power off unit. When calls are coming in, a single tap will answer the call, a double-tap will end the calls and a press and hold will reject the incoming call.
As for the left earbud, a single tap will turn down the volume, a double-tap will activate Google Assistant or Siri depending on your device, go back a song will have your press and hold for 1 second, while a triple tap will cycle through the 3 custom EQ settings, and press and hold for 3 seconds will power off the left side.
If you want to power off the earbuds, you can either disconnect from the connected device and let 3 minutes pass or you can just place the earbuds in the charging case.
If you do plan on using only one earpiece, you will need to use the right side. Once you get used to the controls, they’re pretty easy but I did have a few times where I would keep tapping the right earpiece to turn up the volume only to play/pause music. You will have to wait about a second before adjusting volume and keep repeating the process.
Sound
JLab has included their C3 Signature Sound in the JBuds Air Sport along with two other EQ settings. Balanced and Bass Booster are the other settings included and are decent depending on what you’re listening to.
Starting off with Balanced, everything I listened to was really flat across lows, mids, highs, bass, and treble. As expected from that setting you won’t get much out of it if some of your music is on the heavy bass side or of the sort. Bass Boost was pretty good when it came to those songs that had bass drops or needed the bass to be maxed out because they were heavier. Even with the bass higher, you’re still able to hear vocals or any other instruments in the songs. Lastly, JLab Signature Sound was probably the overall best-balanced EQ mode in the headphones. It was the clearest on vocals offering enough bass along with highs and mids. I recommend staying in this setting.
Be Aware Audio is also included with the headphones letting you hear your surroundings much easier. This setting is best left off. While having it turned on, the music stayed at the same volume but when people who were talking to me about 2 feet away, I was unable to hear them at all. I was able to hear myself talk clearly but no one else. I have used other headphones that offer the same option that worked much better. JLab having this ability in the headphones is neat but not worth using if it doesn’t work as intended.
Reception
As far as reception goes, these earbuds do come with Bluetooth 5.0 technology, so they’ll be able to pair with your device in seconds allowing you to listen to your music at the time of taking the headphones out of the charging case. Even though you get better range with Bluetooth 5, I was getting the usual 30-35ft range when there were walls blocking the signal. I’m sure you can go a bit further than the length I have gone and still hear everything pretty well before it starts breaking but in the real world, people aren’t going to be 100ft away from their phone and listening to music.
Microphone/Call Quality
Call quality on the Air Sport was actually good. I was able to hear people on the other end clearly. At the same time, they were also able to hear me clear enough. There were times that people could hear whatever was around me such as an airplane taking off or a train horn or my music if I set it at a higher volume. Other than that, people couldn’t tell the difference between the wireless headset I use every day and this headset.
Battery Life
Each earpiece comes with a 60mAh battery that will last a total of 6 hours off of a single charge. 6 hours is reachable and does last a good while for those who may end up using the earbuds every other day or so.
The charging case gives you an extra 34 hours thanks to the 930mAh battery inside. All this together gives you a total of 40 hours combined and will last you a good while after each recharge of the earbuds. I didn’t test the full 40 but I don’t see anyone having an issue with hitting that many hours.
Price/Value
JLab is offering the JBuds Air Sport for US$69.99 and for this price, especially being under $100, it’s worth picking up and using whether you’re working out or just want true wireless headphones. The case alone offering up to 40 hours of battery life is great compared to other competitors who may be offering true wireless headphones at a higher price with lesser battery life and decent sound.
Wrap Up
At the end of the day, the JLab JBuds Air Sport is a pretty good wireless headset that I think people will like thanks to the affordable price tag of US$70. The best selling point for this headset is going to be the awesome battery life. Forty hours is a lot and will get you through a few days with the included charging case.
Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
