JBL Tune Buds Earbuds Review

True Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds w/ JBL Pure Bass Sound

Intro

JBL has been in the audio industry for quite some time and is well-known and highly regarded for producing quality and great-sounding audio products. One such product is the JBL Tune Buds True Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds. The Tune Buds are part of an extensive JBL lineup of earbuds and are what I consider one of their mid-tier models with a retail price of $99.99.

Design and Features

As with most earbuds, the JBL Tune Buds are compact and lightweight and weigh less than 1oz. The Tune Buds are designed to be placed in your ears and are supplied with three pairs of ear tips – small, medium, and large. The Tune Buds come with the medium ear tips preinstalled and I found those to be the best fit for my ears. The Tune Buds are supplied with a compact storage case that also doubles as the charging case.

The JBL Tune Buds are available in a variety of colors including black, blue, purple, and white. There is also what JBL calls a “Ghost Edition” which offers a clear see-through housing for both the storage/charger and earbuds. This is the model I own, and I’m impressed with this unique design.

The Tune Buds are also supplied with a USB Type-C charging cable.

Feature highlights:

• JBL Pure Bass Sound: Smartly designed 10mm drivers enhanced by the buds’ form factor deliver JBL’s Pure Bass Sound so you’ll feel every pulsing beat.
• Bluetooth 5.3 with LE audio support: Thanks to the next-generation Bluetooth technology, the JBL Tune Buds earbuds stream audio with low power consumption at high quality. Plus, BT 5.3 allows you to stream synchronized audio independently to each earbud so that you can use either or both earbuds. Or you can share your video or music content with a friend wearing headphones, as BT 5.3 lets you seamlessly stream audio to multiple listeners. Available via OTA update at a later stage
• Active Noise Cancelling with Smart Ambient: Hear more of what you want and less of what you don’t. Active Noise Cancelling technology lets you minimize audio distractions. With Ambient Aware, you can tune into your surroundings at any time so that you feel safer when you’re out in the world, while TalkThru lets you stop for a quick chat without having to remove your headphones.
• 4-Mic technology for Crisp, Clear Calls: Enjoy hassle-free, hands-free calls in stereo. The Tune Buds are equipped with dual microphones, so you’ll always be heard with perfect clarity. Never hesitate to take or make a call again. With VoiceAware, you can choose how much of your voice to hear by controlling the amount of mic input routed back into your earbuds.
• Up to 48 hours of battery life: Never miss a beat with 48 (12 plus 36) hours of battery life or 10 hours, plus 30 hours in the case when noise cancelling is engaged. Need a boost Speed Charge for just 15 minutes to get 4 hours of playtime. Charging time with depleted batteries is 2 hours. Maximum talk time is 6.6 hours
• Water and dust resistant: Don’t be deterred by bad weather. Thanks to IP54 water resistance and dustproofing, there isn’t a workout or downpour the Tune Buds can’t handle.
• JBL Headphones App: The JBL Headphones App lets you enjoy your music your way. Customize your listening experience and touch control gestures, find your earbuds, control the environmental noise, and the Smart Audio & Video modes. Download the App for free and discover how much more you can do.
• 100% wire-free headphones
• Bluetooth 5.3 provides a strong connection to your phone for music and calls
• Active noise cancellation uses internal circuitry and microphones on each earbud to reduce external noise
• “Smart Ambient” mode lets you hear external sounds without removing earbuds
• Smart Audio & Video: Gives you the best audio and video quality
• 10mm dynamic drivers tuned for strong bass
• Frequency response: 20-20,000 Hz
• Maximum Wireless Range: 800 feet
• IP54 dust and water-resistant design
• Max Volume Limiter: when turned on helps protect your hearing by limiting high-volume levels

App and on-board controls:

• Use both earbuds in stereo and a single earbud in mono mode
• Free JBL Headphones app for Apple or Android for customization and control
• Choose from sound presets or customize the EQ
• Touch controls for Bluetooth pairing, music playback, and calls on both earbuds
• Tap either earbud to access Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa
• Battery life indicators for each earbud and charging case

Charging case, battery information, and accessories:

• Built-in rechargeable batteries offer up to 10 hours of listening with noise cancellation (12 without)
• Carrying case banks up to 36 hours of power to wirelessly recharge headphones
• A 15-minute quick charge gives you up to four hours of listening
• USB-A to USB-C cable included for charging case

Performance

Ear tip fit and comfort: I’ve read reports from other reviewers and users not getting a proper fit and seal of the earbuds in the ear canal. So, if you’re considering these earbuds keep that in mind. That being said, I didn’t have any issues with the earbuds fitting properly into my ears. I had a good and comfortable seal, and it stayed that way even as I walked around my neighborhood.

Now, on to the fun stuff, how did the JBL Tune Buds sound? First, I’d like to disclose that I don’t have a lot of time spent with different types and brands of earbuds. In fact, the JBL Tune Buds are the first in-ear wireless earbuds that I have owned. Over the past several years I’ve primarily used wired earbuds from Skull Candy and my experience with this brand has been great over the years. I’ve always enjoyed the sound quality of this brand.

But recently I made a change to how I listen to music with earbuds and that was a change for the better when I purchased my JBL Tune Buds True Wireless Noise Cancellation earbuds.

I must say right from the start these earbuds took my music listening sessions to the next level in sound quality. And I’m not taking away anything from my tried-and-true Skull Candy earbuds. It’s just that the JBL Tune Buds are that much better sonically. I’ve found myself going through my Spotify playlists and discovering all I’ve been missing from the overall sound quality on my music tracks that cover many genres including jazz, R&B, pop, gospel, rock, and country.

If you want to hear the audio chops these earbuds are capable of delivering, then I highly recommend you check out Dominique Fils-Aime’s “Birds”. This great audio recording comes to life when heard through the JBL Tune Buds. Her vocal talents are readily apparent, producing a sonically pure and transparent sound giving the impression she is performing right in front of you, while her strong vocal presence engulfs the entire soundstage. Rounding out this track is the amazing sound of the upright bass. The bass notes are well defined and detailed allowing me to hear each pluck of the bass strings. The bass thumps heard towards the end of the track are well rounded delivering a solid and deep low-end punch.

While listening to countless numbers of other audio tracks I discovered that the JBL Tune Buds delivered good frequency response across the audio spectrum allowing me to hear good midrange presence and high frequency detail and clarity. One of the sound characteristics of these earbuds that stands out is their great deep bass output capability which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, some listeners might find the bass output a bit too deep and punchy, nevertheless, this can all be tamed by using the JBL Headphones app which provides a great equalizer. The EQ comes standard with six presets which include Jazz, Vocal, Bass, Club, Studio, and Extreme Bass.

These six EQ presets are also customizable to create a different sound to your liking. You can also create entirely new presets to further customize your sound.

And while on the topic of the JBL app, in addition to the EQ functions, the app offers a wealth of customization options that are mentioned in the “features” section of this review.

Overall, I was very impressed with the sound quality of the JBL Tune Buds, and they will be my earbuds of choice for the foreseeable future.

Battery life has been excellent with these earbuds, and I can easily get through a day of on-and-off listening with plenty of battery power to spare at the end of each day; I then place the earbuds back into the carrying case where they receive a full recharge. At the time of writing this review, I had owned these earbuds for eight days and only had to recharge the charger/carrying case one time.

Noise-cancelling

The JBL Tune Buds have decent noise-canceling performance. Nevertheless, I did have varying results depending on my listening environment. With ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) engaged during my music listening sessions within my home, I had anywhere from good to only adequate noise canceling performance. For example, the earbuds did a good job blocking noise coming from my refrigerator, A/C unit, washer, and dryer and dialogue coming from my TV at a level that I couldn’t hear any noise coming from these appliances and electronics; I achieved these results with music playing in the earbuds.

On the flip side, I could hear the noise of water running from my kitchen faucet and the movement of dishes as I placed them on the kitchen counter. I would say the noise that was present was suppressed to about 50 percent of normal levels. These results were also obtained with music playing through the earbuds.

During my outdoor walk, the earbuds did a good job of suppressing ambient noise around me with music playing through the earbuds. However, I could hear wind noise when wind gusts increased during my walk.

During phone calls the JBL Tune Buds do an okay job suppressing noise. On calls, I can hear the person I’m talking to loud and clear, yet on the other hand, I can still hear certain background noises depending on the source.

The JBL Tune Buds also have voice assistant capability for Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. I tried Google Assistant and had no issues executing simple commands such as “Hey Google what’s the outside temperature” in my area?

Conclusion

With my limited use of a variety of different brands and types of earbuds, I realize I’m not the best authority on earbuds and I’m sure some will say from experience that there are much better-sounding earbuds than the JBL Tune Buds and I won’t doubt that. However, coming from an inexpensive pair of earbuds and upgrading to the JBL Tune Buds is a huge transformation in sound quality for me.

The more I use the JBL Tune Buds the more I like them. For me, they produce great sound quality and are loaded with great features via the JBL app. Sure, there are better-sounding earbuds available, but for now, they provide all I need in sound quality and features.

I highly recommend the JBL Tune Buds True Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds to anyone who wants a solid pair of earbuds offering good sound quality and decent noise cancellation at an affordable price.

Enjoy your tunes…

Check out HDTVs and More’ YouTube video review for the JBL Tune Buds here…

Image credit JBL