Customizable & high-quality. Could sound better!
[Esta reseña se recopiló como parte de una promoción.] Built quality: This pair of headphones is probably one of the best pairs that I have used from JBL (there are some downsides, of course). The looks and feel of it are simply amazing. I love how it has both matt and shiny accents to it and gives out premium headphones feel. Although it is made out of plastic, the ear cups have this soft touch, the band is quite flexible, little hinges look luxurious, and the paddings are made out of extremely soft leather material. Every detail on the headphones is well-designed. However, the shiny parts of the headphones are fingerprint magnets. You do not always touch those areas, but when you do, fingerprint smudges are very visible. Features: First off, I love the touch function. The right ear cup (outside) works as a remote. If you tap it once the music starts/stops playing, tapping twice goes to the next song, and three times goes to the previous song. Tap and hold launches the voice assistant so either Google or Amazon Alexa or the native voice assistant (your phone's built-in assistant e.g., Siri) which works quite well. I had no problems using it and it came in handy for some situations. However, it would have been nice if we had an option to turn the touch function on/off. I accidentally touched the touch panel various times with my shoulder when lying on the couch or in bed. A long press on the volume up button can act as the next song command and volume down would take us back to the previous song when the touch is not in use. That would have been a useful feature to have. I love the buttons as well. They feel high-quality and smooth to touch. However, the power on/off button was confusing at first. It goes to both sides and switching it back and forth took some time to get used to. Then, volume buttons are too close to each other. Again, you get used to it after a while but little bumpy plus and minus symbols on the volume keys or separation between the two would have been much more convenient. There's only one button on the left cup which controls the ANC (noise canceling). From my experience, the placement of the button was a bit off. I caught myself accidentally clicking the button when sliding one ear cup behind my ear or taking the headphones off. One cool aspect about the tap and hold touch panel and the function button (ANC button) is that they are customizable (from the JBL Headphones application). They do not allow you to open a certain app or change it freely. However, you can choose between Voice Assistant, Ambient Sound Control, and WalkThru features. It might not seem like a lot but it is nice to have a bit of control over the use of buttons. Another really cool feature would be the "Play & Pause." Sound automatically stops when you take off the headphones and it resumes as soon as you put them back on. I personally love that feature and it can easily be turned on/off from the JBL Headphones application. You can also select when you want your headphones to turn off if they are not in use. It ranges anywhere from 15-30 minutes to 4 hours and never ("Auto-off"). There is also the "Smart Audio & Video" function where it adjusts your listening experience. If you are watching a video, you select the video mode and that reduces the delay in between the video and audio. It syncs both together to create a smoother experience. However, it takes a few seconds to make that switch happen between available options. Then, there is a "My Alarm" feature in the application. I personally do not sleep with headphones but wanted to try it anyway for this review. I must say that the "Auto-off" feature is more user-friendly and it gets the job done better than this feature. There's a "Keep Music on for" section where the music can play for 90 minutes maximum and then there's a "SilentNow Session" section connected right below it which does not turn the headphones off or play songs with lower volume. It just keeps the headphones on for the alarm to wake you up in the morning. The alarm goes off from the headphones instead of the phone with this feature. Sound: Just like any other JBL product, the sound quality does not disappoint. However, it could've been better. One detail I noticed is that if you click the button on the left ear cup to activate ANC straight out of the box, it automatically goes into True Adaptive NC. It does an amazing job at keeping the outside noise out but it destroys the sound quality. Sure, it tries to adjust to the sound in my surroundings but there should not be a huge difference in sound quality. The bass feels missing and dry, vocals sound high-pitched and scratchy, and melodies lose their colors. However, once ANC is switched to "Everyday mode" that high-quality JBL sound takes over, as it should from the beginning. Ambient Sound Control works good as well. It allows in the sounds around you and helps you be aware of your surroundings. There is an equalizer built-in to the JBL Headphones application and it works great. It comes with a few sound presets but you can pretty much add as many presets as you want, name, organize, and arrange them. In addition, the microphone works really well. Most people I have had video and audio calls with said that it sounds like I am talking without headphones, the voice was very clear. Overall, the sound quality is good but it could have been better. I feel like the headphones are not loud enough but when it is at the highest volume, I did not feel any distortion. The sound quality was still the same. There is something about the mids that I just cannot fix. I tried playing around with the curve (in the app) and adjusting it according to get the best sound but it felt like a piece was missing. The mids feel a bit rough and hard. I had no problems with the lows, the kicks were very punchy and moody when I adjusted the curves but it was not the same for mids. Vocals felt like they were coming from far away or hidden under a cloth. It still sounded amazing but it could have been a bit better at this price range. Comfort: As mentioned above, paddings are made out of extremely soft leather material. They are very squishy, smooth, and cushiony on both the headband and ear cups. I had no problems using the headphones for long periods of time and it felt like they were not there, after some time - the headset feels really lightweight. They also stay in place and the headband has 12 levels for adjustments. You can definitely find your fit once you start exploring. Battery: This definitely varies depending on the using habits of headphones. Since I do not use the headphones without the ANC, I cannot make a comment about the 50-hour play time claim. However, I can say that they last around 20 hours with ANC on. They definitely fast-charge with the cable it comes in the box. I love how it is also a USB Type-C cable. Could've been Type-C to Type-C instead of Type-A but it still gets the job done and makes life easier. Case: I actually love the case. Unlike other cases with pouches on the side flop, this case stores the cables, and the flight adapter inside right underneath the headphones which is really convenient. A downside is that the divider is sewed on the case so you cannot take it out if you wanted to. One weird side to it is that the zipper unzips from the bottom to the top.
