JLab - Epic Lab Edition True Wireless Earbuds - Black

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• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Love them

  • Incentivized
  • Verified Purchaser
  • My Best Buy® Member
  • Owned for 1 week

  I love this new headset, the only problem I noticed is that they don’t do good with their mic’s in noisy environments but I quiet environments they do rock and with their sound and music they’re awesome, overall I love them.

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  LotD Posted 2 years ago

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Audiophile at a Value

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  PROS + Solidly built earbuds + Hi-res audio support with LDAC & AAC + Very premium feeling case with dual charging + Fantastic battery life + Great sound quality and with good bass presence + Good noise cancellation + Comes with 6 different pairs of various tip sizes + IP55 rating + Fit securely in my ears, even during workouts + EQ adjustments in the app and one-touch EQ preset switching + Comes with a dedicated USB-C dongle in the case CONS - Audio passthrough mode isn’t very refined - Touch controls can be a little too sensitive THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT I have been very pleasantly surprised with the JLab Epic Lab Edition, across almost all fronts. I would consider myself to be an amateur audiophile, and typically I use over-ear headphones for almost all use cases because of my pickiness with sound quality. This being said, I also love the convenience of earbuds, especially when it comes to working out and walking around out of the home. This is my first Jlab product I have owned, and so came in with no real expectations, but given the value proposition, I was cautiously optimistic that these would offer a solid audio experience and decent build quality. What I have found over the last week of using these is that they are a much more premium product all round than you might expect given the value they provide for a self-proclaimed audiophile experience. This all starts with the unpackaging, where you get a metal case for the buds that is easily the best earbuds case I have used. It is weighty, with a firm hinge and solid build quality all around. It has a rubber bottom and can stand on its down on a flat surface. The earbuds slot in magnetically vertically, so you don’t need to worry about pin position for charging. You can use USB-C or a wireless charging pad to charge the case, and the case keeps the earbuds charged. The buds are quoted to have a 9-13 hour battery life on their own (depending on ANC usage) and 30-50+ hours usage with the case charging them. I cannot confirm these exact figures, but I will say I have very little reason to doubt them. I have used the buds for 3-4 hour stints over the last week without charging the case, and I still have full battery in the buds after being placed in the case, and still charge left in the case as well. Battery life is a complete non-issue here. In terms of the buds themselves, they feel solid, with a plastic cap that houses the touch sensitive sensors for the buds and a transparent bottom near the earbud tips. I found the default earbud tips to be just right for my ears, but it does come with 6 additional pairs of varying sizes to help tailor it to your comfort and material preferences. The buds themselves are a bit on the larger size, but I never found them too big for my ears, however others with smaller ears may have different mileage. They do take a bit of adjusting once in your ear, but once secured, I haven’t had any issues with them falling out, which is better than I have had with many other earbuds without dedicated ear hooks. I have used these for workouts several times, and I never had any issues with them falling out, but if you are doing a lot of head movements, your mileage may again vary. Given their size though, I wouldn’t recommend laying down with them, as they do stick out of your ears a little bit, making them less convenient for sleeping. Now, in terms of the all important sound quality, I have been quite impressed overall. Of course there is a level of subjectivity when it comes to audio, but the default JLab Signature EQ preset is pretty well tuned for a wide variety of music sources, while I like Balanced for audiobooks and podcasts. The buds have plenty of bass for me, even in the default preset, and personally I found bass boost a bit too heavy for my tastes, drowning out some of the mids and highs in the mostly metal/rock music I like to listen to. You can also set a custom EQ, such as something more flat if you prefer, although again, I found the preset EQs they give you to be pretty solid personally. You need to adjust the EQ in the app, but once you have your presets set, you can swap between them with the touch sensitive taps on the earbuds. The earbuds do need a bit of a burn-in period, so I would recommend playing some content on them for several hours before really judging them. Once they opened-up for me though, they sounded great, and stood-up as some of the best earbuds I have used. You also get support for LDAC and AAC depending on your source device, which is great for high-resolution audio, and you can use the wireless USB-C receiver to connect to other USB-C devices, and given the receiver has a built-in slot in the case, it is easy to bring it with you to other devices. The only aspect of audio quality that I wasn’t impressed with was the audio passthrough mode with ANC enabled. The passive ANC is already quite good given the size of the buds, and the active ANC does a good job of layering in additional noise canceling. However, the active listening setting is “fine” but isn’t very refined compared to other active listening modes I have used. You generally can hear louder noises while audio is playing (think the clacking of a keyboard), but it sounds either almost artificially loud, or it is too muted. Voices I have found don’t passthrough as well, unless your music is already at lower volumes, or you are just using the noise canceling without music. I wouldn’t say the active listening is bad, but it just doesn’t make much of an impression overall. On the whole though, I really like these JLab Epic Lab Edition earbuds, and for the value they provide, are very hard to not recommend. They are super solidly built, with a fantastic case, lots of hardware and software features, high-res audio support, EQ control, and more. I have encountered no software or hardware bugs, no issues with connectivity over bluetooth or USB-C, no build quality issues, and consistent performance across multiple types of media. These are super quality earbuds, through-and-through. Highly recommended.

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  Jacbo14 Posted 2 years ago

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  These Sound So So So Good

  • Tech Insider Network Member
  • Top 1000 Contributor

  The JLab EPIC LAB EDITION truly wireless earbuds are incredible. They provide excellent sound quality, active noise cancellation (ANC), and a comfortable fit for just about anyone. Let’s get into the review though, because I’m pretty excited about these. Sound Quality The sound quality of the JLab EPIC LAB EDITION earbuds is excellent. I own a lot of in-ear and over-the-ear headphones, but the hybrid dual-driver that JLAB has implemented in these headphones has some sort of voodoo in it. The earbuds deliver clear and detailed sound with powerful bass. I was impressed with the way the earbuds handled different genres of music, from hip-hop to rock to classical. Every song sounded fuller than they did with my other earbuds. I kid you not, I can’t praise the sound quality of these earbuds enough. Spatial audio is supported as well. That means while you won’t get positional audio on iOS devices, you will have support for Dolby Atmos and other 3D sound options. This is great when watching movies on services that support those spatial audio options. Active Noise Cancellation The ANC on the JLab EPIC LAB EDITION earbuds is very effective. The earbuds already do a great job of blocking out background noise, making them ideal for use in loud environments, but turning on the ANC envelopes you in even more noise cancellation goodness with no audible hiss or distortion. Comfort/Build Quality/Usability The JLab EPIC LAB EDITION earbuds were incredibly comfortable to wear. I have what I’d consider to be pretty normal ears and I had no issues with the medium-sized silicon tips. They sealed out sound well enough and stayed in very well. I also tried the medium-sized foam tips, but in this case, preferred the silicone. The earbuds come with a variety of tips in different sizes. The earbuds themselves are more substantial than others in this price range. They are heavier, as is the case they come in, but feel sturdy and don’t ever feel uncomfortable while being worn. The case has a metallic finish and everything is IPS5 rated for dust and water resistance. Tapping the earbuds will do things like skip, pause, turn ANC on/off, etc. These are all programmable in the JLAB app and so far they’ve worked okay. I don’t find the touches as responsive as other earbuds, but it’s not a deal breaker. Connectivity/Charging/Battery Life Bluetooth is the main means of connectivity for these earbuds, but you also get a USB-C dongle if you’d like to use these on a supported device, like a PC or laptop. This is great because normally when doing voice communications you get downgraded to an SBC codec which is not the greatest. This allows you, if your device supports it, to use the LBC codec which improves the audio quality drastically. There’s multi-point connectivity as well, so you can have 2 devices connected at the same time. This is a must-have feature for me and one that is sometimes missed in certain products. You can charge via Qi or USB-C. Charging will allow you up to 36 hours of ANC playtime using the charging case. That’s about 9 hours per charge, which is incredible considering other top-of-the-line earbuds tout only 4-5 hours with ANC on. The JLAB App This is the one weak point of the review. The JLAB app on iOS is barebones. There isn’t much to it, but once I was connected it did update the firmware of the earbuds just fine. There are options to adjust your equalizer settings, ANC, and program what touch does what on the earbuds. While the app isn’t fancy, it does the job, so it’s not that big of a deal. Overall The JLab EPIC LAB EDITION is an incredible entry into the high-end earbud market from JLAB. While the company isn’t notable for anything high-end, these may just change that for them. The only weak point is the JLAB app that needs more work, at least in iOS, but I can’t knock a whole star off for just that as it does what it’s supposed to do.

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  KMed Posted 2 years ago