JVC - Open-Ear Headphones HANP40TB - Black

I have been using these headphones/nearphones for last 1 week and I like them. So, first thing first, in my opinion these are not fit for intense workouts like fast running etc as they kind of hang over your ear canal. My usage has been mostly indoor (for work calls and online meetings) and for some walks outside. And I like them precisely for the reason that they simple hang over which makes them more comfortable to wear for long periods of time as compared to other in-ear or over-ear headphones that I have tried. The battery life is pretty good. These last whole day for me and I only charge them in the night. The sound quality is good. Obviously it is not as immersive as in-ear or over-ear headphones but it is better than other bone conduction near phones that I have tried. The design is good so that even though you can hear the external environment noise/audio, others can't hear what you are listening to. So overall, they are a good fit for people who want to be aware of their surroundings while enjoying their music/podcasts etc. Their price point makes them pretty affordable as compared to other nearphonse available without compromising on the quality of audio.

This is a hard product to review because it’s good at what it does, but it’s not good at what headphones usually should do. Let me explain. The idea of this style of headphones is so you can hear around you and not have that “plugged ear” feeling. When you talk or chew with these on, you won’t hear yourself in your head as if you had your ears plugged. And that is SUPER useful for certain situations. What these headphones do not do is provide full body sound at a high volume. And that’s going to make a lot of people rate them low despite the fact that they do still serve a purpose. I have been wanting a pair of headphones like this for awhile. There’s also bone conducting headphones, which I have not tried yet, but are also way more expensive but claim to do a similar result. However, for this lower price and my needs, I thought these JVC nearphones headphones would get the job done. And technically, I was right. I wanted this style for things like zoom calls, discord voice chats while gaming and even phone calls. I figured for the occasional music while working with or around others might also be useful but that didn’t work so well, and that’s where I had some not so good experiences, but more on that later. PROS: For voice chat type audio, these work fantastic. Since that was the main reason I wanted them, I’m happy with it. I can put these headphones on for a zoom chat and when I am talking, I don’t have that annoying plugged ear feeling where my voice is extra loud in my head making me talk quieter or not hear others. I can talk just like a normal phone call. However I could see issues with volume since these speakers are not in your ear, they are quieter and less full. In a noisy environment, it could be harder to clearly hear the voice on the other side. Overall though, I used these headphones in a controlled environment during multiple video chat calls and zoom calls on my PC and had no issues with connection or hearing the other people. I was using a pro audio mic at my computer and not the mic on the headphones, but when I tested the headphone mic, people said they could hear me fine. CONS: The first thing I’ll mention is the fit because it probably has a lot to do with the rest of my issues. The instructions from JVC that come with the nearphones headphones show how to put them on and how they should look/fit when in the correct spot. There is a picture of how they shouldn’t fit but that’s the only way I could get them to stay put. So how the manual says is wrong is how I was forced to wear them. I guess to be fair, I was more in the middle of the two pictures, not quite correct, not quite wrong. I do have smaller ears so maybe that’s some of it, but the issue was the headphones kept pushing themselves away from my ear instead of moving inward toward the ear hole like the manual says they should. I rotated them back and forth and tried forcing them into place, but they would always settle into this hybrid style fit that was loose but worked good enough. I felt like they would fall off, but I jumped around a lot and couldn’t get them to actually fall off. So they fit good enough for what I wanted them to do, but I also noticed if I pushed them in closer to my ears they would be louder and fuller sound. So you may have different experiences based on the ear shape. But because of the fit I had two major issues. Quality and volume. By far the biggest con of these headphones is the audio quality. If you want crystal clear, full range music from headphones that float over your ear, you’re gonna be searching for a long time. Those of you old enough to remember the old style of headphones that came with every walkman or discman will know what I’m talking about when I say it sounds like those old style headphones when you would put them slightly in front or off your ears a little. You still hear the music but 90% of the low end is gone and it’s very tinny. Now, you can adjust this a bit with EQ but you’re not going to recover the lows. It’s just not how this style works. I do wish JVC was a little more upfront about that instead of claiming to still have full range clear sound, it would only help their marketing if they were more honest, but if you’re skeptical about how these sound, you’re probably right. Again, for voice, it doesn’t matter and it works great, but once you play music you’ll notice a lack of quality. It works for low volume background noise while still wanting to be present in the room, but you’re not gonna toss these puppies on and kick back in your chair to dissect some classical tunes. The other glaring issue is the lack of volume. Again, to reference those 90s headphones we all had that sat over our ears, if you didn’t have them lined up perfect with your ears, the volume would drop off dramatically. These are the same way. They’re designed to sit over your ear opening, but like I mentioned about the fit, they don’t really sit right for me and because of that gap, I lose a lot of quality and volume. There is a chance MAYBE they fit better on others, like I mentioned, the instructions seem to show a different fit than I can get, so maybe that’s part of the volume issue too, but generally speaking, for my fit, I had to turn everything up to full volume just to get an average level. If I pushed the headphones in closer to my ears, it was better, but they would not stay there. OVERALL So like I said, I still really like these headphones if you use them in ways that benefit from their unique design. Many of us are on virtual calls more than ever these days and having a headphone that allows you to hear the room around you and the people in the call is something you just cannot get with new standard in-ear headphones. People opt to not use headphones at all making calls harder to hear with ducking every few seconds. These headphones allow for clearer calls without that annoying plugged ear sound when you talk. I think if these were marketed as video call headphones they would fly off the shelf. Everyone should have a pair of these at their work or gaming computer.

I really wanted to like these ear, headphones, but ultimately I just don’t like the way they fit. The set up is easy enough and pairing, there’s no problem with whatever device. Would be nice to be able to pair with multiple devices, but I was not able to get that to work. that in and of itself is not a dealbreaker. However, the design and fit of these over the ear ear headphones is a big problem for me. I have other over the ear headphones, and I have no problem with the way those fit. However, these JBL’s just doesn’t give you that confident feeling that the ear headphones are snuggling in your ear canal. They’re just not designed to fit that way and I get it, but they fit more like earrings and dangle more than they are snuggling inside your ear canal. Therefore, I think quality suffers as a result and never gets a proper seal and projection of the sound into your ear. Sure, when you first put it on it slips around your ear, and then you can rotate the body of the device to make it fit a little more securely, but it still does not give you a confident feel. Additionally, the touch controls are so overly sensitive that if you mess with the Device and try to get it to fit better you end up messing with the controls and Pausing your content or doing some unwanted control because the touch controls are poorly designed And located on the body of the headphone. The case is nice enough design and they charge well but ultimately I cannot use these for day-to-day use music, Phone calls or watching video.

There seems to be a trend in the headphone industry to shake up the clip style headphones. Having used earbuds in place of dedicated single speaker headset, I can understand having long sessions of the earbuds and the fatigue it creates. Our ears are all different so, trying to get that perfect fit is sometimes hard and the earbud is either falling out or being pushed out if you can’t get that Goldilocks fitment. The ear clip design tries to mitigate this issue, but sometimes it just pairs the earbud with the clip so you may still get ear fatigue. The JVC Nearphone is like an on-the-hear headphone (speaker rests on the ear), but wireless and in clip format. The clip secures on the ear by rotating in the base and “clamping” (I use that extremely loosely) onto the ear. It does solve the issue of ear fatigue by earbud. These are extremely light and other clip style headphones I have tried creates a different kind of ear fatigue. These are so light though, gravity doesn’t really help them stick to the ear either. Use cases would be sitting in a coffee shop typing up a review and listening to music and wanting the ambient sounds to come through naturally. Light activity, I wouldn’t worry about them falling off, though they may “flop” about a bit. Looking at the advertisement images on JVC webpage…jogging and cycling are a no go for me. The Nearphones don’t fix the perfect for everyone issue existing with all earbuds and in my usage cases, those movements created too much movement for Nearphones and quell my irritation if they were going to stay on or fall off. What I Like: They are very light as is the case. Virtually no ear fatigue Simple to use, no app needed or required (does mean controls are locked) What I Don’t Like: Audio Quality Call Quality I really cannot comment on the battery life as I didn’t use for very long. My main goal was to see how they do as dedicated headset for calls, but whether one or both Nearphones were in operation, the caller on the end said there was just too much background noise. The cafe I was in had 3 people in and soft piano music playing, the air was running. Not what I would call loud background noise. Maybe all of it combined was too much for the mics to wash out. Audio quality I feel is just a result of the design, as an earbud will get into the ear canal, so there is going to be a loss of “feeling” the music and respectively the loudness at which you hear it. The sound experience is not rich or full, but useable. The caveat with these being very simple to use and not requiring an app, means no long-term support with firmware updates; so what you get is what you got. I feel like this style of headphone is very niche, so the recommendation has to be the same. Overall I feel like the Nearphone is a dual pack headset with Left and Right headsets that can be paired or used in single mode. If that appeals to your needs then they might do the trick. Bearing in mind, they are not the best at being a headset unless you are in a no-to-low ambient noise environment.

I was so happy to receive these JVC HA-NP40 nearphones in black with the open-ear styling. That is my all time favorite type of earbuds now. They arrived with an included USB-C to USB-C charging cable but no charger. Your charger must have a minimum of 2.5 watts to max of 10 watts per the instructions. I proceeded to charge them which didn't take long and as I mainly use them for making calls and listening to audiobooks I was excited to give them a try. There is some paperwork with a QR code to scan for the manual which I did. There is no app available but I wasn't bothered by that. One of the first things I noticed was the ear wrap has a pivot motion so you can adjust to fit your ears perfectly. I also like the fact that I can use one single earbud and when the battery depletes I still have the other one to use. These offer true wireless, 16mm large drivers sound, Bluetooth 5.4 and up to 26 hours battery life with charging case. They come in black, blue or green. They also have 3 sound modes ~ Normal, Bass, High and a touch sensor control. A female voice does alert you to various things like POWER ON ~ CONNECTED ~ POWER OFF, etc. That's part of the auto off/on connect feature and a microphone which is superb for hands free calls. When I used them straight talking they made it about 7 hours then I switched to the other one. Started charging the drained battery and in about 2 hours it was fully charged again. They are ever so comfortable and lightweight weighing about 0.28 ounces. I honestly forget I have them on! I found I can get about 30 feet away from my phone before the sound starts cutting out. I personally like the Normal setting. It's all around ideal for my various uses. The sound is crystal clear for myself as well as the listener on calls. I am so very pleased with that ~ no muffled noise or unpleasant racket. When listening to my audiobooks at night and I fall asleep then wake up they are still on my ears with absolutely no discomfort. Being a back sleeper these are fantastic for me. Not much else I can say except they are quite impressive and I have no CONS to note. Well made, great sound, easy to wear and well worth the purchase!