JLab - Epic Air ANC True Wireless Earbuds - Black

My collection of wireless earbuds continues to grow, and JLAB's continues to impress me. I've had their Air Executive's for more than a year, when I learned of the new Air Epic Air ANC, I couldn't wait to try and compare them. One of the great things with the JLAB earbuds, is they come with 6 different sizes of bud tips, my favorite, by far is the memory foam Cloud Buds (a light blue color, all others are a black silicone). The Cloud buds form a nice sound tight fit in my ears, and they better conform to various ear cannel shapes/sizes. The earbuds charge life is quoted to be 8h with ANC on and 12h with ANC off, further the case can recharge the buds 3 times for up to 32h-48h depending on the use of ANC. The amount of ANC can be dialed up or down with JLab Air ANC app, it can also dial up or down the "Be Aware" functionality (allows you to hear surrounding sounds). My air executives has both features, but the ANC/"Be Aware" can only be turned on and off. I thought tinkering with the setting was a good idea, however in testing I found I liked both the best turned all the way up. I tried listening to my television with music on and the ANC did a good job of canceling out the TV sound, when switching to "Be Aware" turned all the way up I could make out some voices from the TV but not enough over the music (at about 70% volume), turning the music down to 50% helped, but but the "Be Aware" sound level also decreased. With the music paused, the "Be Aware" help boost the TV so I could hear it with the earbuds in my ears. Turning Be Aware Off all sound was muffled, like I had marshmallows in my ears (duh). Be Aware works but I when listening to music it can't completely overcome the music's volume. This could have to do with the microphones (the JLAB EPIC AIR ANC earbuds clam to have 3 separate microphones), when using with my phone, in making a call, I found I had to turn up the volume, but I could hear myself clearly, I ask the caller how I sounded and was told I was very clear, but so were some background noises around me, they could make out what I was listening to on the television. But I felt my conversation seemed perfectly normal. Given the nature of ear buds, they are going to pick up external sounds better than a highly directive microphone would. With ANC on the call was much better than with it off. Two other features of their app, is the ability to customize what feature tapping on the right/left (1,2,3 times) earbud controls. The are 6 tap controls, and 9 control functions, you choose. This is convenient, as I rather have track skip (rarely go back) than have a SIRI function. Not everyone will choose the same. The app also serves to update the earbuds firmware (which needed to be done when I first install the app). One other interesting feature you can turn on/off is auto play/pause - this pauses what your listening to if you remove the earbud from either ear (kind of a how can they tell question, but it works really well). When some one approaches me and I'm wearing earbuds, I'll frequently pull one out to hear better. This immediately pauses your music; a wonderful feature I'd not previously considered, and I don't need to remove both earbuds. Clever. Now on to my usual headphone audition music Boston's first album and PF's DSOTM. Almost immediately could tell that JLAB had improved the low end and high end of their ear buds. Much brighter highs and better bass, BUt my favorite new feature a 10 band equalizer as a pert of their app, with 4 storable settings. Yea! A little tweaking here and there and I had a nearly perfect sound stage, boosting where I wanted it. Improving the highs and lows substantially, some of the mid range, didn't tune quite as much as I hoped, but this was a big step-up from their executives earbuds. The fade in/out of Foreplay/Long Time was beautiful, the quite passages had very nice separation, with distinct right/left sounds that mix together and grow toward the center. The building percussion was excellent and the voices were crisp, very enjoyable. Here I turned the ANC on and off, and there was surprisingly little change, the bass dropped off a little, but as I turned up the television and turned the ANC on/off I could hear it with the ANC on, not perfect sound isolating; much better than with ANC off, but somewhat lacking in real ANC control, even with the ANC turned all the way up. On to DSOTM my favorite critical listening passage is The Great Gig in the Sky, with the girls etherical voices, and wow did it sound great, wonderful separation, tight highs, some sounds I'm not sure that I'd ever heard before (and thats saying something). The transition to Money was spectacular, the cymbals and piano sounded nearly perfect, almost like I could feel the individual piano keys being struck. Very precise. Very Impressive. To wrap up are these the best ANC ear buds, no. Are they good on a phone call, well Ok. Do the have the longest battery life. darn close. Are they comfortable, absolutely. Is packaging nice/convenient, yes. Does their app help, most certainly. Do they sound good, absolutely, on of the best! The autoplay/pause is a great feature. And I believe that you can connect two JLAB Epic Air earbuds to one device at the same time. This did not work with my older executives, but I also picked up their Epic Air Sport earbuds and they both stayed connected at the same time (it did seem to confuse their app as to what was connected), but the EQ seemed work fine for both simultaneously, a bonus I was not expecting. A great buy as far as I'm concerned.

I purchased this item for my husband to use for work. He works 10-12 hour days outdoors so waterproof and long battery life was a necessity. As for the battery it last for the whole day. The case has a usb charger built in and also can be charged wirelessly but unfortunately sometimes it won’t charge with the earbuds in the case. The biggest downfall however is that they are not very comfy for long term wear. This product comes with 5 different size ear pieces so you can choose your perfect fit.

JLabs EpicAir True Wireless is a budget friendly Active Noise Cancelling(ANC) bluetooth earbuds in the market that delivers most of the features that airpods delivers for a cheaper price. What’s is in the box: EpicAir earbuds in the synthetic leather charging case, Quick Start Guide, 5 extra ear tips of various sizes. Connection : This earbuds uses the Bluetooth 5.0, AAC Codec and is very easy to connect to the device. I used the iphone 11 to connect and all you do is press and hold each earbuds for 3seconds to make it to the pairing mode and hoover to the Bluetooth menu on the settings to find the JLab Epic Air ANC and once connected, it turns to solid white to indicate its connected. This model does not support multipoint Bluetooth mode, so you cannot connect 2 devices at the same time which most of the competitor models support(but for $99 its ok). Charging & Battery : This model supports wireless Qi charging. Just place the charging case on the charging mat to get charged or you have the built-in USB charging cord, nice feature to avoid carrying extra cable. LED’s on the case pulse white when charging and turns solid white when fully charged both wireless/wired charging. Battery performance is good. Its advertised at 12 hours of playtime in each earbud with ANC on and additional 36 hours of charge from the charging case. You can charge 3times full charge in between charges and with ANC off or 4 times with BeAware(pass through outside noise) mode. Features & Controls: This true wireless ANC model comes with wear detect sensor similar to airpods. It has Infrared sensor in each earbud that will pause the music when one of the buds is taken out of ear and plays after inserting it. Nice feature for the price point. Also, it features dual connect where you can just use one earbud for phone calls or hearing music and have other one in charging case or to double your talk time. Love this feature. IP rating of IP55 sweatproof allows you to use this during workout and less worry about getting damaged. Has touch controls on each buds and customized controls on the app which we will discuss more on the app section. New feature called Movie and music mode is incorporated in this model. If you are watching movie and are closer to your device with in 10 feet, then press and hold the touch controls for 3 seconds on both buds to enable the movie mode. This enables minimum or low latency and great clarity compared to the music mode which is good at 35 feet listening. You can turn on the ANC mode On or OFF by configuring the touch controls. I have set the left bud for single tap to change this mode from ANC on to off to BeAware. BeAware is similar to the one on the airpods pro Transparency mode where it lets ambient noise in. SIRI for IOS device and Ok Google for android can be configured for touch controls in app depending on your convenience. I have configured my right bud for double tap for SIRI. Charging case is made of synthetic leather that has good feel to touch and carry but its bulky to carry on your pockets compared to airpods or airpods pro. It has got a strong magnet to keep the case closed and has 3 led white light indicator on the front. Like the design which is something new and innovative. Buds charge and displays blue when placed in the slot of the charger. Comfort: Its very comfortable and fits well with the included 5 different silicone ear tips sizes. It also includes a foam ear tips that makes wearing easy regardless of the ear size. Make sure to select the right ear tip for good seal if you ANC is important. Its comfortable similar to airpods pro and sometimes forget if wearing for long time. App: If you need more controls or need customization, then you need to download the JLab Air ANC App in Appstore or google playstore. Once downloaded, you can update the firmware over the air if available. There was a new firmware available for me after 2 days of use (JT02_V3.0.6.3). To update, you need to have both earbuds in ear to establish Bluetooth connection and don’t put the earbuds to case during firmware update as it stops the Bluetooth connection and update. It does take good 10 minutes to update the firmware. This firmware improves the microphone performance during phone calls. Suggest to update if you have poor call quality outdoors. Call quality outdoor was not great before the update, and has improved after the update. App has info of the battery percentage of both left and right buds separately and has five menus. 1)Noise Cancelling/Be Aware - You can adjust the ANC and BE AWARE by sliding the bar from low to high at your desired level. 2) Equalizer : It has 4 EQ presets where you can select Bass, Mid-Range and Treble and select one of the EQ depending on the mode. 3) Customize Controls: In this section, you can customize left / right earbud to your choice for touch controls. App has option to select what to do with 1 tap, 2 tap or 3 tap and you can customize each buds different from various options to select like volume- , volume +, Track forward, Track Rewind, Noise Control, Siri, Play/pause, Switch EQ, None. 4) Updates : If any over the air firmware updates it will be displayed here. 5) Auto Play/Pause Sensors : Slider to select on or off. Verdict: Overall, cheap budget friendly ANC airpods style stem model with all good features and sound quality, Battery life, Wireless QI charging, In-built USB cable, Customizable controls, EQ presets. Highly recommend for the value for money.

Sound: I am very disappointed with the sound of these in ear headphones. The sound is decent but the problem is the volume, the volume is just not that loud. Messing with the apps EQ settings didn’t help either, Bass is non existent withe these. Charging Case: The charging case is small and compact, which is a good thing. I like the way you put the headphones in and then they attach magnetically, but I am very disappointed with the built-in charging cable. Instead of having a USB-mini B connection or a USB-C connection like every other normal product in the world, JLAB chose to have a male USB plug, it is extremely short, about 3 inches total. This means that if you plug a power adapter to it, the whole thing will just be dangling from the socket. This problem could be fixed by buying a USB extension cable, that’s a big boneheaded decision in my opinion. APP: It took me 10 seconds to download the app and and like 5 minutes to download the update, but other then that the app works just like its supposed to. What the “Be Aware” feature does is it turns on the microphone slightly so that you can also slightly hear outside noise... works well. Battery: One of the few positive things about these headphones is the battery, they’ve lasted me a long time and they are still going without having to charge them. There’s also a big variety of the plastic tips you can swap to find the ones that fit best. Conclusion: Disappointing volume sounds along with some boneheaded decisions, these in ear headphones are very disappointing, they also didn’t stay in my ear very well, They fell out a few times.

I want to like them, but several attempts to charge. Max I can get is Left 15% Right 25% or similar, unfortunately will not charge correctly, app shows there is an update available JT01_V3.0.8.1, don't leav this page while updating, but when you hit GO "Electricity demand is above 50%" Been sitting at the same level of charge for hour or more, sometimes left shows 10% (as in photo) so no way I know to update. Looking into manufacturer site, but quite frustrated.

I had the sport version which worked great. But these stem versions had repeated auto pause. I think the update made it worse, because it was happening inside and out. The only fix was to go to app and turn off the sensor. But to do this you have to go to the app every time. And the app takes 10 seconds to load, sometimes longer, every time it goes off screen. To 'be aware' mode was also leading to uncontrollable hissing. The only reason I'm giving it two stars instead of one is cuz my experience with the sibling version of these earbuds went very well. There was also a note in the box that mentioned an auto pause issue but claimed it was solved in the firmware. Pretty disappointing all around. I hope firmware update doesn't cause bugs to my other pair. I like the epic air sport enough especially at $50 to get a second pair from the same company. Maybe I just got unlucky (although the note in the box mentioned bugs) but I can't recommend this product at any price until they fix the bugs and the app. In particular the fact that it has to load every time it goes off screen. Lastly it's impossible to open it without destroying the box. Which instantly makes you worry they're not going to accept the return. But unfortunately they're going to have to because this product borders on unusable. I think I gave four or five stars to the epic air sport version. This one did not go well.

Sound: Quality is excellent, clear and crisp. It can really hit those lows, in fact, I have to say the bass in these beats out all other earbuds I've tried. It's not just about bass though, they have excellent range too. Plus with the available equalizer in the app you can easily adjust the sound to exactly your preference, so if you don't like too much bass, no problem! ANC (Active Noise Cancelling): This is probably my biggest negative. It works, but not that great and with it on I can hear the static it creates to noise cancel. It didn't really improve much over what you get by just having these sealed in your ear. Fair disclosure though, I've been using a premium set of over ear headphones with ANC and its tough to match that type of quality with small ear buds. Be Aware: This is a feature I never thought of until I got these. It's almost like having open ear headphones, except it passes sounds from outside through the speakers, and I love it! For times you want to listen to music but don't want to shut people out to where they have to wave their hands in front of you to get your attention, this is for you. You'll need the app to play with the levels though, and hearing yourself talk through the speakers and in your own head at the same time is a bit weird, but it's an awesome feature none the less. Comfort/Fit: Very lightweight and once you find the right size tips feel very comfortable. I was able to stomp around the house doing chores and had no issues with these staying in, with one exception. Cloud Foam Tips: Included is a large variety of tip sizes and even a pair of "cloud foam" buds. These 'Cloud Foam' tips are a similar material to earplugs and provide an excellent seal. For me personally though, I couldn't quite get them in comfortably and they kept slowly slipping out as I moved around. Case: Not too big, quality construction, and having the built in usb charging cable is a nice plus. Even though it's really short, the case, even with the buds inside, is still light enough to just dangle from the charging block if plugged into the wall. And if you have a charging pad, it can even charge wirelessly! Bluetooth/Connectivity: These buds pair up easily, and it gets the standard bluetooth range of roughly 35 feet. Best feature though, is that you can have just one earbud connected and in use, and it can be whichever side you want! In-ear sensor: Another feature I love on these. Pull one earbud out, and it'll automatically pause whatever you're listening to, put it back in and it automatically starts back up again. So far this feature has worked mostly flawlessly. I noticed that sometimes if I pull one out and set it down on a table, it would think it was back in your ear and start playing again. Phone calls: So far so good on this front. I've taken a few calls now with these on and I can hear clearly and have had no complaints from anyone that they couldn't hear me, so it works as expected. Controls: Uses short/long and number of touches to do different things, but with the app, you can easily customize the controls. Best feature here is that it's touch sensitive, so no feeling around for a small button, which makes it easy. App: The free app takes these earbuds to an entirely new level. I already mentioned the equalizer that lets you tailor the sound to your own tastes. Next best feature is that it allows you to customize the controls so the various touches do what you want them to. It also lets you adjust the noise cancelling and be aware levels as well as update the earbuds with any software updates. All of these features in the app are simple to use and work great. Overall, these little earbuds blew away all my expectations with the only exception being the Active Noise Cancelling, which isn't something you find very often in earbuds to begin with, but given the small package, works about as well as can be expected, just don't expect the ANC to keep up with premium over-ear headphones. Everything else though, simply amazing to the point that I'm using these earbuds far more often than I've ever used earbuds before, which seems to be putting me in a better mood overall since my world is filled with more music now and less silence.

The JLab Epic Air earbuds are a nice product, especially for the price point. The charging case has some nice features with an integrated charging cable that fits nicely into the case when not in use. Also, the three LED lights on the outside are quite visible to easily see the level of remaining charge. Once you remove the earbuds they go into pairing mode for one to easily connect via Bluetooth. I like that operation of the earbuds is simple and straight forward. Take them out of the case, they power on; put them back in the case they are automatically off. Click the earbud while in use to access control of volume up and down, and click twice to pause or they’ll auto pause when removed. Similar controls will go back on forward in tracks, access Siri or Google Assistant and allow one to choose from 3 preset modes. I found noise cancelling and active audio to work quite well. The sound quality is good, but not great, yet I’d say it is acceptable for the overall value these earbuds offer at this price point. Lastly, the battery life was quite good and has met all my needs thus far. JLabs notes a 12 hour battery life and a 3 hour battery charge time. I appreciate the fact that JLab has included a large variety of tips to accommodate multiple ear sizes for best comfort. The two year warranty is also a nice plus.