JLab - Epic Air Elite True Wireless Earbud Headphones

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The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.

• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Solid hardware needing firmware update

  • Tech Insider Network Member
  • Top 25 Contributor

  Pros Light design is hardly noticeable Around ear design holds firmly Selectable audio passthrough for safety Good sound for the price point Large driver produces a lot of bass Capacitive touch controls will likely last longer Configurable left or right master to improve signal Sleek design is very low profile on the ear Voice feedback for connection and battery Case can charge your phone Case includes integrated USB cable Three built-in EQ options Cons Earbuds are placed in case backwards Signal dropout if happen to place your phone on opposite side of master App for configuration not in app store Burn in file points to bad link Burn In App just points to a bad SoundCloud link and doesn’t offer burn-in Capacity touch controls often don’t work or perform wrong command Volume controls are clumsy and often don’t work Volume controls don’t match phone meaning you have two places to change Electronic hear through design distorts noises and doesn’t transmit vehicle noises Sound is a little flat Audio quality during phone calls causes ear fatigue Only IP55 rated Adjusting headphones can accidentally change settings Moisture can affect ability to operate controls The JLAB Epic Air Elite True Wireless Sport Earbuds with its comically long name is a pair of headphones which tries to provide as much functionality as its name is long. Among the claims are great battery life, solid connection, secure fit, and great sound. To start, battery life is stated as 6 hours on a charge with an additional 30 hours with included battery charging case. It’s doubtful most people would use them for a full 6 hours and for everyone else, storing them in the including charging case means you are unlikely to run out of power unless you forget to charge the base. This shouldn’t be an issue as the base also includes an integrated battery level meter. The charging base has a large enough battery that if needed you can charge up your phone as needed which is a thoughtful and potentially useful feature. The base also includes an integrated storage for the USB to Micro-USB cable to charge up your phone. Unfortunately if you have a modern phone with either USB-C or a lightning port you will need either an adapter or separate cable. If JLAB could find a way to have a compact adapter in the case this package would be even more useful. Although minor, one design element seems rather odd about the case. If you open the case the normal way then the left earbud is on the right of the case and the right is on the left. It doesn’t take long to adapt but a simple 180 degree change of placement of the hinge for the lid would have made the placement more immediately intuitive. JLAB claims that, while other brands have an issue with signal dropouts due to cross body interference, they have a unique way to keep the signal strong is a configurable master earbud setup. You can set either the right or left earbud as the master to communicate with your phone, depending on which side you carry your phone to maximize signal strength. While some other brands are able to keep a strong, reliable signal regardless of phone placement on your body the Epic Air Elite headphones have proven to be very sensitive to placement. If you place phone on the opposite of your body as the master earbud you will likely experiences dropouts and skips. If you are the type of person who likes to change what pocket they hold their phone depending on the clothing it would be best to become very familiar with the process of configuring the master earbud. Although less convenient it works. Hopefully future generations will find a way to eliminate the need to do this to further simplify the design. A seemingly nice touch is the controls no longer require trying to mash tiny buttons to control but instead use capacitive touch to gently control your music. However; at the time this review was written the capacitive touch controls where mediocre at best and useless at the worse. To start, if the earbuds or your hands or either overly wet or dry the controls don’t work. Even when they do work, taps are often registered incorrectly. An example is that to pause a track you tap the left earbud twice but you have to tap two times slowly or it won’t register and keep playing. If you also tap and slide it might register as a triple tap that turns on the ability to hear outside sounds. Ideally you want to tap a little slower but if you tap too slow then it could be registered as volume down twice. This could be potentially ok and considered part of the learning process but volume down is in small increments with no audible feedback. This means if you try pause and get your timing wrong you can be turning down slightly and have no idea. The place where this becomes the largest issue is volume control. To turn the volume up any meaningful amount you have to perform a series of low, slow taps over an extended period of time to make a significant adjustment. You then might be inclined to just use your phone to expedite the process only to find audio volume syncing also isn’t supported. This means that if for some reasons your headphones are at minimum volume setting your phone volume to max does little and your are left in the slow tap process for over a minute to get the volume up. This can be fixed via software so hopefully JLAB refines this process more in the future via firmware updates. Controls aside, audio quality is quite good. The highs are a little weak giving a slightly flat sound but overall for the price point the quality is hard to beat. If you like bass, the large drivers seem to have no problems delivering. Included are three preset EQs which can be switched via taps to the earbud but if you have phone with it’s own EQ adjustments that would be the better way to go. That said, offering some preset EQs is still helpful for those who have no other option. The design uses a semi rigid antenna that wraps around your ear to keep them in place. The design is very comfortable and very secure. Even during rapid head movements the earbuds might dislodge slightly but them never seem to fully come off which is nice. The earbuds are light and reasonably low profile and with the ear hook they can be held in place comfortably without requiring them to be mashed in your ears. They are rated IP55 “sweatproof” which means a splash of water won’t hurt them. It’s a bit of a surprise that with not buttons to seal the rating isn’t higher as some others have ratings up to IP67. That said, for most purposes they should be fine. The design also allows for them to block outside sounds or allow them through electronically by a triple tap on the left earbud while paused. The idea is great, but just like some other features it could really use a firmware update. Something like a dog collar is registered as a rather large, deep clank where a truck passing by is filtered out. If you are playing music, then no sounds are transferred. Hopefully future firmware updates will improve the algorithm to improve audio quality and maybe allow things like vehicle noises to always pass through for safety. Other electronic hear through earbuds are guilty of the same thing and it would be nice to see this added for all for safety of people walking and jogging next to roadways. When it comes to software, this is where JLAB seems to have left things unfinished. A burn in process of 40 hours is recommended to condition the drivers to best quality sound. On Android, JLAB has a burn in tool which surprisingly doesn’t actually perform the burn-in. In fact, it asks you to provide your email address to show you an SoundCloud file with the burn-in audio. The problem is when you tap play it reports a bad link. Further down in the app you are prompted to install the iOS app to unlock all features. If you go even further down you will find an option to download an Android app, which again goes to a broken link. The instructions go further as to describe the name to type in and the icon to search for the Google Play store. The problem is in the Google Play Store the only JLAB is the audio burn in app which seems to be nothing more than an app of promotional information. Hopefully this is just because of internal delays and JLAB will get this fixed soon. That said, the headphones work ok without a separate burn-in or custom app. If you really prefer to burn them in there are third part apps available the Play Store to perform the same function. Overall, the Epic Air Elite True Wireless Sport Earbuds are a solid pair of headphones with some quirks that, depending on your preference, might mean very little considering how much functionality they offer for a very reasonable price. If JLAB can make some further firmware refinements to controls and audio passthrough as well as fix their app situation these headphones could potentially make other more expensive true wireless headphones irrelevant. The hardware feels solid and if you think you can deal with the control oddities and love the overall feature set it’s really hard to find another product with so many features in a small package like this.

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  Posted 7 years ago by CraigB

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Best Sport Headphones I've Owned

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  Over the past 5 years I have owned over a dozen pairs of Bluetooth sport headphones and these are the best overall headphones that I have used. These came with numerous ear plug types to fit just about any person. I have never been able to find an ear plug that actually fit my ears so I tried all of the options and found one that was comfortable and stayed in my ear. The ear hooks fit snuggly and keep the headphones in place. What I like about these headphones is that there is no cable. The right headphone connects to the Bluetooth device and also to the left headphone. The headset does not move while running or doing other activities (crunches for example), which has always been a problem with my previous headsets. I haven't run the batteries down yet since I haven't used them for more than three hours at a time. When you put the headphones back into the case, it automatically recharges the device so you never run it dry. I believe it is supposed to last at least 5 hours so I'll have to try that out down the road. The case comes with a built-in USB cable and should fully charge the phones at least 5-10 times before you need to recharge the case. All is not perfect with these headphones though. The first time I used them, there were three times that the right and left headphones disconnected for a split second. However, over the past two weeks that has only happened one more time. The only other thing that isn't great about the headphones is the controls on each head phone is confusing and hasn't worked well in my testing. To lower the volume, you touch the center of the left earphone and the right to raise the volume. Two touches does something else and three touches does another thing. This is not only confusing, but it doesn't work that well. It hasn't been an issue since it is really easy to just use my phone to do the same thing. Overall, these headphones sound good, fit well, and stay in place for your workout.

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  Posted 7 years ago by FutureP

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Beat it Apple!!!!! JLAB is superior!!!

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

  I returned two sets of the new beats because the right ear bud died twice. On my third trip I decided to buy JLAB and compare the two side by side. The sound quality and clarity is no comparison, Beats lack base and volume. JLAB exceeds Apple/Beats hands down. The only feature I wish JLAB has was, when you remove you ear bud(s) your music pauses. Needless to say, I returned the Beats. Don’t BITE THE APPLE, SPEND LESS MONEY AND GET A SUPERIOR PRODUCT WITH JLAB!!

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  Posted 6 years ago by BostonTerrier87