Customer Ratings & Reviews

There is a solution at hand for those who love music on the go but cannot abide by having an earbud jammed into their ear canal for hours on end. Say hello to JVC's cleverly named Nearphones. As the name suggests, these are yet another entry in the huge universe of earbuds. But this one varies in one important way: No part of it must be pushed into the ear canal. The tiny speaker rests just outside of it, hence, Nearphone. Since I am one of those people who finds regular earbuds too uncomfortable to wear for any length of time, I was earger to try this different design approach. After a trial run, I viewed the Nearphone as something of a mixed bag. True to its name, the Nearphone HA NP40T is more comfortable since it rests mostly on the outside of ear instead of being pushed into it. ( A hook over the outside of the ear holds it in place.) But that comes with a trade-off. The sound quality does not measure up to what you will get with a good quality traditional earbud that rests in your ear canal. I suspect this varies to some degree with each person since ear shape plays some role in how close the Nearphones can get to your ear canal. The earpieces are adjustable to some degree but if your ears have bumps or contours that keep the Nearphones pushed away from the ear canal opening, the sound quality and volume is going to be diminished. I found they sounded better if I pushed them in a bit, close to the opening. But of course that is not a practical solution since they would not stay there without me holding them all the time. So for me, the end result was music and movies that sounded OK but not great. The sound did not have the depth or fullness you would get from traditional earbuds. It sounded, as you might expect, more distant. Still, for those who care more about comfort than sound quality, this might be a reasonable trade off. Since the Nearphones are a lot more comfortable than regular earbuds in extended use. The Nearphnone also may be a great solution for those who have a hard time hearing dialogue when warching TV -- a common problem for some older folks. If you have a TV or streaming device that supports bluetooth, the Nearphones will clear up that muddy dialogue problem right away. And provide a new clarity to those stereo or sound tracks you never appreciated before. Much much clearer than a TV speaker or even soundbar. But this is only for people who watch TV alone since bluetooth cuts off the normal TV speakers when in use. These Nearphones come in their own charging case and are rated to run more than 7 hours on a charge. The case doubles as a portable charger and power pack, and provides an additional 18 hours of use without the need for an AC outlet. There is a quick charge function that gives 70 minutes of playback after just a 15 minute charge. Nearphones come with a very short USB A to USB C cable connections but no charger. The Nearphones have limited IPX4 waterproof protection, ie, they will not tolerate much more than a little rain or an occasional splash. As for overall functionality, I was not a big fan of the JVC's Morse code approach to controlling the Nearphones. You have to memorized what one, two or three taps means -- and it means something entirely different depending on whether you are tapping the left or right Nearphone. Three taps on the left bud, for example, raises the volume, while three taps on the right one skips to the previous song. And those taps may do something else if you are in a phone call. (yes, like most earbuds, the Nearpone handles phone calls too) Even worse, if your tap timing is off, the Nearphones will do something you did not intend.(as it thinks you tapped twice instead of three times) Since there are no physical buttons on the Nearphones, it is tapping or nothing. The cryptic sound modes were another miss. Labeled only as NORMAL, HIGH and BASS in the tiny and near useless instructions that came with the Nearphones, it was hard to tell what those settings really did. Going to the more detailed manual on the JVC web site, I discovered HIGH was actually a setting that boosts midrange frequencies "for noisy environments." The other two are more obvious but I frankly did not notice a lot of difference between the settings. A long press on the left earpiece is needed to switch modes, which are announced by the voice assistant. Despite its limitations and functionality issues, it is hard not to recommend this Nearphone model. It is modestly priced, comfortable to wear and the sound quality is good enough to satisfy a lot of users.

Finally, there are some "earbuds" for people who can't keep earbuds in their ears. The JVC HA-NP40T Nearphones are a great alternative to earbuds and don't cover your ears like headphones. Also, there's no pressure on your temples like bone-conductive headsets. They arrived about 70% charged which was more than enough to test them out, but no worries as they fully charge in about two hours. There's even an instant charge feature that provides up to seventy minutes of play time with just a fifteen minute charge. The Nearphones charge can last up to 7.5 hours and the carrying case holds an additional 18.5 hours of charge for a total of 26 hours of charge! The unique pivot-design of the earpiece allows them to be adjusted making them fit snug against your ears, unlike so many products that just seem to hang there. The open-air design allows you to listen, yet still be aware of your surroundings. The speaker sits just outside your ear canal, rather than "in" your ear, yet the sound is as if they were "in". The sound is great and can even be adjusted with three built-in sound modes - normal, high, and bass. They also have an IPX4 splashproof rating and have a built-in microphone so you can use them for hands free calls. The controls are simple and performed by pressing the sensor area of each nearphone. On the left ear press once for play/pause, twice to lower the volume, three times to increase volume, and hold for one second to switch between sound modes. On the right ear, press once for play/pause, twice for fast-forward, three times for rewind, and like the left ear, hold for one second to switch sound modes. For phone calls one touch on either ear answers the call and holding for one second ends the call. When not in phone mode, tapping the left ear quickly four times activates your voice assistant (Siri for IPhones). Overall the sound is great, they're comfortable to wear, and are a great alternative to earbuds or headphones!

I'm not keen on having earbuds rammed into my ears, and I was highly optimistic about these when I saw them. I used to have a pair of over-ear headphones a few years back, and I was hoping for a similar experience. Unfortunately, these didn't live up to my hopes. These earbuds have great sound and seem to hold a charge well. Connecting them to my device was a painless process. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend these for usage at the gym. No matter how you contort the little hanger on the earbud, these will NOT hold securely to your ear. Bouncing around on an elliptical or lying on an incline on a weight bench WILL cause these to fall off. This is something of a deal breaker as far as I'm concerned. I was able to repurpose these for use with my Kindle Fire at the coffee shop. Used while seated, without moving around too much, these earbuds are fine. Sound was great, and I was able to watch videos and listen to music comfortably over an extended period. If you're looking for earbuds for use with a laptop, tablet, or gaming device while in a coffee shop, then these would be a good fit for you. Their sound is good, and they're comfortable enough that you can wear them for a while. If you're looking to use these while performing any type of activity, then I'd suggest passing on them.

I really wasn't sure what to think of these headphones. I had never worn nor heard of a near ear headphone. But I can say I'm very surprised how much I live them. Now these aren't by any means hi fidelity so if that's what you should look somewhere else. But where these do shine is comfort and the ability to stay connected to the world around you while listening to a podcast or music. The sound quality is actually pretty good. Like I said it's not hi Fi. But I've worn them in public, while mowing and at the gym and could still hear everything I was listening too and still was able to hear everything around me too. It was a unique feeling that I really liked. Comfort wise these are incredible. Since nothing is poking in my ear I could wear them all day with no discomfort at all. I loved this, though people did feel weird talking to me with them on my head. Battery life is great, I was able to listen off and on all day for a few days and just charge the case every other day. Overall these are incredible if you want a good sounding, comfortable headphone that lasts all day and let's you still hear what's going on around you.

Being somewhat of a in ear earbud nut I wanted to like the JVC Nearphones HANP40TB as they are a different take on the traditional type of earbuds that you insert in your ear. These are “Open-Ear Style headphones and unfortunately, they missed the mark. These operate on version 5.4 of the Bluetooth protocol they have the usual touch controls. They are IPX4 rainproof, they have a microphone for phone call use and have up to 26 hours of battery life. Included also is a USB charging cable and nice charging case. It’s all well package and looks really great, they have multipoint capability so you can pair with 2 sources, however where the rubber meets the road on any headphone is the sound quality and how it fits on or in the ear. With the 16 mm neodymium magnet I was hopeful these would sound great. I could not for the life of me get these to fit properly even with their “pivot motion fit” and the only way for me to get the JVC near phones to sound halfway decent was to manually push and hold the earphones closer to my ear. I guess if someone needs to be totally aware of their surroundings these would work well as you definitely hear everything going on around you however the music and or phone call and or whatever you’re listening to is not loud and doesn’t sound great at all. I’m giving them three stars out of five as they are unique, but if sound quality is what you are looking for these are not the headphones for you.

I appreciate the return to the clip-on style headphone. I've always had problems with in-ears falling out, and you don't always want to wear over-ear or on-ear style headphones. These remind me of the wired headphones I had about 10 years ago. That being said, the audio quality also reminds me of the inexpensive wired headphones I had 10 years ago. The bass is rather minimal, but these will be good if you're looking for inexpensive headphones to run and still be able to hear (way less expensive than bone-conducting headphones). Otherwise, they'll be good for podcasts or lighter music. As a headset for making phone calls, these are terrible. I needed to turn the volume to max just to be able to hear the person on the other end even when I was in a quiet room. The person on the other end could barely hear me and described the audio as being at the far end of a long metal tube. So, audio quality on calls (on both ends) is terrible. The battery life is accurately reported. This is something that JVC reports accurately.

I wasn't sure how I would feel about these as I have never tried nearphones or anything like this design before. After testing these in every environment I frequent the last few days there are several points to cover. As far as fit they are very comfortable. You could leave these on and not even think about it. The quality is good and the adjustable fit is great. The case itself is just barely good enough and would be better if they secured the buds better. As far as sound goes I got to say for walking outside, at the store and even driving while listening to podcasts or watching video they really shine way more than I expected. That's the star of the show here. For music I would say they are subpar but that's the design and the law of physics are what they are. They get plenty loud enough for podcasts and such but music seems to be hindered even more with wind or background noise. Call quality was excellent. I will continue to use these in environments where safety is a priority as the experience of having unplugged ears is worth it. Even transparency modes and other options just aren't the same. Just understand for music you would probably be underwhelmed. They are excellent as a situational second pair and I would recommend them.

On paper, these seemed like the perfect solution for me. I don’t like things IN my ear canals, and ordinary earbuds also seem to fall out more often than they stay in. These looked like they would solve both problems. And they did solve those problems, but they brought two new problems… (1) These are simply not very loud. In a very quiet environment they are perfect. I am very happy with the sound quality. But if there is any noise at all, these don’t have enough oomph to power through the noise. They are NOT noise canceling, nor did I expect them to be. But I did expect just a little more volume. One of the target markets is runners. If you run in the woods or a quiet park then you will be happy. If you are in a city, these probably won’t be able to be heard over typical city noises. (2) These earphones can only pair with one device at a time. I honestly am surprised that this was the case, since I expect dual-device pairing to be standard these days. With earbuds, I typically pair them with my phone AND my computer, and as long as you only have one device playing at a time, this always works as expected. But these earphones can really only pair to one device at a time. To change, you have to go to the Bluetooth settings on your phone or computer and manually pair them again. This is quite a shame. But these things ARE incredibly comfortable and sound good for what they are. I also love the size and shape of the case. The case is slim enough that it fits in a pocket much better than traditional earbuds. The case is closer in size to a deck of playing cards. So I still liked them, but I wanted to love them, and I am afraid that they aren’t good enough for a “love” rating.

Context: I've tried a lot of headphones & have a couple strong opinions. "Earbuds" don't work me at all and I will never wear headphones while exercising/moving that don't have an over-the-ear hook of some sort. It's also the case that ~80% of my headphone use involves being active outdoors & I am a huge fan of the "open ear" concept that allows one to balance listening to media with being aware of your surroundings. The JVC - Open-Ear Headphones HANP40TB are a pretty good mix of performance and value in this space. In the past, I would often simply wear only one in-the-ear headphone so I could still pay attention to my surroundings. In general, all the open-ear versions I've tried sound MUCH better than using only one headphone. I prefer these on-the-ear versions over bone conduction versions because they sound more full & rich, don't tickle when the bass gets going, and don't go in & out a bit if I'm moving my jaw bone- i.e. talking or chewing. The JVC - Open-Ear Headphones HANP40TB sound just as good as any others I've tried, but did prompt one caller to ask me if I "was in a well" during a phone call. I immediately called them back on another set of similar headphones and didn't get the same feedback. That's really about the only reason for 4 vs 5 stars; again, not a huge deal for me as I'm not often taking phone calls with headphones.

For this one i can say is super as i never see.it's perfect and the highest quality.