Earfun Air 2: Three-minute review

The Earfun Air 2 are a shining example of how you don’t need to spend a lot to get great earbuds. Of course, there was a time when buying budget tech meant settling for low-quality products that lacked features, durability or overall quality, but that’s no longer the case. 

With how many affordable headphones it sells, it’s no wonder that Earfun has worked out how to make really cracking earbuds on a budget. These sound better than any other audio product I’ve tested from Earfun, with distinct treble and bass, and more of a soundstage than you’d expect for the price.

The design is fantastic too, with both the buds and the charging case being slender and lightweight. The latter will remain in your ears through thick and thin, and the latter are easy to fit into small pockets.

Feature-wise, there are some basics here like an app EQ system to let you tweak your music a little, but one surprising stand-out is the presence of wireless charging, which you certainly can’t guarantee on products at this price. You won’t need to use it too much, thanks to the impressive battery life of the Air 2, but it’s great that you have the option available.

Some missing or hard-to-use features may put some buyers off the Earfun Air 2, though. One such example is the lack of any noise cancellation – some may consider a feature to remove background noises necessary in earbuds in this day and age, though if you don’t really care about ANC, you won’t mind.

The touch controls are also, in true Earfun fashion, a little hard to use, and quickly into testing the Air 2 I resorted to simply using my smartphone in order to control volume and songs. Again, this isn’t a deal-breaker, but it’s worth pointing out the issue to paint a full picture.

Despite this, these beasts easily win their place on our round-up of the best budget wireless earbuds, costing just $49.99 / £49.99 (roughly AU$75) yet swinging for the fences with impressive audio, a lightweight design and some handy features that let you customize your audio experience. Overall, the Air 2 are another pair of seriously impressive low-budget earbuds from Earfun, and you likely won’t be disappointed by what they offer for the price. 

Earfun Air 2 review: Price and release date

• Yet to be released
• Priced at $49.99 / £49.99 (roughly AU$75)

The Earfun Air 2 are cheap even compared to other products from this company, which specializes in affordable audio. In fact, disregarding discounted products, they’re actually the cheapest earbuds Earfun offers at the time of writing this review.

To buy them at full price, you’ll be paying $49.99 / £49.99 (roughly AU$75), a lovely low cost that makes them some of the cheapest headphones you can buy right now. Most Earfun products hover between $50 and $100, or equivalent.

Earfun’s latest earbuds are some of the most affordable we've seen for a long time, costing less than competitors like the Earfun Free Pro 3, Air Pro 3 and Air S (and many more, but doing so would risk me complaining about how confusingly-named Earfun’s portfolio is!). 

That price makes them cheaper than all but one of the entries in our round-up of the best cheap earbuds. That means they're undercut only by 2022’s Jlab Go Air Pop, which launched for $20 / £20 / AU$49.95 and are available for less in sales.

At the time of writing this review, the Earfun Air 2 don’t have a set release date, and you can’t even pre-order them yet, but that’ll hopefully change soon. 

Earfun Air 2 review: Specs

Earfun Air 2 review: Features

• Total battery life of up to 40 hours
• Simple to set up and use
• App brings handy, though not necessary, extra features

Earfun offers a few of the basic features you’d expect on wireless earbuds with its Air 2, and then a lovely extra one.

You can use the Earfun Audio app to fiddle with the EQ of your earbuds, which is a handy too for people who know their audio preferences. You can jump between presets, like rock or pop, or create your own custom EQ using a fairly easy-to-use tool.

The app is also used to toggle a gaming mode, which improves latency for audio, but other than retooling the touch controls (more on that later), that’s all the app does. You don’t need to download it to use the Air 2, which is a big plus.

One feature missing that may put off some audio fans is the lack of any kind of noise cancellation, which is perhaps a sign of the buds’ low price. There’s actually noise cancellation tech in the microphones, making a call sound a bit clearer, but not for your music. Another conspicuously absent tool is wear detection, so you’ll have to manually stop your music from playing, instead of relying on any wear detection to turn it off when you remove the buds.

Setting up the Earfun Air 2 was incredibly easy, both on its first use and then every subsequent time I wanted to listen to music – simplicity really is the name of the game here. You can even connect the Air 2 to multiple devices, so you can easily switch between your phone and, say, your PC or tablet.

The stated battery life for the Earfun Air 2 buds are 9 hours of music listening, with the case rounding that up to 40 hours, and testing suggests that these figures are accurate. That’s a really competitive battery life – not all buds offer a full working day of lasting power!

It takes roughly 90 minutes for the earbuds to charge from full to empty when in the case, and the case itself takes a little longer than that when charged using a cable. However Earfun offers something here that’s almost unheard of for budget earbuds: you can power up the case using wireless charging too. So if you like powering up your phone or smartwatch on a powering mat or pad, the Earfun can join them.

• Features score: 3/5

Earfun Air 2 review: Design

• Svelte charging case
• Buds have AirPods-like look
• Lightweight and protected

The charging case for the Earfun Air 2 is lovely and petite, weighing just 45g and measuring 62 x 47.5 x 25mm – you can easily slip it into pockets with no issue. It houses a USB-C port for charging the case, a rather well-hidden pairing button, and not a lot else.

The earbuds themselves have an AirPods-esque design with a stalk that dangles down from the buds. Each weighs 4.5g and they fit comfortably in the ear – I never had any fit issues during testing, unlike with certain other Earfun buds I’ve tested. The box contains several different eartip sizes too, so you can change them if you find the buds slipping out.

One of the few design features the Earfuns boast is touch controls, but after having wrangled with this feature, I’d recommend avoiding it. In the Earfun app you can assign functions for single, double, triple and held presses for each individual earbud, but I found that the buds were reticent to acknowledge taps. This was particularly annoying when trying to enable the triple-tap function; the odds of the Air 2 recognizing all three taps is incredibly low!

The Earfun Air 2 have an IPX7 certification. In practice, that means they’re technically protected against immersion of up to a meter for 30 minutes. We wouldn’t recommend testing it, just to be safe, but rest assured they’re safe to wear in rainy conditions.

• Design score: 3.5/5

Earfun Air 2 review: Sound quality

• Surprisingly good for price
• Max volume could be higher

For the price, the Earfun Air 2 are really impressive when it comes to audio fidelity – in fact, they might convince some people who were going to spend more, that you really don’t need to.

The strongest suit of the Air 2 is the treble, as it’s clear and crisp, though some peaking occurs when you’re listening at max volume. You might find yourself hitting max volume frequently too, as it’s not actually that loud, so be warned.

Bass is impressive here too, as it’s all-too-often lost in budget earbuds. You can easily hear basslines and lower instruments against the treble ones, and if there’s any gripes we can level against the buds, it’s that mid audio can be lost in some songs.

Perhaps to thank for the great sound quality is the use of a Sony audio codac that allows for more audio information to be sent from your music-playing device to the buds. The Earfun also support Bluetooth 5.3 for better connection reliability, and the Air 2’s maximum working range is roughly 15 meters as a result.

• Sound quality: 3.5/5

Should I buy the Earfun Air 2?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Earfun Air 2 review: Also consider

How I tested the Earfun Air 2

• Tested for 10 days
• Tested at home, in the office and on walks

The Earfun Air 2 were subjected to 19 days of testing for this review, and by 'testing' I mean 'lots of audio streaming'. This was done in the office, at home and on walks through my neighborhood.

I connected the Air 2 to my Xiaomi Mi Note 10 phone and used it for a variety of tasks including streaming music from Spotify, watching Netflix videos, playing Call of Duty: Mobile and conducting phone calls with my mum.

I've been testing tech gadgets for TechRadar for over five years now; currently, I write freelance for several sections (and have tested other EarFun headphones for the audio section) but previously I worked as a staff writer and section editor for the phones section. 

• First reviewed in February 2024

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

AK UW100MKII Two-minute review

The new AK UW100MKII are a hair’s breadth from being some of the best wireless earbuds on the market right now, but one major issue – and another problem that’d be a major one if the other didn’t exist – stop the right in their tracks.

The latest buds from South Korean premium audio company Astell & Kern, the buds sit alongside other audiophile-friendly products from the company, including DAPs, big-budget speakers and four-figure-price wired headphones. That should give you an impression of where A&K's latest proposition is targeted: these are top-end wireless earbuds.

You can tell when you listen to the AK UW100MKII – they sound absolutely fantastic. Audio is incredibly high-quality, detailed and balanced, enough to automatically place the AK amongst the best. So why only 2.5 out of 5? 

The main issue (and it's a big one) comes from the UW100MKII’s design, as the bulky buds simply refuse to stay in the ear for long periods. That’s true even when you’re sitting still in a seat, but it can be dangerous when you’re out and about, with one ill-timed head turn or jump over a puddle causing these premium buds to fall into the drink or down a street grate, out of view.

I can’t overstate how annoying it was to have the buds constantly plummeting to the ground when I was trying to enjoy music; A&K offers five different silicon tips of different sizes in the box, yet none fixes the issue that these giant earbuds provide.

Even when the earbuds aren’t escaping and sliding to earth, they seem to think that they are. The errant wearer detection would constantly pause music, thinking that the earbuds were no longer in my ear, even when I hadn’t even touched them. The AK UW100MKII really don’t want you to listen to music, apparently!

It’s a great shame, because without those two issues, the AK UW100MKII could be best-in-class contenders. The feature set is rounded out by a fantastic EQ app that lets you fiddle with audio to your pleasure, incredibly responsive touch controls that’ll have your AirPod- or Samsung-bud-toting friends jealous, and an impressive battery life that beats many rivals.

That could all bring the score up to 3 stars, but what stops the AK UW100MKII from getting that round figure is the price of the buds. They’re priced at a level that’d be justifiable for the audio quality you’re getting, but that just seems galling if you can’t listen to music for more than 15 minutes at a time.

I can begrudgingly recommend the UW100MKII if you’re only going to listen at home, and have the money to spend on this pricey home-only pair. But if that’s not you, there are countless preferable rivals.

AK UW100MKII review: Price and release date

• Released in October 2023
• Officially priced at $280 / £269 (roughly AU$340)

The AK UW100MKII are certainly not cheap earbuds. They cost $280 / £269 (roughly AU$340) when they were released in October 2023, and while you can find small discounts from third-party retailers occasionally, that’s generally the price you’ll pay for them.

At that price, the AK buds cost more than the Apple AirPods Pro 2, Sony WF-1000XM4 and, in the UK at least, the Technics EAH-AZ80, which we call the best premium earbuds in our round-up of the best wireless headphones.

AK UW100MKII review: Specs

AK UW100MKII review: Features

• Useful tie-in app
• Responsive touch controls
• Inaccurate wearer detection feature

The AK UW100MKII use Bluetooth 5.2, which isn’t quite the top standard, with 5.3 offering slightly reduced power consumption and lower latency, but the honestly the difference is largely negligible. Not once in our testing period with the AK did they lose connection or drop without reason. Initially the pairing process was a little fiddly, with my phone not recognizing the buds until I restarted both it and them, but afterwards it all worked peachy.

Of course, you can choose to set up the A&K app to gain a few extra features. Using this means you get to change what the touch controls do, play with EQ including creating your own custom set-up, and change the strength of ‘ambient mode’, a transparency mode letting you hear your surroundings.

There’s no active noise cancellation (ANC) here, with Astell & Kern instead opting for traditional passive noise isolation (PNI), which is arguably better at removing high-frequency noises but therefore struggles at the low end and with the constant thrum of everyday life.

The UW100MKII have a feature common in true wireless earbuds: automatic wearer detection, so they can pause music when you remove them and resume it when you put the buds back in your ear. 

That’s how the feature works in theory, but in practice it often erroneously thought I’d removed the buds when I hadn’t. I had to keep manually restarting my music; it only happened every hour or so, but it was still annoying enough that it’s imposible not to flag or to not affect the overall star-rating. I’d suggest it was only an issue with my review unit, however other reviewers have also raised the problem. Thankfully, you can toggle wearer detection off in the app – and I’d strongly advise you do so straight away.

Another common feature in buds is touch controls, but far from it not working well here, these could actually be some of the best-in-class headphones for on-ear touch functionality. You can tap on most parts of the earbuds to pause or resume your music, and not once in testing did they fail to recognize a press. The command is carried out quickly, with a gentle chime to let you know that it’s happening and you don’t need to press so hard that you shove the bud further into your ear. I often avoid earbud touch controls but these had me gleefully using them.

A&K cites a battery life for the buds of 9.5 hours, and in our testing this seemed roughly right. Using the charging case you can boost this up to 29 hours, and overall that figure matches or exceeds quite a few premium rivals in the market. For context, the AirPods Pro 2 have a 6-hour bud life and 30-hour case life. 

The USB-C port in the charging case lets you power up the buds quickly, but you can also use wireless charging to power up these buds too. That can be especially useful if you have a smartphone with reverse wireless powering, which means you can turn the phone into a powering pad to boost other tech.

• Features score: 3/5

AK UW100MKII review: Design

• Large buds are prone to falling out
• Unique appearance for buds and case
• Fairly large charging case

The UW100MKII just look a little different from other earbuds on the market (well, except the inaugural Astell & Kern AK UW100 buds).

This starts with the case: it has a hexagonal body that makes it resemble a futuristic-looking treasure chest more than somewhere you’re meant to store headphones. That’s doubly the case when you lift up the lid, which turns on the cyan LED strip. Weighing in at 65g, it’s a little on the large side, but we’ve seen cases that are a lot bigger too.

The earbuds themselves continue this unique design: they’re large and pentagonal, with a tapered, pointed end that continues the sci-fi theme. If you want earbuds that make it look like you’re living in a cyberpunk future, these fit the brief. However, this large housing contributes to the UW100MKII’s deal-breaking issue. 

In my testing time with the A&K buds, they would frequently fall out of my ears. Most frequently this was when I was walking, bobbing up and down, but they’d even tumble out if I was sitting still or simply moving my head. In an attempt to remedy the issue, I tested each of the five differently-sized replaceable tips that come with the headphones, but none fixed the matter.

If I were to speculate on why the UW100MKII were so keen to test the pull of gravity, I’d say that it’s the fault of the giant earbuds. Despite only weighing 7g, the large size drags the buds down and makes a secure fit impossible.  

Given the tech packed into these second-gen. A&S earbuds, their large size is perhaps justifiable, but it’s hard to enjoy top-quality audio when they are constantly falling out.

• Design score: 2.5/5

AK UW100MKII review: Sound quality

• Fantastic audio quality
• Customization options
• Max volume could be higher

Finally, we can move into ‘praise’ territory for the AK UW100MKII – and it’s well-deserved praise because they sound absolutely great.

The spec sheet is a veritable who’s who of audio-improving features and tools. There’s A&K’s home-brewed AK4332ECB DAC for improved conversion of digital information into music; multiple Bluetooth codecs including AptX Adaptive and AAC, a Qualcomm-made Bluetoooth chipset, a driver made by Knowles and more.

You don’t need to know what any of these individual entries mean, other than the fact that many different companies have contributed their expertise to the buds. And it shows.

The UW100MKII have a surprising level of sound quality for wire-free earbuds. You can hear the squeaks of guitars as players move their hands, individual notes in chords, different parts of harmonies, instruments as they fade instead of just dropping out. It’s really easy to enjoy music when you can hear all of the components separated and celebrated like this.

The bass sounds crisp and impactful, even when you haven’t boosted it using the app's EQ tab, but it never overpowers the treble in music.  The soundstage is also impeccable – if you close your eyes, you can almost imagine a live band performing the music in front of you.

The ability to fiddle with, and customize, the EQ may appeal to particular audiophiles. I didn’t use it to augment my testing other than to test the efficacy of the feature itself, but was impressed by what I heard – some headphone EQs barely affect the music, but there was a palpable change when I fiddled with the bass or treble.

If I’ve one note – and it’s a fairly minor one – it’s that the maximum volume could have been a little higher. It’s fine for when you’re listening in a quiet room – I generally listened one tier below maximum in this setting – but if you’re out in public or somewhere noisy, it’d be nice to be able to bump up the volume a little more, especially with the lack of ANC. 

• Sound quality: 4.5/5

Should you buy the AK UW100MKII?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

AK UW100MKII review: Also consider

How I tested the AK UW100MKII

• Tested for two weeks
• Largely tested at home, though with some excursions

The overall testing period for the AK UW100MKII was two weeks, not including writing time for the review itself.

After first setting up the earbuds, it quickly became apparent that they wouldn't reliably stay in my ear, even after I tried every single one of the other sized silicon tips included with them. For this reason I conducted most of the testing from home, for fear of the buds falling out somewhere – and me not being able to retrieve them. I did take the AK UW100MKII on a few trips around my neighborhood, just to be able to test the passive isolation out in the wild though.

I mainly tested the buds by streaming music from Spotify, but also watched TV shows on Netflix, played a few mobile games and conducted calls through the buds, in order to test them in a variety of circumstances.

I've been testing tech for TechRadar for nearly five years now including earbuds, headphones, smartphones, tablets, ereaders, speakers, smartwatches, even electric scooters; I've got plenty of experience reviewing and comparing products.

• First reviewed in January 2024

Earfun Free Pro 3: Two-minute review

The Earfun Free Pro 3 stand out in the world of sub-$100 /£100 earbuds. The affordable earbud market can be a tricky one, rife with knockoffs and sketchy buds from unknown companies, but amongst the mess are a few gems, and the Free Pro 3 definitely counts.

At just $79.99 / £79.99 (no Australian release at the time of writing), these buds have prices to rival the newest Samsung, Sony and JBL models, but a few perks that might make you pick them over the competition.

The Free Pro 3 sound great. they’ve got pronounced bass and distinct treble, which means that music sounds great. There's no mealy audio with these buds – in fact, the audio rivals some of the best headphones, which is no small compliment.

Another great aspect of the buds is that the carry case is one of the smallest on the market, so it can really easily slip into a pocket and be left out of sight, out of mind. Despite their small form, the Earfun’s battery life is great, outlasting many big-name rivals like the AirPods Pro.

Not everything works perfectly though. Most importantly, the fit of the earbuds was unreliable, and in the testing period, they fell out a fair few times. This problem will depend on your ear size, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t flag it.

The earbud controls aren’t exactly stellar either, making it a little tricky to skip songs or change volume just by tapping them mid-song. It’s much easier to simply pick up your phone than start hammering on your head, hoping something will happen. That’s a small loss though, and is pretty easy to overlook given the great package you’re getting overall.

Earfun Free Pro 3 review: Price and release date

• Released in October 2023
• Officially priced at $79.99 / £79.99 (roughly AU$125)

The Earfun Free Pro 3 were unveiled in October 2023, and were put on sale on the 30th of the month. These are fairly affordable earbuds, costing $79.99 / £79.99 (roughly AU$125, but at the time of writing it’s not available in Australia). 

That’s a good price point for affordability, but not a great one for competition, with many big-name rivals also sitting at the high-two-figure-end of the spectrum. The Samsung Galaxy Buds FE, Sony WF-C700N, JBL Tune Flex and many, many more all sit within $20/£20 of the Free Pro 3, so these Earfun buds really need to impress.

Earfun Free Pro 3 review: Specs

Earfun Free Pro 3 review: Features

• Total battery life of up to 33 hours
• EarFun Audio app brings audio customization
• Nice and simple pairing

According to Earfun, the Free Pro 3 buds have a 7.5 hour battery life each, with the case’s battery bringing the set’s entire charge time to 33 hours. You can charge the battery via the USB-C port on the case. This is a great battery life in theory – in tests, the buds seemed to nearly reach this figure, though by turning on some of the features you’ll lose some time.

What features, you ask? Well the EarFun Audio app brings a few extra tricks that are pretty commonplace in headphones at this price tier. The Earfun Free Pro 3 work perfectly well without you downloading the tie-in app onto your phone, a strategy I wish other audio makers would embrace, but if you turn on the app you get some extra tricks.

This includes a noise cancellation mode as well as an ‘Ambient Sound’ tool to vary how much AMC is in use, an equalizer function, and a ‘Game Mode’ which improves latency for when you’re gaming. The earbuds would have worked fine without these features, but they’re neat extras for people who care about their sound.

You can also use the app to connect multiple devices to the earbuds, so you can easily switch between them. This is a handy feature for people who own multiple devices that you frequently use. Pairing the buds to a phone was easy and convenient, both for the initial set-up and for subsequent listening sessions.

• Features score: 3.5/5

Earfun Free Pro 3 review: Design

• Very small carry case
• Earbuds have awkward fit
• Touch controls aren't perfect

A lovely aspect of the Earfun Free Pro 3 is that their carry case is one of the smallest on the market. The case measures just 67 x 50 x 31mm, and weighs in at a lightweight 41.5g. 

In fact, it was so slender that it could fit into the watch pocket of trousers (you know, that tiny pocket inside the main pockets of many pairs of trousers). This portability made the Earfun a lot easier for me to carry around than some rival buds I’ve tested with much larger carry cases. There’s not much to the case – just space for the buds, and a USB-C charging port, but it’s still big enough to pack a fairly large battery, as you’ve already read about.

The buds themselves are equally lightweight, so you don’t feel like they’re dragging down your lobes every time you’re listening to tunes. Atop the buds are small rubber loops, seemingly designed to ensure they stay firmly lodged in your ear – unfortunately this doesn’t work very well. I found the Free Pro 3s to feel rather loose in my ear, and on several occasions when I moved my head too fast or didn’t lodge them in properly, they fell out, which wasn’t exactly ideal.

The Earfuns have on-board touch control, so in theory you can just tap once, twice, thrice or tap and hold for functions that you map out in the app. Unfortunately these proved incredibly temperamental in testing, so much so that I just ignored the feature after the tests. The buds also have an IPX5 rating against small particles but not water, so try not to get them wet.

• Design score: 2.5/5

Earfun Free Pro 3 review: Sound quality

• Fantastic for bass and treble
• Less good for everything in between

When you’re paying this much for some wireless earbuds, audio quality isn’t something you can guarantee. That’s no dig at headphone makers – battery life, features and handy design can be even more important than sound for many users.

This isn’t an issue for the Earfun Free Pro 3 though because they sound surprisingly good, exceeding their price tag and then some. The buds surpass most rival earbuds (and even some headphones) for their meaty bass, with low-frequency sounds pronounced and clear. That’s not at the expense of treble though, resulting in music having a wonderful sound stage. 

The maximum volume on the Free Pro 3 is surprisingly high, in that I can imagine it could be quite damaging if used for a long period of time, but that means no one can complain about it not being loud enough! At higher volumes, the sound can get a little tinny though.

The Earfuns have noise canceling that reaches up to 43dB, removing lots of ambient background sound and improving the listening experience. As previously stated you have some control in how prevalent the ANC is, and can get rid of it if you want to stay aware of your surroundings.

• Sound quality: 3.5/5

Should I buy the Earfun Free Pro 3?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Earfun Free Pro 3 review: Also consider

• First reviewed in November 2023

How on earth are the JLab JBuds Mini so small? Seriously, the earbuds are 30% smaller than the Go Air Pop before them and the case is 50% smaller. Next to any other earbud I can think of, they're teeny. Potentially the smallest around, it's safe to say storage isn't an issue, unless you're worried about losing them given their slight and non-existent heft. JLab has thought of that though by adding a keyring to the side so you can easily attach them to your keys ensuring you'll never miss out on having earbuds on your person. 

None of this would matter if the JLab JBuds Mini were pretty ropey but they're actually great for the price. Costing just $39.99 / £39.99, they'll suit every budget. Cheap and tiny, the JLab JBuds Mini still pack a fair bit in. While codec support is a little limited, there's Bluetooth Multipoint connectivity, the JLab app to help you tweak some settings, and a Be Aware mode that makes up for the lack of true ANC. 

They're IP55 rated which will be handy for those sweaty days. A quick charge function could be better with 15 minutes giving back only an hour of play, but with 20 hours overall via the (did we mention it's tiny?) charging case means that'll rarely be an issue.

The JLab JBuds Mini are really quite cute yet potent, easily vying for a place among the best budget wireless earbuds. They fit in your ears perfectly and all we could really hope for is options that would match skin tone accurately, as no one would notice you wearing them if so. 

JLab JBuds Mini review: price and release date

• Released in September 2023
• Priced at $39.99 / £39.99

The JLab JBuds Mini was released in September 2023 for $39.99/£39.99. Currently available across Europe, the UK and the USA, they're affordable across the board.

The earphones are available in five colors – black, aqua teal, pink, mint green and sage gray. Count on the fairly ordinary looking black to be first to see a discount. 

JLab is competing among itself for rivals with the JLab Go Air Pop hanging around at just $20 / £20 but being a little older and a little bigger than the JLab JBuds Mini. There's always the pricier EarFun Air Pro 3 too if you need ANC although the buds are certainly a lot bulkier.

JLab JBuds Mini review: specs

JLab JBuds Mini review: features

• Multipoint support 
• Great app
• Be Aware mode 

The JLab JBuds Mini are so small that you'd almost expect them to have nothing going for them. However, JLab has squeezed a fair amount in for cheap earbuds. Notably, it's always good to see Multipoint support so you can connect two devices at once – something that pricier earbuds can still lack. 

At all times, it's simple to just keep to using one earbud if you prefer, while the Be Aware mode provides you with a bit more of an ability to hear what's going on around you, such as if you need to listen out for traffic. There's no ANC here but the passive noise isolation is better than you'd think for earbuds of this size and price, presumably because they're such a nice and snug fit in your ear. 

Via the JLab app, you can make some adjustments to the EQ with a choice of presets as well as the option to make changes for yourself. Out of the box, you won't instantly find yourself in need but we'll get into that later.

With no issue with connectivity, it always felt like the JLab JBuds Mini were ready even when I just need one earbud by my metaphorical side. It's those little things that mean you're more likely to grab the JLab JBuds Mini, even when there are alternatives nearby.

Features score: 4 / 5

JLab JBuds Mini review: battery life

• Up to 5.5 hours through the earbuds and up to 20 hours including the case
• 15 minutes charge gives back an hour  

The JLab JBuds Mini is pretty typical for your average pair of earbuds but that means it's better than you'd think for the size. You'll get about 5.5 hours from one charge with 20 once you factor in the charging case.

There's also quick charge support although it's a little weak. A 15 minute charge gives back an hour. That's ok but it's far from special even if it could get you out of a jam.

Battery life score: 4 / 5

JLab JBuds Mini review: sound quality

• Adjustable EQ
• Strong noise isolation 
• Vibrant beats

The JLab JBuds Mini block out sound far better than you'd anticipate given their size and price. While you'll still hear traffic as you walk past, it isn't as all encompassing as with other weaker earbuds. There's still room to enjoy your music with the JLab JBuds Mini being suitably vibrant at all times. 

There's the app's EQ for getting things just how you like them but out of the box, the JLab JBuds Mini sound pretty good. While bass could be stronger in an ideal world, it's all still pretty lively with a wider soundstage than anyone could have seen coming here. 

The JLab JBuds Mini use standard codecs so it's all good for your usual streaming services, but there's no aptX or LDAC support. 

Still, vocals are clear at all times while there's a reasonable crisp quality to ballads like Harry Styles' Sign of the Times. It's a weaker story when switching to something dance heavy like I'm Good (Blue) by David Guetta and Bebe Rexha, but you'll still enjoy it. 

Sound quality score: 4 /5 

JLab JBuds Mini review: design

• So small 
• Keyring accessory 
• Touch-sensitive surface on buds

We've mentioned it a lot but the JLab JBuds Mini are supremely small. They come with a keyring attachment and the case is a perfect fit next to your keys. As someone who hates to forget their earbuds, this is ideal for avoiding the peskiness of hearing my surrounding environment when I don't want to.

The earbuds are small too, of course, but not so small that you'll worry. They fit snugly in your ears and even during a run, there was no wobble factor here. The earbuds are sufficiently comfy that your ears won't ache during extended periods of use either.

Controls are a little tetchy. With not much room on the bud, it's very easy to accidentally mistap when adjusting them in one's ear. On the other hand, no one likes to have awkward controls so this is a tricky one to complain about or applaud too. 

Design score: 4 /5 

JLab JBuds Mini review: value

• Well priced 
• Plenty of good features 

The JLab JBuds Mini might have a plasticky case but it suits their style. More importantly, they're cheap yet have many of the key features you could want. 

The main competition comes from JLab's previous small earbuds – the Go Air Pop with most other rivals like the EarFun Air Pro 3 and the Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 proving much bulkier.

Value score: 4 /5 

Should I buy the JLab JBuds Mini?

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JLab JBuds Mini review: also consider

How I tested the JLab JBuds Mini

• Tested for one week 
• Used outside and around the home, in both noisy and quiet environments
• 10 years of audio reviewing experience 

Swapping my regular earbuds for the JLab JBuds Mini, I solely used them for a period of just over a week. They were part of my daily morning walk where I walked among quiet areas and noisier traffic-filled parts of suburbia. I also used them while running to check the fit was snug and correct.

Around the house, I used them while completing housework and also for quieter times in the evening to relax.

I listened to a mixture of modern and older music, as well as many podcasts. These were all through Apple Music, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. I also watched a few YouTube videos thanks to the JLab JBuds Mini's multipoint feature simplifying the process.

Over the past ten years, I've reviewed dozens of speakers, headphones, and earbuds. These have covered a wide range of price ranges and I'm always pleasantly surprised when cheap can defeat expensive options.

• First reviewed: October 2023
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