"With a throbbing bass and a huge list of functions, the JBL Reflect Mini NC chooses every workout."
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Big, powerful bass
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Excellent call quality
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Either Alexa or Google Assistant
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Good noise cancellation
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Cumbersome adjustment of the controls
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No wireless charging
JBL sells a wide variety of true wireless earbuds aimed at fitness enthusiasts. Between the company's own JBL branded products and its partnerships with Under Armor and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, you can choose from eight different models, priced between $ 100 and $ 200. Announced at CES 2021, the latest in the range are the $ 150 Reflect Mini NC, JBL's first Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) training buds.
With an impressive list of features, excellent water resistance, and a surprisingly affordable price point, one wonders: what's the catch? Let's take a look.
What's in the box?
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The Reflect Mini NC, like most JBL headphones, comes in a box that is beautifully designed but a nightmare to recycle, with lots of plastic, foam, and magnets embedded. Inside you will find the earphones, their charging case, a USB-C charging cable, a total of three sizes of silicone earplugs and wing tips, as well as paper documentation with a quick guide.
design
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Most of the other loading cases feel weak in comparison.
The Reflect Mini NC and its compact charging case are available in black, white, green or blue and radiate robustness. Despite its low weight, the charging case is very solid thanks to a robust plastic shell and an impressively robust hinge. The lid is easy to open and stays in the open position until you close it, which comes with a very satisfactory magnetic clasp. Most of the other loading cases, even JBL's own Reflect Flow, feel weak in comparison. A built-in lanyard loop is handy for taking the headphones with you when you don't have a pocket, or attaching them to a gym bag or backpack.
I'm also a bit obsessed with the charge indicator on the front of the case. In most cases there will be a small LED dot or a series of dots if you're lucky. With the Reflect Mini NC, however, you get a large, fat LED bar that shows the charging status of each earbud and the case itself. The only thing missing here is wireless charging.
The earphones are also solidly built and, as the name suggests, slightly smaller than the Reflect Flows – albeit not by much. As an advantage for night runners and hikers, reflective paint was applied to the JBL logos on the contact surfaces.
No workout buds would be complete without some sort of water resistance, and the Reflect Mini NC doesn't disappoint with an IPX7 rating, which means they're effectively waterproof. They won't work if you go swimming with them, but they won't be damaged either.
Convenience, control and connections
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True workout wireless earbuds often use an ear hook design to ensure a secure fit. The Powerbeats Pro are the flagship for this function. But if you can achieve the same level of security without the earhook, that's a plus in my opinion, and the Reflect Mini NC definitely delivers. The tradeoff – if you consider it a compromise – is that these earbuds really make your ears feel full.
You have no concerns about an accidentally detached bud.
The silicone earbuds and wing tips are denser than the ones JBL uses for the Reflect Flow, presumably to improve stability, but that means they're not quite as comfortable. You have no concerns about an accidentally detached bud, but you'll never forget you're wearing it either. As a result, they are likely not the best choice for long periods of wear in an office or on an airplane.
The touch controls respond quickly as long as you touch the surface of the logo and not just the edges. Each earbud is factory-equipped with preset functions. With the left bud you can switch between the ANC modes or activate the talk-thru mode (more on this later). The right earbud controls play / pause and skip forward / backward. Both earbuds can access your phone's built-in assistant and both can be used to answer / end calls and mute / unmute the microphones. So far, so good. There is no volume control by default, but that's not uncommon – many true wireless earbuds lack this feature.
The problem occurs when you use the free JBL headphones app to customize the controls. Instead of letting you choose which features go with which gestures, you have to choose from the presets. For example, the left earbud can control noise cancellation or playback functions, but not a mix of these functions. If volume control is important to you, you can set either earbud to control it. But then you just have to choose another function to control with the other earbud. What will it be? And if you don't like the gesture assigned to a particular function (e.g. a single tap to toggle ANC mode), you can't change it.
You can configure the Reflect Mini NC to access the Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa instead of your phone's built-in assistant. However, if you use this very cool feature it will take a whole earbud. This leaves you with Alexa and volume (for example). Or Alexa and ANC. You get the picture. I asked JBL why the controls seem to be set up like a bunch of channels on cable TV, but I have never received a satisfactory answer.
Like more and more earbuds these days, the Reflect Mini NC has an auto play / pause function that pauses your music when you remove an earbud. It reacts very quickly and can be deactivated in the app if desired.
You can use the earbuds individually (both can answer / end calls) and their wireless range is excellent. Pairing is very quick and easy for both iPhone and Android phones.
There's a bass-forward sound signature that you can feel all over your body.
In the JBL app, you can choose from three different Smart Audio modes that supposedly change the parameters of the wireless connection: Normal for the most stable connection, audio for the best sound quality, and video for the lowest latency (also great for gaming). I didn't notice much of a difference between these modes, but I love that they are included if you need them.
JBL also includes a Find My Earbuds feature that makes each earbud emit a high-pitched beep. It's loud enough that you will hear it even if a bud gets wedged between sofa cushions.
Sound quality
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When it comes to a set of workout earphones, the big, powerful bass is arguably one of the most important elements. After all, it's the beat that keeps most of us going, whether we're serious about taking a walk or trying to hit a new personal best at the gym. Thanks in part to its super-tight seal, the Reflect Mini NC fulfills this requirement with a bass-forward sound signature that you can feel through your whole body.
Turn up Post Malone's wow. or Ariana Grande's 7 rings and wait for those extremely deep basses to hit – it's powerful stuff. That same low-end rumble is perfect for action films too.
You can customize the EQ to your heart's content in the JBL app, with a few presets, but also your own collection of custom settings. These are well worth exploring – you can drastically change the signature of the Reflect Mini NC.
They aren't the most nuanced earbuds I've ever heard. The mids can be a bit overwhelmed by the heavy lows and highs, and their soundstage isn't as wide or open as on models like this Jabra Elite Active 75t. As a training companion, however, they couldn't be more precise in terms of sound.
Noise cancellation and transparency
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After a lukewarm experience with JBL's ANC technology on the Club One wireless headphones, I was also prepared for an overwhelming performance from the Reflect Mini NC. Surprisingly, the opposite was true. Once again, their tight ear canal seal is key: these earbuds do such a good job of passive noise isolation that the ANC circuit doesn't have much to put out, and they do a very effective job.
It's so good, in fact, that even without music, family members could sneak up on me completely undetected while I had the earphones with me.
You can select the specific frequencies you want to cancel using a slider in the JBL app. It's not quite as convenient as the Sony, Jabra, or Soundcore presets, but it's very handy nonetheless. Customize ANC performance for your specific environment.
The Reflect Mini NC have excellent call quality.
Transparency mode is good too, but it has two minor drawbacks: unlike ANC, you can't adjust how much sound transparency mode is allowed, and there's no way to toggle between ANC and transparency mode without an ANC off Mode to cycle through. Two more adjustments that JBL should add.
Talk-thru mode, a handy way to temporarily turn on transparency while lowering the volume of your music, works very well too.
Battery life
JBL claims six hours of use between charges for the Reflect Mini NC when the ANC is on and seven hours when it is off. It's similar to the Jabra Elite 75t and Elite Active 75t, but not quite as impressive as the Powerbeats Pro's nine hours. The charging case contains two full charges that take an additional 12 or 14 hours. As far as I can tell, these numbers are pretty accurate.
A 10-minute quick charge gives you an extra hour of playback time, although that's on the low end for true wireless earbuds.
Call quality
JBL managed to surprise me once again – the Reflect Mini NC have excellent call quality. To put it in perspective, if you are using them outside or around traffic, you just can't tell I wasn't inside. There was an occasional jiggle when noise cancellation tackled car and wind noise, but overall these earbuds are impressively clear.
During a call you can still switch the ANC to ambient mode, which is perfect for hearing your own voice without the attenuation effects of the earbuds.
Our opinion
The JBL Reflect Mini NC with massive basses are also inexpensive and feature-rich, which makes them an ideal set of training companions. If JBL could fix the cumbersome and restrictive control schemes, they would be nearly perfect.
Is there a better alternative?
I think JBL found the sweet spot for workout earbuds with the price, sound, and features of the Reflect Mini NC, but here are three alternatives worth considering:
Sony's $ 200 WF-SP800N is one of our most popular workout earbuds. It offers better sound quality and a better ANC, as well as an enormous battery life of nine hours.
The $ 200 Jabra Elite Active 75t offers better sound quality (though not as much bass) and controls, plus longer battery life, while providing great water and dust resistance. I think they're more comfortable too, but without ear hooks or wing tips, they're not as safe.
The $ 150 JLab Epic Air Sport is one of our favorite Powerbeats Pro competitors. They don't have an ANC and their ear hook design makes them less versatile, but they have great sound and tremendous battery life.
How long will they last?
With a one-year guarantee from JBL, the Reflect Mini NC are very robustly built and I expect a long service life. The silicone earbuds and wing tips will likely need to be replaced after a year of continuous use, but this is normal for these parts.
Should you buy it?
Absolutely. As long as you're okay with a very custom-fit in-ear design and you don't mind spending some time figuring out which controls to use, this is it JBL Reflect Mini NC are great workout earbuds.
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