JLab Epic Air Sport ANC Review: Most Valuable Workout Buds
JLab Audio Epic Air Sport ANC
"The Epic Air Sport ANC is a game changer for workout earphones."
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Easy setup
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Stable, comfortable form of training
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Excellent battery life
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IP66 weather resistance
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Good, customizable sound
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Average call quality
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Mediocre ANC
Okay JLab, now you just show.
A few days ago, we released our red-hot review of the JLab Audio Epic Air ANC, which is possibly the best value for true wireless earbuds available today. At least they were because JLab's fitness alternative to its stellar new lifestyle buds is here, and the $ 100 Epic Air Sport ANC may have set an already sky-high bar even higher.
What's in the box
Like most of the products I've tested from the JLab family, the Epic Air Sport ANC is incredibly easy to package. In addition to the charging case, in which the earphones themselves are kept, there are five additional pairs of earplugs and a quick guide, which is neatly stowed in an integrated case in the box. In particular, no charging cable is included as it is already included in the charging case itself.
Nick Woodard / Digital Trends
It was easy to set up as most modern day wireless earbuds have proven. There are plastic stickers on each earbud that must be removed before use. From there, all you have to do is hold down the touchpad on each bud for three seconds to go into Bluetooth pairing mode. Then you need to find them through your mobile device settings and connect. Granted, it's a step or two more than the simplest earbud, but it's still a quick process to start listening with your new buds.
With Bluetooth 5 technology, I experienced exceptional connectivity and range with the Epic Air Sport ANC. I routinely left my phone in part of my house and roamed my living space freely to do chores without a single slip or breakdown.
design
It's hard to find a design that just works. And the Epic Air Sport ANC's ear hook style works. It is widely considered to be the less popular design compared to the simple eartip style of traditional real radio buds like the Epic Air ANC, and it adds weight (10 grams per bud compared to the Epic Air's 8). But once you put these hooks around your ears, they'll stay in place. More than a week of extensive cardio workouts and workouts in the gym showed this. They may be less attractive, but they are of the superior design when keeping the buds in place is of the utmost importance, as is the case with training.
Nick Woodard / Digital Trends
The included earplugs create a solid seal in your ear. Like colleague at Digital Trends, Simon Cohen, I recommend the Cloud Foam tips because they feel soft and comfortable in my ears. They're not for everyone, of course, which is why there are five more pairs to choose from, but the Cloud Foam works best for me and does an excellent job of passively blocking out the sound.
The touch controls on each earbud are based on a multitouch system, and I've certainly had a lot of complaints in the past with poorly executed touch controls. While there have been a small handful of instances where the Epic Air Sport ANC didn't detect the correct number of taps, for the most part they responded impressively. These controls allow you to manage everything including volume, lane change, smart assistant activation, equalizer settings, active noise cancellation levels, and phone call controls. For $ 100, that's pretty much a pair of earbud controls – and they're all effective.
By the way, there isn't much to write about the charging case. It is larger than, for example, the cases for the Apple AirPods or Google Pixel Buds 2, which are generally regarded as perfectly insertable earphone cases. The Epic Air Sport ANC fits well in my pocket, but leaves significantly less space for a wallet or keys. These aren't usually things that you carry around to the gym or while running, so I wouldn't really call that a problem.
properties
The value of the Epic Air Sport ANC is firmly anchored in its functions. Almost everything these buds offer exceeds the limits of what we have previously thought possible in this price range. In all honesty, if we are judging things by trait alone, it's not fair that other buds have to try to assert themselves when the Epic Air Sport ANC are so good for this cheap one.
Nick Woodard / Digital Trends
First: Battery life: The Epic Air Sport ANC is designed for a battery life of 15 hours per charge without ANC and an additional life of 55 hours (!) In the charging case. When the ANC is activated, the playback time is reduced to 11 hours. They also have a quick charge feature that gives you an hour of playback after 15 minutes. In comparison, the Epic Air ANC has eight hours with the ANC on and twelve hours with the ANC off. The $ 200 Sony WF-SP800N is the only other bud that can compete in this category, but even those buds not only offer nine hours of ANC playback and 13 hours of regular listening – and double the price.
It's not fair for other pals to have to try and compete when the Epic Air Sport ANC are so good for so cheap.
The Epic Air Sport ANC has an IP66 weather resistance rating that gives you complete protection from dust and strong water jets. There are workout buds with better ratings, like the IP67 rating from Urbanista Athens for $ 120 or the IP68 rating from Anker Soundcore Spirit X2 for $ 80. But none of those buds can match the Epic Air Sport ANC's epic combination of battery life and weather resistance.
A far less miraculous, but still valued, feature is the Epic Air Sport ANC's wear detection sensor, which automatically pauses a trace when a bud is removed from your ear and resumes that trace the moment you put the bud back in. I deeply despise completely losing minutes of podcasts to earbuds that lack this feature. So believe me when I say I am personally delighted, these come with such a practical benefit.
Audio quality
I'm in the minority here, but I'm more excited about the way the Epic Air Sport ANC's sound can be customized than its initial audio quality. Don't get me wrong, the Epic Air Sport ANC sounds great right away and most people don't have to mess around with sound adjustments at all to get something that works well for them. But for those of us who can't help but craft, JLab has given us all the tools we could possibly need.
Nick Woodard / Digital Trends
The Buds touch controls allow you to switch between three preset EQs: Balanced, Bass Boost and JLab Signature Sound. Their tastes may vary, but I tended to use Bass Boost on my weightlifting playlists to get the most out of saturated low-end songs like Childish Gambinos 3005 or Kris Kross & # 39; Jump. Whenever I went for a walk with the dogs or ran in the afternoons, I chose the signature sound as it offered a less dynamic but more balanced profile that suited music outside the iron pumping genre.
Even if you don't like the standard sound of the Epic Air Sport ANC, if you play around with the settings long enough, you can likely get a cheap sound.
JLab goes a few steps further with the JLab Air ANC app, giving you the ability to dig straight into the frequency domain and fine-tune things to your liking. That, plus a movie mode option that allows dialog to be synchronized while watching clips on your mobile device, make these buds suitable for a wide variety of listening situations. Even if you don't like the standard sound of the Epic Air Sport ANC, if you play around with the settings long enough, you can likely get a cheap sound.
Disappointingly, the call quality is average on these fitness buds. The Epic Air Sport ANC has one microphone to remove ambient noise and another to pick up your own voice clearly. It's hard to tell which is the bottleneck, but my voice was blocked when making phone calls in louder environments. They were good for evenings at the emotional gym or quiet morning walks in the park, but on a sidewalk near a busy street it was an entirely different experience.
Noise cancellation
Something tells me that the glitch I dealt with during a call may have something to do with the active noise cancellation in the Epic Air Sport ANC, or frankly, poor execution. If there's an Achilles' heel hiding in the Epic Air Sport ANC, this is it. While we didn't expect a good ANC at all in this price range – at least not until the Edifier TWS NB2 hit the market – we still expect a better one when a company advertises it as a feature.
Nick Woodard / Digital Trends
As I mentioned earlier, the Epic Air Sport ANC creates a tight seal in your ear, resulting in high quality passive noise cancellation. However, if you do choose to enable active noise cancellation, it is truthfully difficult to tell a significant difference. In fact, listening to a podcast at low volume one morning, I could still clearly hear my cat chewing on her breakfast across the room, even after turning on ANC.
You can use the app to adjust the noise cancellation levels. I recommend turning ANC to the maximum setting to get the most out of what is an average best but mostly mediocre feature. On the flip side, the Epic Air Sport ANC's environmentally conscious setting has some powerful features that almost terrified me when I first turned it on while on an exercise bike at the gym. In contrast to the ANC levels, I would recommend reducing the ambient noise level just a little.
The Epic Air Sport ANC's industry-leading battery life at an affordable price should be enough for most athletes.
Our opinion
Average call quality and noise cancellation won't stop what is otherwise a game changer, not just for workout earbuds but for the true wireless earbud genre in general. Earhooks might not be the "in" look, but the Epic Air Sport ANC's industry-leading battery life at an affordable price should be enough to delight most athletes.
Are there any better alternatives?
The $ 120 Urbanista Athens was one of my new favorite workout pairs, but the Epic Air Sport ANC has a better battery and similar weather protection for $ 20 less. The Anker Soundcore Spirit X2 is probably the best new comparison to the Epic Air Sport ANC, as it also offers impressive features for just $ 80. But the latest from JLab surpasses the Spirit X2 in many ways for not much more.
How long will they last?
The Epic Air Sport ANC has a two year warranty and excellent protection against the irreconcilable elements of nature. I would try to avoid deep sea diving with these, but other than that, I don't think you should have any major concerns that the Epic Air Sport ANC is going to be out of service anytime soon.
Should you buy it?
Yes. The earhooks, mediocre call quality, and average noise cancellation will put some off, but don't let what an overall standout audio product distract you. The Epic Air Sport ANC is next to the Epic Air ANC a revolutionary earphone from JLab. Trust me when you say this, you don't want to miss out on the latest and greatest from one of the emerging brands in the real wireless world.
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