JLab Epic Air - Review 2022 - Lineberry Neenturnew

It'due south been about a year now since we checked out our outset pair of truly wireless Bluetooth earphones, and in that fourth dimension, the field has expanded exponentially. JLab's Ballsy Air earphones come with the strangest, but possibly most interesting, charging case we've seen to appointment—information technology has its ain congenital-in charging cable and a rugged exterior. From an audio standpoint, the earphones deliver some powerful bass response matched with enough highs to proceed things relatively balanced. From a bombardment life standpoint, they last nearly twice as long equally nigh other pairs. Throw in a h2o-resistant design and a competitive $149.99 price, and you get our first Editors' Selection award in the truthful wireless category.

Design

Offered in blackness, the Epic Air's case, cablevision, and earpieces all take matte rubber finishes. The earpieces feature hooks to help stabilize the fit, and there are eight total pairs of eartips in various shapes and sizes. This adds upward to a stable in-ear fit that's ideal for practice, especially given the Epic Air's IP55 rating, which means they're resistant to dust and water. You tin can become the earphones moisture, and even rinse them off, but don't submerge them.

The chapeau for the charging example flips upwardly and snaps airtight automatically when not beingness held open. Its charging cablevision connects to a micro USB port along the case'due south outer ring—there's also a regular USB port there for charging other devices using the example's battery. Rather brilliantly, the cable snaps into place along this outer band and covers the ports, with the two connectedness points of the cable tucking into a recessed surface area on either end. In that location's a battery life brandish up top—pressing a push button gives you a five-LED readout of how much juice is left in the example itself. It'south the virtually useful example we've seen and so far for a wire-free pair.

JLab Epic Air inline And, as mentioned, the earphones get an estimated seven hours of battery life, which is nigh double what much of the competition tin can muster. On peak of that, JLab estimates the case itself can hold up to 30 hours of additional charge, which again is the all-time stat in this category thus far. When the earphones are at 10 percentage or below, y'all become a voice prompt to recharge them.

Pairing is also an easy procedure, which is something that can't be said for much of the contest. To ability up, you hold downward the ability button on both earphones for a few seconds. So yous pair one earpiece with your mobile device, and the other with the now-paired first earpiece, and you lot're fix. The status LEDs blink rapidly or slowly during this procedure to guide you and let you know when both earpieces are set up.

Pulling the earphones out of the charging dock automatically powers them up, and they will auto-pair if your mobile device is in range. Placing the earphones in the dock immediately shuts them down.

The earpieces have touch on-sensitive surfaces, and everything is achieved by tapping or property a finger over the exterior panels. Tapping the left earpiece once controls playback and call management, while double borer it summons Siri or Google voice commands. The left earpiece will skip frontward a track with a single tap, or backward with a double tap. Holding a finger over the right earpiece raises the volume, and over the left lowers it. Apple, Bragi, Samsung, and almost every other competitor thus far have non managed this level of both simplicity and complete access to playback, rails navigation, and book control.

The congenital-in mic offers then-then intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we could empathize every discussion we recorded, but at that place were audio artifacts calculation fuzz to the recording. This is typical of Bluetooth in-ears, however—information technology's rare to notice a mic that delivers quality calls.

Here we should mention that the initial review unit nosotros received had a serious flaw: The case would not recharge the earphones, nor would it pause the connection with the telephone. But a second unit of measurement worked as advertised, and JLab claims at that place were simply some units in the get-go run that had issues. If you experience charging issues, JLab will claw you lot upward with a new version.

Operation

On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the earphones evangelize some serious thunder. At peak, unwise listening levels, they don't misconstrue, and they also get pretty loud for true wireless in-ears (which is non e'er the case—some models limit the volume to salvage battery life). At moderate to high volumes, the bass response is still quite intense, so if deep bass motivates your workouts, you won't be disappointed.

Neb Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives usa a better sense of the Epic Air'southward sound signature. On bass-forrad earphones, the drums can ofttimes sound besides heavy and unnatural on this rail. Through the Epic Air, the drums sound almost ideal—they get some added bass depth, but it isn't overwhelming. They accept a a roundness to them that gives the rails some added heft. Callahan's baritone vocals too go some low-mid presence, enhancing their richness. There'southward a solid loftier-mid and high frequency presence hither that allows the vocals to retain a well-baked edge and lends the guitar strums some brightness. The overall audio signature is definitely bass-forward, leaning notably toward the lows, but the the high-mids are pushed forward in the mix enough to proceed a reasonable residuum.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church building in the Wild," the kicking drum loop gets slightly less high-mid presence than we might prefer—the attack of the loop is dulled slightly, and the thump of the sustain moves forward in the mix a bit. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat, however, are delivered with plenty of power. While the lows definitely dominion the mix hither, the vocals still get enough high-mid and high frequency presence to retain their clarity. Occasionally, it can seem similar the vocals are doing battle with the deep bass elements of the mix, only it's never to a point that their clarity is obscured.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' The Gospel Co-ordinate to the Other Mary, receive quite a scrap of added bass depth. Information technology's not a audio for purists, but the lows aren't pushed so far frontward that they audio comical, and the higher register brass, strings, and vocals nonetheless maintain their well-baked presence.

Conclusions

From an audio standpoint, the Epic Air earphones deliver a strong audio signature that is typical of workout-focused in-ear pairs: deep bass response, but with enough definition in the high-mids and highs to keep a semblance of residue. If powerful bass helps motivate your workouts, y'all're looking at a solid option. And of the truthful wireless designs nosotros've tested, the JLab manages to have the most useful controls and best charging example at a comparatively reasonable price. Nosotros also like the Apple AirPods, the Bragi Dash, and the Samsung Gear IconX, each of which brings its own strengths (and flaws) to the table. Since the JLab Ballsy Air are the nigh well-rounded pair of the bunch, they receive our Editors' Choice award.