JBL Tune 130NC TWS True Wireless In-Ear Noise Cancelling Headphones – Blue

I purchased these as my second pair of wireless earbuds, for the increased sound quality, and their inclusion of ANC

The Sound quality is overall pretty good, but their major issue is delay. The earbuds have a noticeable delay in “music” (high fidelity) mode, and a still noticeable delay in “video” mode, that won’t matter most of the time, but is not present in some alternative earbuds.

The ANC is nowhere near perfect, but definitely cuts out low droning noises well, and brings the overall exterior volume down, even if it leaves some higher pitched noises in.

The pass-through mode works pretty well, unless you’re near any loud droning noises like an air-conditioning unit, in which case it boosts that noise a lot compared to other noises.

Generally this is a very good product, and if you can find it on sale, I suggest purchasing it.

I bought these to help filter out noise at the office generally for music listening. I will split the review into three section: Noise Cancelling, Sound Quality, and Other.

Noise Cancelling:
They will work for some people but not all. At the home office they work great, they filter out the frequency of noise produced by computer fans. However, I don’t believe the noise cancelling is all that adaptive, rather it is just filtering a fixed number of frequencies. For example, the higher frequency noise from my air purifier is still noticeable, but dampened. This seems to be the case with all noise. I would expect their algorithm is doing something like filtering out the average frequencies in the average environment so overall you do indeed get a quieter listening experience. ̶I̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶”̶A̶m̶b̶i̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶A̶w̶a̶r̶e̶”̶ ̶s̶e̶t̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶q̶u̶i̶e̶t̶e̶s̶t̶.̶ (UPDATE: Meant to say ANC (duh) slightly confusing what mode I was in based off of the quick start manual. Ambient would be if you wanted to hear more than if the ANC was just off.) For the price this is very acceptable. The more adaptable, on the fly noise cancelling algorithms are extremely difficult to implement, and hence you pay a premium for them. Overall, I would compare these to a really good pair of foam tip IEMs in terms of noise cancellation. These will definitely not provide any hearing protection for things like shooting, loud shop work, etc… so keep that in mind and use your head.

Sound Quality:
These are definitely a “consumer grade” listening experience, which for most people won’t be a bad thing. For the price I am indifferent. I would say the bass is higher than normal with more muted/muddy treble. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing and I would say most people would find them “good”. For what they cost, the sound exactly like what I would expect, better than a 20 dollar pair of headphones and not as good as a $150 dollar pair of IEMs, but your mileage may vary. For comparison with a competitor, I have some Sony wf-c500 wireless earbuds (no ANC) and these sound roughly the same, maybe slightly less clear treble and bass. I would still pick these over the Sony’s because these have more features for the price and for other reasons I will list below.

Other:

Battery — I think the battery life specs are roughly accurate, I get a full day on them, but haven’t really pushed them to the 40 hours though. Battery life seems great, the case seems to get you maybe 2 charges. The case is nothing special, I wish the hinge had more tension in it like the Sony’s so it felt more premium, I can kind of wiggle it a little bit but definitely not a deal breaker. I have yet to run them to the point where they alert you if they are low just once or they keep doing it. If they keep doing it I will update and remove a star because I don’t quite understand why you would annoy the user with a message consistently for the last X% of battery (original rating is 4 stars).

Size and Eartips — these are rather large, but acceptable given the price and feature set. They don’t fit in the ear as well as the Sony ones do but they don’t seem to fall out either. The Sony design fits into the ear better and “hugs” it so to speak, they seal better as well. I do really wish these came with a set of foam tips, they would actually compete in a different price bracket for that much, mainly because of the noise reduction. They would also help the fit. The included silicon ear tips are like the cheapest on the market, not as supple as more premium earbuds. There’s nothing inherently wrong with them but they may rip after a while. I think if JBL addressed the fit (decrease the depth of the “body” in the ear so they seal better since there would be less weight pulling down on the eartip) and eartips they’d have an extremely solid 50 dollar pair of earbuds.

Controls – ̶U̶n̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶I̶’̶m̶ ̶m̶i̶s̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶t̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶i̶s̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶t̶r̶o̶l̶s̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶v̶o̶l̶u̶m̶e̶ ̶a̶d̶j̶u̶s̶t̶m̶e̶n̶t̶,̶ ̶m̶a̶s̶s̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶m̶i̶s̶p̶l̶a̶y̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶J̶B̶L̶,̶ ̶l̶o̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶r̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶.̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶i̶n̶v̶o̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶s̶s̶i̶s̶t̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶r̶a̶i̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶v̶o̶l̶u̶m̶e̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶S̶o̶n̶y̶ ̶e̶a̶r̶b̶u̶d̶s̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶v̶o̶l̶u̶m̶e̶;̶ ̶h̶o̶w̶e̶v̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶ (UPDATE: Volume controls can be added through the app as a functionality; however, you loose the ability to change noise modes. I’m still rating 4 stars because I want both, would put 4.5 but can’t. I don’t see why both sides need a long press for google assistant or siri, one of these long presses could change the noise mode.) I would still pick the JBL buds because the volume steps are more gradual. I can get these to a comfortable level where with the Sony ones it always either a little too loud or a little too quiet. Other than volume I love that the controls are capacitive. Sony opted for actual push buttons in theirs which makes them unusable when laying on your side or for example working on your car, as you constantly bumping/pushing the buttons inadvertently in both cases — so big win for the JBLs.

Overall, a quality earbud for the price but improvements could be made, not sure you can find a more feature rich earbud for this price.

Update 3: Received a replacement from JBL within 7 days of shipping my broken pair back after going through a chat now and explaining the problem on the JBL website. Not much grief given, honestly, took about 15 minutes. JBL charged me nothing and made the return fairly simple. I had to deliver them to the UPS store which stunk. I was sent a code to my phone for the UPS personnel to scan since I had no printer. UPS taped up the box.

Update 2: On day 16, the Left earbud stopped playing as loud as the right. The left is playing too low. Now, I am having to deal with JBL to return them.
Update: I lost a medium eartip. I contacted JBL and they sent me replacements within 3 days at no charge. Good customer service!
The medium tips are now working well and I get seals much easier now.
I notice some bass noise coming in with heavy burst of wind – denoting the authenticity RTINGS mentions – that there is low end the buds can’t hide – particularly heavy wind in the mics.
Loving the sound. I did buy another set! Love these buds.
Also, there is a find-my-buds feature on the app that will have the buds emit a loud pitch in case you misplace or drop the bud.
Ladies and Gentlemen, these buds are a TKO for $50. JBL always with the impressive prices for the quality you get IMO!

When I search for audio products my search is sound-focused and dutiful (to do what I need them for). I use earbuds while I work. I am sad that I am having to replace a set of Samsung Galaxy Pro buds that lasted me over 2 years and were still going strong until I washed and dried them. Now, I am having to replace (the buds survived but the case did not).

Those Samsung NGL were great buds and the JBL is going to have trouble impressing me. I was going to get the Samsung GB 2 Pro but the price and considering I lose and/or break earbuds or the earbuds fail-to-work fairly regularly, I’m not spending $200 on earbuds. I honestly don’t understand why earbuds are still so high? Must be a fixed market?

I wasn’t impressed at first with the JBL 130. I was missing my Samsung, considerably, and feeling more sick for having wasted them. I thought the JBL were ok but were going to get annoying, probably soon, but I tried to be patient and allow some adjusting playthrough time. I voiced to my friend about the “JBL sound” – I thought the bass was too boosted and the treble sounded spiked / tingy in a certain frequency and lacking the top-end highs, like there was roll-off. I felt, also, that the mid-range was recessed.

It’s been three days and now I am jamming! I’m literally shocked: I don’t know if my ears changed or the buds broke-in or if it just took some getting used to but I honestly think the sound has morphed. At first, everything had that annoying bass bleed that drives me crazy! I cannot tolerate hummy bass, or standing bass waves. Today, I noticed the bass seems like a low atmospheric concert sound and is tight and there is very little bass bleed that I am noticing – it is very tolerable, if not almost perfect! We got some very strong bass, but guess what, everything else is keeping up now!

The highs now seem more mellowed in the tingy range and extending higher. I am noticing the different types of high hats. The mid-range has a good strong attack and clean – the tonal balance feels slightly warm but well detailed – like a concert. They aren’t critical listening and as detailed as my Sennheiser HD600 but all of the details were there. These make rock music feel more alive, punchy and blazing guitars and lifelike vocals. RTINGS did a good job of rating these buds and leading me to them.

JBL makes more concert speakers than any brand in the world and these feel like JBL did this set of earbuds right!

Pros:
Sound Quality – it maybe a “fun” sound but it is definitely enjoyable and pleasing this picky listener with everything I have thrown at it. Probably not the most delicate but great for my heavier rock stuff. Rap, pop and Christian music had enjoyable balance, too.

Charging – lasts for days! I was charging my Samsung Galaxy Buds everyday. If your battery life on your earbuds is crap, these here are excellent!

Noise Cancelling – I think the NC in these buds are stellar but confused me at first. I was reading they have NC with Smart Ambient which basically means they let through some higher frequencies. It was off-putting at first but this still lets me hear enough to be “safe” but blocks enough noise that you can wear these while driving or taking a shower and it drowns out the noise. I was amazed at how well JBL designed the NC to simultaneously make a good NC system and allowing in sounds that help me hear shoppers, voices, or other higher frequency accidents. It’s like voodoo to me but I’ve never used anything NC before to compare it other than my Walker Razers (gun shooting / mowing headphones). I think the NC of the 130 is underrated because it is a hybrid form of Noise Cancelling. But if you want to drown out all higher frequencies these might disappoint.

Connectivity – so far these things connect effortlessly and quickly.

Voice Calls – has worked great so far!

JBL app – worked just fine but I don’t need it.

Price – at $50, relative to other buds with similar sound quality, these are probably the best deal there is.

Shipping – Amazon delivered on their promise to get these here in 1-day. Worth mentioning.

Cons
Fit – I have a hard time getting these pointed in my earholes correctly and to get them to seal. They feel loose no matter which tip I use unless I do get a really good seal, and that seal can sometimes come undone. It seems to me like the earbuds themselves do not touch the lobe in any way, which forces the entire seal on the eartips, which doesn’t seem like a great design to me. Further I did have some issues.

Eartips – The smalls were so small they won’t stay in. The mediums don’t hurt my ears but a little smaller than I wish they were but they work ok. The large hurt my ears some after a few hours and they made the buds stick out from my ears even more. They stick out pretty drastically I feel like but not as silly looking as stick models.

They Stick Out – this doesn’t bother me much. I got the black and think they look cool in my ears but some people will probably only want buds that hide better. With the large tips they stick out past my ear lobe, but with medium they don’t go past my entire outer ear but they are still out there a lot further than my old Samsung.

I am strongly considering buying another pair while they are $50. I feel like this is a sweet price for buds of this caliber.