[hifi80sman]

Anyone have experience with these yet? They look nice with a sort of industrial style and seem to be the best built JBL wireless headphones to date. I wasn't impressed with the cheesy looking Everest line, which was also cheaply built and felt really flimsy.
https://www.jbl.com/over-ear-headphones/CLUBONE.html

 

[hifi80sman]

OK, so ended up ordering these on Amazon and they've arrived! Really liking them so far.

Wired passive sounds excellent. Wired active, meh, just use wirelessly when powered on.

Wireless performance is great and sounds pretty much like they hit the Harman Target.

Great build quality! Most of JBL's recent stuff has been cheap plastic, but this is a tough build with a lot of metal. Kind of reminds me of the V-Moda in terms of materials (but sounds better).

 

[jant71]

Notice how we just don't answer you. Then we just wait you out till you buy it and tell us!

Looks good and sturdy but pretty heavy though.

 

[hifi80sman]

Notice how we just don't answer you. Then we just wait you out till you buy it and tell us!

Looks good and sturdy but pretty heavy though.

HAHA!

They are a bit heavy for headphones, but it doesn't bother me. Some people may be more sensitive to this than I am, but I've never had an issue with headphone weight.

I'm actually quite impressed by the sound via wired connection via FiiO Q5s/USB to PC. If nothing else, they are a fantastic wired headphone. They come with a long coiled cable in addition to the typical 3m cable w/mic (nice cable, doesn't kink).

Wirelessly, the only have SBC & AAC, but they still sound great over AAC/iPhone. Very Harman Target. ANC is only OK, so I would not recommend these if you want something with great ANC. It's somewhat mild and takes away some low-end rumble, but not a whole lot else.

 

[hifi80sman]

ADDITIONAL FEEDBACK:

DON'T buy this for ANC; it's really not that effective in reducing ambient noise.

DO buy this for sound. Even if you're not a fan of wireless, as a purely wired headphone, it's excellent. Bass is textured, detailed, and otherwise quality (not wooly, muddy, etc.). Mids are present and vocals are very accurately reproduced. Highs are crisp with true detail vs. cheap sounding treble that's only "detailed" because it's enhanced in some way. Imaging is great and all the little details are revealed well. Closed back, so soundstage is not impressive, but it's definitely not a issue for my use (I have some open backs if I want a wider soundstage).

Wireless is very close to wired performance with the same characteristics/sound signature and would rate it as excellent (AAC, iPhone). Unfortunately, it does not have aptX HD or LDAC which I think would have really taken these to the next level, given how great they sound over AAC.

 

[plakat]

I just stumbled across this model linked from another review, and while I didn't like past JBL plastic designs, this one definitely looks much better. Are the pads as deep as they look on the photos?
AAC is sufficient for me, since I only use my iPhone as a wireless source (and don't like the transmission problems aptX has anyway).

The comparison with V-Moda, which I always liked for both their sound signature and their folding mechanism/overall design, is obvious, given the same folding... @hifi80sman could you maybe elaborate a bit on sound signature differences vs. M-100 or other V-Moda over-ear models? And thank you for your impressions so far.

A review at techradar, which at least includes some photos:
https://www.techradar.com/reviews/jbl-club-one

 

[hifi80sman]

I just stumbled across this model linked from another review, and while I didn't like past JBL plastic designs, this one definitely looks much better. Are the pads as deep as they look on the photos?
AAC is sufficient for me, since I only use my iPhone as a wireless source (and don't like the transmission problems aptX has anyway).

The comparison with V-Moda, which I always liked for both their sound signature and their folding mechanism/overall design, is obvious, given the same folding... @hifi80sman could you maybe elaborate a bit on sound signature differences vs. M-100 or other V-Moda over-ear models? And thank you for your impressions so far.

A review at techradar, which at least includes some photos:
https://www.techradar.com/reviews/jbl-club-one

I don't have the M-100, but compared to the Crossfade Wireless with XL Pads, build quality wise, they are similar. The earpads on the JBL are sufficiently deep, similar to the XL earpads, however, the opening is not large, again similar to the size of the XL earpads. It's big enough for me, but it may be snug for people with larger ears.

As far as sound, they are far clearer with better reproduction of highs and overall detail is better. Mids are detailed and even, while bass is deep without being bloated or bleed into the mids. Each frequency is reproduced well and sits in its own space nicely.

Wired, these are great. Similar signature as wireless, only everything is a step up. I run these through my FiiO Q5s and they sound wonderful.

The Mic for calls works well and everyone said I sounded loud and clear.

A downside, is they are a bit heavy and can heat your ears up, but for me, those are minor given my use. They are also stable enough for the gym.

The ANC is nothing to write home about, so I wouldn't purchase these for ANC. For sound and build quality, these are fantastic and I think are a hidden gem (I don't see much activity around these headphones).

 

[plakat]

I received my pair 1 week ago, using them since then during work switching between the JBL and the Shure Aonic 50.
Overall I like the JBL very much, it has a fun amount of bass but stays amazingly clean, presenting electronic music with deep reaching authority and very good detail. Treble is quite present as well, with an emphasis at I'd say around 3kHz, making the "s" quite pronounced, but fortunately without any sharpness. Sounds very detailed and energetic, but not that spacious.

Folding mechanism looks a lot like with V-Moda M-100 etc., but comfort is much better, with the ear pads being quite deep although not that big. Case is reasonably big. The iOS application did update the firmware on first try (albeit taking much longer than anticipated). What I really dislike is that I can't disable ANC permanently -- I seldom have use for this feature, but have to manually disable it each and every time I switch the headphone on. I've not found any way to change this so far.

Overall a really well done headphone, good comfort (for me at least), good build quality, and very good sound. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Kalli]

Any idea why those headphones don't have aptX or LDAC?
They seem to be quite high quality, and SBC and AAC only doesn't seem to match that.

 

[hifi80sman]

Any idea why those headphones don't have aptX or LDAC?
They seem to be quite high quality, and SBC and AAC only doesn't seem to match that.

I wouldn't discount them for that alone. AAC on an iPhone is really quite good. If you're Android, then yes, not having aptX is a bummer (AAC on Android is measurably inferior to Apple).

That being said, wired performance of the Clue ONE is excellent. If nothing else, they are a fantastic pair of wired headphones.

 

[Kalli]

I wouldn't discount them for that alone. AAC on an iPhone is really quite good. If you're Android, then yes, not having aptX is a bummer (AAC on Android is measurably inferior to Apple).

That being said, wired performance of the Clue ONE is excellent. If nothing else, they are a fantastic pair of wired headphones.

Ye, you are absolutely right. And I'm also looking for something that doubles as a passive wired headphone. But my main purpose would be wireless.

But I found out that you can boost SBC (at least on Android and Linux) with something called SBC XQ.
Android: https://www.lineageos.org/engineering/Bluetooth-SBC-XQ/
Linux: https://github.com/EHfive/pulseaudio-modules-bt

While I couldn't test it on Android, since I only have the Shure AONIC 50 (JBL CLUB ONE should arrive next week) here at the moment and Android configuration sucks, the results on linux are promising. The gap between LDAC (maxed out) and SBC XQ is pretty small, compared to default SBC. While on the go and without a direct comparison telling the difference between those two is extremely hard if possible at all.

 

[plakat]

Ye, you are absolutely right. And I'm also looking for something that doubles as a passive wired headphone. But my main purpose would be wireless.

But I found out that you can boost SBC (at least on Android and Linux) with something called SBC XQ.
Android: https://www.lineageos.org/engineering/Bluetooth-SBC-XQ/
Linux: https://github.com/EHfive/pulseaudio-modules-bt

While I couldn't test it on Android, since I only have the Shure AONIC 50 (JBL CLUB ONE should arrive next week) here at the moment and Android configuration sucks, the results on linux are promising. The gap between LDAC (maxed out) and SBC XQ is pretty small, compared to default SBC. While on the go and without a direct comparison telling the difference between those two is extremely hard if possible at all.

Really interesting. I think I never heard about SBC XQ so far, but skimming the documentation this looks like an interesting option. Please report back on compatibility with the Club One, maybe you can add to the compatibility list:
https://btcodecs.valdikss.org.ru/codec-compatibility/

 

[hifi80sman]

The JBL Club ONE are on sale for $100 Off at major retailers (Best Buy, B&H, Amazon).

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/jbl-cl...-ear-headphones-black/6408630.p?skuId=6408630
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...cluboneblkam_club_one_wireless_over_ear.html/
https://www.amazon.com/JBL-CLUB-ONE-Cancellation-Customization/dp/B084HNNYWB/

 

[Kalli]

Really interesting. I think I never heard about SBC XQ so far, but skimming the documentation this looks like an interesting option. Please report back on compatibility with the Club One, maybe you can add to the compatibility list:
https://btcodecs.valdikss.org.ru/codec-compatibility/

Seems like I cannot force "SBC XQ" or "HD SBC" or whatever it is called on Android. It only lets me use "HD AAC", whatever that means.

 

[Kalli]

After a few hours with the JBL CLUB ONE there are my initial thoughts. I did compare them to the Shure AONIC 50. So the pros and cons on the JBL are basically the opposite on the Shure.

Pros:
good portability
extremely sturdy build quality (the Shure also have nice build quality, but the JBL are a good step upwards)
small case
lower price (seem to have quite regular discounts on major sites)
ear cups are deep so my ears don't touch them

Cons
overall wearing comfort seems slightly less
does not connect to 2 devices automatically if in range (the Shure don't seem to do that all the time as well)
only SBC and AAC supported (which is evil as an Android user)
slightly more bass (seems like it only pushes more bass in already bass heavy tracks)
ANC on, each time headphones are turned on (kinda annoying)
app needs location access (if any JBL representative reads that: stop that kind of crap!!!)

If anyone can compare the ANC performance in a real world situation that would be awesome.