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I was recently sent JLab Audio’s Epic Air Sport True Wireless earbuds. These are JLab’s flagship fitness earbuds and I have been waiting for some time to check them out. I was interested in seeing how they would improve on JLab’s JBuds Air Sport True Wireless. I need my workout\travel earbuds to be able to stay in my ear without me having to worry about them falling out and be easy to use with decent sound. I liked that these had longer battery life compared to the Jbuds.

Accessories:

In the box, aside from the case and headphones, there are 7 different tips. For the tips, there are gel cushion tips(single, double, and triple flange) and cloud foam tips.

Here is a picture of the inside of the box, with instructions printed on the side.

Features:

Utilizing JLab’s ear hook design to keep the earbuds in place, they also double as the antenna for the class 1 Bluetooth 5 connection. This provides 30+ feet range. In the gym I was able to get at least 50 feet of connectivity when leaving my phone on the side of the gym. I usually have my phone in a Otterbox Defender case in the holster on my right side and never put my phone in my pocket. But, I did test them outside, putting my phone in the front or back(left and right) pockets of my jeans, there was no drop in connectivity.

These earbuds are rated at IP66 sweatproof rating. This allows for the headphones to continue to operate in rigorous workouts or if you get caught in inclement weather.

A shot of the case

The Epic Air Sports also boast of a 10 + hour play time, the charging case providing 60 extra hours. This allowed me to go the whole day without having to be charged. The case has a built in charging cable, but also has a standard USB port to allow for charging another device.

The Be Aware Audio is a great feature that allows you to hear your surroundings when needed. Say you are outside walking on the street, you can hear cars coming and so on. Or, when someone wants to talk to you, 3 taps on the right bud allow you to hear and have a normal conversation.

Here is a view of the builtin USB charging cable

USB port that allows other devices to be charged from

The buds also incorporate JLab’s Custom EQ3 sound. You can choose from Signature, Balanced, or Bass Boost. Depending on how you like your music, these 3 settings should have you covered.

JLab Audio is an official partner of Major League Soccer(MLS)

Build Quality\Fit:

A view of the earbuds in the case

The Epic Air Sports are made of a durable plastic with an angled nozzle for the tips. They each have an ear-hook design that allows for a proper fit once they are inserted in the ear and rotated towards the back of the ear. I found that they were pretty comfortable. Of course, this depends on the tips you choose and how they fit your ear, every person’s ear is different. Finding the proper fit allows for better bass and better passive noise cancelling. With the tips I chose, they blocked out a fair amount of the outside surroundings. I would have like for them to have a deeper insertion in the ear to allow for more passive noise canceling. The earbuds are very comfortable and I was able to wear them for several hours.

I apologize in advance for not being an ear model.....

Controls:

A closer view of the tip and button of the earbud

The Epic Air Sports utilize touch controls. When you first take them out of the case for the first time, you have to hold down both power buttons on each bud to power them on. The left bud stays a solid white while the right blinks between blue\white. They are then ready to pair. After being paired, Next time you take the earbuds of the case, they are already on and automatically connect to your phone. The controls become intuitive once you have used them for a bit. I am used to them because I have used other earbuds in JLab’s line of true wireless earbuds. For example touching the left side lowers volume, and touching the right earbud raises the volume. I have broken down some of the controls below in a fairly easy to understand format:

Paired and ready for action

Left earbud

Single tap: Volume down

Double Tap: Google Assistant\Siri

Press 1 sec and Hold: Track back

Triple Tap: EQ mode



Right Earbud

Single tap: Volume up

Double Tap: Play/Pause

Press 1 sec and Hold: Track forward

Triple Tap: Be Aware mode

Answer Call: single tap

Hang Up: double tap

Reject Incoming Call: Press and hold 2+ seconds





Sound:

I took the JLab Air Sports hiking

For this review I used my LG 8 Thinq and also my wife’s Iphone 11 with the Epic Air Sports. I used both Flac files and 320 kbps on my LG(no flac files on my wife’s Iphone, those were AAC). Of course, the Jlab Air Sports do not have high quality-codec support(AptX), maybe in the next iteration. I have the files stored on the phone on a 128gig external SD card. I figured that why would I degrade the sound even more by streaming from something like Spotify and then streaming to earbuds, thereby further reducing the sound quality. I listen to rock, thrash, and classical tracks(even the Hamilton! Musical). I found the earbuds to have pretty crisp highs and decent bass. The midrange was ok, but the bass was more pronounced. The treble sounded good also. I stuck to the EQ presets Signature and Balanced, though I found the Balanced preset anemic sounding, devoid of midrange and bass. I am not much of a bass-head, so I stayed away from the Bass Boost setting. In the end, I stuck with Signature setting. While these headphones are definitely not for critical listening, they are more than sufficient for workouts and other active activities. Like I mentioned earlier, I wish these allowed for better isolation from outside sound. I used these when doing pull-ups, bench press, running the oval, and so on and they stayed in and sounded good, with no dropouts\connectivity problems. I would like a future version to block out more sound from my gym, like hearing someone running on the treadmill, or sound from the rowing machines. Speaking of outside sound, the Be Aware Mode did allow for me to hear someone if they were talking to me, or if I were out and about and had to hear what was going on for safety reasons. It works, but I found myself just turning down the music instead or pulling one earbud out of my ear to hear. I also want to note that these were more than loud enough for me, I never had a problem with volume.


Call Quality:

Out on the trails(again I am no much of a model)

While out hiking with these, I received a couple of calls. I found that the call quality was acceptable, I was able to answer the call by a single tap on the right earbud. I asked the caller how I sounded, and they had no complaints. I also called my parents and it was a pleasant experience, my parents could hear me well enough.



Conclusion:

Indication led lights letting me know that the earbuds are charging

If you are active person, these headphones are a great option. With the IP66 water resistant rating, ear-hooks for a secure fit when running, biking, or hiking. On top of that they have 10+ hours battery life, even more with the case, and the case provides 2600mAH power in the dual purpose case. Of course you don’t have to be an athlete to use these, they are great option for all kinds of people looking for a great pair of Bluetooth earbuds at a decent price. To make them even more enticing, they have a 2 year limited warranty and a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. This shows that JLab Audio is pretty confident about the Epic Air Sports.