JBL Reflect Mini NC review: The near-perfect workout headphones
MSRP $150.00
“With strong bass and a huge feature list, the JBL Reflect Mini NC turns on any workout.”
Avg
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Big, powerful bass
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Excellent call quality
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Choice of Alexa or Google Assistant
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Good noise cancellation
Against
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Awkward control adjustment
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No wireless charging
JBL sells a lot of different true wireless headphones aimed at fitness enthusiasts. Between the company’s own JBL-branded products and partnerships with Under Armor and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, you can choose from eight different models, ranging in price from $100 to $200. Announced at CES 2021, the latest addition to the lineup is the $150 Reflect Mini NC, JBL’s first workout headphones to feature active noise cancellation (ANC).
With an impressive list of features, excellent water resistance and a surprisingly affordable price, it makes you wonder: what’s the catch? Let’s look.
What’s in the box?
Simon Cohen / Digital trends
The Reflect Mini NC, like most JBL headphones, comes packaged in a box that’s nicely designed but a nightmare to recycle, with lots of plastic, foam and built-in magnets. Inside you’ll find the headphones, their charging case, a USB-C charging cable, a total of three sizes of silicone eartips and tips, and paper documentation including a quick start guide.
To shape
Simon Cohen / Digital trends
Most other charging cases seem puny in comparison.
Available in black, white or blue, the Reflect Mini NC and their compact charging case exude robustness. Despite its light weight, the charging case is very sturdy, thanks to a solid plastic shell and hinges that are impressively robust. The lid opens easily and stays open until you close it, which happens with a very satisfying magnetic snap. Most other charging enclosures, even JBL’s own Reflect Flow, feel puny in comparison. The built-in lanyard loop is convenient for carrying the headphones with you when you don’t have pockets or for attaching them to a bag or backpack for exercise.
I’m also a bit obsessed with the charge indicator on the front of the case. Most cases have a tiny LED dot or maybe a series of dots if you’re lucky. But on the Reflect Mini NC, you get a big, bold LED strip that indicates the charging status of each earpiece and the case itself. The only thing missing here is wireless charging.
The headphones are also solidly built and, true to their name, are a bit smaller than the Reflect Flows – though not by much. As an advantage for night runners and walkers, the JBL logos on the touch surfaces are coated with reflective paint.
No workout headphone would be complete without some sort of water resistance, and the Reflect Mini NC doesn’t disappoint, with an IPX7 rating meaning they’re effectively waterproof. They won’t work if you go swimming with them, but they won’t get damaged either.
Comfort, controls and connections
Simon Cohen / Digital trends
True wireless headphones designed for exercise often have an ear hook design to ensure a secure fit. Powerbeats Pro are the poster child for this feature. But if you can get the same level of security without an ear hook, I think that’s a plus, and the Reflect Mini NC definitely delivers. The trade-off – if you consider it a trade-off – is that these headphones will fill your ears.
You won’t have any worries about an accidentally dropped bud.
The silicone ear tips and wing tips are thicker than the ones JBL uses on the Reflect Flow, presumably to improve stability, but that means they’re not quite as comfortable. You won’t have any worries about the bud accidentally falling out, but you’ll also never forget you’re wearing them, so they’re probably not the best choice for extended wear in the office or on a plane.
Touch controls respond quickly, as long as you’re touching the surface of the logo, not just the edges. Each handset comes with factory-set functions. The left bud lets you switch between ANC modes or activate Talk-thru mode (more on that later). The right earcup is set up to control play/pause and track skip forward/backward. Both headphones can access your phone’s built-in assistant, and both allow you to answer/end phone calls and mute/unmute the microphone. So far so good. There’s no volume control by default, but that’s not unusual — many true wireless headphones lack this feature.
The problem arises when you use the free JBL headphone app to customize the controls. Instead of letting you choose which functions go with which gestures, you’re forced to choose from presets. So the left earpiece can control noise cancellation, for example, or playback functions, but not a combination of these functions. If volume control is important to you, you can set either earpiece to control it, but then you’ll be forced to choose just one other feature to control the other earpiece. What will it be? And if you don’t like the gesture assigned to a certain function (like one tap to change ANC mode), you can’t change it.
You can configure the Reflect Mini NC to access Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa instead of your phone’s built-in assistant, but if you use this very cool feature, it takes over the entire handset. You’re left with Alexa (for example) and volume. Or Alexa and ANC. You get the picture. I asked JBL why the controls seem to be set up like a set of channels on cable TV, but never got a satisfactory answer.
As with more and more headphones these days, the Reflect Mini NC has an auto play/pause feature that stops your tunes when you remove the earpiece. It’s very fast and you can disable it within the app if you want.
You can use the headphones separately (both can answer/end calls) and their wireless range is excellent. Pairing is also very quick and easy for iPhone and Android phones.
There is a bass-forward sound signature that you can feel throughout your body.
In the JBL app, you can choose between three different Smart Audio modes that are claimed to change the parameters of the wireless connection: Normal for the most stable connection, Audio for the best sound quality and Video for the lowest latency (also ideal for gaming). I didn’t notice much of a difference between these modes, but I like that they’re included if you need them.
JBL also includes a “find my headphones” function, which causes each earbud to emit a high-pitched beep. It’s loud enough that you’ll hear it even if the bud gets stuck between the sofa cushions.
Sound quality
Simon Cohen / Digital trends
When it comes to a set of workout headphones, big, powerful bass is undoubtedly one of the most important elements. After all, most of us are driven by rhythm, whether we’re going for a serious walk or trying to set a new personal best at the gym. Thanks in part to their super-tight closure, the Reflect Mini NC fulfills this requirement, with a bass-forward sound signature that you can feel throughout your body.
Spin Post Malone’s Woof. or Ariana Grande 7 rings and wait for that ultra-low bass to kick in — it’s powerful stuff. That same low-end rumble is perfect for action movies, too.
You can tweak the EQ to your heart’s content within the JBL app, with several presets as well as your own collection of custom settings. They’re worth exploring — you can drastically change the signature of the Reflect Mini NC.
They’re not the most nuanced set of headphones I’ve ever heard. The mids can be a bit overpowered by strong bass and treble, and their soundstage isn’t as wide or as open as you’ll get on models like the Jabra Elite Active 75t. Still, as a workout companion, they couldn’t be better in terms of sound.
Noise cancellation and transparency
Simon Cohen / Digital trends
After a lukewarm experience with JBL’s ANC technology on its Club One wireless headphones, I was also prepared for the disappointing performance of the Reflect Mini NC. Surprisingly, it was the opposite. Once again, their tight sealing of the ear canal is key: these headphones do such a good job of passively isolating noise that the ANC circuitry doesn’t have much to undo, and it does a very efficient job.
It’s so good, in fact, that even without music playing, family members could sneak up on me completely unnoticed while I had the headphones in my ears.
You can choose a specific set of frequencies to cancel using a slider adjustment within the JBL app — not quite as convenient as the presets you’ll find on Sony, Jabra or Soundcore, but still very handy for fine-tuning ANC performance to your specific environment.
Reflect Mini NC has excellent call quality.
Transparency mode is also good, but with two minor drawbacks: unlike ANC, you can’t adjust how much sound transparency lets through, and there’s no way to toggle back and forth between ANC and transparency without going through ANC off mode — JBL should consider adding two more adjustments.
Talk-thru mode, a handy way to temporarily turn on transparency while lowering the volume of your tracks, also works very well.
Battery life
JBL claims the Reflect Mini NC has six hours of use between charges when ANC is on and seven hours when it’s off. That’s similar to what you’ll find in the Jabra Elite 75t and Elite Active 75t, but it’s not as impressive as the Powerbeats Pro’s nine hours. The charging case holds two full charges, adding another 12 or 14 hours. As far as I can tell, these numbers are pretty accurate.
A 10-minute quick charge gives you an extra hour of playtime, although that’s on the low side for true wireless headphones.
Call quality
JBL managed to surprise me once again — the Reflect Mini NC has excellent call quality. In perspective, when I use them outside, near traffic, it just doesn’t show that I’m not indoors. There was occasional movement as the noise cancellation dealt with car and wind sounds, but overall, these headphones are impressively clean.
During a call, you can still switch the ANC to ambient mode, which is perfect for hearing your own voice without the muffling effects of the headphones.
Our opinion
Along with massive bass, the JBL Reflect Mini NC is also well-priced and feature-packed, making it an ideal workout companion. If JBL could fix the clunky and limiting control schemes, they would be almost perfect.
Is there a better alternative?
I think JBL nailed the sweet spot for workout headphones with the price, sound and features of the Reflect Mini NC, but here are three alternatives worth considering:
Sony’s $200 WF-SP800N are some of our favorite workout headphones, offering better sound quality and better ANC, plus a whopping nine hours of battery life.
The $200 Jabra Elite Active 75t offers better sound quality (though not as much bass) and control, as well as longer battery life, while still offering excellent water and dust protection. I think they are also more comfortable, but without ear hooks or wingtips, they are not as secure.
The $150 JLab Epic Air Sport is one of our favorite Powerbeats Pro competitors. They don’t have ANC, and their on-ear hook design makes them less versatile, but they have great sound and enormous battery life.
How long will it last?
Backed by a one-year warranty from JBL, the Reflect Mini NCs are very robustly built and I expect them to last a long time. The silicone ear pads and wingtips will probably need to be replaced after a year of continuous use, but this is normal for these parts.
Should you buy them?
Absolutely. As long as you’re comfortable with an on-ear design that fits well and you don’t mind spending some time figuring out which controls you want to use, the JBL Reflect Mini NC are great workout headphones.
Editor’s recommendations
Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn