When form and function align, great products are born. This is the case with the Jbuds Mini wireless earbuds by JLab. These tiny earbuds are customizable, comfortable, and provide excellent audio quality to boot. But let’s dig into a few points so you can know if buying these is right for you.
Cost
The product is listed on the JLAB website for $39.88, but you can order from Amazon directly for $29.99 at the time of this article’s publication.
Size
There’s no competition: I’ve never had earbuds this small or light. I am comfortably able to wear them throughout the day, and I’m able to sleep with them in my ears, even if I turn on my side. The entirety of the earbuds fit inside my ears, meaning I don’t catch them on things at any time of day.
The charging case comes on a keyring, and it is certainly small enough to be carried there. I tend to keep mine with my phone, so I don’t really attach it to anything. Just be sure to keep an eye on the case, lest you misplace it. I certainly have misplaced mine a time or two, mainly because it’s about 25% of the total size of my last earbud case, and it’s easy to miss it in a pocket or even on a counter.
Power
The advertising for these earbuds says that they have 20+ hour runtime when charging throughout the day using the case, and I can vouch for that. I often will put a charged earbud in my ear in the morning and run audio all day, up to and including sleeping with the same charge on the case, and I have no interruptions by charging each earbud independently while using the other of the pair. It doesn’t seem to matter if I’m listening to podcasts, music, or on phone calls, just one charge of the case lasts all day.
Clarity and Volume
The primary concern I have with earbuds is how well I can understand what I’m listening to. The Jbuds Mini earbuds are so clear that I often forget I’m wearing an earbud, only remembering when I walk out of its considerable range. There are volume controls on the earbuds themselves (more on that in a moment), but you can also use their app to set a maximum volume, which can help you protect your hearing.
Functionality
One of the most impressive features I’ve found with these earbuds is the ability to customize the controls of the earbuds individually. There are eight default controls, with 1, 2, or 3 taps on an earbud triggering a function, along with a press-and-hold control. Each of these functions uses a capacitive surface on the earbud to trigger.
As a default, I found that it was probably six more controls than I wanted. I mostly want my earbuds to pause my podcast if someone starts talking to me and to answer phone calls. This was very easy to create using the app, but I still found that I sometimes paused my audio when I didn’t mean to. The earbuds are small enough that wearing them for 15+ hours a day means I need to adjust them or reseat them in my ear so they don’t slip. Thankfully, I was able to disable the capacitive buttons entirely, so I just use my phone and the JLab app to control things.
Beyond the buttons, the app adds other functionality that I appreciate. You can set sound mixing, volume limits, and update the firmware for the earbuds all directly inside the app. You can also use the app for more technical things, like access the troubleshooting manual, change languages, register the device, or review the EULA or privacy policy relevant to your product.
Aesthetic
Finally, I’d like to touch on the aesthetic properties of these earbuds that surprised me. First, they are available in five different colors, making it easy to find a color that matches your personal vibe. I’m a huge fan of the black, but I can definitely see the appeal in the other colors, which include teal, green, blue, and pink.
Secondly, the earbuds are so small (did I mention they are small?) that I can tuck them entirely into my ear. This means that only when looking directly at the side of my head can most people tell I’m wearing them. This is great for me, because I use music to manage my social anxiety, and I often run errands with an earbud in, earning me stern looks from a distracting number of people. I know it shouldn’t bother me, but it does, and having these slim-profile earbuds makes the whole thing a non-issue.
And finally, the overall form is just attractive. The earbuds are shaped like small beans, and the case is less than 1.5″ by 2″, making them the smallest earbuds I’ve ever used. This isn’t a huge issue for me, but I have certainly declined to use earbuds that looked like they came from Uhura’s Star Trek: TNG wardrobe.
TL;DR
In short, the JBuds Mini earbuds from JLab are small, affordable, and highly customizable. They can easily keep a charge throughout an entire day, and have great audio clarity to boot. You can currently buy them for $29.99 on Amazon.
