The JLAB Epic Air ANC Earbuds bring a lot to the table. From an innovative carry case, through to customisable touch controls and a feature-heavy companion app, it’s clear the earbuds have plenty of potential to impress. What’s The Best’s William Lobley takes a look.
The Review
Please note: JLAB has reached out to What's The Best with some concerns about the Epic Air ANC Earbuds tested. We have agreed to retest a new pair of earbuds and update our review with any changes necessary.
The JLAB carry case for the Epic Air ANC earbuds is a notable attempt to try something different, with a leatherette finish, unusual asymmetrical body and integrated USB cable. These inclusions add a little bulk to its overall size, but the design does stand out amongst the competition.
The carry case charges via a wireless pad or the attached USB cable. Though the integrated cable is intended to be hassle-free, in practice, if you don’t have access to a wireless charging pad, you have to hang the case from a wall plug or PC ports, as I did. Luckily, the case is light - weighing under 80g, including earbuds - but this is far from an elegant solution.
The earbuds themselves are sizeable, with a barrelled body and short stem. This large body makes fitting them into the ear quick and easy, and once in they are comfortable and secure - even after hours of use.
Sadly, the audio performance of the Epic Air is largely underwhelming. For the most part, you can hear everything you need to in a song, but it lacks power and presence - there's a sense of hollow emptiness to the sounds, and the overall volume, leaves much room for improvement.
There are four EQ settings for the Epic Air. The earbud’s touch controls allow you to move through four presets, with the name of each is stated on selection. There are also four EQ settings in the Epic Air companion smartphone app - only they are numbered rather than named.
After some quick investigation, I confirmed the following: 'JLAB Signature' is EQ1 and the default EQ on first listening, 'Balanced' is EQ2, 'Bass Boost' is EQ3 and three bleeps - signalling 'off' is EQ4.
You'd do well to avoid the Bass Boost/EQ3 and Off/EQ4. The former injects muddiness, while the latter highlights the drivers' preference for loud-but-flat bass tones, sloppy mids and near-silent highs.
JLAB Signature/EQ1 is the best, dialling back the bass and low mids while boosting the highs, vastly improving the performance across all genres. I still had to crank the volume up to unlock any sense of energy or bounce, but there are some fun audio experiences to be had here, especially for indie and dance-pop fans.
Balanced/EQ2 is a terrible name for the setting - it almost entirely wipes out the bass and maxes out the highs - but it has its place: voices. For podcasts, radio shows and chatty streamers, this setting helps the human voice cut through with clarity.
You can customise the EQs to your taste, however, there’s very little fruit to harvest from this endeavour. I spent some time making adjustments, only to decide that the JLAB Signature setting delivers all that the drivers have to offer.
The second issue with the EQ customisation is that you have to spend time in the companion app. In this app, you can see each earbuds remaining battery life or check for firmware updates, and customise the ANC and hear-through balance, equalizer, touch controls and the play/pause sensors. Sadly, while housing some potentially valuable features, it’s littered with inconsistencies and bugs and highlights several other shortcomings with the earbuds.
I encountered firmware updates that refused to install, unpredictable app shutdowns and changes going unsaved. EQ selection on the earbuds has no real-time effect on the app, whereas EQ actions in-app make real-time changes to the earbuds. I also suffered through long app boot times and the occasional inability to detect the earbuds.
The option to balance ANC and hear-through - branded 'BE AWARE' by JLAB - is a welcome idea but only serves to highlight how neither of the settings really do anything. I could hear no difference between fully activated and deactivated ANC, while turning up the hear-through only resulted in an ugly hiss.
Customising controls is the app’s best feature. It allows a great level of user freedom that is often missing from rival offerings, including the ability to deactivate them entirely. If this were the only feature on the app, it would be a sparse but worthwhile, optional download for some users. But as it stands, I cannot say that the app is fit for purpose. These apps mean to be your companion - helping you get the best out of the earbuds and streamlining your life. This app is too temperamental, complicated and idiosyncratic to fulfil its intended role.
There are a lot of good ideas orbiting the JLAB Epic Air ANC Earbuds. A case with built-in USB cable, customisable touch controls, EQ modification and user-balanced ANC and hear-through. Sadly, very few of these ideas are executed with the quality necessary to improve the user experience. They are instead to the product’s detriment. Couple these shortcomings with a lacklustre sound, and you can colour me disappointed.
For the same money, you can pick up the JAM TWS, which have considerably more volume and life, or the EarFun Air Pro, with their fuss-free user experience, excellent sound and comfort. Many of JLAB’s products are reputable, well-designed and affordable. I'm hopeful that issues with the Epic Air ANC can, and will, be corrected in future models.
Pros: Customisable touch controls, good EQ available for podcasts
Cons: Lacklustre audio, flawed smartphone app