JLab JBuds Open Review: Airy Audio With All-Day Comfort

The JLab JBuds Open look a little unusual, but not overly so, at least depending on how you use them. With the grilles installed, the JBuds Open could, from a distance, pass for standard over-ear headphones thanks to their all-black construction. But if you prefer, you can remove the mesh grille around each earcup, giving them a unique design that won’t pass for normal headphones at all. They still don’t look ugly, though—just different.

(Credit: Christian de Looper)

They’re relatively comfortable, although not as much as I’d like. The memory foam earcups offer reasonable padding; a little more would have been welcome. I did get used to the somewhat tight clamp around my head over time. I found my ears touching the plastic driver covers inside the cups, which won’t be ideal if your ears are on the larger side. Thankfully, the headphones are lightweight at just 8.6 ounces, which helps compensate for the tighter fit. They don’t have an IP rating.

All the controls live on the right earcup, including a volume rocker, a power/multifunction button, and a USB-C port. By default, the multifunction buttons play and pause audio with a single press, activate your digital assistant with a double press, and toggle between music and movie modes with a triple press. The volume buttons do what you’d expect, and holding them skips tracks forward or back.

The controls on the JLab JBuds Open Headphones

(Credit: Christian de Looper)

Inside, the JBuds Open feature dual coaxial drivers, pairing 35mm and 12mm units. You get a 20Hz to 20kHz frequency range and support for SBC and AAC codecs, but no wireless hi-res audio options. They connect over Bluetooth 6.0, with multipoint support for two simultaneous connections. They also support both Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair. There’s no on-board active noise cancelling; if you want ANC in an open-ear design, which is an unusual combination, check out Apple’s AirPods 4 With Active Noise Cancellation, although they’re considerably more expensive at $179.

Although there’s no wired analog listening option, you can connect to devices and listen via the included USB-C cable. It doesn’t mean you’ll suddenly get higher-quality audio, but it does let you listen without draining the battery.

For battery life, the JBuds Open are rated to last for 24 hours of playback, which is perfectly fine. A full charge takes 2.5 hours, but the quick-charge feature helps in a pinch, delivering 2.5 hours of playtime from 10 minutes plugged in.

The JLab JBuds Open Headphones with accessories

(Credit: Christian de Looper)

The box includes the headphones, the USB-C cable, and a protective sleeve. The protective sleeve is kind of like a cross between the AirPods Max thin cover and a full-on hard case. The top of it is open, but the front and back fully cover the earcups and band.