For $149.95, the JBL Soundgear Sense true wireless earbuds deliver rich lows and detailed highs while allowing you to stay aware of your surroundings thanks to their open design. Stabilizing hooks make for a comfortable, adjustable fit, and the earbuds are fairly resistant to water, making them well-suited to exercise. Their non-sealing design means they don’t produce much sub-bass, however, and we wish the on-ear controls were less prone to misfires. When it comes to an open-ear design, the $179 Apple AirPods offer deeper bass response and wireless charging support, while the $99.99 Nothing Ear (stick) earbuds cost less, look cool, and have a nicely balanced sound, earning our Editors’ Choice award. Large Drivers and an Open FitThe Soundgear Sense earphones, which are available in black or white, have a semi-matte finish. They sport over-ear hooks that clasp onto your ears and allow the enclosures to hover outside your ear canals. This type of design allows you to hear your surroundings clearly, even while you listen to music (digital transparency modes are useful, but they can’t beat the real thing). Both the AirPods and the $299 Bose Ultra Open Earbuds have a roughly similar design.
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If you wear glasses, you might need to remove them before you can securely affix the chunky earpieces. The enclosures rotate a bit at the connection point with the hooks, thus allowing you to angle the drivers for comfort. There are four possible positions with distinct clicks, so it’s easy to get consistent ear-to-ear imaging. The package also includes a somewhat flexible plastic neckband that can provide additional fit security for running or other intense exercise. Internally, 16.2mm dynamic drivers deliver a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz.
(Credit: Tim Gideon)
As for connectivity, the earphones are compatible with Bluetooth 5.3, work with the AAC and SBC codecs, offer multipoint for up to two devices, and support Google Fast Pair.
The layout of the on-ear capacitive controls is somewhat atypical. The left earpiece controls volume (tap once to raise it or twice to lower it) and the right earpiece handles playback and track navigation (tap once to play/pause, twice to go to the next track, or three times to go to the previous one). On either earpiece, tap twice to answer or end a call or hold down to mute your mic during a call. When you aren’t on a call, a long press activates your device’s voice assistant. The controls are easy to operate, but I find it too easy to accidentally pause or play audio when I make a simple fit adjustment. You can somewhat adjust the controls in the app.An IP54 rating means the earbuds can withstand a high degree of dust exposure and resist splashes of water from any direction. Neither sweaty workouts nor light rain should cause problems, though you shouldn’t dunk them underwater. For comparison, the Nothing Ear (stick) earbuds have the same rating, while the AirPods have a much less impressive IPX4 designation.The case is a bit big because it has to house the fairly large earpieces and hooks. It’s possible to place the earbuds inside incorrectly, so make sure that the white LED indicator on the case lights up each time. The included USB-A-to-USB-C charging cable connects to a USB-C port on the back of the case. This JBL case doesn’t support wireless charging, something you get with the AirPods.
(Credit: Tim Gideon)
JBL estimates that the Soundgear Sense can last roughly 6 hours per charge and that the case holds an additional 18 hours of battery life. Your typical listening volume will affect these numbers. The battery takes 2 hours to fully charge from empty; 15 minutes of charging should net you roughly 4 hours of playback. The AirPods offer the same 6 hours of playback, but their case holds up to 24 hours of charge. The Nothing Ear (stick) earbuds offer 7 hours of playback and 21 hours of charge in the case.App ExperienceThe JBL Headphones app (available for Android and iOS) covers the basics. At the top of the main screen, it shows battery life readouts for each earpiece and the charging case. A series of tiles follows below.Equalizer lets you choose between several customizable, genre-based EQ presets or build a custom profile with 10 bands ranging from 32Hz to 16kHz. Changes here appreciably affect the mids and lows, but sub-bass frequencies aren’t quite as amenable. Moreover, boosting the bass substantially seems to lower the maximum playback volume. You can turn off the EQ settings entirely if you prefer.
(Credit: JBL)
Head to the Gestures tile to swap the controls for each earpiece between Volume Control and Playback Control options, set both to the same, or turn off touch controls entirely if you prefer to use your playback device instead.The rest of the tiles comprise what is typically buried in a dedicated settings section. You can toggle Smart Audio mode, which is on by default and supposedly ensures the best audio quality for your listening scenario. Audio and Video selections are available within this mode, with the latter reducing latency. Otherwise, you can adjust the left/right stereo balance, disable or change the language of voice prompts, enable a volume limiter, access the sound-based Find My Buds feature, and adjust the auto-power-off behavior. Finally, in the support section, you can install firmware updates and view help material.Not Built for Deep BassTo evaluate the audio performance, I turned off all EQ settings. On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the earbuds produce a decent sense of low-frequency depth given their open-style design. I didn’t hear any distortion at top volumes, though digital signal processing (DSP) noticeably steps in to thin out the bass response. At moderate volumes, the lows sound fuller and more robust. For comparison, the AirPods deliver a far more substantial sense of bass depth, though if you are after a truly powerful sense of bass thump, you need to go with earphones that seal off your ear canal.The earbuds can’t quite reproduce the sub-bass at the 34-second mark of Kendrick Lamar’s “Loyalty.” I hear a faint hint of it at the start of the progression, but the sub-bass notes are beyond what the drivers can handle even with EQ changes. That said, the drum loop still benefits from a decent bass thump. The various vocals are crisp and never need to contend with the lower frequencies for space.
(Credit: Tim Gideon)
The drums on Bill Callahan’s “Drover” sound fairly natural overall. Callahan’s baritone vocals come across with rich low-mids and high-mids that lend a sense of detail and contour. The higher-register percussive hits and acoustic strums are bright and sculpted. The open design allows for a better sense of space than you might get from a typical pair of canal-sealing earbuds. This also results in a drop-off in bass depth overall, though plenty of lows and low-mids come through.On orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, the open design of the earbuds allows for a particularly wide soundstage. The lower-register instrumentation gets some boosting but doesn’t upset the balance too much. Meanwhile, the higher-register brass, strings, and vocals are crisp and defined.The voice mic array works well. I could understand every word from a test recording on my iPhone thanks to the strong signal level and conversation-focused tuning.Decent Open Earbuds With Light LowsThe JBL Soundgear Sense earbuds offer sculpted audio with rich bass and bright highs, and we like that you customize the sound signature to an extent via EQ. We’re also fans of the secure fit and how the open design allows you to tune in to your music and your environment at the same time. Our main complaint is that they are somewhat lacking in deep bass response. The AirPods are a better bet in that regard and offer the additional benefit of wireless charging. For much less money, the Nothing Ear (stick) earbuds earn our Editors’ Choice award thanks to their unique design and enjoyable sound.
The Bottom Line
The JBL Soundgear Sense earbuds fit comfortably and let you hear everything in your environment, but some open-ear competitors produce better bass.
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