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JLab Go Air Sport True Wireless Earbuds

7
£29.99

VERDICT:

7
10
Decent quality budget headphones with good sound and resistance to the elements
Good resistance to dust and moisture
Comfortable fit
Decent battery life
Good sound for the money
Touch commands can be a bit faffy on the move
Weight: 
13g
Contact: 

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.

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The JLab Go Air Sport True Wireless Earbuds fit securely, most of the time, and have a decent level of sweat, water and dust resistance, all ideal for general UK riding conditions. The sound quality is pretty good, too, for the money.

I spend a lot of my day with some kind of headphones or earphones connected, whether I'm at my desk, on the school run or tinkering with stuff around the house, and I certainly don't scrimp on the price, with most sets coming in at hundreds of pounds as I want my music and movies to sound as good as they possibly can.

Hence, I was a little sceptical about how the sound would be out of a set of buds costing just £29.99. It ain't bad, though.

> Buy now: JLab Go Air Sport True Wireless Earbuds for £27.99 from ebay

Straight out of the case they sound a bit tinny, but using the touch sensors found on the outer body of each bud you scroll through three equalizer settings: JLab Signature, Balanced and Bass Boost, the latter certainly giving a bit more oomph to tunes for those hard efforts or interval sessions without any noticeable distortion.

For this sort of money, I wasn't expecting any form of noise cancellation, which is good because there isn't any, but the buds do keep a decent amount of the outside noise out. If you are riding on the road, you can still hear your music, voices on the radio or podcasts without issues, but you are also not completely isolated from what is going on around you.

The buds can be worn independently, so you can just have one in while you are riding if you prefer.

2022 jlab GO Air Sport True Wireless Earbuds - ear bud detail 2.jpg

Via the touch sensors you can also control volume and track selection, play, pause and so on. They're quite easy to use when walking or standing still but can be a bit of a faff when on the move as vibration from the road means you can quite often activate the wrong command.

You can answer phone calls on them too, and the microphone isn't bad as long as you stop riding, otherwise things are a bit wind disrupted.

When it comes to the fit, I found the JLabs very comfortable – barely noticeable, in fact. They come with three sizes of bud covers to dial in the fit to your ears.

2022 jlab GO Air Sport True Wireless Earbuds - ear bud detail 3.jpg

As you can see from the pics, the Go Air Sports are designed to loop over your ears, and they do so securely, especially on turbo sessions or riding on the road; on some gravel trails they did vibrate out at times – and pushing them back in could activate the touch sensors – but the times it happened were few and far between.

The buds themselves are IP55 rated for both dust and water which is ideal for exercising, especially in terms of sweating on the turbo. Those ratings only count for the earbuds, though, not the case, so if you are carrying that in your pocket or rucksack, watch out for rain.

2022 jlab GO Air Sport True Wireless Earbuds - case inside.jpg

Battery life is impressive. You get eight hours for each bud per charge, and the charged case will provide another 24 hours. All you need to do is place the buds into the case to top them up, and the case comes with its own USB cable.

2022 jlab GO Air Sport True Wireless Earbuds - case 3.jpg

Comparing them with recently tested headphones, the JLabs are priced competitively.

For instance, the Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro True Wireless Earphones that Ed tested are £53.87.

> Catch up on road.cc podcasts here

He was happy with the overall sound quality and ease of use, but with neither silicone ear sections nor the loop of the JLabs, they aren't that secure once you start sweating.

The set I generally use on the bike are Sony's WI C100 In-Ear Wireless Headphones, which cost around £35. They give a slightly better sound than the JLabs, for my liking, but while they stay put in the ears they aren't quite as comfortable, what with having the cable joining them hanging around your neck.

Conclusion

Overall, in terms of sound performance these are pretty good, offering deep enough base without any distortion, and clear vocals. The fit is ideal for cycling as for the majority of time they are secure and barely noticeable. The touch controls aren't the easiest to use on the move, but that isn't a problem restricted to the JLabs.

Verdict

Decent quality budget headphones with good sound and resistance to the elements

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road.cc test report

Make and model: jlab GO Air Sport True Wireless Earbuds

Size tested: One Size

Tell us what the product is for and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

JLab says, "Everyday sport true wireless with 32 hours playtime in our smallest package."

I rate these as a secure and comfortable set of earbuds with good sound quality.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

INCLUDES: GO Air Sport True Wireless Earbuds, Charging Case with Integrated Charging Cable, 3 Sets Gel Tips, JLab Two Year Warranty.

AUDIO

Speaker: Φ6mm Dynamic driver

Output: 103 +/- 3db

Microphone: MEMS -42dB+/-3dB

Frequency Response: 20Hz-20kHz

Impedance: 16Ω

BATTERY

Battery Life: 8+ hours in each earbud

Total Playtime: 32+ hours total

Standby: 60+ hours

Input Power: 40mA

Earbud Battery: 43mAh lithium polymer

Earbud Charge Time: 2.2 hours (in case)

Charging Case Battery: 350mAh lithium polymer rechargeable

Case Charge Time: 2 Hours

Charge Plug: Type-A

BLUETOOTH

Version: Bluetooth 5.1

Range: 30+ ft.

Protocols: HSP / HFP / A2DP /AVRCP

Codecs: SBC

GENERAL

Weight: 57.5g (earbuds + case), 6.2g per earbud, 45.1g charging case

IP Rating: IP55 (earbuds only)

Warranty: 2 year warranty

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
7/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
7/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10
Rate the product for weight (if applicable)
 
8/10
Rate the product for comfort (if applicable)
 
8/10
Rate the product for value:
 
6/10

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Good sound quality and a secure fit.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Great fit while on the move.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Touch sensors aren't the easiest to use on the move.

How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?

They are a better priced package than the Tronsmart earbuds recently tested, and stack up well against my similarly priced Sonys.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Use this box to explain your overall score

They're a good choice for the money: the sound quality is good, and for exercising the fit is very good. The touch sensors take a bit of getting used to, but it is hardly a deal breaker.

Overall rating: 7/10

About the tester

Age: 44  Height: 180cm  Weight: 76kg

I usually ride: This month's test bike  My best bike is: B'Twin Ultra CF draped in the latest bling test components

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, club rides, sportives, fixed/singlespeed,

As part of the tech team here at F-At Digital, senior product reviewer Stu spends the majority of his time writing in-depth reviews for road.cc, off-road.cc and ebiketips using the knowledge gained from testing over 1,500 pieces of kit (plus 100's of bikes) since starting out as a freelancer back in 2009. After first throwing his leg over a race bike back in 2000, Stu's ridden more than 170,000 miles on road, time-trial, track, and gravel bikes, and while he's put his racing days behind him, he still likes to smash the pedals rather than take things easy. With a background in design and engineering, he has an obsession with how things are developed and manufactured, has a borderline fetish for handbuilt metal frames and finds a rim braked road bike very aesthetically pleasing!

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