JBL TUNE FLEX

 The JBL Tune Flex might be the first TWS to offer you both an open bud's design and a sealed air tip design, making it the world's first transformable earbuds design. Well yes, so let's get on with this.

CONTENTS

1. OVERVIEW

2. DESIGN/BUILD QUALITY

3. CONNECTIVITY/APP UI

4. ANC

5. MUSIC/SOUND QUALITY

6. CALL/MIC. QUALITY

7. BATTERY

8. PRICE/COLOURS AVAILABLE

9. CONCLUSION

1. OVERVIEW

The box contains the case itself with the TWS in it, a typeA - typeC charging cable, 1 open ear tip, 3x sealing ear tips, separate case to keeps the ear tips safely, documentations. That's all.

2. DESIGN/BUILD QUALITY

 First of all, many congrats to JBL Tune Flex for winning the red dot design award of 2020. This is mainly because of the excess size ear tip that comes pre-fitted in an open bud's design. This excess size ear tip is actually the extension of the design itself and doesn't really spread out. However, if you remove these ear tips and apply the regular small, medium, large ear tips then it becomes a sealed earbud. So, in all, a totally different design.

Talking about the case, all black plastic case also comes in a good boxy shape which feels very sturdy and offers a good grip in hands. The lids can easily be opened by one swift motion of your thumb. You get a big JBL branding on its body in the front and 3 stacked LEDs which basically shows the battery status. 

3. CONNECTIVITY/APP UI

It supports Bluetooth 5.2 standard and Google's fast-passed solution as well, which is actually when you take out your buds from the case for the first time to pair with your smartphone, you immediately get a card on the phone to connect it to your account. This all is bout providing a seamless connecting experience for the rest of the time.

Talking about the App UI, the Companion app is present on the Play store for use. The design and the quality of the app is really good. You have to specifically choose the sound signature for the style you have chosen like, the open buds design or the sealed air tip design. Apart from that you can choose your own Equalizer Quality (Jazz, Vocal, Bass, Club, Studio etc.) and tune the EQ curve according to your preferences, you can change the Ambient sound controls to Active-Noise-Cancellation,

 Ambient aware and talk through modes, there is an option to switch between smart audio and smart video as well (it basically reduces the audio, video latency to ensure that you get better lip sink and of course helps with gaming), you can further customize the gestures to the touch controls on the buds. In terms of command assigns, it's tuned in such a way that there is a lag between the touch of the buds and the command actually registers, and lastly the app also offers a "find my buds" in case you accidentally lose your buds somewhere. However, there is no wear detection feature.

4. ANC

You get as good as 6 levels of ANC which you can select from the app itself. The most fascinating fact is that the ANC works at its best level while using the sealed ear tips. However, the quality of ANC degrades a bit on using the open bud's design.

In terms of transparency mode, JBL has its own voice aware feature which can be tuned by the user with slider available in the app itself to one's convenient point. The good thing is that the transparency mode didn't make the human voice artificial or robotic.

5. MUSIC/SOUND QUALITY

These earbuds come with a massive 12mm drivers. When it comes to sound signature JBL is continuing its 75 years of legacy in sound tuning and it comes from the house of Harman itself. 

However, this particular JBL Tune flex does not follow the Harman Target Curve, rather it produces a typically crowd-pleasing u-shaped sound signature.

In such a sound signature the Base and the Trebble are generally elevated, and the Mids. are recessed. Keep in mind that after tuning the EQ for several times, you cannot remove the bloat in the Base. However, the Base does not bleed into the Mids. In case of the open bud's design, the Base is further elevated to ensure that the listener doesn't lose any of the low end because of the air gap created between the buds and the ear walls. In simple words, this TWS is actually good for Base lovers.

6. CALL/MIC. QUALITY

There are 4 mics. on each of the buds and they are quite decent in cutting out the ambient noise. However, in my opinion, the mic. output could have been a bit louder. 

7. BATTERY

With the ANC off, the buds will give a battery life of 10 hours and in total of 40 hours with the charging case.

However, in case of ANC on, the buds will give a backup of 8 hours and 24 hours of back up from the charging case in total. Note, that the above information is only applicable in 70% volume.

The case of course supports fast charging and with this, on 10 minutes of charging the user can expect 2 hours of listening time which is good enough.

Oh yes, it is IP X4 rated so no problem against minimal sweat or dust.

8. PRICE/COLOURS AVAILABLE

PRICE- Rs. 6,499

COLOURS AVAILABLE- Black, Blue

9. CONCLUSION

See if someone really knows which ear tip is best suited for his/her ears then this design language becomes totally useless. Not really, because in some cases you might be with your friends, and you really need a passive listening to their conversations also to be inside the gathering but at the same time you want to hear a relaxing music. So that's where these open buds design play a great role, since they are not snuggly fitted to your ears as well as stays in your ear holes without falling off. So, if thought logically, this design is a great one to consider, right? So, in all an all-over good deal at this price point especially for base lovers. So that's all for now. 

Thankyou.