JBL is one of the leading companies when we talk about sound devices and its headphones, although they do not usually occupy the first pages, are the ones that offer the highest quality at a general level, playing in the big leagues.
In recent months we have seen such interesting proposals as the JBL Live Pro + TWS, but now JBL Reflect Flow Pro arrives (go fabric with the name) who want to conquer the most athletic users.
Their arguments? A differentiating design, good sound, battery and, above all, IP68 certification. After wearing them for many hours a day this past week, here is our review of the JBL Reflect Flow Pro.
JBL Reflect Flow Pro | |
---|---|
Guy | In-ear |
Drivers | 6.8 mm |
Sensors | Proximity sensor |
Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) | Yes |
Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.0 |
Battery | Up to 30 hours with ANC off | Up to 24 hours with ANC |
Protection | IP68 |
Compatibility | iOS and Android | Compatible with Google Fast Pair |
Price | 179.99 euros |
JBL Reflect Flow Pro review sections:
It costs something to put them on, but they will not fall off even with the stupid things you do in crossfit
As usual, let’s start talking about design, since it is key in almost all devices and here it has a major point of importance.
We are going to start talking about the box, since it is quite wide and one of those that are noticeable in the pocket. It has dimensions of 37.41 millimeters high, 42.30 mm wide, 71.53 long and a weight without headphones of 62.
Yes, you can see that we carry it with us because it is excessively thick compared to other boxes. It is not the one of the WF1000XM3 -analysis-, but it is among the largest that we have tested.
It also has a little something that users who are going to run with the box in their hands may like, but which, I think, should be optional. And it is that, on one of the sides it has a strap yes, it feels quality to wear on the wrist, but it cannot be removed.
If we spend 180 on headphones, surely we not only wear them while doing sports and, even if it were, I don’t see sense of this rope in the gym or in crossfit because it would bother when lifting weight. As I say, ideally it would be optional.
What I did like a lot is the charge indicator, which is an LED strip on the front, as well as how secure the hinge seems and, above all, that at least a large battery with wireless charging has been included.
If we go to the headphones, we have button TWS weighing 7 grams and that they have a kind of rubber horn that helps when holding the device to our ears.
I thought it was comfortable, but as each ear and pavilion is a world, JBL has included two three pairs of spare parts plus those that are already pre-installed so that we can find the ones that best suit us.
This seemed like a very good idea to me, but what I didn’t like so much is the pad. We have three pairs in total and silicone seems to me to be the worst material that has ever passed through my hands in these headphones.
It is a too stiff silicone that, after a while, starts to bother me. It had never happened to me, even with TWS of 40 euros and what I ended up doing was placing the pad of other headphones and buy some pads comply.
Obviously not optimal, but it was to do that … or not to analyze the device. And I understand that this is something very personal, since each ear, as I said, is a world, but that has been my experience.
Otherwise, we have headphones that feel very premium both to the eye and to the touch, that they do not fall even if we do silly things (perfect in this sense) and that they are IP68 certified.
Customizable gesture control and an app with just enough to keep it simple
Although it is clear that when we want to buy wireless headphones we look, above all, in comfort, battery and sound quality, for me one of the most important elements is the application.
In the end, we will spend more or less time on it, but an app that allows me to configure the controls and that has options such as an equalizer or different noise cancellation modes seems vital to me.
JBL does quite well in this regard and in its JBL Headphones app we have several options for the different wireless headphones of the brand and in the case of the Reflect Flow Pro we have the right options.
The app works very smoothly, in it we can see the load of both the box and the headphones and we can activate noise cancellation, the ‘talkThru’ mode, we have a low latency mode that we can activate and an equalizer.
In the latency selector We can choose the normal mode, the audio mode with the highest bandwidth for music and the video mode, which is the one with low latency for games and videos. By the way, they are becoming more powerful and our Hobby compis have a list of the most interesting with story mode.
In these headphones yes i recommend using low latency mode If you are going to play or watch videos, since it does show a bit that the voices can be somewhat out of step in the way that prioritizes music. But hey, as I said, the app is fluid and it won’t cost us anything to change those settings.
We can choose the voice assistant, configure the language (it is in Spanish), configure the independent gestures for the right or left earphone and we also have an option to analyze if we have the earphones correctly or incorrectly.
We simply put them on, open that option, a little music plays and voila, it tells us if the fit on the ear is correct.
And if we talk about the control of the headphones, we have a touch surface in which everything is done by touches. It works very stable and precise and my preferred setting is the volume + assistant control on the left with the music control on the right.
Good audio quality, but the cancellation lacks a bit of aggressiveness
But let’s go to the sound quality, the most important thing, obviously, in headphones, but that in sports helmets is usually left aside because other characteristics prevail.
The truth is that there are companies that treat sound very well even in their headphones focused on doing sports, like Huawei with its Freelace Pro or JBL itself with this model.
The driver is 6.8 millimeters and is smallYes, more than what we are used to in other headphones with 11 mm drivers or even with a double driver that joins woofer and tweeter, but the truth is that the quality it is capable of providing is more than satisfactory.
It does not have the most powerful bass and there we do see that the size takes its toll, but I have been playing heavy, alternative rock and deep house while training these days and the experience has been very good.
I think the highs and mids are well dimensioned And, although the bass does not stand out for its forcefulness, we cannot say that they are headphones with a flat sound, far from it.
What I’m not so happy with is the noise cancellation. When we activate it, it shows, of course, but the truth is that it is a not very aggressive cancellation and that it did not seem to me according to the price.
In the gym we will find out what happens around and at home we will continue to listen to the keys of a laptop.
Monotonous noises such as the air conditioning or the washing machine does mitigate them quite well, but it is not the strong point of these headphones, of course. It just … delivers, but considering what we’ve seen in other headphones from JBL itself in the same price range, I was expecting something more.
At the software level we can activate a low latency mode that is ideal to activate when we are watching series, many YouTube videos and games.
For music the high bandwidth mode is perfect, but in that mode I have noticed, with some devices, that the action / sound synchronization is not as perfect as it should be. As soon as we activate the low latency mode it is completely solved.
Three mics per headset and call quality that is not the strong point
In each of the headphones we have three microphones And something that we repeat in practically every headphone review is that the biggest difference we find between top-of-the-range headphones and the rest is not so much the quality of the audio or the noise cancellation, but the quality of the microphones.
Many of us use this type of headset for calls or meetings and, of course, quality matters. Many others have never spoken through the headphones mics, so this section will not matter so much to them.
If you are from the first group, You should know that the quality of the microphones of these JBL Reflect Flow Pro is not that of headphones that cost 180 euros.
It is clear that the priority is another, but if you want to hear a test, here it goes:
Not only is the sound they pick up at a fairly low volume compared to some competitors both in their price segment and at a lower price, but the voice sounds metallic.
I think they do a good job of picking up the voice outdoors because I have not had complaints talking on the phone on the street, but it is clear that they do not pick up the warmer sound.
More than 6 hours with noise cancellation, fast charging and wireless charging
On the other hand, I have loved the battery and I think it is a differentiating point in these headphones. JBL promises 30 hours total without noise cancellation and about 24 hours with noise cancellation.
According to our tests, with the volume between 40% and 60%, we have for about six and a half hours battery with music prioritization mode and with cancel activated.
This depends a lot on the genre of music you listen to and the volume, but it seems to me a very, very reasonable figure considering that it is between an hour and a half and two hours above other top-of-the-range headphones.
The box gives for about two full charges before needing to go through the boxes and something that I did not expect in a sports TWS was the wireless charging that we do have in this model.
Speaking of cargo, headphones in the box go from 0 to 40% in 10 minutes, which is not bad at all, and they reach 100% in 58 minutes.
A unicorn in the sports TWS earphone segment
In the end, we are talking about headphones that their main strengths are their autonomy and design.
They are very focused on doing sports and that shows in the form factor and, knowing that each ear is a world, I am happy that JBL has included several sizes of that rubber dressing so that the headphones are well fixed to the pavilion.
With the right pads, I think they are very comfortable and The truth is that it gives me a lot of security that they are IP68. I have not swam with them, but I have been in the rain and in the gym in the middle of August without any problem.
The sound quality complies, the noise cancellation is not the best, but it is enough In headphones of this type and the box is large, but the wireless charging is a very interesting extra.
The microphones fail him and that, I think, they go a little price. For those 180 euros we can already consider other higher-end headphones in terms of sound and noise cancellation, such as the WF1000XM4, the AirPods Pro or very powerful models such as the Freebuds Pro or the Galaxy Buds, which are also cheaper.
Yes, those four models are not IP68, but if you are not going to go to the pool or walk in heavy rain or on the beach, they hold up without a problem.
Of course, within its range, that of sports headphones, they have a well deserved gold medal.