Guess JLab and your mind's eye can imagine affordable yet capable headphones and earbuds making their way into our best cheap wireless earbuds buying guide, as well as our best wireless headphones and best wireless earbuds lists. But as Bob Dylan once sang: the times they are a-changing'. That's because JLab just announced its first foray into the world of “luxury” headphones, with the new JBuds Lux ANC wireless headphones.
Despite the Buds part of the name, the JBuds LUX ANC are over-ear headphones with a range of features you'd expect from the likes of the Sony WH-100XM5 or Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless; in fact, the design of the headphones is reminiscent of the excellent Sony WH-1000XM4.
Soft, foldable 'Cloud Foam' ear cups house 40mm drivers with a frequency response of 20 – 20 kHz, along with features such as Immersive Lab quality sound, spatial audio support, Bluetooth Multipoint and Bluetooth LE Audio connectivity; again, features you'd expect from high-end headphones from Sony and Bose.
And like those brands, the JBuds Lux ANC comes with smart adaptive noise cancellation, which can detect the environment you're in and adjust the active noise cancellation mode (there are three options: ANC on, ANC off and be aware) to ensure You hear oncoming traffic when you're running or cycling, but you want an inspiring song or podcast to keep you chugging along, especially in the dark days of January.
Whether this smart ANC can deliver the smart and noise-blocking power of the leading XM5s remains to be seen. But JLab's potential trump card is that the JBuds Lux ANC cost just $79.99 (about £62 / AU$119), which is significantly cheaper than the aforementioned Sony and Bose headphones. In fact, it comes close to some of the best cheap headphones you can buy right now.
To top it all off, JLab claims that the JBuds Lux ANC will deliver 42 hours of playtime, which would be quite impressive if accurate. We'll have to give these headphones a proper test to see if JLab can indeed play a role in the luxury ANC headphone arena at a competitive price.
Pre-orders for the JLab JBuds Lux ANC wireless headphones are now live with shipping expected from mid-February. But we recommend waiting for our full review before ordering these headphones.
JBuds ANC 3 true wireless earbuds provide smart noise cancellation and long battery life
Not content with just introducing a new pair of wireless headphones, JLab also unveiled the JBuds ANC 3 True Wireless Earbuds, an updated version of the second generation JBuds ANC True Wireless Earbuds and of course the excellent JLab Go Air Pop.
You'd be hard-pressed to notice much difference from the outside. But these new earbuds, which are available now in the US for $59 (about £46 / AU$111), come with a claimed playback time of over 42 hours. And they have the Smart Active ANC that the JBuds LUX ANC comes with.
Competition is fierce on our list of the best noise-cancelling earbuds, with JLab yet to have a pair of earbuds vying for a spot – although given their rock-bottom price, it's a bit rude to expect that. So it will be interesting to see if the updated feature set can put the JBuds ANC 3 True Wireless Earbuds in a competitive position. We'll have to give this one a proper test – watch this space.