Remember the days when making the tiniest possible gadget was the ultimate flex of technological prowess for a company? When miniscule meant cool, even at the cost of ergonomics? Well, there's a new compact champion on the market and this one actually makes a lot of sense.
JLab has just launched the JBuds Mini, the smallest wireless earbuds available on the market (a title previously claimed by the 1More ComfoBuds Mini) supposedly “designed for the best fit for smaller-sized ears”. They will surely be welcomed by those who can’t get the right fit with regular brands, but with three sizes of silicone tips, they should fit regular-sized ears too. The JBuds Mini is no one-trick-pony, though. It has pretty standard features like noise cancellation, multipoint connectivity for connecting to two devices at once, an IP55 rating for sweat and dust resistance, a transparency mode, and a respectable, if not class-leading 5.5 hours of battery life, plus 15 in the case.
At 3.3 g per earbud (against the latest Airpods’ 4.28 g) JLab claims they’re “the smallest of any major headphone brand”, and it’s not just the earbuds themselves that are tiny; the JBuds Mini’s charge case genuinely looks at home on a keychain ring. Another benefit is that the earbuds will be ideal for wearing while lying on one’s side in bed, since they don’t protrude from the ear as much.
The JBuds Mini features Google Fast Pair, which means more effortless pairing with compatible Android devices. While JLab makes no fancy claims about premium drivers or audiophile-level sound quality, at a price of US$40, that’s clearly not the proposition with these earbuds anyway. An ideal use-case would be while commuting, where the noise-canceling, ‘Be Aware’ mode and IP55 rating would prove quite handy. With the new JLab app, users can also apply EQ presets, customize the touch controls, adjust awareness mode levels and set loudness limits. The JBuds Mini are available in five popular colors on JLab's website and with online retailers.
In a market that’s saturated with TWS earbuds, all sporting similar form-factors and features, the JBuds Mini, despite its diminutive size, certainly stands out from the crowd.