JLab Epic Air Sport review: Big on features, small on ears

Fitness earbuds walk a thin line. They must be compact enough not to impact your workout and sturdy enough not to fly off your ear during a particularly enthusiastic deadlift. The JLab Epic Air Sport earbuds toe this thin pretty well, providing a comfortable fit without sacrificing the tech features everyday users have become accustomed to in their audio-providing devices. That, combined with a long battery life and good all-around audio quality, make these earbuds more than worthy of consideration for your fitness playlist needs.

There are some downsides, which, depending on your needs, could be presented as unique opportunities to grow rather than problems. Wireless charging is probably your best bet because the wired setup is a bit convoluted, and the call quality leaves a lot to be desired, so maybe work on your speed texting instead. Overall, the pros slightly outweigh the cons, so we can confidently recommend the JLab Epic Air Sport earbuds for your next workout.

Price & availability

The JLab Epic Air Sport are available everywhere, so you shouldn’t have trouble tracking them down. You can order them directly from the JLab website or head over to Amazon, Walmart, or Best Buy to get your hands on the fitness earbuds as soon as possible.

While you have a lot of options when it comes to where you buy it from, you don’t have a lot of color options. In fact, you have none, with the JLab Epic Air Sport earbuds coming in black, and that’s it. If that bums you out, hopefully, the price will cheer you up, with these earbuds costing only $100, with most sellers offering around a 10-25% discount when you buy.

Design & fit

I must admit, the JLab Epic Air Sport is a cooler fitness earbud than I’m used to. The ear guard is fully part of the device rather than a flimsy plastic addition. There are no buttons, just two touch sensors on the logo of each earbud. The case is compact, sleek, and filled with helpful indicators. Generally speaking, the design impresses right out of the box.

As someone with small ears, I’m often disappointed when it comes to earbuds. For starters, finding an eartip that fits right is nearly impossible. Luckily, the JLab Epic Air Sport comes with a bunch of eartips for varying sizes, the most important of which is a cloud foam option that doesn’t create the inner ear soreness some earbud users are all too accustomed to. Even better, it comes in a stylish blue that gives your boring old black earbuds a bit of flair, even if it’s hidden in your ear.

The small ear conundrum is a bit of a double-edged sword here, though. The JLab Epic Air Sport earbuds feel comfortable around my ears, with the ear guards snug along the top of my ear. Still, I can’t imagine someone with normal-sized ears or, heaven forbid, big ears feeling comfortable for an hour-long workout with the pressure on their ears. All that to say, they definitely aren’t falling off at any point, no matter how hard you headbang to your fitness playlist on the treadmill.

Sound & call quality

The sound quality coming from the JLab Epic Air Sport admittedly surprised me. I’m more accustomed to the over-ear variety and was expecting a much less balanced sound from the fitness earbuds. Still, even before opening the JLab Sound app — which lets you customize the audio with an in-depth equalizer — the sound quality was complete, with a slight emphasis on the bass, which I’m sure fitness buffs love for their workout playlists.

These earbuds have three hearing modes, which can be easily cycled through with a single press and hold on the left earbud sensor. You’ll have access to the standard listening mode and a hear-through mode — called Be Aware — that allows you to hear what’s happening around you better. Finally, there’s the active noise-canceling mode, which is supposed to make the listening experience more immersive.

Unfortunately, this mode doesn’t perform too well on the JLab Epic Air Sport, particularly compared to its over-ear counterparts. High-pitched sounds like nearby ambulance sirens and my daughter screaming about not wanting to go to the potty were far from canceled out, even when set to the highest setting. Admittedly, those sounds will get through most headphones, but the difference was noticeable compared to my over-ear set from Jabra. Still, it’s more than adequate at canceling out basics like background TV shows and the pitter-patter of toddler feet behind your office chair (sorry, sweetie).

On top of the ANC woes, the call quality situation isn’t great either. My wife asked if I was in the bathroom talking to her during my first test because of the tinny, echo-y sound despite there being three MEMS microphones in each earbud. From an audio standpoint, she sounded fine, but call quality is a two-way street, and the JLab Epic Air Sport is driving on the wrong side of the road.

Software

The JLab Epic Air Sport had a headstart regarding software with this review because I was privileged to utilize the Google Fast Pair feature as an Android user. This means that as soon as I opened the case and took out the earbud, a single click had these earbuds fully paired and ready to rock in a literal second. Truly, you love to see this kind of ease of use.

The interface of the JLab Sound app is very comprehensive, allowing you to access every device you have connected to your smartphone. Once connected, turned on, and removed from the case, the Epic Air Sport earbuds will be viewable in the app, providing several convenient features. The equalizer is likely the most important for everyday users, providing three distinct EQ modes: Balanced, Bass Boost, and JLab Signature. You can also fully customize the equalizer to your particular preferences with ten different settings. Heads up, though: you will have to be playing music to adjust these settings.

Another extremely convenient feature of the JLab Sound app is that it allows you to specifically map the touch controls for your earbuds. You can assign commands for taps, double taps, triple taps, and holds on both earbuds, so you can control how the device responds to your movements. You can also turn off the auto-sensor feature, stopping audio if the earbuds are removed. This feature alone is enough to warrant downloading the app, particularly if you’re prone to using only one earbud at a time, so you can add commands necessary for that specific usage.

Battery life & charging time

The charging setup for the JLab Epic Air Sport case is a bit unconventional, which can be frustrating or convenient depending on your preferences. Right out of the gate, there’s no USB-C port on the case for charging, and as someone accustomed to charging virtually everything with my trusty bedside USB-C cable, it’s a bit annoying.

Even stranger, there’s no port at all. Instead of a charging port, the JLab Epic Air Sport earbuds case is equipped with a short USB 5v 1a cable that can be plugged into any USB port, either on your computer or a compatible charging brick. It really is quite short, though, at just under three inches, so you’ll be on a short leash if you need to charge this way.

Luckily, you don’t necessarily have to charge with the integrated, under 3-inch USB cable. The JLab Epic Air Sport case is also equipped with wireless charging capabilities, a surprising feature on such an affordable set of earbuds.

As far as battery life is concerned, the JLab Epic Air Sport earbuds perform quite admirably. JLab claims that each earbud has 15 hours of battery life, which was slightly exceeded during testing, and the ANC battery life lasted a tad more than the listed 11 hours. Those numbers are impressive, but adding the 55 hours of additional battery from the case leaves behind most Jabra earbuds, even the Jabra Elite 5. Seriously, you might forget you have to charge these earbuds over a week because I know I did.

Competition

If you still aren’t feeling like the JLab Epic Air Sport earbuds are the right fit for you, there’s certainly no shortage of alternatives that might be what you’re looking for. The Jabra Elite 4 Active is a good place to start, providing a slightly more expensive fitness-focused pair of earbuds with great ANC and plenty of features. There’s no ear guard, though, and battery life is comparatively low, with the case only providing 21 hours compared to the 55 hours from JLab.

The Jaybird Vista 2 is another fitness earbud that might work, although they’re more expensive and suffer similar ANC and call quality problems. At least the case has USB-C charging, though, and the IP68 rating means it can withstand the elements and then some, which could be enough to sway some to pay the extra cost.

Should you buy them?

If you need a moderately affordable fitness earbud that won’t fly off your head under any circumstance, the JLab Epic Air Sport earbuds are probably one of your best bets. The $100 price tag is regularly discounted (currently sitting 25% off as of writing, making them a mere $75) while offering advanced features like ANC and Google Fast Pair. Plus, the battery life is exemplary when you factor in the case equipped with wireless charging, so you could forget about even needing to charge them with the right setup.

They’re not perfect, with the ANC being less equipped for high-pitched sounds and overall poor call quality options. Plus, the unconventional charging options are definitely for a niche set of users. Still, if you’re trying to keep within a reasonable budget and need a pair of fitness earbuds that will stay put, you’ve probably found them.