These tiny JLAB JBuds Mini earbuds came by recently for this review. It’s a true wireless earphones that’s so small that with its charging case it can still attach conveniently to your keyring without being too clunky to handle. Yet, it still manages to cram some important features into its small stature.
The JBuds Mini earbuds are so tiny that they easily disappear into your ears, and they’re so light you don’t quite feel them in your ears. The charging case is all of 4.5 x 3.4 x 2.3 cm. JLAB even includes a keyring attachment to the case, so you can make this a part of your set of keys.
JLAB provides three sizes of silicon tips, so you can experiment to find which fit best. The earbuds are comfortable to wear, possibly because you don’t feel like its there. They don’t stick out of my ears at all, and I feel they are secure enough that they won’t fall out even despite heavy head movements.
Despite the smallness of the JBuds Mini, it has some nice features. This includes support for Google Fast Pair, so connecting it to my Pixel smartphone was a breeze.
The outside of each earbud serves as touch controls. You are able to adjust volume, pause/play, skip tracks, answer/hangup calls, and change EQ settings. It even supports calling up Google Assistant (and Siri too on an iPhone).
While there isn’t active noise cancellation in the JBuds Mini, the earbuds do support audio transparency mode. JLAB calls this Be Aware, and this feature basically plays ambient sounds picked up by its microphones into your ears, so you can be aware of your surroundings.
Yes, the earbuds have microphones in them, so you can take calls with the JBuds Mini. These have noise cancellation capabilities, so the far end of your call can hear you more clearly.
An important feature for me is the support for multipoint Bluetooth audio connection. This allows the JBuds Mini to connect to more than one audio source, such as your laptop and your smartphone, enabling you to, for example, listen to music from your laptop and yet easily switch over to an incoming call on your smartphone.
JLAB offers the JLab App mobile app on both Android and iOS which allows you to customise features and update firmware on the earbuds.
The JBuds Mini perform surprisingly well in terms of sound quality. Despite its small size, it manages to pack a 6 mm dynamic driver. This enables the JBuds Mini to stand out better than similarly sized and priced earbuds. The bass is rich and powerful, though it does come across a bit boomy and rumbling to me. Overall, the JBuds Mini comes across as lively and enjoyable to listen to.
You can tune the EQ through the mobile app in case you’d like to tweak the sound profile. There’s a quick toggle between presets like music and movie mode.
There is IP55 rating for the JBuds Mini, so you can use it for your workouts. The Bluetooth 5.3 connection works reliably. The earbuds are IP55 rated for water resistance.
According to JLAB, the JBuds Mini’s battery will run for 5.5 hours, and 20 hours when including the charging case. The charging case is charged by a USB Type-C port on the side.
The JBuds Mini ship with its charging case, a USB Type-C to Type-C cable, total of three silicon tip sizes, and a quick start guide.
The JLAB JBuds Mini retails at $89. You can find it on JLAB’s online stores on Lazada and Shopee. The earbuds are available in black (as reviewed here), teal, mint, pink, and sage green, so you’ll have plenty of options to find something to suit your colour preference.