Bang for buck | Ear Fit | Sound Quality | Portability |
|---|---|---|---|
It's a high price point for this kind of product, you would expect a lot more from a product that is 4 times the price of the competition. | Very invasive, some might say uncomfortable, although it is a very secure fit and sweat resistant. | For this price and JBL standards, the sound quality on these headphones leave a lot to desire. | The battery is very standard duration for this market, it includes super fast charging, which make it one of the only outstanding features in this product. |
PROS
CONS
Summary of JBL Reflect Contour 2
JBL contour reflect 2 are a not so great competitor at this price point, JBL is known to have one of the best sound profiles of the industry that makes them a safe bet, but this time it did not hit the mark, most users find them uncomfortable and invasive to wear, also reported to have bad connectivity at close range.
To top it off, these headphones come at a medium to premium price point, the sound quality is just “OK”, leaving the reflect contour 2 at a big disadvantage against the many competitors at similar or even lower price points.
Presentation
The JBL contour 2 wireless headphones are a very good step forward regarding the last generation of the JBL reflect contour line, although it was a good step forward, It's not exactly a no brainer purchase, these headphones are aimed for high intensity workout and training but at a great cost.
The high price point comes with premium low-weight design and materials, the concept may be very good, but the execution was not to par in this product.
All of the features included in the product are very standard in the industry, but many of the competitors are at half of the price range, with no realistic compromise, some are far better for the lower price.
Who is this for?
These headphones are aimed for those who demand a rigorous training routine, all the features are meant for extensive and sweaty training, the grip on the JBL contour 2 is rock solid, but they can be very invasive and uncomfortable, you can be sure that they will stay in place in those moments of absolute concentration, designed for enthusiast, that may exclude any light user that may want to experience a high quality sound product from JBL.
JBL is a brand known for its longevity and renown in the industry, always looking to impress with high fidelity audio products, the sound on the JBL contour 2 wireless headphones is quite underwhelming, this may exclude the audio fidelity enthusiast that usually look towards JBL.
In conclusion, any consumer that may be looking towards the JBL reflect contour 2, may be in for one of the poorest JBL experiences on the market, “OK” sound and quite uncomfortable to wear, this product has no real reason to buy, except for the overkill grip on your ears.
What’s included?
These headphones come with several freebit enhancers and ear tips, so you can mix and match to get a better fit on your unique ears,
A handy and surprisingly good quality silicon carrying pouch, where you can keep all of your freebit enhancers and ear tips, you can also store the included charging cable, which is quite short and not so high quality.
an AC adaptor would be nice to put the cherry on the cake, but it's sadly not included.
All of the pieces included are made in high quality silicone and plastic materials, something to expect at this price point.
Overview of Features
The JBL contour reflect 2 is featuring 10 hour battery life and fast charge, boasting 15 minutes of charge equals to one hour of play time, if you like to hear your music at a loud volume you may not get 10 hours worth, but very acceptable for one or two full workouts.
the latest 4.2 bluetooth technology, although the signal can be lost quite easily in some cases, your experience may vary between device, this may be a sale breaker for many, there is nothing worse than being in the zone and getting constant or intermediate audio cuts.
Headphones also come with wireless phone call and Siri / Google now capabilities, these can be accessed by double clicking the center button on your remote.
Very slim and lightweight design, the remote/microphone is where the battery is located, the remote has a good satisfying click on the buttons, easy to find and control, recording quality is above average on wireless headphones.
JBL has included a reflective cable, which in many cases looks quite cool and Is a feature that not many wireless headphones have.
It has a very compact size compared to similar designs, the charging port is hidden and gives the whole device a very slick look and feel, this allows the headphones to create less drag, making them very hard to slip off your ears.
The main downfall on this product would be the quite invasive in-ear design, you might think the earpiece is a bit too deep inside your ear, this can make them quite uncomfortable to wear, especially in extensive training sessions, but you can be sure they won't fall off, the tradeoff might not be the most appealing for most people, some may say it's overkill.
Coming in with 2 5.8mm drives respectively on each ear, the JBL describes the sound on this device as “epic”, which is to many a very big overstatement, with little to no base, a very sad treble, they also sound quite muddy there are many options at half the price that sound much better, as a company that takes pride of 70 years of sound quality improvement, their main focus should have been a superior sound quality that matches their superior price point.
Tutorial
Out of the box you should first adjust the ear pieces and freebit enhancers to better fit your needs, to install the pieces remember to place the freebit enhancer first by aligning with the notch and gently pushing down on the piece, the same method is applied with the ear piece.
Test the fit on your preferred earpiece setup, remember to secure the outer hook behind your ear and secure the ear tip that comes with the freebit enhancer, this will get you a very tight but not so ergonomic fit.
You should wear the reflect contour 2 behind your neck and adjust the extra reflective cable with the included cinch, remember to not leave it to tight, this can be very inconvenient and uncomfortable in a long training session.
The remote comes with 3 buttons, volume up /next track, pause / play / power / mode and volume down / previous track buttons respectively, a red and blue LED indicator that shows all of the states of the device and a concealed charging port which is standard micro usb.
Hold the center button for 3 seconds to turn on the headphones, you should see a long blue LED flash on the top of your remote, this means that the headphones are powering on, a long red flash means that the headphones are powering off.
Hold the center button for 3 seconds to turn on the headphones, you should see a blinking red and blue LED on top of the volume up button, this indicates that headphones are on and ready to pair, search for the headphones on your Bluetooth capable device, they appear as JBL reflect contour 2, select the device and you should hear an indication in your headphones, a double blue LED flash will signify that your headphones are now connected via Bluetooth, you are now pared and ready to go.
The headphones will turn off automatically if you disconnect the Bluetooth source for a period of time, you may also turn of the headphones by holding down the center button until you see a red flash on your LED indicator or you hear the notification on your headphones.
Alternatives
The main downside of this product may be the price point, there are many options in several different price points that can be better for you, the Bluetooth Sport Youth from Xiaomi can be a good choice for a less enthusiastic consumer.
Costing half the price, with similar to better sound and an IPX4 water resistance rating it can be a lot more bang for buck in comparison.
The quality of this product vastly resembles headphones in the 25$ range, and if this where the price, these headphones would be OK, but no they are 4x to 5x the price, which make a lot of the alternatives better in every aspect.
It's also worth mentioning that the JBL website has the contour 2 headphones listed at 99.95$ with free shipping, while in Amazon the listing from JBL on the same product is 20$ less also with free shipping, that's quite a clear sign of a quick cash grab by JBL, sadly taking advantage of the company's fans.
Conclusion
The JBL contour reflect 2 wireless headphones are a product aimed for high intensity training, they exceed in being lightweight and staying in place, the battery life and charging speed is also an honorable mention, but leaves a lot to be desired in every other aspect, the sound is not what we might expect from a company that boasts about their legendary sound profile, the focus on this product made a lot of sacrifices to achieve excellent ear adherence, but most find this solution overkill or excessive and uncomfortable, we describe it as forcing a toilet plug in your ear.
Wireless connectivity is poor to barely acceptable at most times, sound quality is very unimpressive, you would expect a lot more for the higher price point and brand, the ear pieces are quite hard and go quite deep inside your ear canal, the reflective cable is nice but feels a bit too thin and while the fast charging is very good, if you like to hear your music at a high volume, well your out of luck because it definitely does not make the 10 hour mark as publicised if you hit max volume, that by the way is very underwhelming, you will be stuck hearing half of the music in your gym and half of your own music, making the sound quality even worse.
For this price point, we would expect some type of noise cancelation, taking in consideration the low volume bar we have to manage, but we just get 20$ performance on a 80$ product, the material quality is not that important when the objective of the product is not being met, the focus should have been very different on this device, and we think that testing on this product was little to none.
We suspect the product is aimed for unsuspecting victims at a Best buy, judging the product by price and fancy box, maybe thinking it's a great price point to get quality headphones, the truth may be that the budget for the box design might have been bigger than the actual design and testing of the product, clearly a cash grab methodology.
Our recommendation is to avoid buying this product unless you really don't care or don't feel your ears, you will get muddy sound quality at best described, a 1 out of 5 star rating on Amazon really says it all, a very mediocre and half boiled product that somehow has good reviews only by youtubers, we would definitely not be shocked to find out JBL spent more money paying good reviews than designing a good product, a very unfortunate outcome for a JBL product.
