JBL TUNE220tws

JBL Pure Bass

JBL TUNE 220TWS earbuds don’t go for average, but play standout audio. With a 12.5mm driver featuring JBL Pure Bass Sound, they do not skimp on sound.

The JBL TUNE 220 have a similar style to the Apple AirPods, but with a cheaper-looking matte finish. While the model we bought are white, they also come in a wide range of other colors. They’re fairly non-descript looking and have a JBL logo on the right earbud. They also have a blue dot on the left earbud and a red dot on the right earbud, which correspond to dots on the case, making it easier to place them properly.

Weight 0.02 lbsClamping Force 0.0 lbs

The comfort of the 220TWS is okay. They’re similar to the Razer Hammerhead True Wireless, with an earbud design that doesn’t enter the ear canal deeply but have slightly smaller earbuds that may fit better for some people. Unfortunately, these headphones are made entirely out of hard plastic, which may cause some people to experience pain and fatigue on the ears after wearing them for extended periods.

An interesting choice from JBL

Despite not sporting the same battery life as their rivals, the JBL Tune 220TWS feature a similar design to the Apple AirPods, with long protruding stems. These stems are touch-sensitive, and can be used to play and pause your music, skip tracks, accept calls, and summon your device’s voice assistant, whether you favor Google Assistant or Siri.

Unlike the AirPods, these buds come in a range of trendy colors, including blue, green, pink, and silver, as well as your standard black and white.

JBL claims that the Tune 220TWS sound as good as they look, with “standout audio”, thanks to 12.5mm drivers that support the brand’s Pure Bass sound.

With Bluetooth 5.0, these buds should boast good connectivity, without any annoying dropouts or pairing issues.

While these specs seem decent enough for the price, it’s not clear how successful these buds will be with such a short battery life; the true wireless earbud market has moved on since the first model launched in 2015, and battery lives of 20 hours or more has become standard.

Even the $29 / £29 (Around AU$40) JLab Go Airs can offer this – whether the audio quality, fit, and functionality of the Tune 220TWS can make them a compelling alternative to more highly-specced cheap earbuds remains to be seen.