Open-ear wireless earbuds are all about balancing comfort, awareness, and sound quality. The JBL Sense Pro steps into this space with features like LDAC Bluetooth, a 16.2mm dynamic driver, and app-based customization, aiming to deliver a more refined open-ear experience. But how well does it perform in everyday use? Here’s a closer look at its design, features, and sound.
What You Get
- 1 x JBL Sense Pro earbuds
- 1 x Charging case
- 1 x Warranty / Warning
- 1 x QSG / Safety Sheet
Look & Feel
I tend to admire the design of JBL’s slightly more expensive consumer products. The Sense Pro has a very classy design that looks modern and sleek. They hook around your ear and remain stable for the most part. It takes a bit of adjustment, but the earphones stay in well, while others might feel too loose and flop around.
Design & Functionality
The JBL Sense Pro is built around a large 16.2mm dynamic driver, which is uncommon for open-ear designs and helps compensate for the lack of a sealed fit. JBL incorporates a diamond-like carbon (DLC) diaphragm to improve rigidity and reduce distortion, allowing for better transient response and clarity. Combined with JBL’s OpenSound technology, the driver is tuned to project audio toward the ear while minimizing sound leakage, maintaining spatial awareness without sacrificing too much low-end presence.
Playback controls with the touch sensors are very resposne and work without much delay. Playing and pausing music is as easy as just gently touching the right side. It’s a gesture that feels natural and doesn’t take much precision. Through the JBL Headphones app, the Sense Pro offers a range of customization tools that enhance usability and sound tailoring. Users can adjust EQ settings better to match their listening preferences, toggle spatial sound processing, and fine-tune controls for playback and calls. The app also allows for firmware updates and personalization of touch controls, making it easy to adapt the headphones to different use cases. Additionally, features like adaptive bass enhancement help compensate for the open-ear form factor.
Bluetooth
The Sense Pro uses Bluetooth connectivity with multipoint pairing, allowing it to stay connected to multiple devices simultaneously, ideal for switching between a phone and a laptop. It supports LDAC for high-resolution wireless audio streaming, which is a standout feature for an open-ear design. This ensures improved detail retrieval and overall fidelity compared to standard SBC or AAC codecs. The connection remains stable for everyday use, whether you’re commuting, working, or exercising, and pairing is quick and seamless.
Battery Life
Battery performance is solid, with the earbuds offering up to around 8 hours of playback on a single charge, depending on usage and features like LDAC. The included charging case extends total battery life to approximately 38 hours, making it reliable for extended daily use or travel. Fast charging is also supported, providing additional playback time from a short charge session. This combination of longevity and convenience ensures the Sense Pro can keep up with most listening routines without frequent recharging.
Soundstage
Open-ear designs like the Sense Pro typically provide wider soundstages with more significant headspace compared to in-ear designs. The Sense Pro makes a good effort here, with an airy soundstage and good channel separation to help reproduce a fairly standard stereo image. You get a surprising sense of localization, with instruments being placed accurately throughout the sound field. It’s all very linear, but still communicates solid pan positioning and movement.
Low End
Even with its open-air design, the Sense Pro can deliver some punchy bass. Its timbre can be pretty muffled, but those looking for a thick and direct bass for casual listening won’t be disappointed. You get a smooth texture that has rumble and impact in a way that is easy to be gripped by. However, the resolution of the bass frequencies seems scattered and bloated at times. They never feel too dominating, though, so other regions of the sound signature can still be clear without fighting with the lows.
Mids
While the mids have an admirable forwardness to them, they still don’t have the best clarity. The mids can appear recessed, even with more focused tonality. There are sparks of detail here and there with some instruments, but they still lack a consistent form. Vocals suffer the most from this, appearing thin and veiled.
Highs
The best part of the Sense Pro’s sound signature is the high frequencies. They’re smooth and feature tight control, but still have a crisp ring to them that really elevates everything. They have the most realistic timbre of the frequency response, but don’t feel raw or piercing.
Summary
The JBL Sense Pro offers a strong mix of comfort, stability, and modern wireless features, making it a solid choice for everyday listening. Its airy soundstage and smooth highs work well for casual use, though the bass and mids lack consistency and clarity for more critical listening. If you prioritize awareness, convenience, and flexibility, the Sense Pro is a worthwhile option, even if it doesn’t fully satisfy audiophile expectations.
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The JBL Sense Pro is available at Audio46.
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