The JBL Endurance Sprint are decently affordable wireless sports headphones with a somewhat unique design. They have a flashy, sporty look with around-ear hooks and an in-ear fit that’s stable and decently comfortable, although they won’t be ideal for everyone. They block enough noise to be a versatile option for most use cases, which makes them a good choice for a noisy gym and for your daily commute to the office. Unfortunately, their touch-sensitive control scheme isn’t really accurate and a bit too sensitive. They’re also somewhat bulky for an in-ear design but on the upside, they’re still very portable, easy to travel with and will easily fit in most pockets and bags. They also have an above average sound quality which caters well to most genres.
Pros:
+ Good noise isolation
+ Low leakage
+ Above-average sound quality
Cons:
- Slightly bulky and uncomfortable fit
- Mediocre touch sensitive controls scheme
Design
Type: Wireless In-Ear
Enclosure: Closed-Back
The JBL Endurance Sprint have a flashy sports design, with ear hooks that make them larger than average but stable for sports. They are somewhat comfortable, but it may take time and lots of adjustments to get the right fit with one of the 3 tips that come in the box. This makes them a suitable option for short workouts and the ideal choice for long listening sessions that last hours. They have an above-average build quality for a wireless in-ear, with heavily rubberized hooks that feel sturdy, and with IPX7 water resistance. Their design also offers great noise isolation thanks to the seal it can provide, and their touch-sensitive control scheme is a cool feature at this price range but hard to use accurately and might register an unwanted action when repositioning the headphones. Overall they are well designed for their price and they’re breathable and decently sweat proof, which makes them a good choice for most sports.
Sound
The JBL Endurance Sprint are an above-average sounding pair of closed-back headphones. They have a deep, punchy bass, clear and relatively flat mid-range with a very well-balanced treble. They do thin out the vocals and lead instruments a bit and S and T sounds may feel a tad too bright and piercing on some tracks, which can get fatiguing during longer listening sessions. Unfortunately, they don’t have an app or an EQ to customize the sound to your liking. Also, like most in-ears with closed-back designs, their soundstage is poor. However, fans of heavy bass should like these headphones as they have a decently deep and exciting low-end, which is great for genres like EDM or hip-hop and should keep you pumped up during your workouts. Their sound quality is also very versatile and should be good for most use cases.
Isolation
Noise cancelling: No
The JBL Endurance Sprint have great passive isolation and are suitable for your daily commuting and traveling even if they don’t have an active noise cancelation (ANC) feature. If you manage to get an air-tight seal with the provided tips and the enhancer, not a lot of noise seeps into your audio, making it ideal to focus on your music without being bothered. On top of that, you can mask even more ambient sound by raising your volume up without bothering people around you since the headphones have excellent leakage performance. They might not be the best choice for runners who want to monitor their surroundings during runs, but they can be a great choice for crowded gyms, the bus or even the office.
Microphone
Mic type: Integrated
The microphone of the JBL Endurance Sprint is mediocre, but it is expected on most Bluetooth headphones, especially wireless in-ears designs. It definitely shouldn’t be your first choice to make calls. Voices sound thin and muffled and the person on the line with you will have difficulty understanding you, especially in louder environments. It’s hard for the microphone to separate ambient noise like a busy street or subway noise from the actual speech. It should be better in quieter environments, but voices still lack detail and aren’t very clear.
Active features
Battery Life: 9 Hrs
Charge time: 1.7 Hrs
App support: No
Passive Playback: No
The battery life of the JBL Endurance Sprint is good and should last about 9 hours for only 1.7 hours of charging time. This should be enough for most use cases, especially if you don’t have very long listening sessions. They also have an ‘auto turn-off’ feature to save even more battery life, but some may find it too aggressive and frustrating as it triggers after only 5 to 10 minutes of inactivity. Unfortunately, these wireless in-ears don’t have a compatible app for customization options but it’s to be expected for JBL headphones at this price range.
Connectivity
Bluetooth:
Wired: No
Wireless range: 37 ft
Latency: 240 ms
The JBL Endurance Sprint have a good wireless range which should be enough for most use cases and won’t be a problem if you keep your phone or audio source close to you, or in your pockets. Unfortunately, these Bluetooth-only headphones have higher than average latency, meaning they won’t be great to watch videos or for gaming. They also don’t have any low-latency codecs, no near-field communication (NFC) feature for pairing and can’t be paired to multiple devices. On the upside, their hold-to-pair procedure is simple and pretty easy to use.
Who should buy them?
If you want good sounding wireless headphones for working out or to mask ambient noise during your commutes, then the JBL Endurance Sprint are a decent and affordable choice. They are fairly versatile in-ears but are definitely better sports headphones. Their flashy look and ear hook design won’t be for everyone, but they are well-rounded enough to suit multiple usages. Unfortunately, their very sensitive control scheme can get a bit irritating, especially when working out which can take some time to get used to as they may often pause or skip tracks when trying to increase the volume. Overall, they are above-average in-ears that do a great job at isolating sound; they even outperform some noise canceling over-ear headphones out on the market. However, they won’t be a good choice for watching videos gaming and long listening sessions. They’re a sports-oriented headphone, with a stable design, IPX7 waterproofing and a decently balanced sound that caters well to most genres, especially if you like a bit of bass.
To see all our measurements and our test results of the JBL Endurance Sprint, please go here.
Shop Now: $50
We purchase our own products and put them under the same test bench so that you can compare the results easily. No cherry-picked units sent by brands. If you buy something using a link on this page, Forbes Finds and RTINGS.com may receive a small share of that sale.
