Hello everybody! Today I’m going to quickly review the JBL Vibe Beam – in-ear true wireless earbuds with plenty of bass at an affordable price. I’m talking through all of the details right now so you know if they’re a good fit for you.
The JBL Vibe Beam earbuds currently retail for $40 and are available in five different colors: black, white, mint, blue, and beige. They’re aptly named ‘beam’ due to their 8 mm drivers. JBL actually has two other models in the line. The Vibe Buds remove the sticks and the Vibe Flex leave them open. The JBL Vibe Beam earbuds are just simple and stylish.
The JBL Vibe Beam headphones were first announced at CES 2023. The idea is generally to bring decent specs to affordable true wireless earbuds. And $40 is really nice for true wireless buds from a reputable brand.
JBL Vibe Beam review
The buds themselves are rated IP54 resistant. This means they can resist dust and withstand splashes from water. The case is IPX2, so it’s not tested for dust, but it’s kind of water-resistant itself.
With the JBL Vibe Beam, you get 32 hours of battery life (8 on the buds and 24 on the case). The earbuds charge pretty quickly. If you’re out of juice, you can give them a couple of hours of life after just 10 minutes of being plugged in.
They feature 8-millimeter dynamic drivers, 16 Ohms of impedance, and what JBL calls deep bass sound.
Given the longer battery life, JBL added another feature to help you keep them on throughout your day. Ambient Aware and TalkThru are two sides of basically the same thing. Ambient Aware intentionally lets sound through the headphones so you can hear what’s going on around you. TalkThru is a version that makes background noise quieter and voices a little louder. So you can have your music playing and then have a quick conversation with your co-worker. You can also hear your own voice when you’re on a call if you want. And you can customize how much of your voice you hear with the JBL app.
My personal EQ settings
To address the misaligned frequency response issue, fortunately, the JBL Headphone app that you can install on your cell phone includes a ten-band graphic equalizer that you can use to adjust the frequency response of your earbuds. After listening to several of the reference tracks I use to evaluate new audio equipment or my mixes, I found that the only adjustments needed were carving out some of the upper mid-range and making a very slight boost in the bottom end of the lower frequency spectrum.
Below is a screenshot of my EQ curve, which I based on the Bass preset in the JBL app. It provides a more balanced frequency response than what came out of the box and matches up well against the reference speaker system and headphones that I use for my audio mixing and mastering work. I invite you to use my EQ curve as a starting point and adjust it as sounds best to you.
To wrap everything up, I can recommend the JBL Vibe Beam true wireless headphones to those who like ergonomic and compact design, sexy style, and great sound quality!
And don’t forget to check out some of my other gear reviews.
Thanks for reading!
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