JBL TUNE 120TWS Review: True Wireless Earphones at an Affordable Price

Written by Cheryl Tan

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1. Value for money

2. Great bass, forward mids

3. Limited soundstage and slightly skewed imaging

True wireless earphones are insanely convenient; the only issue is that most of the offerings on the market are rather pricey. If you’re just looking for an affordable wireless solution and don’t require active noise cancelling, the best sound quality, or touch controls, the JBL Tune 120TWS is what you should be considering.

The JBL Tune 120TWS runs on a 5.8mm dynamic driver fit into an oval shaped body that fits snugly into the ear. The front plate is glossy and comes in two main colours, gray or black, with the smaller circular plate coming in five colours, black, blue, green, purple or white.

Each earbud comes with a physical button which you can use to control playback, skip tracks, answer calls and activate your voice assistant. There’s no way to control your music volume through the earphones, so it’ll have to be done through the device you connect them to.

There’s definitely a good amount of bass, punchy and not too tight. The low end is warm, but not very detailed. For the average listener who just wants a more musical sound, this works quite well.

I found the mids to be a bit more forward on the higher end of the spectrum, but the vocals get a little suppressed. The lower range of the mids were a little subdued for my tastes, but guitar strums were relatively well separated.

The highs weren’t as impressive. Cymbals felt a little thin, but higher pitched vocals did have an airiness to them. If you prefer a sound signature with highs that aren’t too bright, this is a good pair of earphones for you.

The soundstage was a little tight width-wise and I didn’t think the imaging was all that accurate either, but those are minor quibbles for a true wireless earphone at this price point.

Battery life is decent, with 4 hours of playback on each charge, and the battery case holding an extra three charges for a total of 16 hours. The fast charging worked as advertised; 15 minutes of charge gave me 59 minutes of playback.

My biggest issue is that it still uses micro-USB to charge. Honestly, it just means another cable to bring along and I really rather have a single USB-C cable that charges all my devices.

All in all, while this isn’t a pair of earphones that audiophiles will purchase, it’s a great entry-level pair for people who simply want the convenience and don’t require audiophile-grade sound quality.

More information about the JBL TUNE 120TWS (S$149) is available at JBL’s website along with purchasing details.