JBL E45BT Wireless Headphones Review

The JBL E45BT have the same design as the JBL E55BT Wireless but with on-ear cups instead of over-ear ones. They share the same headband, frame, and button layout, although the buttons on the JBL feel just a bit cheaper. The only real difference is the size of their cups, making these headphones a bit more compact, and they protrude less when on your head. They both look decently well-designed, if a bit plasticky, but should be good enough for most.

The JBL E45BT have an on-ear fit that's fairly comfortable but not enough for long listening sessions. The small ear cups are decently padded but may constrain the top of your ears which, coupled with the moderately tight fit, causes a bit more listening fatigue than the JBL E55BT Wireless.

The JBL E45BT have the same control scheme as the JBL E55BT Wireless. It is a simple and efficient three-button set-up for call/music, track skipping, and volume controls, and a dedicated Bluetooth button and power switch to turn the headphones on. The buttons feel a little plasticky and cheap but deliver decent feedback and are easy to use.

The JBL E45BT headphones have a breathable on-ear design. They do not fully cover your ears, so the outer ear will remain relatively cool while you exercise. They still trap a bit of heat and won't be as breathable as in-ears or earbuds but should be good enough if you decide to use them for sports.

These headphones are reasonably portable and fold into a more compact format. They won't be the easiest to carry around on your person, but they'll easily fit into a handbag or backpack. Unfortunately, they do not come with case or pouch, which is slightly disappointing.

The JBL E45BT don't come with a case or pouch.

The JBL E45BT have a decent build quality that's almost identical to the over-ear JBL E55BT Wireless, and they have a more premium-looking design than the JBL T450BT. The headband is flexible and has a thin metal frame for reinforcement. The ear cups are also fairly dense, making the headphones sturdy enough to handle a couple of accidental drops without getting damaged. Unfortunately, the plastic used in their build quality feels cheap, most noticeable with the buttons on the right ear cup. They're sturdy but don't feel as durable as the Skullcandy Grind Wireless.

These headphones have a stable fit, and they're tight enough on the head for running but may not be as stable as the JBL E55BT Wireless for some. They slipped more often during the testing procedure compared to the over-ear variant but maintained a stable fit for more casual activities. They should be decent enough for sports but won't be the best headphones if you have an intense workout with movement and physical activity.

• JBL E45BT headphones
• Audio cable
• USB cable
• Manuals

The JBL E45BT have an alright frequency response consistency. They show more than 12dB of variance at 20Hz in the bass range, which is significant and quite noticeable. It's mostly due to their on-ear design and sub-par ergonomics, which affects their bass delivery and makes it highly dependent on the position of the headphones. However, their performance is a lot more consistent in the treble range.

The JBL E45BT have poor bass accuracy. The response is overemphasized across the range, although it's flat. Their LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 10Hz, indicating a very deep bass. Also, low-bass, mid-bass, and high-bass are virtually flat but consistently overemphasized by about 2dB. This means that the bass of the JBLs is deep, thumpy, and punchy enough to handle bass-heavy genres like EDM, hip-hop, and film scores.

However, their bass delivery varies noticeably across users and is sensitive to the quality of fit, seal, and whether you wear glasses. The response here represents the average bass response, and your experience may vary.

The mid-range accuracy is okay. The wide 4dB dip between 250Hz and 700Hz thins out vocals and lead instruments a bit by reducing the emphasis on their fundamental frequencies. As a side effect, this usually gives more room to the lower frequencies in the mix, which results in a more pronounced perception of kick and thump in bass. Additionally, the response above 700Hz is virtually flat and within 0.3dB of our neutral reference.

Their treble accuracy is poor. The overall response is overemphasized but well-balanced. The 5dB peak in low-treble brings out a bit of excess detail in vocals and lead instruments, and the 5dB peak at 7KHz, adds a bit of excess brightness and sibilance (S and T sounds) to the treble.

The imaging is good. Their weighted group delay is 0.27, which is within good limits. Also, the GD graph shows that the group delay response never quite crosses the audibility threshold. This indicates a tight bass and a transparent treble reproduction. In terms of driver matching, the L/R drivers of our test unit showed some mismatch in frequency and phase response. This could skew the stereo image a bit and hurt the placement of instruments in the image. However, the mismatch is not very large, and the effect would be subtle. Also, these results are only valid for our unit, and yours may perform differently.

The JBL E45BT have a poor passive soundstage performance. Due to their on-ear design, the drivers don't have enough distance to activate the resonances of the pinna (outer ear) like a loudspeaker, which shows in the inadequate PRTF accuracy and size values. Also, they don't show a notch in the 10kHz region, further indicating that their soundstage will be perceived to be small and located inside the listener's head as opposed to in front.

The JBL E45BT have a disappointing noise isolation performance. These headphones don't have active noise cancelling and isolate passively. Because of that, they don't isolate in the bass range at all, meaning they will let in the low rumbling sounds of an airplane or bus engine. In the mid-range, important for blocking speech, they isolate by 10dB, which is alright. In the treble range, occupied by sharp sounds like S and Ts, they reduce outside noise by 27dB, which is also okay. You can also check out the more recent JBL E65BTNC Wireless if you prefer over-ears and also need a bit more isolation for your commutes.

Their leakage performance is acceptable. A significant portion of the leakage is spread from 500Hz to 4kHz, a relatively broad range. This means their leakage sounds fuller than many in-ears and earbuds, but not as full as most open-back headphones. Also, the overall level of the leakage is not very loud, just above the noise floor of most apartment rooms. If you listen at moderate volumes, the leakage shouldn't be a concern, even in an apartment setting.

The integrated microphone has a mediocre performance. The LFE (low-frequency extension) of 281Hz suggests that speech recorded/transmitted with this mic will sound rather thin. The HFE of 3.5kHz indicates that recorded speech will noticeably lack detail and presence. However, speech would still be decently intelligible with them in quiet environments.

The noise handling performance of the mic is unremarkable. In our SpNR test, they achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 14dB. This suggests that they're best suited for quiet environments and may struggle in moderate or loud places.

The JBL E45BT have a good battery performance. They last quite a bit longer than the over-ear JBL E55BT Wireless at 26 hours compared to 19, but unfortunately don't have an auto-off timer like the JBL Everest Elite 700 Wireless. On the upside, you can use them passively with the audio cable if the battery dies and while they charge. However, they don't support audio while charging when used wirelessly, which is a little disappointing.

The JBL E45BT don't support the JBL Headphones app. For similar on-ear headphones that have a nice app and a great parametric EQ, take a look at the JBL Live 400BT Wireless.

The JBL E45BT have great Bluetooth connectivity. They connect wirelessly via Bluetooth and can pair simultaneously with multiple devices. Unfortunately, they don't have NFC support, but on the upside, they're fairly easy to pair, thanks to their dedicated Bluetooth pairing button.

These headphones aren't ideal for watching movies. They have less latency than the JBL E55BT Wireless but if you need to watch a lot of video content, then use them wired since they have practically no latency with the audio cable.

The JBL E45BT come with a versatile cable that has an in-line mic compatible with most consoles and PCs. The in-line remote also has limited functionality for both iOS and Android and is not OS-specific.

These headphones don't have a base/dock. If you want a versatile headset with a base that you can also use wired, check out the SteelSeries Arctis 7 2019 Edition Wireless.