JBL E55BT Wireless Headphones Review

The JBL E55BT have a simple design and clean look. They look almost identical to the JBL E45BT Wireless but with over-ear cups instead of on-ear ones. They have a relatively thin headband and decently sized oval ear cups that are well-padded and relatively well-built. They have a few color schemes that stand out, like the red version we reviewed, but there's also a more understated all-black variation that some may prefer. The ear cups protrude a bit once on your ears, and the buttons on the right ear cup look and feel a bit plasticky, but overall, they're stylish-looking headphones.

Update 06/17/2019: We've adjusted the comfort score since we felt these headphones are noticeably tighter than the JBL Live 650BTNC.

The JBL are decently comfortable headphones. They have decently sized ear cups that fit well around most ears. They're lightweight and don't put much pressure on your head. However, the ear cup padding is a little stiff, which is most noticeable after long listening sessions. They will get a bit fatiguing after wearing them for a while.

The control scheme on the headphones is simple and efficient. You can skip tracks, play/pause audio, and control the volume with their easy-to-use three buttons setup. They also have an additional button to enable the Bluetooth pairing mode. The control scheme is responsive, but the buttons feel a little cheaply made.

The JBL E55BT aren't the most breathable headphones. They create a fairly decent seal around your ears, so they will make you sweat a bit more than usual if you use them while working out. They should be oaky for more casual listening, like most closed-back over-ears with regular pads, but they won't be as breathable as the JBL E45BT Wireless.

Like the Skullcandy Hesh 3, the JBL E55BT fold into a more compact format, making them acceptably portable. They're still somewhat cumbersome to carry around on your person since they won't fit in any pockets and don't come with a case, but they should easily fit into a handbag or backpack.

These headphones don't come with a case or pouch.

They have decent build quality but feel slightly cheap and have plasticky ear cups. The headband is quite flexible and has a thin metal frame that makes it sturdy enough for repeated use or accidental drops. The ear cups are also decently dense and won't get damaged if the headphones fall once or twice, but the quality of plastic used in their build feels cheap. This is most noticeable with the buttons on the right ear cup. They're sturdy headphones but don't feel as durable as the Bluedio T4 Turbine Wireless. For better-built JBL headphones, we suggest taking a look at the JBL Everest 710 Wireless.

The JBL Live E55BT Wireless have good stability. These headphones are stable enough to jog or work out with but won't be ideal for intense sports. They're wireless and won't move much during physical activity, thanks to the slightly tight fit. However, the protruding ear cups sway a bit when running or doing strenuous exercises.

• JBL E55BT headphones
• Audio cable
• USB cable
• Manuals

The headphones have a sub-par frequency response consistency. The consistency in the treble range is very good, with the maximum deviation being less than 3dB. In the bass range, we measured as much as 18dB of variance at 20Hz across our human subjects. We also noticed having glasses on could break the seal and cause a drop in bass.

The JBL E55BT have amazing bass accuracy. Low-frequency extension is at 10Hz, indicating a very deep bass. Low-bass and mid-bass are flat but overemphasized by more than 3dB, which adds a bit of excess kick and thump to the sound without making it too muddy, thanks to the less overemphasized high-bass. Therefore, the JBLs would be a good choice for those who want a bass that is hyped without being too boomy.

Also, their bass delivery varies significantly 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 JBL E55BT have decent mid accuracy. Low-mid has a 4dB dip centering around 300Hz, which thins out the vocals a little bit. But this will also give more room for the thump and kick of the bass to come through. The rest of the mid-range is virtually flat and flawless, ensuring a well-balanced reproduction of vocals and lead instruments.

The JBL E55BT have adequate treble accuracy. The only remark here is the relatively broad 5dB dip centered around 5KHz, which negatively affects the presence and detail in vocals/leads. Otherwise, the response is well-balanced and even, which is important for a good reproduction of vocals/leads and cymbals. If you want over-ears that follow our target curve more accurately, especially in the treble range, check out the JBL TUNE 750BTNC Wireless.

The JBL E55BT have an excellent imaging performance. Their weighted group delay is 0.23, which is very low. Also, the GD graph shows that the entire response is below the audibility threshold, which ensures a tight and fast bass and a transparent treble reproduction. Also, the L/R drivers of our test unit were very well-matched, which is important for the accurate localization of objects (like voice, instruments, footsteps) in the stereo image. However, these results are only valid for our unit, and your experience may vary.

The JBL E55BT have a poor passive soundstage performance. The PRTF response graph shows that they don't activate the resonances of the pinna (outer ear) much, which is one of the big factors in creating a speaker-like soundstage. Therefore, the soundstage will be perceived as small and located inside the listener's head.

The JBL E55BT have a poor noise isolation performance. These headphones don't have active noise cancelling (ANC) and isolate only using their ear cups. In the bass range, occupied by the rumble of airplane and bus engines, they achieve virtually no isolation. In the mid-range, important for blocking speech, they achieve only 7dB of reduction, which is sub-par. In the treble range, occupied by sharp S and T sounds, they isolate by more than 28dB, which is okay. The JBL E65BTNC Wireless are better for noise isolation since they have an ANC feature, so if you're often in noisy conditions, they may be a better fit for you.

The JBL E55BT have an unremarkable leakage performance. A significant portion of leakage sits between 500Hz and 4kHz, which is a relatively broad range and concentrated in the mid-range. The overall level of leakage is not very loud, though. Therefore, their leakage will sound fuller than that of most in-ears and earbuds, but not as full as most open-back over-ears.

The recording quality of the JBL E55BT's mic is passable. LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 281Hz, making recorded or transmitted speech to sound relatively thin. The HFE (high-frequency extension) of 3.5KHz, results in a speech that is noticeably muffled and lacking in detail, but it will still be decently understandable since speech intelligibility is mostly dependent on the 500Hz-4KHz range.

The integrated microphone has mediocre noise handling. In our SpNR test, they achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 11dB, suggesting they're are best used in quiet rooms and may struggle to separate speech from background noise in moderate to loud environments.

These headphones have a decent battery life and charge time. They don't have an auto-off timer, like the Everest Elite 700 Wireless, but have passive playback, and you can use them while they charge if they're plugged in via the audio cable but not wirelessly, which is a little disappointing.

They don't support the JBL Headphones app.

These headphones, like the JBL E45BT Wireless, connect wirelessly via Bluetooth and can pair simultaneously with two devices. Unfortunately, they don't have NFC, but on the upside, they're fairly easy to pair, thanks to their dedicated Bluetooth sync button.

The JBL E55BT won't be ideal for watching video content on most devices. Their latency with PCs and iOS devices is likely too high to be suitable for streaming video or gaming, and you may want to use them wired if audio lag is a concern. However, they have reasonably low latency with Android devices. Also, some apps and devices seem to compensate for latency, so your experience may be different.

The JBL E55BT come with a versatile audio 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 isn't 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.