JBL Tune 120 Truly Wireless Headphones Review

The JBL Tune 120TWS are fairly straightforward truly wireless headphones. They're small and have a glossy finish, which may be prone to fingerprints. However, their design does make them protrude out of the ear quite a bit. They're also available in various colors, so you can pick up the ones that match your style.

These headphones are decently comfortable. They come with three different silicone tip sizes to help you get the best fit possible. However, their design enters the ear canal a bit, which can be uncomfortable during long listening sessions. Also, pressing the buttons on each bud pushes them even more inside your ear. On the upside, you can easily grab the bud when pressing the button, which helps it not be as painful.

The JBL Tune 120's control scheme is just okay. The buttons are very clicky and offer good tactile feedback. However, pressing them pushed the buds inside the ears quite a bit, which can hurt. They also don't offer volume control, which might be a deal-breaker for some.

Like most in-ears, the JBL Tune 120 don't trap too much heat inside or around your ears. They're great for sports as you won't sweat more than usual when using them.

These headphones can easily fit inside your pockets or a small bag. There's also a magnet on each bud, which can keep them together in your pocket, but its magnetic force is pretty weak and they can easily separate when moving.

The JBL Tune 120's case is good. It offers good protection to the buds when it comes to physical damage, scratches, and very light water exposure. The charge port is protected by rubber and the controls are engraved inside the case, which is a nice touch if you always find yourself looking at the manual to remember the control scheme.

The JBL Tune 120 have a decent build quality. They're fairly plasticky and the glossy finish on the earbuds gives off a bit of a cheap feeling. The buds are still fairly dense and should survive a few accidental drops without too much damage. They feel quite similar to the Skullcandy Sesh, but don't have an IP rating for dust and sweat resistance.

The JBL Tune 120TWS are fairly stable headphones if you can find a good seal with the different silicone tips available. If not, they can fall out of your ears quite easily with head movement, so they may not be the best option for sports.

• JBL Tune 120 headphones
• 3x silicone tip sizes
• Charing case
• Micro-USB charging cable
• Manuals

The JBL Tune 120TWS's sound profile is well-balanced and fairly neutral, although our unit had a significant mismatch in the bass range, making them sound a bit on the brighter side. The right driver was noticeably missing low-bass. Paired with the excited treble, this gives them a rather bright sound profile, but this is only valid for our unit.

The frequency response consistency is great. Once you achieve a proper fit and seal with the included tips, you'll likely get consistent bass and treble response every time you use the headphones. There's a bit of variation in the bass range, but this isn't likely to be that noticeable. It was also only measured on the right ear, which is the driver where our unit had a mismatch.

The JBL Tune 120's bass accuracy is good. The left ear is quite outstanding, following our curve very well, which results in a powerful bass with a good amount of thump and rumble without sounding too boomy. Unfortunately, our unit had a noticeable mismatch and the right ear's bass was disappointing and lacking in thump.

The JBL Tune 120's mid accuracy is great. It's very well-balanced and follows our target curve very well. This results in an accurate reproduction of vocals and lead instruments.

The JBL Tune 120TWS have a rather decent treble accuracy. There's a small mismatch between both drivers, but this isn't as audible as the one in the bass range. Unfortunately, the treble slightly goes over our target curve, with some sharp peaks, which can make them quite piercing.

The JBL Tune 120's peaks and dips performance is good. The most noticeable is the mismatch in the bass range, where you get significantly more thump and rumble in the left ear than the right ear. However, this may only be valid to our unit and yours might perform differently. There are also a few peaks and dips in the treble range.

The JBL Tune 120TWS's imaging is just okay. The GD graph is under the audibility threshold, which results in a tight bass and transparent treble range. However, there's a noticeable mismatch between our unit left and right drivers, especially in the bass range. This creates 'holes' and skews the stereo image. However, note that these results are only valid for our unit and yours may perform differently.

Like all closed-back in-ear headphones, the soundstage of these headphones is pretty much nonexistent. This is because creating an out-of-head and speaker-like soundstage is largely dependent on activating the resonances of the pinna (outer ear). The design of in-ears and earbuds is in such a way that fully bypasses the pinna and doesn't interact with it.

The JBL Tune 120's weighted harmonic distortion performance is good. The amount of WHD is within good limits, which should result in a clear and pure audio reproduction. Even the spikes on the right ear, in the bass range, shouldn't be audible for most.

The JBL Tune 120 have good passive noise isolation performance, similar to the Monster Clarity 101 AirLinks Truly Wireless. They don't have any ANC feature, so they only passively block out noise. If you can find a good fit with the included silicone tip options, they can reduce a decent amount of the deep rumble of a bus engine. Also, they're great for the office as they greatly reduce the ambient chatter.

The leakage performance is excellent. Like most in-ears, they don't leak too much audio so you shouldn't be worried about bothering people surrounding you. However, blasting your music in a very quiet environment like a library isn't recommended, as some might still hear some thin-sounding leakage.

The recording quality of the microphone is sub-par. Recorded speech sounds muffled and lacks detail. It's still understandable in quiet environments, but the audio quality isn't very good.

Like most in-ear integrated mics, this one also struggles with noise handling. It has difficulty separating ambient noise and actual speech in even moderately loud situations such as walking down a busy street. This mic is better suited for very quiet situations.

The JBL Tune 120's battery performance is rather unimpressive. It holds about four hours of charge on a single charge, which is about standard for truly wireless headphones, but quite inferior to some higher-end models. The case holds about three extra charges according to the manufacturer. However, the case doesn't support wireless charging, and you can't use one bud at a time while the other is charging, which is disappointing. If you're looking for a pair of similarly-performing truly wireless headphones with superior battery life, take a look at the JBL Tune 125TWS Truly Wireless.

The JBL Tune 120 isn't compatible with the JBL Headphones app, which is disappointing since you don't have dedicated customization options like the parametric EQ you get with some over-ear headphones like the JBL Live 650 BTNC Wireless.

The JBL Tune 120 are Bluetooth-only truly wireless headphones. They have a decent wireless range, which shouldn't cause any issues if you keep your source on you, but isn't quite as good as some other competing models out there. They also have high latency, which results in a noticeable delay when watching video content. Some apps and devices offer some compensation, so some people might not notice the delay as much.

The JBL Tune 120TWS are Bluetooth-only.

As expected, they can't be used wired as they're truly wireless headphones. They only come with a very short micro-USB charging cable.

Although the JBL Tune 120 can be paired to a PC via Bluetooth, there's no other way to pair them. They also won't be compatible with the PS4 and aren't recommended for gaming due to their high latency.

These headphones can't be used with an Xbox One and wouldn't be recommended for gaming due to their high latency.

The JBL Tune 120 come with a typical charging case. It offers about three additional charges according to the manufacturer but doesn't support wireless charging. The case itself charges via micro-USB and doesn't have any inputs other than its charging port.