The JBL REFLECT FLOW
truly wireless sports headphones made waves in 2019 with its stellar design,
sound quality and a host of related features for athletes and music lovers. The
audio equipment specialists brought all of their latest technology in personal
sound to the table with the REFLECT FLOW. Read on for our World Exclusive
up-close look at and review of them following a two-week trial!
Features
Here are the main
features of the REFLECT FLOW from the team at JBL:
Truly wireless
capabilities
JBL Signature Sound
30-hours of combined
playback
IPX7 Waterproof
Rugged 20-hour charging
case
TalkThru and Ambient
Aware technologies
Easily connect to Google
Now and Siri
Ergonomic fit and design
What’s in the Box?
The JBL REFLECT FLOW is exquisitely packaged in a high-end box that can be used to store the headphones when they’re not in use. Inside you’ll find the earpieces along with two pairs of ear tips and Freebit enhancers.
The medium sized versions of both are attached to the REFLECT FLOW out of the box. If you want to improve the fit or sound quality delivered by the headphones, then simply pop off the silicon attachments to the unit and replace them with the smaller or larger ones enclosed in the packaging.
The classy yet very
modern charging case for the JBL REFLECT FLOW, a micro USB charging cable, and
a quick star guide are also included in the package. The headphones are fully
charged upon being unboxed while the charging case is at 50% charge.
Design
The aesthetics of the
JBL REFLECT FLOW stand out in the currently congested genre of truly wireless
earphones. It is one of the few on the market today that makes prominent use
lightweight metal for much of its outer casing. Take a look at the REFLECT FLOW
when worn and that is most of what you’ll see. The cylindrical-shaped unit has
multifunctional, circular buttons on their outsides with a cool JBL logo on
them. They’ll fully functional and react to soft touches.
The other side of the
JBL REFLECT FLOW carries a simple yet very effective design. There are its
unassuming charging contacts, ear tips that go into your ear canal to feed your
sound, and Freebit enhancers that slide into the canals of your ears to keep
the earphones in place.
The charging case for
the REFLECT FLOW is the sturdiest and best looking that we’ve seen. Like the
earphones it includes metal and the JBL logo on its outside. It opens up to
store the earphones and closes without a click. It stays shut thanks to magnets
on its top and bottom (a rarity among truly wireless cases). It has a USB
charging slot on its backside with white indicator lights.
The JBL REFLECT FLOW
comes in several colorways ranging from black to light blue to our standout
neon yellow. All look great but we do prefer the bling effect to our colorful
version.
Setting up the JBL
REFLECT FLOW
The most involved part of setting up the JBL REFLECT FLOW for use was taking the screenshots that show you the process of pairing them to an Android phone.
The process was simply a matter of pressing the left and right-side multifunction buttons to power both earphones on, scanning for them with our phones, and selecting them as a Bluetooth device for calls and music. The procedure was identical and as simple on an iPhone.
We’ve seen none of the
dreaded truly wireless delays with the left and right sides of the REFLECT FLOW
syncing from the time we started using the earphones. One Bluetooth pairing is
completed you are real for making or taking calls, enjoying music or any other
audio experience.
There’s never a need to
pair the JBL REFLECT FLOW with your phone, boombox or other audio device after
the initial go round. From then on you just power them on and get your audio
flow on.
Fit
The JBL REFLECT FLOW
provides a magnificent fit out of the box with its medium sized eartips and
Freebit enhancers. Both slot into place without no effort to offer a snug
comfortable fit. None of our testers felt any discomfort during hours of wear.
The earphones were securely locked in to place and did not move at all when
worn for running, weightlifting or individual soccer drills.
An even better fit with
the JBL REFLECT FLOW may be enjoyed by trying out the small and large-sized
silicon attachments that are included with the earphones. Our favorite
combination was a large-sized eartips / medium-sized Freebit enhancers combination.
The REFLECT FLOW
earphones are quite lightweight at are hardly felt by the wearer once in the
ear. This makes them great for longer training sessions, commuting, open office
environments or other everyday use. We even ran into a few instances where
testers forgot that they had them on after working out.
Sound Quality
The sound quality that
the JBL REFLECT FLOW delivers ranks among the best that we’ve ever experiences
from truly wireless earphones. It is on par with what you’ll get from much bulkier,
costlier over the ear headphones.
We tried the REFLECT
FLOW with a number of music apps including Spotify, Amazon Prime Music,
iHeartRadio, YouTube Music and Pandora. We also played 320 kbps mp3 and mp4
files on our phone while wearing them. In every case superb crisp and clear
sound was created and thoroughly enjoyed.
The mid-sized eartip /
Freebit enhancer combination was great for a good balance of bass, midrange and
higher range sound. Switching to the large eartip really brings out the thump
of bass heavy tracks and was our preference. It was ideal for all forms of the
upper beats per minute music that we usually use to keep us motivated and in
beast mode while training and working out.
The 5.8 mm driver of the
JBL REFLECT FLOW makes it a much louder unit than other truly wireless
earphones. JBL calls this offering their Signature Sound. Notching the REFLECT
FLOW up to 60% of the maximum Bluetooth volume level on the Androids and
iPhones that we tried the earphone out with was as loud as we needed. This
volume level was 100% of that on every other truly wireless earphone that we’ve
tried. You can raise the volume level to above 60% on the REFLECT FLOW and
experience no sound distortion. We don’t recommend it to avoid hearing damage.
Ambient Aware and Talk
Thru are brilliant value adds of the JBL REFLECT FLOW. They give you additional
awareness when in busy environments where you’ve got to hear what is happening
around you.
The features allow the
user to immediately reduce the volume on the REFLECT FLOW to such a low level
that any music playing becomes background noise. This is low enough to hold a
conversation without removing the earphones and is done with one touch of the
multifunctional button on the left side. Hence the name Talk Thru. Touching the
button a second time takes the volume up a notch and loud enough to hear along
with the sounds of fellow gym goers or vehicles around you (Ambient Aware). One
more touch returns the FLOW’s volume level to 100% of where you have it before
invoking Ambient Aware / Talk Thru functionality.
Microphones
The first time we tried
the microphones on the JBL REFLECT FLOW was unplanned but clearly highlighted
their quality. One of our testers was working out and using the earphones to
listen to music. He received a phone call which was easily accepted with a
single, instinctual touch of the right multifunctional button. A clear as day
conversation using HD Voice / VoLTE ensued. The same occurred on subsequent
planned calls to both mobile and landline phones. There was never any call
interruption or reports of breakup, static or cracking on the other end.
The JBL REFLECT FLOW
boasts support for all of the current popular mobile operating system
assistants such as Siri (iOS), Google Assistant and Bixby (Android) and Alexa
(iOS and Android). You can use the unit’s right multifunction button to invoke
them via two taps and issue your requests to them immediately. Given the high
caliber of the JBL REFLECT FLOW’s microphone all of the voice assistants
understood us as well as if we weren’t using earphones and, in some cases, even
better than when holding the phone up to your mouth in or out of speakerphone
mode.
Battery Life
JBL’s REFLECT FLOW has
an astounding 10-hour battery life on a full charge. This is twice that of most
of the other higher end true wireless earbuds on available today. Its LED
lights will flash red when the battery is low. Fifteen minutes in its charging
case will give the earphones a one-hour charge. A fully loaded charging case
carries twenty hours worth of additional REFLECT FLOW charge.
Range
The JBL REFLECT FLOW
maintains its Bluetooth connectivity with Androids phones and iPhones for
40 feet before the audio from the earphones begins to break up.
We did our distance test
in the weight room on an LA Fitness gym with a host of steel weightlifting
equipment, bars and plates in between us and the phones that we were connected
to at the time. Absolutely no loss of sound quality was heard until we moved
over 40 feet away from the phones while wearing the REFLECT FLOW using either
WiFi or LTE cellular service for streaming and calls. The same applies for
downloaded music files saved to our test phones.
Durability
The JBL REFLECT FLOW
carries IPX7 rating. This means that it can be submerged in up to one-meter
deep water for thirty minutes without damage. Hence JBL labeling the earphones
as being waterproof.
Although we never
immersed the REFLECT FLOW earbuds in water our testers did sweat quite a bit
while wearing them and exposed them to light rain while training with them
outdoors. The earphones continued to perform as well as they did when they came
out of the box after each bout of moisture exposure. The same can be said for
them after a few drops on the floor. From what we can tell the JBL REFLECT FLOW
is well-engineered, well-constructed, and can survive the rigors of the
athletic lifestyle from swimming to functional training to weightlifting.
Bottom Line
The JBL REFLECT FLOW is
a fantastic set of earphones for a host of activities. Its fit is comfortable
and customizable while its sound quality is superb. Throw in a host of value
adds such as Ambient Aware, Talk Thru, a waterproof rating, 30 hours of battery
charge and you’ve got one of the best pairs of truly wireless earphones around today.
With an MSRP of $149.99 the REFLECT FLOW is quite reasonably priced and
definitely worth every penny!