I have said it countless times, but headphones are some of the hardware I love to review the most, but generally, whenever I review them, they are over the ear offerings, earbuds are super rare for review, simply put, because most companies don’t make them. That alone was reason enough to want to check out the JBL Quantum 50 earbuds but given the number of JBL headsets and speakers we have reviewed, going in I knew the quality would be great as well. The question remained, was I right to be hopeful?

As with any headphones, comfort is the more important factor, because if you can’t wear them, then the sound they create means nothing and when I first got my eyes on the Quantum 50’s I was worried about their shape. On the outside, where the JBL logo lives, when you look right at them, there are odd lines everywhere, the inner portion is perfectly round, but the outer shaper is more of a rounded triangle, upon seeing that, I felt it wasn’t going to sit my ear right. On the inside, things are even more bizarre, first the portion where the sound comes out is off centre, which does help for a more comfortable fit, but even the piece that it comes off, has odd lines and bumps everywhere. Looking at them though, the old adage, never judge a book by its cover rang true, because while they do look weird, the moment I put them in my ears, the shapes mattered not, as they were comfy and more importantly, snug in their fit, allowing me to basically set and forget, something that I have never been able to do with earbuds before.

Over the years other earbuds I have used, have ranged from ones included with phones, to one setting me back a few hundred dollars and they all suffered from the same problem, they ended up being more round and therefore loose. Even the Microsoft Surface earbuds that I own have a loose fit and they were meant to be designed to fit all ears, but the difference between them and the Quantum 50’s are that the JBL offerings reach in a little more, giving them more of the ear to stick too, which was perfect in exercises. I have been able to wear them for long gaming sessions as well, without any issue, so they are versatile, no matter how active you happen to be.

The rest of the earbuds are pretty standard, from the left earbud down to the join is a microphone, its location was great for voice calls and even controlling my phone, the right side is just the cord. In the middle, where the two halves meet, things are a little different as the two cables meet inside the control housing, which you can adjust the volume, mute the mic or press a button to engage with your phones virtual assistant. The weird part comes from size of the casing, it is really big and a lot of that can be attributed to the cord groove that runs down one side, where you can hang one earbud off and I can’t begin to imagine why you would need to. From there the rest is a basic cord, though thankfully it is also quite long and while the end is a standard 3.5mm connection, it has a little bit of a bend on it, so it won’t stick straight out.

So, we now know that they can be worn for a good while and are comfortable to do so at the time, the question now becomes, how is the sound, because if its bad, all that above is mute. Thankfully the sound is at the level I expect from JBL, I never had any issues in hearing my music while outdoors, even when on a bike and riding as fast as I could, the sound came through nice and clear, it was great. Even just wearing them around the house as I cleaned or just did random chores, the sound was always easy to hear from songs that were quiet, to loud headbangers, the only real issue then was the cord length would occasionally catch on things as I was bopping around the place. Even when playing games and using the headphones, the sounds were clean and easily understood, from older games from the Super Nintendo era, played via the Switch, to more modern games like Forza Horizon and Phantom Abyss, the sound was always clean.

JBL have been making some of my favourite audio devices of late and they have nailed it once again with the Quantum 50, they may not look the prettiest, but they prove looks don’t matter. The earbuds fit in snug and even after extended periods of use, never feel like they are being restrictive or worse abrasive, but beyond that, they provide clear and crisp sound, no matter the usage.