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JBL Reflect Mini Review

4.0
Excellent
By Tim Gideon

The Bottom Line

The JBL Reflect Mini headphones deliver more accurate frequency response than most bass-heavy gym-focused options.

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Pros

  • Powerful audio performance with well-defined bass and crisp highs.
  • Extra-secure fit and sweat-resistant design ideal for exercise.

Cons

  • Not for those seeking mega-bass sound.
  • No carrying pouch.

The wired sibling of our Editors' Choice JBL Reflect Mini BT ($44.99 at Amazon) , the JBL Reflect Mini is a sports-focused earphone pair that costs substantially less. At $59.95, it's among some of the most affordable, high-quality gym-friendly options we can recommend. Fans of bass who prefer a balanced sound to mega-boosted low end response will enjoy the Reflect Mini's bass-forward, but not unnaturally boosted, sound signature. You still get plenty of low frequency presence for your workout without it sounding like there's a subwoofer rearranging the contents of your skull.

Design
As the name suggests, the main point of the Reflect Mini's design is to reflect light and help you be seen when exercising outdoors in darker hours. The reflected light is achieved by a thin strip that runs the length of the audio cable on all four (black, blue, green, or red) models.

A secure in-ear fit is virtually guaranteed—the sweat-resistant Reflect Mini ships with two sizes of in-canal silicone eartip pairs as well as two sizes of Freebit eartip pairs, which have larger bases, as well as fins that sit against your ear for added stabilization.

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JBL Reflect Mini inlineThe inline remote control and mic is located along the left ear's cable—it's of the single-button variety, which means you can control playback, call management, and track navigation, but volume has to be adjusted on your actual mobile device.

It's a bit of a surprise that an exercise-focused earphone pair doesn't ship with a protective pouch of any sort. The eartips are the Reflect Mini's only included accessories.

Performance
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the Reflect Mini delivers a powerful low frequency response. The bass is well defined and does not distort, even at top, challenging (and unsafe) listening levels. The higher frequencies are also fairly sculpted and boosted to match the presence of the boosted lows—but this is not the huge bass sound offered by so many competing exercise-focused earphones. You can call this a more moderately bass-forward approach.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with less deep bass in the mix, still gets some noticeable boosting in the lows, but it skews toward the natural end of things. The drumming on this track can sound thunderous and intense on heavily boosted earphones, but the Reflect Mini does a good job of merely giving the drum hits a bit more body and depth without making things sound too heavy. Callahan's baritone vocals have a solid low-mid presence, but also get more than enough high-mid treble edge, keeping things crisp and well-defined. The guitar strums also receive plenty of higher frequency definition, and the result is a nicely balanced, fairly accurate sound signature. The Reflect Mini doesn't invent too much bass response where it doesn't exist, which is rare in the exercise-focused earphone realm.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop gets enough high-mid presence to give its attack a sharp edge, allowing it to cut through the dense mix. We also hear plenty of the vinyl crackle, usually relegated to the background, but here, far more noticeable—thus, the higher frequencies are receiving plenty of boosting. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with a full sense of depth, but again, this is not the sound of a subwoofer blasting out deep lows—bass fiends might not find what they're looking for with the Reflect Mini's balance.

If massive, booming bass is what motivates your workouts, you have plenty of earphone options to choose from. The SOL Republic Relays Sport ($35.86 at Amazon) , the JLab Fit 2.0 ($37.97 at Amazon) , and the Urbanears Active Reimers ($18.95 at Amazon) all offer big bass in this general price range. If a Bluetooth version of the Reflect Mini sounds more ideal, the aforementioned JBL Reflect Mini BT costs about $100 and sounds quite similar. For $60, the wired version of the Reflect Mini delivers a sensible sound signature in an exercise-friendly package. It's a solid bet for anyone seeking an accurate response for wired gym headphones in this price range.

JBL Reflect Mini
4.0
Pros
  • Powerful audio performance with well-defined bass and crisp highs.
  • Extra-secure fit and sweat-resistant design ideal for exercise.
Cons
  • Not for those seeking mega-bass sound.
  • No carrying pouch.
The Bottom Line

The JBL Reflect Mini headphones deliver more accurate frequency response than most bass-heavy gym-focused options.

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About Tim Gideon

Contributing Editor, Audio

Tim Gideon

I've been a contributing editor for PCMag since 2011. Before that, I was PCMag's lead audio analyst from 2006 to 2011. Even though I'm a freelancer now, PCMag has been my home for well over a decade, and audio gear reviews are still my primary focus. Prior to my career in reviewing tech, I worked as an audio engineer—my love of recording audio eventually led me to writing about audio gear.

Read Tim's full bio

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JBL Reflect Mini $39.99 at Amazon
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