- Table of Contents
- Intro
- Our Verdict
- Test Results
- Compared To Others
- Deals
- Discussions
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 are great sports headphones that are versatile for everyday casual use. These closed-back in-ears have a decent sound quality and are fairly comfortable. They have a stable and portable design with stability fins which is very useful for more intense physical activity. However, they have thin cables and may feel a bit cheap. Their latency is also too high for watching videos and gaming. On the upside, they have great wireless range, and their isolation performance is decent enough for commuting or to use at the office.
Our Verdict
Decent for mixed usage. They have an accurate audio reproduction for a wide variety of music genres, especially bass-heavy genres. They create a good seal that is great for commuting as it blocks a good amount of noise and their portable and stable design is great for sports. Their isolation performance and 10-hour battery life make them an above-average choice for the office, but their latency makes them a sub-par choice for watching TV and gaming.
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Very stable design for sports.
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Minimal leakage.
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Excellent wireless range.
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Pouch doesn’t completely protect the headphones.
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In-ear fit might not be for everyone.
Decent for neutral listening. The JBL Reflect Mini 2 have a thumpy, powerful and consistent bass, a well-balanced mid-range and a great treble. However, the high-bass is slightly overemphasized and boomy, the mid-mid is veiled, nudging the vocals to the back of the mix. The mid-treble is also slightly uneven, meaning some sibilances will lack detail and others may feel sharp for some. They’ll be better suited for bass-heavy genres than vocal-centric music. Additionally, their in-ear fit might not be the best for long listening sessions as you can feel fatigue after a few hours.
Good for commuting and traveling. These in-ears are very portable, and they create a good seal inside your ear, blocking a good amount of ambient noise, including lower frequencies where the rumbling of bus engines sit. They have a decent 10-hour battery life which should last you long enough for most flights, but the in-ear fit might not be as comfortable for long periods of time.
Great for sports. These headphones have stability fins that make them very stable inside the ear, and they won’t pop out during intense physical activities. They also don’t trap heat inside your ear and can easily fit in your pockets or a bag. They can also be used inside crowded gyms as their isolation performance is good as well.
Above-average for the office. They isolate a very good amount of mid-range ambient noise like ambient chatter, meaning you’ll be able to focus on your tasks. Also, they barely leak, and you can listen to your audio content at higher volumes without disturbing colleagues around you. Their 10-hour battery life should last you long enough for a whole work day, but the in-ear fit might not be ideal for some as they enter your ear canal deeply.
Poor for gaming. These headphones have decent sound quality, but their latency is too high for gaming. Also, the in-ear design might not be as comfortable for everyone during long gaming sessions. If you’re gaming online, this microphone offers sub-mediocre performance and won’t be a good option.
- 7.1 Mixed Usage
- 6.9 Neutral Sound
- 7.7 Commute/Travel
- 8.1 Sports/Fitness
- 6.9 Office
- 5.2 Wireless Gaming
- 5.1 Wired Gaming
- 6.4 Phone Calls
- Updated Feb 07, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.4.
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.1.
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.
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Test Results
These wireless headphones have a sporty look due to their stability fins. The earbud housing is also quite big, and their metallic finish gives them a nice premium look. However, the in-line remote looks a bit cheaper than the buds. Overall, they look good but are fairly low-profile in the all-black design, but you can get one of the more vibrant color variants (blue, green, teal) to fit your preferred style. They also have a reflective cable for better visibility in the dark.
The Reflect Mini 2 are fairly comfortable, but the in-ear fit might not be for everyone. They are also very lightweight and come with a few tip and fin options to help you find a good fit. However, some may feel fatigue after long listening sessions.
The control scheme of the Reflect Mini 2 is typical to most in-ears with in-line remotes. It gives you access to basic functionalities like music/call management, volume control, and track skipping, forward and backward. The buttons are clicky and offer good feedback. You also get voice prompts for battery and connection information. The power button in the middle is also a notch lower than the volume buttons, making it easy to use and to differentiate the buttons.
Like most in-ears, the JBL Reflect Mini 2 are very breathable headphones as they don’t trap heat under an ear cup. Even with stability fins on, they don’t cause a big difference in temperature. You shouldn’t sweat more than usual while wearing them, making them a good option for sports.
The Reflect Mini 2 are very portable headphones, like most in-ears, and they can easily fit in pockets or a bag. They also come with a small pouch that doesn’t add much bulk and stays portable.
These headphones come with a small rubber pouch that has a weird design. It is fairly small and portable, but slightly too cramped to fit the headphones, tips, fins and the charging cable comfortably. The pouch also doesn’t close as there is a big gap on the top. The rubber material seems water resistant and can help protect the headphones from small impacts, but they are still exposed due to the opening in the case.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 are decently well-built headphones. The earbuds feel dense enough to survive a few accidental drops, but their general feel is slightly cheap. They are made of plastic and have thin cables. They fell cheaper than what they look like. On the upside, the cables are reflective which is useful for running outside when it’s dark. They are also rated IPX5 for sweat and water resistance, but we currently do not have a test to measure this accurately.
The Reflect Mini 2 are very stable headphones and don’t move around during physical activity. You should be able to run, workout and play sports with these without a problem. The tips and stability fins create a tight fit. Their wireless design also gets rid of a cable that could get stuck on something and pull the headphones out. If you prefer headphones with an ear-hook design for sports, look at the V-MODA BassFit Wireless.
- JBL Reflect Mini 2 headphones
- 3x ear tips
- 3x stability fins
- Micro-USB charging cable
- Carrying pouch
- Manuals
The frequency response consistency of the JBL Reflect Mini 2 is very good across multiple users and re-seats, ensuring a consistent delivery of bass and treble. This, however, is with the assumption that the user can achieve an air-tight seal by choosing an ear tip option that provides the best fit.
The bass performance is excellent. LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 10Hz, which is great. Low-bass and mid-bass are quite flat and follows our target curve, indicating a deep and thumpy bass, capable of producing the low rumbling sounds common to EDM, hip-hop, dubstep and film scores. Additionally, high-bass is also flat, but over our target by 2dB, making the bass very slightly boomy, but this shouldn’t be a concerned for most.
The mid-range of the Reflect Mini 2 is great. The whole range is fairly flat and even, which results in well-balanced reproduction of vocals and lead instruments. However, there’s a small dip of about 3dB in the mid-mid, slightly nudging the vocals to the back of the mix.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 have great treble performance. The whole range is fairly even, and this is important for the accurate reproduction of vocals, cymbals, and lead instruments. However, mid-treble is slightly uneven, and some sibilances (S and Ts) might sound sharp around 7.5KHz. Also, there is a very small underemphasis in the low-treble, which results in a very subtle negative impact on vocals and leads.
The Reflect Mini 2’s stereo imaging is great. The weighted group delay is at 0.1, which is excellent. The group delay graph also shows that the entire response is well below our audibility threshold. This ensures a tight bass and a transparent treble reproduction. Also, the L/R drivers of our test unit were decently matched. This is important for accurate placement and localization of objects, such as footsteps and instruments, in the stereo field.
The soundstage performance is poor. Since creating a large and speaker-like soundstage is partially dependent on having a speaker-like pinna activation, and in-ear headphones bypass the pinna (the outer ear) and don't interact with it, their soundstage will be perceived to be small and located inside the listener's head. Their closed-back design also means that their soundstage won't feel and open as open-back earbuds like the AirPods and the Bose SoundSport Free.
The Reflect Mini 2 have good noise isolation performance. Despite lacking active noise cancelation, they outperform a few headphones that have ANC features. They achieve more than 9dB of isolation in the bass range which is decent, and impressive for passive isolation. This will block out a decent amount of rumbling from bus and plane engines and makes them a good choice for commuting. In the mid-range, important to block out ambient chatter, they achieved an isolation of 20dB, which is very good and useful for the office. In the treble range, responsible for sharp sounds like S and Ts and fan noise, they block 36dB, which is good.
The leakage performance is excellent. These in-ears practically do not leak, so you don't need to worry about disturbing people around you unless you are blasting your music in a very quiet room. With the music at 100dB SPL, the leakage at 1 foot away averages at 24dB SPL and peaks at 31dB SPL, which is noticeably quieter than the noise floor of an average office.
The in-line mic has a decent recording quality. The LFE of 273Hz results in recorded or transmitted speech that is relatively thin. The HFE of 3.4KHz suggests speech that lacks detail and presence, but this is expected on Bluetooth microphones. However, the intelligibility of speech on this microphone will be decent in quiet environments.
The in-line microphone of the Reflect Mini 2 has poor noise handling. In our SpNR test, they achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of about 7dB, indicating they are best suited for quiet environments. However, they will struggle to separate speech from ambient noise even in moderately loud situations.
These wireless in-ears have decent battery life with 10 hours of continuous playback. This should be enough for a whole day of listening and won’t need daily charging, depending on your listening habits. They take about 2 hours to charge, but unfortunately, don’t have any power saving feature to extend battery life. You can get an hour of playback for only 15 minutes of charging.
These headphones are not compatible with the My JBL Headphones mobile app like the Everest line are.
The Reflect Mini 2 are Bluetooth compatible headphones that don’t support multi-device pairing or NFC. On the upside, their pairing procedure is simple, and you get a voice prompt throughout your connection setup.
Their latency is too high to be suitable for watching video content or gaming, but they perform better than average Bluetooth headphones, which usually get around 200-220ms of latency. If you have a Bluetooth dongle with AptX or Apt-X LL then consider the Aukey Latitude which have a better latency performance overall and supports more codec options.
These are Bluetooth-only headphones and do not have a wired audio connection.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 do not have a dock or dongle. If you want headphones that are versatile and have a dock, try over-ears like the SteelSeries Arctis 7. However, it won't be as compact and easy-to-carry around as the Reflect Mini 2.
Compared To Other Headphones
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 are great sports headphones that are versatile for everyday casual use. These in-ears have slightly bulky housings but are still fairly comfortable. However, the fit might not be for everyone, they feel a bit cheaper than what they look like and have thin cables. On the upside, they are very stable and are rated IPX5, which is great for working out. They also have good battery life that will last you a few workouts or even a full day at the office. See our recommendations for the best wireless earbuds for running, the best headphones for working out, the best cheap wireless earbuds, and the best earbuds and in-ear headphones.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 and Jaybird X4 are both designed as sports-oriented headphones, but the X4 might get the edge if you don’t mind the restrictive charging cradle. They have overall better build quality and have a companion app that lets you EQ the sound to your liking. On the other hand, the JBLs have longer battery life and only need a micro-USB cable to charge them. Both have great wireless range, but the X4 can also connect to 2 devices, which is convenient.
Both headphones are great for sports, but you should choose according to your criteria as they perform well in different categories. The Bose SoundSport Wireless have better overall sound quality and are more comfortable. However, the earbuds are bulkier than average, and they are semi-open, meaning they don’t have a good isolation like the JBLs. The JBL Reflect Mini 2 also have better battery life and fins for great stability.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 Wireless and the Beats BeatsX Wireless are very similar headphones. Both are great sports headphones, but with slight differences. The JBL have stability fins that some may prefer for physical activities. They also have better wireless range and a longer battery life. On the other hand, the BeatsX have better noise isolation performance. Overall, the JBL might be the better choice since they are more portable and have a better treble range. If you like an around-the-neck design, go with the BeatsX.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 are better mixed usage headphones than the Everest 110. Their fit is more stable for sports and their in-line remote is easier to use than the Everest 110’s. Their frequency response is a bit flatter and more well-balanced, but the difference in sound between those two headphones is negligible. On the other side, the Reflect Mini 2’s microphone is mediocre and doesn't do well in moderately loud environments. However, they do come with a small rubberized case, which the Everest 110 lack.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 Wireless are slightly better headphones than the AUKEY Latitude. The JBL have a more comfortable design and a slightly better overall sound quality. They also feel more stable inside the ears and are great for sports. However, the AUKEY have better isolation performance, making them slightly better for commuting, and they also have a better microphone for calls. The AUKEY can also connect to two devices simultaneously, which is convenient.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 are better mixed-usage headphones thanks to their isolation performance, but also outperform the V-MODA BassFit Wireless as sports headphones as well. They are rated IPX5 for sweat and water resistance, and their fit is slightly more comfortable since they don’t enter your ear canal as deeply. They are very stable and won’t move around during physical activity but lack the ear-hook design of the V-MODAs. On the other hand, the BassFit can connect to two devices and look better.
