The JBL Reflect Mini 2 Wireless are great sports headphones that are versatile enough 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
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 are 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's 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.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 are okay for neutral sound. They 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 sibilants will lack detail, and others may feel sharp for some. They’ll be better suited for bass-heavy genres than vocal-centric music. Also, their in-ear fit might not be the best for long listening sessions as you can feel fatigued after a few hours.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 are 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.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 are 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 they can easily fit in your pockets or a bag. You can also use them inside crowded gyms as their isolation performance is good as well.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 are alright for the office. They isolate a very good amount of mid-range ambient noise like ambient chatter, meaning you can 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 workday, but the in-ear fit might not be ideal for some as they enter your ear canal deeply.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 aren't suitable for wireless 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.
- Updated Jan 17, 2019: Review published.
- Updated Jan 15, 2019: Early access published.
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Compared To Other Headphones
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 are great for sports and also versatile enough for everyday casual use. These in-ears have slightly bulky housings but are still fairly comfortable. However, the fit might not be for everyone, and they feel a bit cheaper than what they look like and have thin cables. On the upside, they're very stable and are rated IPX5 for water resistance, which is great for working out. They also have a 10-hour 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 Wireless and Jaybird X4 Wireless are both designed as sports-oriented headphones, but the Jaybird 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 JBL have longer battery life and only need a micro-USB cable to charge them. Both have great wireless range, but the Jaybird can also connect to two 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 Wireless also have better battery life and fins for great stability.
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.
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 Beats 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 Beats.
Depending on your listening habits, you may prefer either the JBL Reflect Mini 2 Wireless or the Ultimate Ears FITS Truly Wireless. The JBL have a longer continuous battery life and a better noise isolation performance. However, the Ultimate Ears are better-built with a more comfortable fit thanks to their moldable ear tips. They also come with a graphic EQ and presets to help you customize their sound.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 Wireless are slightly better headphones than the AUKEY Latitude Wireless. 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 than the JBL Everest 110 Wireless. Their fit is more stable for sports and their in-line remote is easier to use than the JBL’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.
Test Results
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 have a sporty look due to their stability fins. The earbud housing is 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 JBL Reflect Mini 2 are fairly comfortable, but the in-ear fit might not be for everyone. They're also very lightweight and come with a few tip and fin options to help you find a good fit. However, some may feel fatigued after long listening sessions.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 have okay controls. The in-line remote 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 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 temperature difference. You shouldn’t sweat more than usual while wearing them, making them a good option for sports.
The JBL 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.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 come with a small rubber pouch that has a weird design. It's fairly small and portable, but slightly too cramped to fit the headphones, tips, fins, and 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're 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're made of plastic and have thin cables. They feel cheaper than what they look like. On the upside, the cables are reflective, which helps you run outside when it’s dark. They're also rated IPX5 for water resistance.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 are very stable headphones and don’t move around during physical activity. You should be able to run, work out, and play sports with these without a problem. The tips and stability fins create a tight fit. Their wireless design also eliminates 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 JBL Reflect Mini 2 have excellent frequency response consistency. Assuming you achieve a good fit and seal with the provided ear tips, you should experience consistent bass and treble delivery each time you use them.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 have impressive bass accuracy. LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 10Hz, which is great. Low-bass and mid-bass are flat and follow 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. Also, high-bass is flat but over our target by 2dB, making the bass very slightly boomy, but this shouldn’t be a concern for most.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 have excellent mid accuracy. The whole range is fairly flat and even, which results in well-balanced reproduction of vocals and lead instruments. 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 decent treble accuracy. The whole range is fairly even, which is important for the accurate reproduction of vocals, cymbals, and lead instruments. However, mid-treble is slightly uneven, and some sibilants (S and T sounds) 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 lead instruments.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2’s stereo imaging is very good. 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 the accurate placement and localization of objects, like footsteps and instruments, in the stereo field.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 have a terrible passive soundstage performance. 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 most open-back earbuds.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 have a good noise isolation performance. 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 helpful 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 JBL Reflect Mini 2 have an incredible leakage performance. These in-ears practically don't 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 one 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 an alright 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 JBL Reflect Mini 2's in-line microphone has poor noise handling. In our SpNR test, they achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of about 7dB, indicating they're better suited for quiet environments. However, they will struggle to separate speech from ambient noise, even in moderately loud situations.
Their battery performance isn't bad. The battery provides roughly 10 hours of continuous playback on a single charge. This should be enough for a whole day of listening and won’t need daily charging, depending on your listening habits. They take about two hours to charge, but unfortunately, don’t have any power-saving feature to extend battery life. They're also advertised to provide one hour of playback from 15 minutes of charging. Please note that battery performance varies with real-life usage, so you may have a different experience.
These headphones are not compatible with the My JBL Headphones mobile app.
The JBL 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 with PCs and iOS devices is likely too high to be suitable for watching video content or gaming, but it's lower with Android phones, so you should be able to stream video on those devices without noticeable audio lag. If you have a Bluetooth dongle with AptX or Apt-X LL then consider the AUKEY Latitude Wireless which have a better latency performance overall and support more codec options.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 are Bluetooth-only headphones and don't have a wired audio connection.
The JBL Reflect Mini 2 don't have a dock or dongle. If you want headphones that are versatile and have a dock, try over-ears like the SteelSeries Arctis 7 2019 Edition Wireless. However, they won't be as compact and easy to carry around.