JBL Tune 125TWS Truly Wireless Headphones Review

The JBL Tune 125 TWS are simple-looking truly wireless headphones. They have a low-profile design that doesn't protrude too far from your ears and a conservative monochrome-color plastic casing, accented with the matte finish of their multifunction buttons. That said, you can configure their charging case with a variety of eye-catching color schemes and patterns when you order them directly from JBL's website, but at an added cost.

The JBL Tune 125 TWS are decently comfortable. They're lightweight and don't protrude from your ears, but their deep in-ear fit may not suit everyone. Worse still, using their multifunction button could force the buds deeper into your ears.

The JBL Tune 125 TWS have an easy to use but somewhat limited control scheme. You can use the left bud to control music playback, with a single tap skipping forward and a double-tap to go to the previous track. Tapping the right bud once pauses and plays media or answers and ends calls, while a tap followed by a long press mutes and unmutes your mic. A double-tap of this button also turns on your phone's voice assistant. They can be used in mono mode, but you lose the use of playback controls. Unfortunately, you can't adjust media volume via the onboard controls, and the buds don't provide any sort of audio feedback when making an input.

These headphones are exceptionally portable. You can easily store them in a pocket or small bag, and their case is quite compact.

These in-ears have a good case. It's compact and made of somewhat sturdy-feeling plastic. Like the JBL Tune 120 Truly Wireless' case, the headphones' controls are engraved inside the case, which can be handy if you forget how to make a certain command. The case also features magnets to keep the buds in place when they're stored.

The JBL Tune 125TWS are decently well-built. They feel reasonably sturdy and dense, but they lack any sort of IP rating for dust or water resistance, though we don't currently test for this.

The JBL Tune 125 TWS are decently stable. While they don't protrude too far from your ears and shouldn't move with low-intensity workouts, they lack stability fins to help keep them in place during intense exercise sessions.

• JBL Tune 125 TWS in-ear headphones
• 3x silicone tip sizes
• Charging case
• USB-C charging cable
• User guide

The JBL Tune 125 TWS have a reasonably well-balanced sound profile. Their slightly overemphasized bass response should add a bit of extra thump and rumble to your favorite EDM and hip-hop tracks, but without overwhelming vocals or lead instruments in other genres. Overall, these headphones should suit a wide variety of musical genres and audio content.

Like most in-ear headphones, the JBL Tune 125 TWS have exceptional frequency response consistency, though there's some variance in the treble range. Once you achieve a proper fit with the included selection of ear tips, audio should be delivered consistently on separate re-seats.

The bass accuracy of these headphones is great. The range is mostly overemphasized but quite flat, which should please listeners who prefer a little more thump and rumble without generating excess boominess. The dip in the high bass range should prevent the slightly exaggerated bass response from muddying vocals and lead instruments.

These headphones offer remarkable mid accuracy. Aside from a minor dip in the mid-mid range, the rest of the frequency spectrum is remarkably flat and well-balanced. This results in clear, full-bodied vocals and lead instrumentals that are present in the mix.

The JBL Tune 125 TWS have impressive treble accuracy. Vocals and lead instruments should be clear and well-articulated while sibilants and high notes should be reproduced without being piercing or harsh.

The JBL Tune 125 TWS have great peaks and dips performance. There's a small dip in the mid-mid range that nudges vocals and lead instruments toward the back of the mix. This is followed by a bump that extends across the high-mid through low-treble ranges, which could yield a slightly harsh quality to some notes. A dip in the low through mid-treble ranges can veil the finer details of some vocals and lead instruments and make some sibilants sound slightly dull and lispy.

These headphones have superb stereo imaging performance. Their weighted group delay falls beneath the audibility threshold, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble. Their L/R drivers are well-matched in regards to amplitude, frequency, and phase response, which should ensure the accurate placement of objects like voices and instruments in the stereo image. That said, these results are only valid for our test unit, and your experience may vary.

Like most closed-back in-ears, the JBL Tune 125 TWS have a terrible passive soundstage. They bypass any sort of outer-ear interaction, resulting in a closed-off listening experience that causes sound to be perceived as coming from inside your own head rather than speakers placed around you. You may want to consider the JBL Tune 225TWS True Wireless if you're looking for truly wireless headphones with a more spacious passive soundstage, in part due to their shallower earbud fit.

The JBL Tune 125 TWS don't have any virtual soundstage features.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance of these headphones is impressive. Distortion at both moderate and high volumes remains within good limits across the frequency spectrum, which should result in clean and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test the JBL Tune 125 TWS. Our results are only valid in this configuration.

These in-ears have decent passive noise isolation. They don't block out much ambient noise in the bass range, so you can likely hear the rumble of bus engines or passing construction vehicles. However, they're impressively effective when it comes to filtering out mid and treble-range background noise, so you shouldn't hear the chatter of people nearby or the high-pitched hum of an AC unit.

The JBL Tune 125 TWS leak very little audio. What little sound does escape occurs in the mid-treble range, which gives leaking audio a slightly thin quality. Still, you should be able to listen to your music at pretty high volumes with little fear of disrupting people nearby.

The JBL Tune 125 TWS have an integrated microphone.

The integrated microphone delivers decent recording quality. Your voice should sound natural, clear, and mostly free of distortion, but it may also be perceived as somewhat thin.

The integrated microphone has middling noise handling. People on the other end of the line may have trouble understanding you if you call from an even moderately noisy environment, like a busy street.

The JBL Tune 125 TWS' battery performance is somewhat disappointing. They supply just under seven hours of continuous playback, which is relatively decent for a pair of truly wireless headphones, but falls some way short of their advertised claim of eight hours or when compared to alternatives like the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ Truly Wireless. Their case holds roughly three additional charges, which should be enough for a couple of days at work. Unfortunately, they don't have an auto-off-timer to help extend their continuous runtime.

The JBL Tune 125 TWS don't have a companion app.

The JBL Tune 125 TWS have okay Bluetooth connectivity. They support Bluetooth 5.0, but not NFC or multi-device pairing, which could be annoying if you like to stream music from your phone while remaining connected to your work computer. They have high audio latency on PCs and Android devices but perform slightly better in this regard when connected to iOS devices. It should be noted that apps and devices compensate differently for latency, so your experience in the real world can vary.

These truly wireless headphones are Bluetooth-only.

These in-ears can't be used wired. They come with a USB-C cable for charging their case.

The JBL Tune 125 TWS offer full microphone and audio compatibility with Bluetooth-enabled PCs, but their latency is too high for gaming. They can't connect to PS4 consoles.

These headphones aren't compatible with Xbox One consoles.

The JBL Tune 125 TWS come with a charging case that supplies roughly three extra full charges. It doesn't have any inputs other than a USB-C charging port and doesn't support wireless charging.