The JBL Vibe Flex 2 are open-fit earbuds with a less intrusive fit than most in-ears. However, the lack of an in-ear seal makes blocking out noise and reproducing a good amount of bass difficult for this style of earbuds. Whether they can overcome those design limitations will ultimately determine whether the JBLs are worth your money.
Our Verdict
The JBL Vibe Flex 2 are good for sports and fitness provided you're not making many sudden movements. They'll stay in place for most types of resistance training, but they'll feel loose or fall out of your ears if you make explosive movements in plyometrics or take them out for interval sprints. They have a 10-hour battery life, with an additional three charges in the case, so you're covered if you forget to charge them after each workout. It's worth noting that the buds have a less intrusive fit that rests at the entrance of your ear canal, rather than a deeper in-ear fit. They also have an IP54 rating, which indicates there's some protection from dust and water exposure.
10-hour battery life with 3 supplemental charges from the case.
Earbuds have an IP54 rating.
Bad noise isolation.
The JBL Vibe Flex 2 are inadequate for travel. They provide practically no isolation from outside noise, so you'll hear the full brunt of airplane engines, chatty passengers, and busy traffic on your travels. If you're okay with that sacrifice, the earbuds have a solid 10-hour battery life that will last through most flights, and they're decently comfortable. Still, their carrying case has a slippery finish that may cause you to fumble the case while you're running to catch a bus transfer.
10-hour battery life with 3 supplemental charges from the case.
Bad noise isolation.
Slippery and flimsy case.
The JBL Vibe Flex 2 are usable for office work, provided you don't care about noise isolation. If you work in a controlled, quiet environment, the buds have a decently comfortable fit and a 10-hour battery life that's plenty for the workday. You can also take calls with the buds, though you won't sound your best. There's also Bluetooth multipoint if you juggle Spotify on your phone and Teams meetings on your laptop. However, the buds provide almost no reprieve from environmental noise, so you'll hear every distracting conversation and every bit of construction noise in a crowded downtown office building.
10-hour battery life with 3 supplemental charges from the case.
Bad noise isolation.
Recorded speech doesn't sound the most natural.
The JBL Vibe Flex 2 True Wireless earbuds don't have a wireless dongle or support low-latency codecs, making them less enjoyable to game with due to the likelihood of audio-visual desync.
The JBL Vibe Flex 2 True Wireless can't be used wired.
The JBL Vibe Flex 2 have decent audio reproduction accuracy. While there's little frequency response fluctuation from the headphones' bright sound profile, most people won't find the earbuds sound pleasant as they severely lack low-frequency reproduction, which exacerbates the perception of the already over-emphasized treble. The buds reproduce vocals as harsh and piercing, but thin at the same time. Still, the earbuds exhibit no audible stereo matching issues or harmonic distortion, though the former is a function of quality control and can vary from unit to unit.
The JBL Vibe Flex 2 earphones don't have a deep in-ear fit or active noise cancelling. As a result, they don't block much noise from your environment, whether that's a honking car or rumbly airplane engines. Still, there's a bit of passive noise isolation in the treble range, which reduces the shrill whine of a crying child somewhat. The earbuds leak a thin version of your audio that someone seated nearby will hear in a quiet environment.
The JBL Vibe Flex 2 have a decent microphone system. Its recording quality isn't the best, but it'll keep your speech intelligible, if a little thin-sounding. The system's noise handling suppresses consistent background noise like hissy fans and electrical whine, but it can't handle loud continuous noises like a subway car arriving; in the presence of overwhelming background noise, your voice drops out and speech won't be intelligible on calls.
The JBL Vibe Flex 2 have sub-par frequency response consistency. Between wears, the earbuds can deliver audio differently based on how you've fit them in your ears. It's worth taking the time to adjust them so you get consistent audio delivery.
Performance Usages
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The JBL Vibe Flex 2 come in 'Blue,' 'Pink,' 'Black,' and 'White.' We tested the 'Blue' colorway and took a photograph of the label. The earbuds can also be labeled as the JBL Wave Flex 2 in some regions.
If you encounter another variant or colorway, please let us know in the comments and we'll update the review.
Popular Headphones Comparisons
The JBL Vibe Flex 2 are open-fit earbuds that don't have a deep in-ear fit. While this design sidesteps the lack of a universal fit and process of finding the right-sized ear tips with in-ears like the Nothing Ear (3a) and Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro, it trades another set of drawbacks. The absence of a good in-ear seal means you're subject to significantly more environmental noise, and the earbuds have a harder time outputting bass. As a result, the JBL don't match either the Nothing or Soundcore in noise isolation performance. Though worse noise isolation performance is expected compared to in-ears, especially considering the JBL don't have ANC to supplement their poor passive isolation, products like the Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancelling show it's possible to juggle the benefits of a universal, unintrusive fit while still outputting more bass and isolating you from noise. Of course, the downside with the Apple is the lack of feature compatibility with Android devices, plus the short, 4.5-hour battery.
If you're exploring less intrusive fits or want to prioritize environmental awareness, check out our recommendations for the best bone conduction and open-ear headphones. Otherwise, visit the best wireless earbuds and the best budget wireless earbuds for more general picks.
The JBL Vibe Beam 2 are more versatile than theJBL Vibe Flex 2 by virtue of their better noise isolation performance. The Beam 2 have a deeper in-ear fit and active noise cancelling that allow them to block significantly more background noise, making them a better option for travel and office work in busy spaces. The in-ear seal also allows for more bass delivery, so the Beam 2 feature a V-shaped tuning compared to the Flex 2's extremely bright tuning. Still, the Flex 2 are the obvious pickup between the two for anyone chasing their unintrusive open-fit for comfort reasons, regardless of the implications on noise isolation and tuning.
The JBL Tune Flex True Wireless and JBL Vibe Flex 2 are both open-fit earbuds. That said, the Tune Flex have the option to add 'sealing' tips to their open-fit design, converting them to a shallow in-ear with a better seal. This flexibility allows them to capture the benefits of an open-fit when necessary, while also having the option to improve noise isolation (supplemented by ANC) and bass output by switching to the included tips. Still, the difference in noise isolation performance isn't very large, and the Vibe Flex 2 have a longer 10-hour battery life.
The JBL Vibe Flex 2 and Apple AirPods 4 are both open-fit earbuds that don't have a deep in-ear fit. While this affords the benefits of a more universal fit, the Apple clearly outshine the JBL in how they manage the downsides of the design. While the Apple don't output much low-bass due to the lack of a seal, their ability to output more mid- and high-bass gives them a warm tuning, compared to the overly bright JBL. The Apple also sound more consistent between seatings, so you'll need to take less time fiddling with the fit so your audio sounds right. Still, it's not all positives for the Apple; they have a shorter 6.7-hour battery life compared to the JBL's 10, and many of the earbuds' features are locked in the Apple ecosystem.
The Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation avoid most of the shortcomings of the open design shared by the JBL Vibe Flex 2. They include an ANC feature that handily mitigates noise in the bass and mids, providing surprising noise isolation performance for an open-fit earbud. Plus, they can output significantly more bass and have a less anemic, thin sound compared to the bright JBL. However, the ANC system takes a toll on battery life, as the Apple earbuds last only 4.5 hours compared to 10 hours with the JBL. And the closed-off Apple ecosystem means you can't fiddle with settings on Android natively.
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