JBL Endurance Peak 3 Review
Great value, sports true wireless with a big workout-friendly sound
Verdict
The JBL Endurance are great value, truly wireless sports headphones that deliver a secure earhook design, big workout-friendly sound and plenty in the battery department to make up for having to carry around the big, slippery charging case.
Pros
- Very secure fit
- Bright, enjoyable sound
- Good battery life
Cons
- Big charging case
- Not a very discreet design
- Hit and miss touch controls
Availability
- UKRRP: £87.99
- USARRP: $99.95
- EuropeRRP: €99.99
- CanadaTBC
- AustraliaRRP: AU$199.95
Key Features
- BatteryUp to 50 hours of battery life
- IP ratingWater and dust proof wireless earphones
- Transparency modeSupports JBL’s Ambient Aware and TalkThru modes
Introduction
The JBL Endurance Peak 3 are true wireless sports headphones that promise a strong fit for more intense exercise and also deliver big sound to your ears.
Along with its ear hook design, JBL promises that it has the rugged credentials to handle big sweat and rain, its signature Pure Bass Sound and battery life that will cover plenty of workout time.
It’s significantly cheaper than picking up a pair of earhook-toting Powerbeats Pro, but can the Endurance Peak 3 match them for fit and performance?
The JBL Endurance Peak 3 is currently available to buy for £87.99 / $99.95 / AUD$199.95. That puts it cheaper than the Powerbeats Pro (£269.95 / $249 / AUD$349), but comes in more expensive than the Skullcandy Push Active (£59 / $79 / AUD$179.95).
Design
- Available in four colours
- IP68 water and dust resistant design
- Onboard capacitive touch controls
Like the Endurance Peak 2, JBL sticks with a similar ear hook design that are by no means small or disappear when worn, but do stay put. They clamp onto the ears through JBL’s TwistLock ear hook that hasn’t budged in my gym sessions, outdoor runs and home workouts, or have ever felt like they’re going to slip and slide around.
JBL offers the Peak 3 in four different colours, but if having something stylish-looking in your ears is a priority you’re better off elsewhere. These aren’t ugly earbuds but they’re not exactly sleek either. What you do get though are earbuds with impressive rugged credentials.
JBL has slapped an IP68 water and dust resistant rating, which means they’re safe to be submerged in water up to 1.5 metres for 30 minutes. So you could technically take them swimming, but streaming audio over Bluetooth and water don’t exactly mix, so think of this durability being more useful if you need to give them wash after a sweaty workout or you get caught in heavy rain.
There’s room for built-in microphones to take phone calls from your phone and touch controls here too, where you can tap, double or triple tap and hold to play and pause audio, skip back and forward tracks, summon your smart assistant and answer or reject calls.
The area that those controls live on is surprisingly large and it does take a bit of playing around to get that sweet spot for activating, especially for multiple taps. You do have some control over how those controls are assigned with the companion JBL Headphones app if you’re not happy with the setup out of the box.
You can drop the buds into a pretty sizable charging case that’s bigger than most and certainly isn’t one to disappear in a pocket. This is one you’re going to want in your gym bag instead. The plastic case has a USB-C charging port and a thin single LED up front to let you know when they’re charging. Unlike the buds, it doesn’t carry the same level of protection against water and dust, so don’t submerge it in water.
Features
- 10 hours battery life
- No noise cancellation
There’s no active noise cancellation, but with a good seal and a volume level, they managed to do a good job of drowning out the gym stereo system and running near traffic. They don’t entirely block out that external sound, but it also doesn’t let that sound seep in and drown audio out either.
There is an awareness mode JBL calls Ambient Aware to keep you better in tune with the sounds around you, though it doesn’t sound all that massively different from when it’s not enabled if volume is up reasonably loud. There’s also a Talk Thru mode that does make it easier to speak to someone without having to take the buds out.
Battery is another bright point. JBL promises up to 10 hours of listening to music or 5.5 hours handling calls off a single charge. With a fully charged case, that number jumps up to 40 hours. On top of that you’re getting a quick charge mode that gives you an hour of use from just a 10-minute charge. The earbuds will also turn themselves off when you take them out to stop them from using up power.
You don’t have any power-hungry features like ANC to drain that battery either and you can comfortably get that 10 hours, which is a strong showing. When you do hit 0%, they’ll take two hours to fully charge, which isn’t exactly speedy, but you’ll unlikely get to that point on a regular basis if you keep that case fully charged.
Sound Quality
- 10mm dynamic driver
- EQ in JBL Headphones app
JBL promises rich bass and bold sound and it’s fair to say the earbuds deliver on that front. There’s a 10mm dynamic driver powering performance and they produce a pleasing amount of power with a sizable thud of bass that thankfully doesn’t overwhelm or dominate. It’s definitely a bass-heavy profile and perhaps lacks the finesse you will get on pricier sports headphones, but there’s actually very little to fault here.
As mentioned, bass is the priority and things don’t get muddy or distorted when the volume is cranked up. Mids sound even and smooth, there’s some good detail here too with no noticeable signs of harshness or graininess in the treble department either.
If you want to tone things down or you prefer something a little more refined, JBL does offer 3 EQ presets and a separate EQ to create something more fitting for your ears, so there is scope to tinker with things. Overall though, it’s a sound profile that’s bright, enjoyable and undeniably bass forward.
If you’re using them for calls then call quality in general is very solid. There’s a good level of clarity, they cope well in louder environments and there’s a useful VoiceAware mode inside of the app that lets you control how much of your own voice you hear during calls.
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Should you buy it?
You want affordable, bassy sports headphones that stay in place: JBL ticks the key boxes that make the Endurance Peak 3 fit for giving you that audio boost when it’s exercise time.
You want truly wireless sports headphones with a small form factor: Whether it’s the buds or the case, the Endurance Peak 3 are certainly not headphones that disappear on the ears or in the pocket.
Final Thoughts
There isn’t anything particularly ground-breaking about the JBL Endurance Peak 3 but what they do give is pretty much everything you could want from sports headphones. The fit is great and it’s got a great rugged design too.
The sound quality is great for the price with room to tinker with things further in the companion app. Throw in a solid battery with a desirable quick charge mode too, and there are few things to complain about these sporty earbuds.
How we test
We test every set of headphones we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Tested with real world use
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FAQs
There’s no multipoint Bluetooth support for these headphones. You can only connect/use them with one device.
Full specs
Sustainability
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As part of this mission, whenever we review a product we send the company a series of questions to help us gauge and make transparent the impact the device has on the environment.
We currently haven’t received answers to the questions on this product, but will update this page the moment we do. You can see a detailed breakdown of the questions we ask and why in our sustainability
Jargon buster
IP rating
An abbreviation for ‘Ingress Protection Code’, which lets you know to what extent a device might be waterproof or dustproof.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
