Headphones — JBL ENDURANCE RACE 2

The JBL Endurance Race 2 is a pair of true wireless sports earbuds. JBL built the model around an IP68 rating for the earbuds, meaning full dust protection and the ability to survive submersion deeper than 1 m in both fresh water and sea water, while the charging case itself carries an IPX2 water-resistance rating. Active Noise Cancelling with Smart Ambient, multi-point pairing and a Sports Mode system round out the feature set.

Key specs that matter

A 6.8 mm dynamic driver sits in every earbud. Rated frequency response is 20 Hz to 20 kHz, with an impedance of 16 ohm, a sensitivity of 104 dB SPL at 1 kHz and a maximum SPL of 94 dB. Each bud weighs 6.4 g and measures 30.1 x 26.4 x 18.9 mm, and the case weighs 41.1 g at 69.7 x 43.1 x 30.5 mm. The buds carry 70 mAh cells and the case a 600 mAh cell, both rated at 3.85 V. Music runs up to 12 hours per charge with ANC off or up to 10 hours with ANC on, and the case adds three full charges for a total of 48 hours. Talk time is up to 7 hours without ANC and 6.5 hours with it.

Engineering and use context

Fit relies on an ergonomic wing with Twistlock technology, intended to improve sealing and stability in the ear, and the box includes ear tips in three sizes plus two wing pieces, a Type-C USB charging cable and the case. Two beamforming microphones on each earbud, four in all, pick up the voice and reject ambient noise, with a microphone sensitivity of -38 dBV/Pa at 1 kHz. The JBL Headphones app offers six default Sports Modes that combine ANC, Ambient Aware and EQ settings, with the option to create custom ones, and a Relax Mode with five calming sounds such as ocean waves or a wood fire. A full recharge takes 2 hours from empty via USB Type-C, while 10 minutes of charging adds four hours of play. The earbuds use Bluetooth 5.3 with A2DP 1.3.2, AVRCP 1.6.2 and HFP 1.8 profiles, a 5 V 1 A power supply and a maximum operating temperature of 45 degrees C. The radio works across 2.4 to 2.4835 GHz at under 10 dBm EIRP with GFSK, pi/4-DQPSK and 8DPSK modulation.

Pairing

With multi-point connection the buds stay connected to two Bluetooth devices at once, for example a tablet playing video and a phone waiting for a call. Fast Pair by Google and Swift Pair by Microsoft allow single-tap pairing with Android devices and Windows computers.

Alternatives

Within the same sports earbud category JBL also offers the Endurance Peak 3.