Наушники — JBL QUANTUM TWS AIR

The Quantum TWS Air is a lighter and cheaper true wireless gaming earbud from JBL, part of Harman, first shown at CES in January 2023 as an addition to the Quantum series. In Europe it went on sale on 28 June 2023 at EUR 99.99, and the US list price was set at USD 99.95. It keeps the idea of one set of buds for both a gaming device and a phone, but drops active noise cancelling in favour of ambient listening modes and a smaller shell. JBL also notes that the retail box is made of FSC-certified paper printed with soy ink.

Key specs that matter

A 6.8 mm driver sits in each closed bud. The published range is 20 Hz to 20 kHz, sensitivity reads 102 dB at 1 kHz and 1 mW, and impedance is 16 ohm. Playtime is up to 8 hours from the buds plus 16 hours stored in the case, 24 hours overall, and talk time is rated at 4 hours; a full charge takes 2 hours. JBL lists 8.8 g for the earpiece and 35.4 g for the case. The Bluetooth 5.2 radio uses the A2DP 1.4, AVRCP 1.6.2 and HFP 1.8 profiles. Water resistance is IPX4, and black is the colour offered.

Engineering and use context

For low latency the buds talk to a 2.4 GHz USB-C wireless dongle that fits into the charging case, so it travels with the buds instead of being lost in a bag. Bluetooth covers phones, tablets and the Nintendo Switch. JBL Dual Source keeps the dongle link and a Bluetooth connection active together, which allows a voice call on the phone while the console audio continues. Two beamforming mics on each side, four in total, pick up speech for team chat. Ambient Aware passes outside sound through during play, and TalkThru lowers the audio for a quick conversation. The tubes of the earbuds have an oval shape chosen for comfort in long sessions, a trio of tip sizes is packed with them, and Google Fast Pair connects the buds when they leave the case. QuantumSURROUND is available on a PC with the QuantumENGINE software, which also sets EQ and microphone options, while the JBL Headphones app offers adjustment on mobile devices. JBL states that Xbox is not supported.

Pairing

Being wireless, the model needs no separate amplifier or DAC. The dongle is the better route for a PC, a handheld console with USB-C or the Switch in docked form, and Bluetooth is the route for a smartphone. Xbox consoles are absent from the list of hosts JBL supports for this model.

Alternatives

The JBL Quantum TWS adds True Adaptive Noise Cancelling and bigger 10 mm drivers for a list price of USD 149.95.