JBL Under Armour Sport Wireless Train - Review 2022

JBL continues its Under Armour collaboration with the new Sport Wireless Train on-ear gym-focused Bluetooth headphones. We don't see virtually as many on-ears as nosotros do in-ears in the wireless exercise realm, and the $200 UA Sport Wireless Railroad train headphones deliver a powerful, bass-forward audio experience in a secure-fitting, sweat-resistant design. If we have a complaint, information technology's that the price seems a tad high—a not-unheard-of side effect of co-branded products. All the same, y'all get enough of features for your money, including a Talk Thru push button that lets you hear your surroundings, and a free year-long MapMyFitness subscription.

Pattern

The supra-aural (on-ear) headphones accept a rubberized contour and some heavily cushioned earpads that are lined with a blackness, jersey-like material. The earcups themselves have a rounded, almost octagonal shape, and the underside of the headband is also generously padded, which adds upwardly to a comfortable fit. The gripping materials used, besides as the vented earpads and headband, are intended to keep you cool and dry during sweaty workouts, while notwithstanding keeping the headphones securely in place. This, combined with the noticeable, yet comfortable pressure level of the headband, makes for a very secure fit.

JBL says the headphones have an ingress protection rating of IPX4, which means they tin can handle splashing water, but can't really take much h2o pressure (like from a nozzle or jet) and shouldn't exist submerged. Mostly speaking, this is a adequately depression IP rating for sports-focused audio gear, just on-ear headphones are a fleck tougher to brand completely waterproof. If a more watertight pick is a priority, consider an in-ear pair.

On the correct earcup'south side console, there's a power/pairing switch, besides as plus/minus buttons that control volume, and a central multifunction push that controls playback, phone call direction, and phonation assistance. JBL also opts to use the plus/minus buttons for runway navigation—hold them in for a few seconds to skip forward or backward.

JBL Under Armour Sport Wireless Train A built-in array of three mics allows for TalkThru mode—tapping the Under Armour logo on the outer panel of the right ear fades out your music and allows you to hear your environs without removing the headphones. For vox calls, the mic offers average intelligibility. Using the Vocalisation Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we understood each word we recorded, though at that place were some typical, fuzzy Bluetooth audio artifacts. The inline mic for the cable delivers solid clarity, with some added bass depth.

There's as well a covered 3.5mm headphone cable jack—a cable with an inline remote and mic is included. Plugging in the cable automatically powers the headphones downwards for passive use. The included micro USB charging cable connects to a covered port on the left ear cup.

Along with the cables, JBL includes 1 of the nicer-looking travel cases we've seen. The hard-trounce, cipher-upwards case has a rubberized exterior and a carabiner fastened. The headphones fold down into its interior, which besides features a pocket for the cables.

Also included is a 12-calendar month membership to Under Armour'south MapMyFitness app (it otherwise costs $29.99), which tracks your workouts. You lot don't need the app in order to utilize the headphones, and in fact, there are no embedded MapMyFitness features on the headphones themselves—it'south simply a complimentary subscription.

JBL estimates battery life to be roughly xvi hours, but your results volition vary with your book levels.

Operation

On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife'due south "Silent Shout," the headphones deliver powerful low-frequency response that should entreatment to those who become extra practise motivation from boosted bass. At pinnacle volumes, the bass doesn't distort, and at more reasonable listening levels, it's nevertheless quite strong. The balance hither is solid enough that the lows don't overshadow the mids and highs in the mix.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives united states of america a ameliorate sense of the general sound signature. The drums on this track are delivered with some serious thunder—it'southward not overwhelming, because the unabridged frequency range is quite sculpted, but the lows here are strong and lend some extra torso and roundness to the drums. Callahan's vocals are delivered with solid low-mid richness, and that richness is matched with a crisp high-mid presence that lends his voice some treble border and keeps the acoustic guitar strums clear and well-defined.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West'due south "No Church in the Wild," the boot drum loop is delivered with ideal loftier-mid presence, then that its attack retains its punchy prominence in the mix. The highs are clearly boosted here, as the vinyl crackle that'due south ordinarily relegated to background condition is brought to the forefront. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat have an almost subwoofer-like presence to them through the drivers, and the vocals are delivered with solid clarity and, despite the sculpted high-mids and highs, not much added sibilance.

Orchestral tracks, similar the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel Co-ordinate to the Other Mary, sound a tad beefed-up through the Under Armour Sport Wireless Train—the lower register instrumentation is pushed frontward to an unnatural level. It's at to the lowest degree counterbalanced past the high-mids and highs also being quite sculpted, but anyone looking for a fairly accurate sound signature for classical, jazz, or orchestral tracks will probably be disappointed with the bass-forward approach here.

Conclusions

Sonically, JBL's Nether Armour Sport Wireless Railroad train headphones deliver a strong listening feel, with powerful bass depth that volition appeal to those who enjoy working out to a trivial actress low-frequency push. And from a pattern perspective, there aren't a slew of on-ear headphones meant for practice. One favorite is the older, less expensive Jabra Movement Wireless pair, though we like JBL's extra features, like the Talk Thru button and the included MapMyFitness subscription. For less money, we're besides fans of the Jaybird X3, the JLab Epic Sport Wireless, and the JBL Endurance Sprint—all practise-focused in-ears, which are far more common.