JBL - JBL E45BT

JBL

JBL E45BT: a Bluetooth headset as adolescent as its target

Aprox. 77€ - see price -

With its E45BT Bluetooth on-ear headset, JBL promises "the signature JBL sound directly in your ears" (promised, it does not take small departmental) packaged in a nice, comfortable, ergonomic and elegant gift package.

Our review

Ergonomics

Clear colors (black, white, blue or red), flexible headband covered with "mesh" fabric, on-ear pads and plastic ear cups with the contract shiny seal: no doubt, the JBL E45BT is a helmet resolutely dedicated to youth.

The E45BT has a very light weight and a construction that is both flexible and robust. On this frank and unadorned design are unclean finishes, evidenced by the assembly marks or the many visible screws.

Regarding the weight, therefore, the on-ear is absolutely not felt on the skull. Regarding the morphology on the other hand, its design presents an annoying tendency to press at the level of the tragus or the anthelix of the ear, it is according to, which according to the user can prove more or less annoying to the long. For example, we were able to wear this helmet for several hours (up to 6 hours in a row) without being unduly inconvenienced, by regularly repositioning the earbuds on the pavilions. The hoop is suitable for small and large cranial jigs, but they will still deplore that an additional notch is not available.

On board the right atrium are the control buttons, appearance and invoice just as juvenile, and not very different to the touch despite the growths supposed to indicate their role. The on / off switch never comes to a stop: it is destabilizing at first, and then we remember that there is a more serious fault and we say that we should survive this small change in his habits. Below are the three classic buttons to put the music in play / pause, change the volume and skip to the next / previous track. Note: navigation is not done by pressing the central button two / three times, but by long pressing the +/- button.

The last button activates the Bluetooth pairing. In this regard, note that the headset can connect to two sources simultaneously, an eminently practical function that we would like to see adopted by all Bluetooth devices. To switch from one to the other source, however, a dedicated control point: you must pause the first then launch the second, and vice versa (incoming calls have priority). The latency of rocker is great, between ten seconds and one minute. When a device is disconnected, you may have to reconnect to the rest.

If, as the name suggests, the E45BT is a Bluetooth headset, it does not leave wired users on the side of the road - unlike other manufacturers more and more. The cable, anti-tangle (its materials and its sheath are studied to tangle as little as possible in our pockets and our bags), is provided with a remote control and a microphone.

Autonomy surpasses the promise of 16 hours to tu quite naturally the twenty hours at 75% of the maximum volume. The hands-free kit, as too often with Bluetooth headsets, very poorly translates the voice of the user (in a deaf manner and interrupted by noisegate), in noisy as in calm environment.


Ergonomics

Audio

The bass, clearly highlighted without being bloated either, lack sharpness. Although they are very round, a semblance of mastery still allows them not to hinder the rest of the spectrum. The lack of precision of the membranes is also found in the low mids: when the instrumentation becomes too rich, the membranes are quickly overwhelmed around 300-600 Hz and struggle to translate the details of the mix. The withdrawal of frequencies between 200 Hz and 1 kHz is not obvious: the low mids are present and enough to create a completely acceptable immersion; on the other hand, the contrast highlights the voices and the bass in a subtle way. The voices are very intelligible, mainly thanks to the boost between 1 and 2 kHz which, moreover, makes the guitar casseroles and the peaches of brass slightly aggressive. Lastly, the treble does not enjoy a great level of detail, but remains legible. No sibilance to report, but a slightly hissing side of the cymbals.

Despite the very rough rendering and the lack of reactivity of the membranes, we can see all the frequency ranges. The good separation of the channels also offers a good understanding of the stereophonic scene and ensures a fairly clear positioning of the different instruments and sound speakers. The distortion is below half a percent throughout the spectrum, at 94 dB SPL, barely noticeable even at high listening levels.

The latency induced by the Bluetooth link is around 150 ms, an average value. The audio / video lag is therefore large, but remains bearable for those who are not too sensitive to it. As always, we advise you to use software that can adjust this difference between image and sound, as much as possible, like VLC.


Audio

Conclusion

If the juvenile JBL E45BT is not free from defects, it still shows good potential thanks to qualities - multipoint connectivity, autonomy, complete controls, design - which are just waiting to be improved to become real assets.


Conclusion

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