The Club Pro+ TWS mark JBL's most serious foray into the true wireless space. While these aren't exactly revolutionary, JBL does deserve kudos for how many of the right boxes the Club Pro+ TWS check off. At the end of the day, however, while they're a jack of all trades, they also fall a bit short of mastery.
You'll find an agreeable list of features here, including robust sound quality, decent noise canceling, standard battery life at around 6 hours per charge, and ample customizability thanks to JBL's dedicated My Headphones app. We also found ourselves impressed with the hyper-compact design of the charging case—it's small enough to fit right in the palm of your hand. And while multiple ear tip options, an IPX4 rating, and USB-C quick charging don't exactly make for exciting extras, it's good to see JBL taking the proper cues from its forebears in the true wireless space.
For what you're paying, the Club Pro+ TWS are, simply put, a solid product. But that's also their weakness: they aren't the best-sounding buds on the list, nor do they cancel noise as effectively as competitors like Bose and Sony. Yet they stand head and shoulders above many options in this price range, and are flexible enough in terms of potential use cases that the average listener won't have any complaints.
In many ways, this lack of exaggerated ability is what gives the Club Pro+ their attractively mid-range price point, making them potentially a great fit for listeners who want to save money without sacrificing features.
Sony's WF-SP800N are formidable workout earbuds, offering an embarrassment of features for their price point, along with impressive sound, a strong and stable connection, and a sporty, water-resistant design—something the flagship WF-1000XM3 buds don’t have.
Packing everything from light noise cancellation and transparency mode to automatic audio adjustment and Bluetooth 5.0, the SP800N are impressively well-appointed for their cost—especially since you can often find them on sale. They're also highly tuneble thanks to Sony's Headphones Connect app, including a five-band EQ with a separate bass control so you can easily pull back (or ramp up) their booming "Extra Bass" feature.
As for negatives, the SP800N’s noise cancelation is nothing to write home about, the buds are fairly bulky, and the charging case stores only one extra charge, though their 9 hours of playback per charge makes this more palatable. In addition, we found a tear in one of the silicone ear fins after just a few days, but based on over 1,000 user reviews, we’re inclined to write this off as a fluke. Because their fins are fairly involved, it can also be a pain to put them in and take them out, but that’s also what makes them so stable for high-impact activities.
Their incredible playback time of 9 hours on a single charge with noise cancellation—and a whopping 13 hours without it—helps make up for their charging case's shortcomings. Add in their wealth of other features and the SP800N are steeped with value, making them a great choice if you're looking for action-ready sports buds.