JBL LIVE 300 True Wireless in ear Bluetooth Headphones With Microphone

Considering the JBL Live 300TWS’s price and relatively simple design, I expected an equally simple experience—but I shouldn’t have judged a pair of true wireless earbuds on its subdued looks. A couple of weeks on, the Live 300TWS’s features still dazzle me, and the music quality is far better than I expected from buds in this price range.

The 2.7-inch-wide case alone looks as if it could come from a premium set of earbuds. Smooth, compact, and pocketable, its notification lights have a chic air reminiscent of luxury goods: A ring around the USB-C port along the bottom pulses white while the earbuds charge inside—the better to see where to stick the plug in low light—and it shifts to red once the cable is in. The act of opening the case could be more elegant, though; eventually, I fumbled far less with the lid after learning to pull it up from the sides.

The case is also attractive in light of JBL’s estimate that they deliver 14 extra hours of battery life, as you’ll need it. Despite JBL’s claim that the buds will play music for a full six hours, on two occasions they sputtered out before I reached the fifth hour.