The JBL Tune 125TWS Truly Wireless are simple, truly wireless headphones. They have a balanced sound profile, good passive noise isolation, and a compact, lightweight design that makes them easy to carry around. Unfortunately, they lack sound customization features and have a very limited control system, not to mention high wireless latency with PCs and Android and iOS devices. However, if you’re looking for a pair of truly wireless headphones that will allow you to listen to most types of audio content, they’re a good choice.
The JBL Tune 125TWS, much like their predecessors – the Tune 120TWS – look like pretty basic wireless earbuds, with no fancy design bells and whistles. Still, the earphones are quite compact and ergonomic, and the charging case is also handy enough. The blue and white variants, on the other hand, stand out a bit more. Still, the design is pretty uninspired and the charging case looks pretty bland compared to some other wireless earbuds on the market.
[content-egg-block template=offers_logo hide=price]Although the charging case doesn’t even come close to some of the smallest charging cases we’ve seen for wireless earbuds like the Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus and the Jabra Elite 75t, the JBL Tune 125TWS charging case is still pretty handy, as mentioned above. The case is mostly plastic and has a smooth, matte finish that doesn’t feel plasticky or cheap.
The USB Type-C port is on the bottom of the case and due to the design, the case does not stand upright but lies flat on a surface. The flip-top lid has bite-sized and strong magnets, and there are also status indicator LEDs (three white LEDs) on the surface of the case. Overall, the case is quite sturdy and the magnets inside the case hold the earphones securely in place.
The earphones look pretty sporty, so we assumed that the Tune 125TWS would have an IP rating, similar to the Sony WF-XB700 earphones, which have an IPX4 rating. However, we were surprised and disappointed to learn that the earphones do not have an IP rating, making it unsafe to use these earphones at the gym or even in light rain.
The earbuds have physical controls that can be used to control music playback and calls. Pressing the right ear cup once pauses music playback or answers an incoming call. Double-tapping the right earpiece brings up your device’s voice assistant. Pressing the left earbud once skips forward one track, and double-tapping skips to the previous track. There are no controls for adjusting the volume, which is a shame since there is no real mapping for a long press on either side, and this could have easily been done to adjust the volume.