The JBL Vibe 200TWS is a really nice budget set of earbuds from JBL designed to provide balanced sound performance with wireless Bluetooth streaming. These earbuds come equipped with 8mm drivers which delivers reasonably good bass and midrange, allowing you to hear details in your music clearly with nice punchy beats. Compared with other JBL earbud models that we have tested, the JBL Vibe 200TWS delivers rather plain functionality – it does not have active noise cancellation or water-resistance, and the battery life of 4-5 hours is rather subpar. Having said that, these earbuds are pretty comfortable to wear and feature an ergonomically shaped design that fits comfortably inside your ears. They also provide nice balanced sound performance with a good mix of highs and lower-end bass output – making EDM and rock music sound punchy and engaging to listen to. Having said that, the JBL Vibe 200TWS are an older model of earbuds and are clearly missing some of the core features that many true wireless earbuds have; they are still a good option if you are looking for a budget set of earbuds.
Sound Performance
When we tested out the JBL Vibe 200TWS, we found that these earbuds have balanced sound performance with a good mix of highs and low-end bass output. The bass on these earbuds is punchy but does not have as much depth as the JBL Tour Pro 2 or JBL Tune 230TWS earbuds; we felt that the bass on these earbuds could be substantially improved when using custom EQ apps together with these earbuds to improve the low-end frequency range. The default sound on the JBL Vibe 200TWS feels balanced but lacks the depth that we would be looking for in a set of wireless earbuds. With that said, we felt that vocals were reproduced with crystal clear accuracy and the highs sounded smooth without any harshness. The JBL Vibe 200TWS does deliver quite a lot of volume, but we did hear some hints of distortion at maximum volume levels.
We played a couple of soundtracks including EDM, rock, hip-hop and country folk on these earbuds and they sounded well-balanced and rather neutral. Vocals are reproduced cleanly with crisp highs, but the midrange and lower-bass frequency ranges were somewhat lacking. This can be partly mitigated by using EQ bass-boosting apps to improve the lower-end bass response. We also felt that these earbuds sound much better above 50% volume level – at lower volumes, the sound starts to taper off and sound less detailed with not much bass response.
Specifications
Despite their sound performance, there are a few positives with the design of the JBL Vibe 200TWS earbuds. These earbuds are quite comfortable and fit snugly inside your ears without easily falling off – they also come with customizable ear tips (3 ear tip sizes) so that you can get the best fit and sound isolation inside your ears. These earbuds have multiple color options to choose from and support type-C charging which is pretty decent. They also have a wide frequency range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz which is standard for most JBL wireless earbuds.
One thing that we liked about these earbuds is that they support dual connect technology which allows you to take calls or listen to music with either bud or both earbuds when required. It also supports hands free calls and voice assistants with touch control; all you need to do is touch the earbuds to control calls and your device’s voice assistant.
Having said that, we did find that the JBL Vibe 200TWS earbuds were lacking in several features. Unlike the newer JBL earbud models, you cannot adjust volume by touching the earbuds directly. The wireless Bluetooth connection is not consistently stable and you can experience some lag while watching movies or videos. The battery life is also not on par with other JBL earbuds and lasts on 4-5 hours on a single charge, with a further 15 hours with the charging case. We also found that you cannot use the JBL sound app with this earbud model. Pairing these earbuds is also somewhat a hassle and you need to put both earbuds back inside the case to reconnect them if the wireless connection is suddenly disconnected.
The Verdict?
The JBL Vibe 200TWS earbuds are a budget set of earbuds that deliver balanced sound performance. While these earbuds are ergonomically designed and comfortable to wear, we felt that they lack some of the core features that the newer versions of JBL wireless earbuds have to offer such as longer battery life, touch volume adjustment and active noise cancellation. These earbuds only have 4-5 hours of battery life and does not have as much bass as we expected, and you need to use an EQ app to adjust the sound as these earbuds will sound rather flat straight out of the box. We did like the design of these earbuds though – they are sleek and appealing, and come with a variety of colors to choose from which is great. They also fit inside your ears comfortably and do not fall off easily; we also liked that they come with 3 sizes of ear tips to choose from. Overall, the JBL Vibe 200TWS earbuds are pretty basic earbuds that deliver balanced sound performance, but do not have the core features that we were expecting from a set of wireless earbuds such as instantaneous Bluetooth pairing and longer battery life.