Balanced beats in the box!  

JBL Tune Beam 2
| Photo Credit:
Bijoy Ghosh

JBL has been a trustworthy brand in personal, portable sound for decades in India now. Known for offering some solid Bluetooth speakers, which are designed to be fun and effective, as well as TWS earbuds which deliver decent acoustics without burning a hole in your pocket, the American brand has now launched the JBL Tune Beam 2. Pushing all that can be packed into these nifty earbuds, the brand shared a review unit that I’ve been trying out for close to two weeks now. Here’s how it fares, and whether you should consider buying this. 

Build and comfort 

The pill-shaped case that the JBL Tune Beam 2 comes in is fairly typical in design, as far as TWS earbuds go. I’ve got the unassuming black colour; there’s a brighter turquoise version available too, apart from plain white. The earbuds are light at 5.2 grams each, and comfortable to wear. The brand says the buds are water and dust-resistant, which means they could possibly withstand an accidental splash, but you’re better off not taking them to the beach on a Sunday. 

Ease of use 

Thanks to Google’s Fast Pair, connecting right out of the box is super easy. After adding the device to the official JBL app, I had access to more customisation features. 

I tried out “Personi-Fi 3.0”, which involves an ear test to then custom-tailor the sound profile based on your hearing. While the test might be efficient, I can’t say I particularly preferred the sound profile it personalised for me. It didn’t sound bad, it just didn’t sound emphatically different or superior to the existing sound profile, which I switched back to. The in-app equaliser lets me toggle through three preset modes – natural, increased treble, and increased bass. There’s no manually customisable slider for the equaliser.   

The earbuds have multi-point connection, so you can definitely have them paired to your smartphone and your laptop, and switch seamlessly when needed. 

Acoustics 

The JBL Tune Beam 2 earbuds feature 10 mm dynamic drivers that deliver some really good acoustics for the price. I cued up Luther by Kendrick Lamar and SZA, the contemporary hip-hop love ballad with honey-smooth vocals from both artists. The earbuds create a very pleasing soundstage, and music sounds expansive by default. There is a spatial mode that I could turn on, but that distorts the original quality of the music too much for my liking. Although I appreciate the spatial mode a little more when I choose it for movies and games. A dedicated option for each mode is allotted on the app.  

The earbuds include six mics for calls – two beamforming outer mics on each earbud pick up my voice during calls, and one inner mic to isolate noise. In ol’ school Teach Me How To Dougie by Cali Swag District, the fun drums are punchy as intended. In Nit Khair Manga from Raid, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s vocals shine through. The buds do justice to music across genres. 

By default, the sound profile is really well-balanced, not favouring a certain frequency over the other.

Noise cancellation

The earbuds offer some decent noise cancellation, although not the absolute best I’ve seen in this category. There are Ambient Aware and Talk Thru modes as well, which offer different levels of voice transparency. Ambient Aware is the equivalent of a typical “transparency” mode you’d find on most earbuds, whereas TalkThru lets you talk with those around you without having to take your earbuds out.

Battery 

JBL says the earbuds and the charging case can together deliver about 48 hours of total playback with ANC off. On average, I used the device for about 2-3 hours a day, mostly listening to music, sometimes gaming, but always with ANC on. I easily went up to a week without having to charge the device. The buds take about two whole hours to charge fully. And, a quick 10-minute charge was able to top the device up with three more hours of juice. 

Verdict 

The JBL Tune Beam 2 punches way above its weight—delivering crisp acoustics, comfy all-day wear, and battery stamina that can easily outlast your weekly walking playlist. While the spatial mode can feel like it’s trying a bit too hard and the lack of a custom EQ might irk some of you, the overall package is impressively well-rounded.

Published on May 7, 2025