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These are the best workout earbuds you've never heard of
May 30, 2025
JLab Epic Sport ANC 3
The JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 earbuds tackle the sports audio market, promising premium features for just $99.99. These earhook-equipped workout companions offer LDAC support, spatial audio, and IP66 water resistance in a package costing less than half the price of competitors like the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2. Can these affordable sport earbuds deliver reliable performance where it matters most for active users, or do they sacrifice too much to hit their budget-friendly price point?
These earbuds are built for athletes and workout enthusiasts who want secure-fitting buds with thumping bass and premium features—without the premium price. If you jog, bike, or lift weights and need something that stays in place, resists sweat, and sounds exciting, the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 fit the bill. Android users get the added bonus of LDAC support for high-res audio. They’re less ideal for trained listeners or those who want the best vocal clarity or natural tuning across all genres.
This article was published on May 30, 2025, and this is the first version of the article. Updates will follow as the market changes.
What’s it like to use the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3?
The JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 features a familiar workout-focused design with large buds that fit snugly in your ears and prominent bendy ear hooks that wrap around the top of your ears. I was able to get a good fit using the medium-sized ear tips, and once properly seated, the ear hooks do a good job of keeping the buds firmly in place while undergoing activities, from jogging to biking or jumping around. With an IP66 water resistance rating, these earbuds can handle sweat and light rain during outdoor workouts. Don’t worry about the transparent plastic on the underside of each earbud; the visible internal components won’t get damaged unless you completely submerge the earbuds under water.
The charging case is a bit large to accommodate the larger shape of the earbuds, but it is still pocketable. Like many other JLab earbuds, it supports wireless charging and features an integrated USB-C cable on the backside, which is convenient for on-the-go charging without carrying a separate cable. The case is relatively large compared to non-earhook earbuds, which is expected given the size of the buds themselves. While not pocket-friendly, it should fit easily in most gym bags or backpacks.
The single color option (black) is a bit boring compared to other JLab products’ vibrant palette, but overall, they are discreet, comfortable, and functional workout earbuds.
The JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 uses touch and swipe controls. The swipe sensor is only for volume controls; swipe up to increase or down to decrease.
The table below shows all the inputs for the touch sensors.
| Input | Function |
|---|---|
Single Tap | Play/Pause Answer call |
Double Tap | Track forward Hang up call |
Triple Tap | Track back |
Tap and hold | Noise control Reject call |
In addition, you can cycle through EQ presets by simultaneously pressing and holding both the right and left earbud touch sensors together. You can also turn spatial audio on or off by tapping the touch sensor five times in a row.
What are the best features of the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3?
For less than $100, the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 have a few notable features typically found in more expensive earbuds.
For starters, Android users have LDAC support, enabling higher-quality wireless audio that approaches but doesn’t fully match Hi-Res standards. iOS users aren’t left out entirely, with AAC support providing better quality than the basic SBC codec.
The earbuds also feature JLab’s proprietary spatial audio implementation, which provides a wider soundstage effect for compatible content. It’s not as sophisticated as Apple’s spatial audio with head tracking, and I found it lacking in spatial depth without much difference in internality when enabled or disabled.
The headline feature is perhaps that the Epic Sport ANC 3 utilizes a hybrid driver configuration developed in collaboration with Knowles. Each earbud combines a balanced armature driver (for clarity in mids and highs) with a 10mm dynamic driver (for more bass strength). This partnership extends to the included “Knowles Preferred Listening Response Curve” EQ preset, which delivers a more natural listening experience.
If you download the JLab Connect app, you can utilize a few other useful features, such as an interval timer to set active and rest times and plan your workout routines. There is also a custom 10-band equalizer, which gives you plenty of control over the tuning, and a custom safe hearing mode to set a dB limit for music. Jlab also has a library of ambient sounds you can listen to, but they require allowing notification permissions, and a burn-in tool, which is completely unnecessary.
The JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 uses Bluetooth 5.3 with support for SBC and LDAC for Android devices and AAC for iOS. They also support Google Fast Pair for Android devices and can connect to multiple devices with Bluetooth Multipoint.
When using the earbuds for the first time, remove the stickers from each earbud and return them to the charging case. Once you see a white light on the case, remove the earbuds and they will automatically enter pairing mode, as indicated by the blinking blue and white lights.
How long do the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3’s battery last?
In our testing, the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 lasted 9 hours and 41 minutes. That falls short of the advertised 12+ hour playtime but is in line with many other wireless earbuds on the market. Combined with the charging case, the earbuds are rated to provide 52 hours of battery life, which in my life equals just over 10 weeks of round-trip commuting, at 30 minutes per commute, two commutes per weekday. That’s a lot of time without needing a top-up.
How well do the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 cancel noise?
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Our measurements show the ANC performs best in the low frequency range (below 500Hz), providing 15-30dB of attenuation for sounds like engine rumbles and air conditioners. In contrast, for higher frequencies (above 2 kHz), the passive isolation from the ear tips actually outperforms the ANC system. In my real-world usage, wind noise was problematic during outdoor runs, often fighting with the ANC mics, sometimes making it preferable to turn off both ANC and transparency modes entirely. Still, for a $100 pair of sport earbuds, the noise cancelation is functional enough for indoor gym environments.
How do the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 sound?
Strong bass depth and brilliance define the sound, but reduced midrange strength can make vocals and instruments sound distant.
Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Scores (MDAQS)
The chart below shows how the Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Score (MDAQS) algorithm from HEAD acoustics assesses the sound of the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3. The sound quality is rated on a scale from 1.0 (very bad) to 5.0 (very good).
Our testing shows a clear winner between the two sound modes on the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3, with the Knowles Preferred EQ preset earning a noticeably higher overall score than the default JLab Signature setting. Using the former, instruments and voices sound more natural (Timbre), with less distortion at higher volumes. An overall score of 4.9 out of 5 is a good indication that most untrained listeners will prefer using the Knowles EQ for their music.
- Timbre (MOS-T) represents how faithfully the headphones reproduce the frequency spectrum and temporal resolution (timing information).
- Distortion (MOS-D) represents non-linearities and added noise: higher scores mean cleaner reproduction.
- Immersiveness (MOS-I) represents perceived source width and positioning: how well virtual sound sources are defined in three-dimensional space.
See here for an explanation of MDAQS, how it works, and how it was developed.
Reviewer’s notes
Editor’s note: this review uses a hover-enabled glossary to describe sound quality based on a consensus vocabulary. You can read about it here.
Objective Measurements
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Looking at the frequency response chart, the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 shows notable deviations from our house curve. The most obvious difference is the overemphasis in the bass region below 160Hz, slightly under-emphasized upper mids, and a treble extension with pronounced brilliance. Overall, it follows the gist of our consumer curve and will sound great with most music, though I found it to be most enjoyable with bass-heavy genres like EDM. Overemphasis in the bass region is great for workouts since many athletes enjoy following the rhythm of the bass line in songs while training.
Knowles Preferred EQ
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The Knowles Preferred EQ has even more bass emphasis and a less pronounced ear gain bump between 2–4kHz compared to our house curve and the JLab signature EQ. This can make vocals sound a bit distant or veiled.
Can you use the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 for phone calls?
Yes, the microphones embedded in the earbuds are suitable for phone calls and perform better indoors in ideal conditions. Please listen to the sample recordings below and let us know how you think they sound.
JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 microphone demo (Ideal conditions):
How does the microphone sound to you?
JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 microphone demo (Office conditions):
JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 microphone demo (Street conditions):
JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 microphone demo (Windy conditions):
JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 microphone demo (Reverberant space):
As you can hear, the microphone struggles to preserve the speaker’s voice while rejecting outside noise from the street or windy conditions. Some words are not entirely clear and can sound muffled. The earbuds fare better indoors for calls, but still pick up some background noise – it will be obvious to the person on the other end that you are in a busy coffee shop.
Should you buy the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3?
If you want feature-rich workout earbuds without spending a fortune, the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 are hard to beat. They offer impressive battery life, strong bass performance, decent ANC, and thoughtful extras like spatial audio and a companion app with useful workout tools. The default sound isn’t for everyone, but it is easy enough to adjust to your liking using the custom EQ tool, and for most gym-goers or bass-lovers, they’ll hit the right notes out of the box. At $99.99, they deliver more than expected and are a standout option in the sports earbud category.
What should you get instead of the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3?
If you can stretch your budget a little, several alternatives offer different advantages depending on your workout style.
- Powerbeats Pro 2 ($249.99): These are the gold standard for workout earbuds. They offer better ANC, a more refined sound, and Apple’s H2 chip for seamless iOS integration. You also get heart-rate tracking—great for fitness junkies. But at more than double the price, you’re paying for the polish and extras.
- Nothing Ear (Open) ($149.99): Ideal for outdoor runners or cyclists who need situational awareness. The open design sacrifices bass and noise isolation, but in return, you get safety and comfort with great sound for the style. Just don’t expect booming bass or strong ANC.
- Beats Fit Pro ($199.99): These strike a balance between sport-focused features and everyday usability. You get top-tier ANC and transparency modes, a snug fit with stabilizing wings, and full support for both Android and iOS. Downsides include known software hiccups, but for mixed-use earbuds with a less bulky case, they’re hard to beat.