JLab Go Sport+ Review: Cheap fitness buds

Price

You can currently pick JLab Go Sport+ up directly from JLab’s website or retailers like Amazon, Argos and Currys in the UK and you’ll be paying just £30 for them. Since launch they’ve already dropped to £24.99 in some places.

If you look at JLab’s own, pretty extensive earbud range, that puts the Go Sport+ among its cheapest available. You can go lower with the Go Pop+ and Go Tones or pay the same £30 for its Go Pop ANC buds. For sports earbuds though, these are going to be the kindest to your bank balance.

Outside of JLab’s own earbuds you begin to veer into unknown brand territory. You might find some reduced earbuds from better-known names like Anker’s Soundcore range or the likes of Soundpeats, but most options aren’t specifically built for fitness.

Design

• Available in seven colours
• IP55 water rating
• Case includes built-in charging cable

The Go Sport looks a lot like the other ear hook-style sports earbuds JLab offers, where you get a very plastic build with both the buds and the case and acts a constant reminder of its budget origins.

The earhook element of the design dominates and while they might not feel as high quality as slipping on a pair of Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 or Shokz OpenFit 2, they seem well built to sit securely around your ears. The eartips are easily removable, with JLab offering two extra sizes in the box if you want to improve the fit.

Having also tested the JLab JBuds Sport ANC 4 and used the very similar-looking JLab Go Air Sport from a few years ago, the fit here is really good. There’s no unevenness in the balance of the design, they haven’t slipped during harder, sweatier workouts and there also wasn’t any sort of wearing fatigue from using them for over an hour.

On the topic of sweat, they’re IP55 rated to fend off sweat and light water splashes, making them suitable for taking them out for a rainy run or ride. There hasn’t been a lot of rain to try them out in, but they held strong on some hot outdoor runs and indoor rides.

There’s no noise cancellation support available, so you’re making do with getting a good seal with those buds to block out some of those exterior sounds. On a moderately loud gym floor, they actually performed pretty well. Outside in more blustery, windy conditions and near louder traffic, it’s more of a challenge for the Go Sport+ to be heard over those exterior sounds. Strong winds in particular can noticeably cut through.

While not immediately obvious, you do have a set of microphones and touch controls also built into the buds. These controls let you adjust volume, play and pause audio, speak to Google and Siri smart assistants, skip tracks and usefully toggle through EQ and sound modes.

Using these controls requires a very deliberate tap or multiple series of taps. That’s fine to do when you’re stationary and less so when you’re running or blasting through high intensity workouts. It’s a shame JLab didn’t opt to go for physical controls.

The case as mentioned, is a plastic one that doesn’t carry any sort of protection against dust or moisture and has become a little bit scratched in places. It is capable of charging your buds with a small indicator light featured at the front of the case. The USB-C charging cable is concealed at the base of the case, so you’ll want to make sure you take care it doesn’t get broken or it might prove more problematic to charge.

Features

• Up to 9 hours battery on single charge

The battery life on the Go Sport+ is similarly impressive. JLab says you should get 9 hours from a single earbud, and you can use them individually if you choose to. With a totally charged case you’ll max out at 35 hours total battery life.

For an hour’s use the battery dropped by 10-15%, which is not a bad showing at all. When you do get low, there’s a quick charge mode giving you an hour’s play from a 10-minute charge. They’ll take less than 2 hours to fully charge however.

If you’re just needing to top things up every now and then, you shouldn’t have to deal with them getting down to 0% battery on a very regular basis.

The microphone performance is good too. There’s 2 MEMs microphones with one of those microphones dedicated to blocking out environmental noise. There’s enough power and volume to play with and good enough clarity to make wanting to take calls something you’d be happy to do. It does get more challenging in windier and louder spaces, but for most other scenarios, the call quality is more than good enough.

Sound Quality

• 6mm dynamic drivers
• Custom EQ mode

When you look at the price of the Go Sport+, it’s natural to think and expect the sound quality to be just okay. Having tested the JLab Go Air Sport, I know that JLab is capable of producing the goods and I’d say the Go Sport+ delivers.

Like the Go Air Sport, the Sport+ features 6mm dynamic drivers and has a 20Hz – 20kHz frequency response range. Sonically, the Go Sport+ sound bright, energetic and pretty enjoyable, and that’s even before venturing into the JLab companion smartphone app to see what else you can play with.

In that app you’ll find an equalizer with three presets and a custom EQ mode. You’ll additionally find a safe hearing mode to cap maximum listening volume, and a Be Aware listening mode to keep you in tune with sounds around you. This can be activated from the onboard controls, which is good to see.

I’ve been pretty surprised by how balanced they sound for a budget set of earbuds. That’s usually the aspect that gets trodden on with overbearing bass at the price point, but that’s not the case with the Go Sport+.

If you want a meatier, bassier sound, you can absolutely get it. On Jamie xx’s Gosh and Massive Attack’s Teardrop, there’s good power and bass is woolly, perhaps bleeding a little to create a bit of vocal muffling, but there’s overall a good sound profile and shows that the default JLab Signature EQ preset works well for most audio you throw at it.

On Jill Scott’s Golden, some of the more quieter aspects of the track can display just the softest hissing. It was a similar story on Marvin Gaye’s Inner City Blues. It never feels detrimental to what the Go Sport+ can punch out, which is bold and bright. No, mids aren’t supremely detailed nor is the treble performance top tier, but what you do get shows the Go Sport+ are more than punching above its weight.

Should you buy it?