Review of JBL Tune 520 BT and JBL Tune 720 BT Wireless Headphones

JBL is a company known for its excellent sound quality. The new headphone models Tune 520 BT and 720 BT are no exception: these are lightweight wireless on-ear accessories with vibrant sound and good ergonomics.

Packaging and Contents

Both models come with a USB-C power cable, instruction manual, and warranty card. The 720 BT model also includes an audio cable for wired connection in the color of the device itself.

Design and Ergonomics

JBL 520 BT are on-ear headphones. The size of the ear pads measures 7.3 cm outside and 3.1 cm inside, meaning they rest on the outer ear.

JBL 720 BT are almost monitor headphones. The external size of the ear pad is 9.3×7.6 cm, while the internal size is 5.3×3.8, so the ear almost completely fits inside.

The material of the ear pads is eco-leather, with very soft cushions that fit snugly on the ears and do not irritate the skin. The headphones weigh 157 g and 220 g respectively.

Both models are foldable and easily fit into a regular handbag when folded.

The control elements are located on the right cup of the headphones and consist of power on/off buttons, volume adjustment, track switching, start/stop button, control LED, and microphone. The 720 BT model also includes a 3.5 mm audio jack for wired connection.

Managing both models is convenient: just bring your hand closer, and your fingers naturally fall into place. The top headband is also designed with a soft eco-leather cushion for greater comfort.

The headphone cups rotate 90 degrees.

The headband is adjustable, allowing an increase in size by 35 mm on each side.

The connecting wires are very well and neatly laid — there are special channels in the headband where nothing gets twisted or squeezed.

The headphone casing is made of durable and high-quality matte plastic, with a large engraved company logo on the outside of the cups.

Connection and Setup

The headphones easily connect to a smartphone or laptop using a standard scheme. You turn on Bluetooth, turn on the headphones, and a blue LED starts flashing on them. In the list of devices, you find JBL Tune 520 BT or 720 BT and initiate pairing. However, it is better to download the official JBL Headphones app and connect the headphones through it.

The pairing process happens almost the same way, but the configuration options through the official app are much broader.

You can download a firmware update, enable a graphic equalizer—with adjustments based on built-in presets or manually, and you can download and install a language pack for voice alerts in Russian.

You can set an automatic shutdown time, limit the maximum volume, and configure the Voice Aware system, which will allow you to hear your own voice through the microphone during a phone call.

Both models support Bluetooth 5.3 protocol, the connection is stable, and no delays or interruptions have been noticed.

Battery Life

The headphones are charged via a USB-C cable. A red LED indicates connection to the power source, and a full charging cycle takes two hours. On a full charge, the maximum playback time is 57 hours for the 520 BT model and 76 hours for the 720 BT model.

If the headphones do run out of battery, five minutes of charging will be enough for three hours of listening.

Sound Quality

The speaker size is 40 mm for the 720 BT model and 33 mm for the 520 BT model. Both deliver quality and vibrant sound across all frequencies. Any styles and genres: Vivaldi’s violin and Gangnam style, Beethoven’s piano sonatas and jazz double bass, Evanescence and Adele — sound pleasant in these headphones. The technical specifications indicate a frequency range of 20 Hz–20 kHz, but in real tests, the sound is audible starting from 10–11 Hz. The proprietary JBL Pure Bass Sound technology, developed to accentuate low frequencies, clearly extends the stated range.

JBL Tune 720 BT mainly sounds slightly better due to the larger drivers, especially in the mid frequencies. It’s more pleasant to listen to classical, opera, and jazz on them. However, with hard rock from AC/DC, strangely, the 520 model handles it slightly better, at least by subjective feelings. Apparently, something in it resonates with the music of this style and adds volume to the sound. But overall, all these differences are noticeable on the edge of comprehension and only when listening to the same musical phrases alternately on different headphones. In real life, the difference between models is practically impossible to feel.

Everyday Use

You don’t get tired of these headphones. They sit comfortably on the head, don’t press, don’t slip off, are conveniently placed in a bag, but they also don’t get in the way when just worn around the neck.

Phone calls are accepted, the interlocutor is heard well and, importantly, the interlocutor hears you perfectly as well; the microphone has good sensitivity. You can move away from the signal source up to 10 meters, and interior partition walls are not an obstacle — the sound does not lag or interrupt.

The autonomy lasts for several days of use, and you don’t even have to turn them off — they automatically turn off after 30 minutes of losing signal. And in the app, when connected, the percentage of remaining battery charge is visible.

Conclusions

The JBL Tune 520 BT and 720 BT wireless headphones are an excellent product that effectively performs its functions. They are suitable for listening to music, as a hands-free headset, for watching movies or videos on YouTube, and for games where sound effects are well transmitted. They can be recommended to anyone who needs quality sound, ease of use, and long battery life — all of this is successfully provided by JBL headphones.