JBL E55BT Bluetooth Headphone

Performance

On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the headphones deliver a powerful thump that doesn’t distort even at top, unwise volume levels. At more moderate volume levels, the drivers still deliver a laudable deep bass response, but it’s all balanced out with very crisp, well-defined high-mids and highs.

Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with less deep bass in its mix, gives us a better sense of the general sound signature. The drums on this track get some added bass presence, giving them far more depth than they typically have, but the boosting never sounds unnatural. Callahan’s baritone vocals get a solid low-mid richness, but is matched by plenty of presence in the high-mids and highs, bringing out the treble edge of the vocals and allowing the acoustic guitar’s attack to have a little extra high frequency contour. In other words, there’s plenty of bass boosting, but not an obscene level, and the sculpted highs also help balance it out nicely.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, get a little more added bass depth than purists might want. The lower register intrumentation has some added richness and bounce as a result, but the spotlight still shines on the higher register brass, strings, and vocals—they have a natural brightness that is further enhanced by sculpting and boosting in the higher ranges.