Look! It’s a pair of over-ear headphones. It’s so good-looking. It sounds so great. It’s… not JBL, Bose or Sony?!
Over a year ago, I reviewed the JLab Epic Lux Lab Edition over-ear headphones. I awarded them a 4-star rating and Tom’s Guide’s Recommended award. When I was done reviewing them and they were sitting on my apartment’s coffee table, my partner asked me if she could try them. Try them she did, and loved them as much as I did too (I’ll stop speaking like Yoda now).
The Epic Lux Lab Editions are some of the coolest-looking cans I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing — or testing, even. They don’t look like just any other pair of headphones, and they’re extremely comfortable too. What I love even more is the sound quality, which is powerful and refined, with punchy bass and clean treble. Long battery life and the highly effective ANC make these a winner, and even a year after having tested them, I still recommend them wholeheartedly. Here’s why.
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Oh-so-classy
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I remember the first time I unboxed the JLab Epic Lux Lab Edition headphones like it was only yesterday. They clearly left an impression on me and it isn’t difficult to see why. These are extremely good-looking, classy headphones. JLab is traditionally a budget brand, but these are the brand’s “premium” headphones, and they certainly look the part — and like they cost more than $150.
When I asked my partner what she thought of the Epic Lux Lab Editions, she said, ‘These are the most comfy headphones I’ve ever used.’
If you want minimalist headphones that look classy, the Epic Lux Lab Editions are the way to go. They sport an all-black design with some silver accents and tasteful branding on the earcups and headband. While they can’t fold for easy transport, they’re fairly comfortable to wear around your neck as they weigh just 10.58 ounces.
The light weight also means that you can wear them for hours on end without feeling weighed down. After all, what’s the point in spending any amount of money on cans if you can’t use them all day long? The Epic Lux Lab Editions’ headband is made of a soft mesh material while the ear cushions are made of “cloud foam” or plush faux leather. The ear cushions feel very snug and comfortable, and it feels like your ears are resting against clouds — so JLab was clearly on to something when it called the material “cloud foam.”
Overall, the Epic Lux Lab Editions are supremely comfortable. While writing this article, I wore them and then swapped to my Marshall Monitor IIIs and then back to the JLabs, and I felt like both headphones were on-par with one another in terms of comfort, which is excellent. When I asked my partner what she thought of the Epic Lux Lab Editions, she said, “These are the most comfy headphones I’ve ever used,” so there’s that.
Block out the noise
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Similar to how there’s no point in buying headphones that aren’t comfortable, it’s also a waste of your money if those headphones don’t sound excellent — and for the most part, the JLab Epic Lux Lab Editions sound excellent and balanced. They’re fitted with 32mm dynamic drivers which provide a wide soundstage and cover a wide frequency response range (20Hz-40KHz), so you can hear the sub-bass and upper ranges well.
The Epic Lux Lab Editions are outstanding for detailed listening. Every single ka-ching in Pink Floyd’s ‘Money’ sound crisp and packed full of detail, and directional audio means that you can hear the sound travel from one earcup to the other, creating an immersive soundscape.
As someone who loves discovering new sounds in songs I love, I thoroughly appreciated being able to hear the drumsticks hitting the set’s frame throughout ‘Minority’ by Green Day. The bass is hella punchy while the treble is crisp and never overzealous. Plosives and sibilance sound very clean too, and words never bleed into one another in vocal tracks.
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In addition to the lovely sound quality, the Epic Lux Lab Editions boast highly effective active noise cancellation (ANC) too. I highly recommend utilizing ANC when you’re on your daily commute so that you can block out the world and simply focus on your Wordle or catching up on the news — or if you just want to focus when you’re in the office without being disturbed.
While the ANC I think is awesome, my partner said, “Overall, the ANC is really good and I really like that I can feel immersed in the task I’m doing or the music I’m listening to, but when I’m listening to podcasts, external noise does manage to creep in when I’m walking through town, which can be a bit disruptive.” ANC will be subjective depending on your ears, so keep that in mind.
Loooooong battery life
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On top of it all, the JLab Epic Lux Lab Editions boast long battery life too: 90 hours with ANC off, and 60 hours with ANC on. For the price, I think that’s amazing. The headphones come with a really cool magnetic charging pad as well, if you want to charge them wirelessly, so you can have them on display and show them off if that’s something you like doing.
I can’t recommend the Epic Lux Lab Editions enough. I love them, my partner loves them, and I’m sure you’ll love them too. They’re priced at $199 / £199, and during sales events like Black Friday, you can find them for as little as $129 / £149! If Bose, Sony and JBL don’t tickle your fancy, I have a feeling the Epic Lux Lab Editions will.
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