Odi Productions
In this article, I’m going to share my HONEST JBL Tune 520BT review for those who are wondering whether they are WORTH IT in 2026. I’ll also be comparing the JBL Tune 520BT vs Tune 720BT, Tune 770NC, Sony WH-CH720N, Beats Solo 4, JBL Live 770NC, and more!
I’m going to do my best to share whether these headphones are worth it, and ideally who these headphones are for. I bought these headphones with my own money, and was NOT sponsored, paid, or received a free copy for review. All thoughts are my own.
I’ll be sharing my critical opinion with 10 years of experience as a professional music producer, audio engineer, and tech journalist. I also run the RecordingNow YouTube channel with over 25,000+ subscribers and over 5 million views.
Let’s dive right in!
JBL Tune 520BT Headphones Review in Short
The JBL Tune 520BT is a lightweight and surprisingly great-sounding headphone for its sub-$50 price, with 57 hours of battery life. On the downside, the on-ear design isn’t the most comfortable, it lacks active noise cancelling, and does feel very cheap. Competes with JBL Tune 720BT, JBL Tune 770NC, Sony WH-CH720N, Beats Solo 4, Soundcore Space One, JBL Live 770NC, and Anker Soundcore Life Q30.
Pros and Cons
- Great sound quality for the price
- Very cheap
- Lightweight
- 57 hour battery life
- Slightly uncomfortable on-ear design
- No active noise cancelling
- Cheap build quality
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Disclosure: These affiliate links may provide a discount and in return, give us a commission in order to keep this website 100% independent to ensure honest unfiltered reviews 🙂
Sound Quality
Full Sound Quality Test
Being a sub-$50 headphone with an on-ear design, I wasn’t sure what to expect for sound quality.
However, I’ve reviewed many JBL headphones in the past, and typically their sound quality punches well above their price.
The same is true with the JBL Tune 520BT.
Don’t let the budget price fool you, the sound quality on the Tune 520BT is surprisingly decent, and definitely better than its price bracket.
The stock sound profile is a satisfying bass-forward consumer-friendly profile while still keeping the vocals clear and not muddied up.
There isn’t a ton of soundstage partly due to being an on-ear design, but the music is in your face and intimate, which can work for the modern genres.
The bass is easily the star of the show, it’s pretty punchy and impactful for relatively smaller 33mm dynamic drivers.
There isn’t a ton of sub-bass compared to other JBL headphones I’ve tested, but the bass is still quite satisfying.
The overall resolution and separation is not anything special when compared to the much more expensive flagship headphones we’ve tested, but it’s better than I expected at the price.
Overall, this is a fun, bass-heavy, and energetic sound that is much better than the pricetag suggests.
Sound Quality Comparisons
vs JBL Tune 720BT
The Tune 720BT is the more premium, larger over-ear model compared to the 520BT’s on-ear design.
While the 520BT sounds surprisingly good for a cheap, on-ear headphone, the 720BT elevates this to a new level thanks to its larger 40mm drivers (compared to 33mm on the 520BT).
The 720BT also has the advantage of being a larger over-ear design, so the interior earcup space allows for slightly better acoustics.
Overall, the 720BT has a higher resolution and more detailed sound that reaches to lower sub-bass and more treble detail.
Both headphones have impressive sound quality that is above their respective prices.
vs Beats Solo 4
The Beats Solo 4 is arguably the most popular on-ear wireless headphone, and is about 3 times the price of the Tune 520BT.
That said, I surprisingly prefer the sound of the much cheaper Tune 520BT, as it has a more satisfying bass response, while matching the Solo 4 in the mids and treble.
The Solo 4 has a pretty good sound signature that is more neutral and refined than I was expecting, but I think the more consumer-friendly and bass-heavy sound of the Tune 520BT is the superior move for a product like this.
Sound Quality Score: 7.6 out of 10
Comfort
The JBL Tune 520BT is the lightest in weight for the wireless noise cancelling headphones as weighed on my scale:
- JBL Tune 520BT – 158.6 grams
- Sony WH-CH720N – 186.4 grams
- Beats Solo 4 – 217.6 grams
- Sennheiser Accentum – 223.0 grams
- JBL Tune 720BT – 223.2 grams
- Sennheiser Accentum Plus – 225.8 grams
- JBL Tune 770NC – 227.1 grams
- Skullcandy Hesh ANC – 229.6 grams
- Bose QuietComfort – 236.1 grams
- Sony WH 1000XM5 – 245.9 grams
- Sony WH 1000XM4 – 251.6 grams
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra – 254.4 grams
- JBL Live 770NC – 254.5 grams
- Anker Soundcore Space One – 260.6 grams
- Anker Soundcore Space 2 – 262.8 grams
- Anker Soundcore Life Q30 – 264.6 grams
- Beats Studio Pro – 268.6 grams
- CMF Headphone Pro – 280.8 grams
- Anker Soundcore Space One Pro – 286.3 grams
- Sennheiser Momentum 4 – 292.9 grams
- Anker Soundcore Space Q45 – 297.5 grams
- Nothing Headphone (a) – 311.4 grams
- Sonos Ace – 318.1 grams
- Nothing Headphone (1) – 328.3 grams
- Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 – 332.3 grams
- Apple AirPods Max – 387.8 grams
The JBL Tune 520BT is the lightest headphone we’ve tested to date, with much of that due to being an on-ear design that is naturally much smaller than full-sized over-ears that we typically test.
The on-ear design and rather cheap earpad cushions result in the Tune 520BT being less comfortable than the weight suggests on paper.
Also, the clamping force is quite strong from the factory, but loosens up a little over time.
Overall, I find the Tune 520BT to be somewhat comfortable after the clamping force loosens up, but much prefer over-ears that don’t put as much pressure directly on the ears.
Comfort Score: 6.5 out of 10
Features / Battery Life / Build Quality / Practicality
Features
The JBL Tune 520BT was originally released in March 2024, so they have many modern wireless headphone features:
- Built-in microphones for taking calls
- Bluetooth 5.3
- Multi-point connection
- 5-band Custom EQ
- Foldable design
- Stereo cable
Battery Life
The JBL Tune 520BT has 57 hours of battery life and does not include ANC.
- Nothing Headphone (a) – 75 hours (ANC on), 135 hours (ANC off)
- Marshall Monitor III – 70 hours (ANC on), 100 hours (ANC off)
- Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 SE – 60 hours (ANC on), 100 hours (ANC off)
- Sennheiser HDB 630 – 60 hours
- Sennheiser Momentum 4 – 60 hours
- Sennheiser Momentum 5 – 57 hours
- Anker Soundcore Space 2 – 50 hours (ANC on), 70 hours (ANC off)
- Anker Soundcore Space Q45 – 50 hours (ANC on), 65 hours (ANC off)
- JBL Live 770NC – 50 hours (ANC on), 65 hours (ANC off)
- JBL Tune 520BT – 57 hours (no ANC included)
- Sennheiser Accentum Plus – 50 hours (ANC on)
- Sennheiser Accentum – 50 hours (ANC on)
- Beats Solo 4 – 50 hours (no ANC included)
- JBL Tune 770NC – 44 hours (ANC on), 70 hours (ANC off)
- Anker Soundcore Space One Pro – 40 hours (ANC on), 60 hours (ANC off)
- Anker Soundcore Space One – 40 hours (ANC on), 55 hours (ANC off)
- Nothing Headphone (1) – 35 hours (ANC on), 80 hours (ANC off)
- Sony WH-1000XM6 – 30 hours (ANC on), 40 hours (ANC off)
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) – 30 hours
- Sony WH-1000XM5 and WH-1000XM4 – 30 hours
- Sonos Ace – 30 hours
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra (1st Gen) – 24 hours
- Apple AirPods Max 1 and 2 – 20 hours
In my testing, I found this rating to be accurate.
57 hours would be considered above average, but it’s important to note that the JBL Tune 520BT does NOT include noise cancelling, which uses up more battery in general.
There is a fast-charge feature that adds 3 hours with just 5 minutes of charging time.
Build Quality
The JBL Tune 520BT absolutely feels very cheap, and in all fairness, it is cheap at under $30 on sale.
Price aside, the Tune 520BT feels like one of those free headphones the airlines gives you on an international flight.
It’s entirely plastic with cheap earpad cushions that aren’t very plush or supportive.
Practicality
What the JBL Tune 520BT has going for it is being incredibly lightweight and compact, 57 hour battery life, and decent sound quality for its price.
On the downside, the build quality is incredibly cheap and it has no active noise cancelling.
This makes for a workable daily driver, but not the most ideal for travel as ANC is much-needed.
Features / Battery Life / Build Quality / Practicality Score: 6.0 out of 10
Does JBL Tune 520BT have noise cancelling?
The JBL Tune 520BT does NOT have any active noise cancelling technology, or transparency mode.
It relies on passive noise isolation due to its physical on-ear design.
The Tune 520BT doesn’t really block a lot of noise because the material and earpads are quite thin, so it scores rather poorly here.
Noise Cancelling Performance Score: 2.0 out of 10
Value
The JBL Tune 520BT retails at $59.95 USD, but is currently around $29 to $40 market price brand new.
Honestly, despite not scoring particularly well across most categories, I think the sound quality alone makes the 520BT absolutely worth its price.
Due to being quite cheap, these don’t have active noise cancelling which can be a deal-breaker feature.
Also, the build quality is just as cheap as the price suggests.
But it’s hard to be picky at this price, especially with how good they sound.
Value Score: 9.5 out of 10
Overall Scoring Breakdown
Sound Quality (50% of score): 7.6 / 10
Comfort (10% of score): 6.5 / 10
Features / Battery Life / Build Quality / Practicality (10% of score): 6.0 / 10
Noise Cancelling (20% of score): 2.0 / 10
Value (10% of score): 9.5 / 10
Overall: 6.40 / 10
Is the JBL Tune 520BT Worth it?
Overall, I actually like the JBL Tune 520BT due to its surprisingly good sound quality for the price.
They do feel quite cheap, I’m not a fan of the on-ear design in general, and not having noise cancelling can be a deal-breaker.
I do think they’re absolutely worth their price, especially on sale, for sound quality alone.
Otherwise, the rest of the JBL lineup such as the full-size over-ears with noise cancelling like the Tune 770NC or Live 770NC are more complete headphones all-around.
Some very strong alternatives in this class of wireless headphones are:
- JBL Tune 720BT
- JBL Tune 770NC
- JBL Live 770NC
- Sony WH-CH720N
- Beats Solo 4
- Beats Studio Pro
- CMF Headphone Pro
- Anker Soundcore Space Q45
- Anker Soundcore Space One
- Sennheiser Accentum
- Anker Soundcore Space 2
- Sony ULT Wear
- Anker Soundcore Space One Pro
- CMF Headphone Pro
- Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2
I highly recommend you check those out next!
Order HERE for the LOWEST PRICE AVAILABLE (Do NOT pay retail):
Save money with RENEWED!
Disclosure: These affiliate links may provide a discount and in return, give us a commission in order to keep this website 100% independent to ensure honest unfiltered reviews 🙂
How We Tested and Our Methodology
RecordingNOW.com is a 100% independent publisher with over 10 years of experience testing and reviewing consumer electronics and headphones.
We currently purchase the products we test with our own money, and are not paid by any company or manufacturer to influence our opinions or decisions.
After purchasing the product, we conduct up to hundreds of hours of detailed hands-on testing in a controlled, acoustically-treated environment.
ODi Productions is our resident expert and author of this article, with 10 years of experience as a professional music producer, tech journalist, and audiophile.
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