JBL is always a big brand amongst audiophiles and common music listeners as well. They provide some excellent music devices from budget to high-end price and from casual listener to professionals. Recently in India, they announced their new sub-brand named as “Infinity – by Harman”. Those who don’t know about Harman, JBL is also a brand by Harman company. Why this is a JBL sub-brand? Because officially these earphones are fine-tuned by JBL only.
So to test out what’s so special in this Infinity brand? We decided to review one of its entry-level earphones today. They launched two budget earphones named as Infinity Zip 20 and Zip 100. We are reviewing Zip 100 today. Both have a price gap of ₹100 and I found two difference between both, and that I will talk about in the later part of this review. So without wasting any more time, let’s jump into our review of Infinity Zip 100.
In-box content: Infinity (JBL) Zip 100 Review
This Zip 100 earphone comes in a very tiny box that can be easily handled with one hand. Inside it, we can find the earphone (of course) and two extra pairs of earbuds. One is pre-attached to the earphone and the other two are smaller and bigger than the pre-attached. The packaging is nice in this segment, and minimal materials are used here.
Build Quality: Infinity (JBL) Zip 100 Review
For the asking price, the build quality of this earphone is very good. It has flat type cable which doesn’t tangle much and is durable enough to handle some rough use, but not too much. There’s an in-line microphone attached with a button to play/pause the music and receive/cut the call. The button is plastic and gives good tactile feedback while clicking. Speaking of the earphone, it’s entirely built of plastic that’s expected for this price. But the plastic used here is of good quality and don’t give it a cheap feel.
The earbuds don’t have that much rubber finish though. Also do note that these are angular designed, so it’s a personal preference if you like angular or simple earphones. Lastly, the 3.5mm jack is also made up of good quality with gold plating, and that’s where the difference between these Zip 100 and cheaper Zip 20 comes in, the Zip 20 has silver-plated jack. The gold plated jacks provide better stereo sound output than silver ones. In short, the build quality of this earphone is good, but not great.
Sound Quality: Infinity (JBL) Zip 100 Review
Sound is the most important criteria to check before buying any earphone because that’s the purpose of any earphone. This Zip 100 produce great sound for the price. It has a punchy bass for those high beat music. You will enjoy hip-hop and EDM tunes very much on this one. And as the bass is also balanced and not extremely heavy, you will enjoy it with acoustics as well. The mid-tones are also excellent on this one, which means the vocals and acoustics are crystal clear on this one. Now the high tones here is also good, the sound of instruments like the violin is also produced very well here. In simple words, this earphone provides very good sound quality in this price or one of the best in this price range.
Comfort: Infinity (JBL) Zip 100 Review
How good the sound quality of an earphone is, there’s no sense to it if you can’t wear the earphones comfortably for a longer period of time. And that’s where this Zip 100 earphone slightly lacks. The earphone is very lightweight and we just can’t feel it much in the ear. But the earbuds are a bit slippery in my liking, and here I am talking about all three sized buds. I changed the buds from another earphone and it’s as comfortable as it should be. But the in-box buds are not so good. These are not as much uncomfortable as Boat Basshead 220 earphones, which tends to drop from the ears after every minute. If you change the buds it’s extremely comfortable, but for now, it’s not so comfortable to wear.
Final Words:
Despite having some cons in this earphone, it’s one of the best earphone in this price range. Talking about the competition it’s excellent in terms of sound quality and has good built quality. The wire quality is not best in class, but quite good. The only area where it lacks is a comfort because of slippery earbuds. Apart from that, there’s no problem with this earphone. This Infinity Zip 100 is an excellent value for ₹549 in India.
So that’s our review of Infinity (by JBL) Zip 100 earphone. If you want almost slightly better mids and highs but can compromise bass and microphone, Sennheiser CX 180 is still an excellent deal, especially in running sales these days. Mi Basic is also another choice but it’s built quality is simply bad. Other JBL earphones are also good but will be priced ₹200-₹300 higher. If sound quality is not your highest priority than our previously reviewed SoundMagic ES18S is also an excellent deal, if available now. Also the House of Marley Smile Jamaica is still a very good earphone, offering the best in price built quality and good sound with comfort as well.
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