Review: JBL Tune 520BT On-Ear Headphones

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On-ear headphones have their fans. And JBL’s Tune 520BT are aiming to please them. With a promise of affordability plus good features you want, like killer battery life, do they deliver on good quality sound above all??
In this review I’ll try the headphones out, and talk to you about the features they have. I’ll wrap up the pros and the cons and let you know if I think I can recommend these headphones for you.

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What’s in the Box?
Aside from the headphones themselves, you get a short, bright orange USB-A to USB-C charging cable along with a quick start guide and warranty information.

These are “on-ear” headphones rather than an “over-ear” headphones and depending on your preference, it is an important distinction.

On-ear headphones have small earpads that rest on your ear. While this design choice makes the JBL TUNE 520BT more portable than JBL’s higher-end models, comfort might take a back seat depending on your ear size and shape. These earcups offer a smaller soundstage too, which jives with the Tune 520BT’s small 33mm drivers.

You can swivel both earcups as well as tilt each one. The headband has some minimal padding with a clicky adjustable mechanism and are not surprisingly, are made of all plastic.


In this review I’ll try the headphones out, and talk to you about the features they have. I’ll wrap up the pros and the cons and let you know if I think I can recommend these headphones for you.


I will admit upfront I have some bias here… I am not a huge fan of on ear headphones; I just don’t generally find them to be comfortable as I don’t like things pressing on my ears too much. With that said I tried to take on this review without pre-judging this pair.

Let’s get to the biggest feature you want to hear about and that’s the sound quality. I wasn’t expecting much when it came to the sound quality but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and even impressed about what I got for the money here. The JBL Tune 510BT sound really good, and certainly better than their budget status would let on.

In short, I have nothing I can crack on when it comes to sound quality at this price point.


Both products also use the same 450 mAh lithium-ion battery which means they weigh pretty similar too. Although the battery size didn’t change, JBL claims a greatly improved battery life from up to 40 hours on the old model to up to 57 hours of music playback on the 520’s. This is good news for folks who plan on using the headphones for phone conversations as they tend to drain the battery faster. But how did JBL exactly pull this off? My guess is the improved efficiency of the Bluetooth 5.3 helps.

While the lack of audio quality improvements might seem disappointing, you can’t expect too much from a pair of headphones at this price range. Let’s go over the pros and the cons so you can see if these might be your next pair of headphones. On the pro side they sound great and far better than one would expect at this price point. They are very lightweight, and fold up small for travel. The earcups are reasonably cushy, and the amount of clamping force will help keep these on your head even while you’re moving about. They set up and pair easily and the on ear controls are easy to operate and mean you don’t always have to go fishing for your phone.

When it comes to the downsides, on their own merits these are really great headphones. My biggest complaint about them would be unfair; I’m not a fan of on ear headphones so I did find these uncomfortable to wear. But for those who appreciate this type of design, they will be really pleased with the JBL Tune 520. (Pause) JBL Tune 520 sells for about $50USD/$69CAD And you can get it from JB EL’s website or from Amazon. You can check out my review of the 710 BT headphones or see what some GBL competitors are offering… Right here.