JBL C100Si How can a JBL earphone cost only 8.5?

 Just 8.5 Eu ? Can this can be true for a company making the most powerful and high quality audio equipment? ? 

JBL i one of the latest companies I know wince this century . There are a lot of models sold from tis company in the local market together with Marshall especially in the big chain stores with high tech. Many of their products are priced a least 25 Eu as the Bluetooth speakers Go 2 series and the plastic headphones at Eu 29 These are the cheapest items  in the local market

I was quite curious  on ow this company wit the highest quality products could sell earphones at so lowe prices. 

As with last times, the price was found in ali -where else?- from the  JBL site. It is located in Hong Kong.

 

 

Total delivery time : 60 days relatively late but usual time in the covid period . She solution to the problem is clear : Plastic design instead of using metal materials ! But still the price is very low 

It was sent into a quite bulky pack of around 50x30 x15 for keeping the earphones box as safe as possible ... a kind of accordion  of air filled plastic airbags

 

These are all the things included inside the box : Double Info sheet mentioning Harman Kardon the first refers to security reasons of using it and the second for littering into waste . More than 40 languages are included into the folded paper except Greek.  Earphones are bonded with a twist tie nearby the plug and finally a set of tips of two types of width .The standard tips were OK for me 

BTW i was not sure that Harman Kardon is the mother company .This was one of the most HiFi system makers of the 80-90s

The cable is normally thicker than the typical earphones cable at around 1.4mm , similar to the RG14 AWG cable in  thickness. Your typical  smartcontrol is very simple just a push with the brand noticed in the button and the new diagonal designed earphones similar to most smartphone companies of today

Unfortunately the king is naked - lol . Many HIFi models offer the audio plug with a small plastic cover.  

 A nice closeup of the earphones It seems to me that the microphone is the mini hole under the tip BY the way these holes exist in both earbuds but also  in the control panel in the rear side under the button  

Operation 

This is just a typical earphone? Just testing the sound is very huge similar to the headphones . I had the typical AKG81 DJ near that and tested both . The sound was as strong as the AKG headphone. Moreover the sound has more trebles than the 81DJ! 

Using the smartphone : Thai music is very clear with a but a little loss in basses
The same for the official Greek and Chinese music channels via Youtube
I have a lot of playlists from the SE Asia

Listening the same in the mini PC : bassier with little more treble The volume level is just 10 out of 15 volume steps with my standard Sennheiser headphones HD497.

Testing a song with my Amoi DAP and PC : nearly identical except the little higher bass in the PC (<3db )

Parallel listening between Soundmagic and JBL earphones. with SM in the left ear and JBL on the right ear for the same audio channel

Testing with my ear linear Soundmagic  E11c HIFi earphones using the parallel listening method and in A/B (changing earphones) : JBL has a little higher audio level than the SM (<3db ) but the sounds are quite treblier with little more bass .This is the typical U curve most earphones use today .

 

 This is on how the inbuilt microphones respond to a series of tones to form a curve JBL has smoother curves.

As in result the earphones are a real bargain for that price not only good for using them with smartphones but also i many other uses that need some natural by design increase of audio 

Rate 4/5 The only i could not like is the plastic design that makes the price lower than the normal as with the Soundmagic Surely SM is more sturdy and time resistant then the JBL