I have recently tested a variety of wireless earbuds, and the JBL Quantum TWS are the pinnacle for me. They don't necessarily have the best sound or the longest battery life, but of all the earbuds out there, these are the ones I use on a daily basis. And I have amassed quite a collection. But the JBLs are simple, effective, and feature-packed. As a whole, they just plain work.

That may seem like a given for a product from a company of its stature in 2022, but it is by no means a guarantee.

The JBL Quantums are a classic wireless product, mimicking the long-stemmed look of Apple's EarPods, but finished in black. The case also houses a USB Type-C dongle, which can be used to connect to other devices such as gaming laptops. [It's a fact that it has both Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity and 2.4GHz wireless via the Type-C dongle. And the switching is fast and the connection is robust.

Once you pair the buds via Bluetooth or connect the dongle to your PC, laptop, or Steam Deck, all you have to do is remove the buds from the charging case, turn them on, and insert them into your ear canals. It will turn on and connect immediately, and you can start using it right away.

Frankly, this is what many of the wireless earbuds I have tested recently do, and I am thankful that the bad old days of headset pairing have long since passed. Many other wireless earbuds also have touch controls, but few are as easy to use as the Quantums.

I have a soft spot for Creative's Outlier Pro buds. However, double-tapping and jabbing the earpiece to pause for a moment to buy a bus ticket is a constant frustration with the controls, or rather, the lack of controls.

The JBL Quantums, on the other hand, are easy to use, with a single tap on the right bud to pause and play, and the same single tap on the left bud to toggle active noise cancellation, ambient awareness, and sound control off. It is simple, accessible, and not frustrating to operate.

The noise-canceling feature is also adequate, even if it inevitably reduces battery life from 8 to 5 hours, and JBL's smartphone app allows you to tune it to your own ear canal, further enhancing ANC. The Outlier Pro buds have the advantage when it comes to completely blocking out the outside world, but the Quantum buds are still surprisingly effective.

But what about sound quality? I said they are not the best sound quality buds I have tested, but the sound quality is good. However, if you are using it from a USB dongle on a desktop PC, you may not want to use the QuantumSURROUND feature. In Red Dead Redemption 2, my eardrums nearly burst from the unreasonable bass after running through a bit of desert cactus.

Remove this, and the bass is much more subtle. In fact, I set the EQ to Bass with the Bluetooth connection to get a little more feeling out of "The War on Drugs," but in general it sounds better with a flat EQ. While the Type-C dongle can be plugged into a laptop or Steam Deck for latency-free playback, the Quantum is incredibly versatile.

It's also reasonably priced; the Audeze Euclids are the best-sounding earbuds I've ever used, but given that they cost $1,200, it's quite surprising that the JBLs are more everyday and a tenth the price.

There are better sounding and longer lasting earphone options, but I'm going to stick with the JBL Quantum TWS buds. It sounds great and the durability is there. I was definitely sold.