While wireless earbuds are better and more popular than ever, headphones still have some key advantages, such as battery life and sound quality. It used to be difficult to get quality headphones without paying a lot of money for them, but that’s no longer the case. The Treblab Z2 wireless headphones offer great sound quality at a reasonable price, as long as you’re willing to give up some features.
Treblab has been selling the Z2 headphones for several years, but they’ve recently been updated to include USB-C, better drivers, Bluetooth 5.3, and a more compact foldable design. They may not be fancy, but they excel at covering the basics.
Treblab Z2 Headphones
The Treblab Z2 headphones perform very well. The sound quality is good, the battery life is excellent, and the noise cancellation is better than we expected. They’re let down by a confusing product menu and the lack of a companion app, but that’s not enough to ruin the experience these headphones offer.
- Noise cancellation
- Battery life
- IPX4 water resistance
- There is no companion app.
- Difficult product page
Price, availability and specifications
Make sure you get the right replacement.
The Treblab Z2s were listed for $90 but are currently $70. These discounts are frequent, so $70 is what you’ll likely pay. Now, there are a few oddities surrounding these headphones that need explaining before we go any further. The original Treblab Z2s had a Micro USB port, Bluetooth 5.0, and smaller drivers. They also weren’t foldable, making them a pain to carry around in a bag. Sometime last year, the headphones were revised with larger 40mm drivers, Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C, and a hinge that allowed them to fold.
But the oddity lies in the store listings. On Amazon, both types of headphones are sold at the same price and share the same store listing, with the older pair of micro-USB headphones called the Black Edition and the newer USB-C model listed as Black-A. On Treblab, the newer headphones are listed in black and the older ones in silver, also at the same price.
This makes it very easy to spend the same amount of money on older, worse headphones. So if you decide to buy these, which are good headphones, make sure to get the ones listed with USB-C and Bluetooth 5.3. To make things a little easier, the carrying case shown in the store listing is different for the two models, so if you order the one that matches our pictures, you should be fine.
Design and Fit
Firm but comfortable
The Treblab Z2s are comfortable for a range of head sizes and shapes. The band and earcups have soft foam cushions that keep the headphones in place when you move around while maintaining comfort. The headband also has plenty of adjustments, so they’ll fit even if you have a larger head like mine. They do compress quite firmly; they’re designed to be worn while exercising, after all, but the soft cushions keep them from getting uncomfortable.
There’s nothing special about the design, but they still look good. The outer cups are made of metal and have the Treblab logo printed on them. The metal feels great to the touch, but dust and other debris tend to stick to the grooves. On the inside, the cups are marked with a large L and R, making it easy to tell which way to wear them at a glance.
On the back of the right cup you’ll find the 3.5mm AUX jack and basic controls. The addition of an audio jack and a long AUX cable is also welcome, allowing you to use the headphones with older devices that lack Bluetooth or with a game console/PC without any additional lag. The play/pause button is designed for easy access and is located next to the volume buttons. The left cup houses a noise cancellation switch and an LED indicator for battery level and Bluetooth status.
One of the biggest advantages of this version of the Z2s over the original model is portability. A hinge on the top of each cup allows the Z2s to fold into a smaller size. The old headphones took up most of the space in a standard backpack, but the hinge goes a long way toward solving that problem.
The box includes the aforementioned AUX cable, a USB-C charging cable, a cute carrying case for the headphones, and all the included accessories.
Sound and call quality
No transparency mode
This is where I liked the Treblab Z2s the most. I’m used to decent sound from the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, even though they’re earbuds, and the Z2s come close to matching that for a fraction of the price. The lows and mids are pretty much the same, coming through loud and clear without overwhelming your ears. The higher frequencies sound good but lack clarity compared to the mids and lows. However, it’s not very noticeable, and only comes up for me when listening to movie music with high-pitched string instruments or certain tones in the What about us? Through Within Temptation when the singer reaches high operatic notes.
Call quality is a weak point of the Z2s. In my tests, I could hear everyone fine, but my voice was a bit muffled. It wasn’t so bad that people couldn’t hear me; conversations continued without issue. It was just a noticeable difference in quality compared to the phone itself or the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro.
Volume is not an issue for these 40mm speakers. The sound doesn’t distort at maximum volume, but you’re unlikely to turn it up that high. On average, I kept the volume at 45%, even in noisy environments.
The active noise cancellation (ANC) feature is solid. It sits somewhere between the original Galaxy Buds Pro and the Buds 2 Pro. Disturbing sounds like a nearby fan, car engine, or people talking nearby are easily blocked out. Louder sounds, like passing sirens, cut through the earphones, and you can still hear strong winds.
Overall, ANC handles most of what you might want to handle without making you feel cut off from the world. ANC doesn’t get much better in this price range, and if that’s particularly important to you, you’ll want to get something more expensive, like the Sony WH-1000XM5 or Bose QuietComfort headphones.
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One downside is that the active noise cancellation feature works on a toggle switch that can be activated even if the headphones are turned off. This can be great if you want to block out noise without listening to anything, but it can also be annoying. If you don’t remember to turn off the active noise cancellation, you may have to turn off the headphones. and When you remove this power, it will revert to a dead battery next time.
Another welcome addition is the 3.5mm jack. I’ve used this a lot with the Steam Deck, as plugging it into the headphone jack eliminates latency. That’s not to say that latency is usually an issue; I didn’t experience any lip-sync issues when watching YouTube videos over Bluetooth. But in a more competitive gaming environment, a wired connection is preferable.
It’s also a great way to relive memories from time to time. I recently found a Panasonic portable tape player that my family bought me on our first big holiday when I was five or six. All these years later, it still works, and it’s been a lot of fun listening to old tapes my mom made for me on the Treblabs.
These headphones do not have any kind of transparency or pass-through mode. The only way to hear what’s going on around you clearly is to remove the headphones, which can be uncomfortable.
programming
There is none.
My only disappointment with these earbuds is the software: they don’t have any. The earbuds connect directly via Bluetooth without an app to control features or update software. This approach has its pros and cons. I like that they work the same way on every device I use them with, unlike the Galaxy Buds, which don’t have an iOS app. But I do wish I could use the app to control certain things instead of relying on button combinations.
One quirk is how it reports the battery level. I have no idea why this works the way it does, but it only reports the battery level in 10% increments. So once it drops to 99%, your phone’s battery widget will show a 90% battery level. It will stay at that 90% level until it drops to 89%, which means there’s 80% left. Thankfully, the Treblab Z2s last long enough on a charge that this isn’t a major concern.
Despite the lack of an app, the Z2s still have smart features like multi-device pairing. They can connect to two devices at once and switch between them based on what you’re doing. For example, while working, I connected them to my computer and my Galaxy S24 Ultra. The headphones would automatically switch between them when I was listening to music on my computer or receiving a phone call on my phone.
Battery life
Voice for days
Charging takes a while. It will take three hours to charge from 0 to 100%, but that’s not too bad considering how long this charge will last. Treblab claims a charge will last 35 hours, and that’s pretty much exactly what I saw with ANC on. I’ve never wished these headphones would last longer, and the charging speed didn’t bother me either. Once they showed 10%, I plugged them in when I went to sleep and woke up with a full charge.
a race
There’s some strong competition in this price range these days. Sony even has ANC earphones for a similar price to the Z2s. Is there anything that makes these earphones stand out from the crowd? The balanced package combined with the IPX4 water resistance makes these earphones a solid choice for people who want to wear them to the gym. The clamping force keeps them in place, while the IPX4 rating will protect them from sweat.
EarFun’s Wave Pro headphones offer great value for $80 and have a feature-packed app with lots of useful ANC modes, including one designed to filter out wind. But the soundstage is very narrow. The Sony WH-CH520s offer better sound and also have a companion app. If those are your priorities, you should go ahead and get them.
Both options lack the moisture protection or the clamping force needed to stay on your head during activity. The Z2s balance sound and battery life well enough, and their IPX4 rating makes them a better choice for runners and gym-goers.
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Should you buy them?
If you want to move it, move it.
There are plenty of options out there, some sound better, some last longer, and some are cheaper. Still, the Treblab Z2s are a good pair of headphones, and their IPX4 rating makes them stand out from the rest at this price. The weirdness surrounding the modified models complicates things, but as long as you’re careful when ordering, you should get the pair you expect.
Treblab Z2 Headphones
There’s stiff competition in the noise-canceling headphone space, but the Treblab Z2s offer enough to be worth considering. The sound is well-balanced, the noise cancellation is above average, and the battery life doesn’t leave much to be desired. If you don’t mind giving up luxuries like an app to control the software, these are a great option.
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