Five stars.

With this beast of a virus having dominated our newsfeed and lives over the past two years, it’s more important than ever to be able to find moments of calm. For me, that involves two things: listening to music (and pretending that I’m at an actual gig or festival) or going in deep on a podcast. Having tested out JBL’s Live Pro+ headphones over the weekend, I can confirm that the escapism has been taken to a new level. The game has been changed.

Firstly let me say that I was skeptical that in-ear headphones could do the job of my old faithful over-ear headphones – surely these lightweight buds couldn’t soften the sound of traffic or the general chit chat that surrounds us, right? But they did. Don’t ask me how JBL’s Adaptive Noise-cancelling functions, but I figure that’s what was blocking out the random sounds of the world on my walk.

With the noise silenced, it allowed for a crisp quality of sound that you won’t get from any other in-ear headphones. Bass thumped as I blasted Kanye’s Late Registration (jogging with Ye is highly recommended) and I could hear every little inflection and change of tone when listening to my favourite true-crime podcast, Casefile, which helped me figure out who was guilty in record time.

Also, do you ever speak to people on the phone and you can tell they’ve got crappy ear-buds in? Like you can pretty much hear everything around them? Or hear them straining their voice and yelling? Well, the JBL Live Pro+ headphones have three in-built microphones which make sure only your voice is getting heard – this is obviously extremely important when you’re ordering your favourite lockdown takeaway.

Lastly, I’ve been using these headphones pretty much non-stop since I received them on Friday and have been so lost in the sounds that I’ve completely forgotten to charge them… The battery life is next level: seven hours of music playback, with over 21 hours of charge stored in the case, so you don’t have to be that person who is always looking for a powerpoint everywhere they go.

In short, you need to grab a pair of the JBL Live Pro+ headphones ASAP. Head here to score some for a super low price of $249.95 for yourself now. Happy listening.