JLab already sells a budget pair of noise-canceling wireless earbuds with the ANC 3 for $59.99, but at $29.99, the company's new Go Pop ANC are half the price while still offering features like an amplification mode of ambient noise and up to 21 hours of battery life with active ANC.
While we haven't tested it, for $29.99 we don't necessarily expect the JLab Go Pop ANC's active noise cancellation performance to match the capabilities of industry-leading offerings from companies like Sony. The Go Pop ANC is based on just two microphones in a feed-forward system that detects and cancels external noise. More advanced and expensive ANC systems use a hybrid approach with additional microphones in the ear that can detect and remove a wider range of frequencies.
According to JLab, the Go Pop ANC's battery life can last up to seven hours with the headphones alone, or up to 24 hours with the charging case with ANC turned off. Once you start blocking out the noisy world, the battery life drops to six hours with the headphones or up to 21 hours with the case. Should they fail unexpectedly, a 10-minute charge provides an extra hour of playback, while the charging case has a built-in USB-C cable so you never have to search for one.
The 10-millimeter drivers in the Go Pop ANC are much larger than those JLab uses in similarly priced earbuds like the $25 Go Air Pop. Like the more expensive JLab ANC 3, the Go Pop ANC headphones have touch controls for turning on ANC or amplifying ambient sounds and controlling playback without having to pick up the phone. However, if you want to switch between EQ presets or change how the earbuds' touch controls work, you'll have to reach for your mobile devices and use JLab's accompanying app.
Other features include IP55 waterproofing so you can use it in the rain or when you sweat heavily, support for Bluetooth 5.3, multi-device connectivity, and Google Fast Pair. Bluetooth codec support is limited to SBC, which offers the lowest bitrate and sound quality. This could result in the Go Pop ANC becoming a spare earbud that you keep in your backpack rather than with your daily drivers.