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I'm an ANC guy.

No noise for me, no how, no way.

I want to listen to what I'm listening to and the rest of the world can just carry on without me.

When it comes to earbuds, I need a nice tight seal for effective passive noise cancellation and then I need a chip with an algorithm that samples the background and kills it dead.

Ironically, this obsession with noise reduction isn't even so I can get the most out my favourite playlists. Truth be told, I tend to listen to more podcasts than music. But when you only have two or three people talking, there's a lot of space for unwanted aural distractions to sneak in.

So one thing's for sure, I've never been a fan of so-called "open-fit" earbuds. I get that they might be more comfortable - but at what price? Bad sound? What's the point?

The moment I started listening with the JBL Sense Lite buds, everything I thought I knew about true-wireless headphones went out the window.

Lets start with the comfort thing. These may well be the most comfortable earbuds I've ever worn. There's no twisting or bending required, no need to change out ear tips to find the right size. The cunningly crafted hook design is perfectly balanced so there's no way to not place them in exactly the right position. And that's right where they'll stay, with the speakers close to - but not inside - the ear canal, regardless of how rigorously you may be exercising, running, cycling, gardening... whatever.

The Sense Lite buds are IP54-rated against water and dust - so not submergible but definitely impervious to rain and dirt.

This kind of over-ear, hook form factor often means a large, thick, unwieldy charging case but again, here JBL has paid plenty of attention to designing something slim, light and pocketable. Unfortunately, the case doesn't charge wirelessly, which is usually a red-line requirement for me. The exception to that rule comes if the device in question offers enduring battery life. With JBL Sense Lite you get up to 8 hours continuous playback with another 24 in the case. That means I've been using them for a week and the LED indicator is still only down to two-thirds. I think I can live with plug-in charging for battery performance like that - especially when a mere ten minutes via USB-C will be good for another three hours listening.

With no ANC to worry about, setup is simple. You'll get a Fast-Pair prompt on compatible phones and you can connect simultaneously to two devices at once. As you'd expect, EQ and control customisations can be made through the JBL Headphones app. Bluetooth 5.4 means exceptional range and reliability. It also means a very lag-free experience when using the Sense Lites to watch video or to game with.

But enough of those boring details. Let me try and make it clear to you how unbelievably good these things sound. Because of the open-ear fit, yes, you'll hear most of what's going on around you; traffic, machinery, conversations etc. Despite that, those ambient noises don't intrude like they do when you choose Ambient Aware mode on other noise cancelling earbuds. Instead, the Sense Lites rely on something JBL calls "OpenSound Technology" to beam what you're listening to, directly into your ears with surprisingly little leakage to anyone around you.

Peter Gabriel is one of those artists who's kind of next-level when it comes to production standards. "Digging In the Dirt" is one of my favourite tracks of his - a sleazy, grimy, maybe even psychotic journey through sound, featuring a raft of clever guitar effects, chunky synth and electronic drum riffs that layer up and down throughout the song. The Sense Lite buds absolutely do this track justice, precisely placing each element left, right, up or down just as Gabriel intended.

"Send My Love" by Adele starts small, over a muted acoustic guitar, then swells for the chorus. But even from the first few lines, her uniquely powerful pipes resonate around my head, almost as though I'm listening to her sing from inside my own brain.

Somehow, JBL achieves all this with a couple of 18x11mm drivers that aren't even really in my ears; merely suspended next to them. Whatever "JBL OpenSound Technology" is, it works.

There are also two beamforming mics built into each bud tuned to capture your voice amazingly clearly for calls or video - as I demonstrate in the video below. Just as I thought wind noise would be a major issue when listening to the Sense Lites, I assumed the mics would catch plenty of wind when outside too. However, there's another algorithm to tackle wind noise and the whole physical design is about keeping the mic feed clean and clear. I've certainly had no complaints from anyone on the other end of the line.

No complaints from me either. And I honestly can't believe it. These things are so comfortable, I forget I'm wearing them. I don't have to take them off to have a conversation, I just press pause and can hear the other person perfectly clearly. Battery life is exceptional and the sound quality is right up there.

Who would have thought it?