JBL made the most stunning transparent earbuds, and they look straight out of The Matrix

JBL's special edition transparent emerald earbuds live the cyberpunk dream

By Vikhyaat Vivek Published May 21, 2026

JBL Soundgear Clip Special Edition brings new green color — JBL

JBL’s Soundgear Clips already had a fun little transparent gadget vibe. But the new color takes them to the next level. The company has introduced a new Emerald Green Special Edition of its Soundgear Clips open-ear earbuds in China, making it the sixth color option for the earbuds. It joins the existing Blue Ghost, Black Ghost, White Ghost, Purple Ghost, and Copper Ghost.

The transparent look meets Matrix

The Emerald Green version keeps the same see-through design as the existing Soundgear Clips colors, with a matching carrying case. While the transparent finish is part of the charm here, it isn’t something unique anymore, with Nothing being a great example, offering gorgeous transparent earbuds.

Recommended Videos

The translucent green shell, darker internal tint, and gold JBL detailing give the earbuds a very Matrix-like energy. Which is exactly what makes the availability even more frustrating. The new Emerald Green Special Edition is only available in China for now, with no word on whether JBL plans to bring the color to other regions. It is listed on JD.com for 999 Yuan, which is roughly $147 or €127.

New drip on the same earbuds

This is a design refresh rather than a new hardware model. The Soundgear Clips still use JBL’s SonicArc design with OpenSound Technology and air conduction, which is meant to keep audio more private while leaving your ears open to the world around you. Each earbud has an 11mm dynamic driver and two beamforming microphones.

You also get Bluetooth 5.4, Bluetooth Multipoint, an IP54 dust and water resistance rating, and support for the JBL Headphones app on Android and iOS. Battery life is rated at up to 8 hours on the earbuds and 32 hours total with the charging case. Now, JBL just needs to stop keeping the coolest color locked to one market.

Vikhyaat Vivek is a tech journalist and reviewer with seven years of experience covering consumer hardware, with a focus on…

Topics

Audio / Video

Stop joining group projects with a blurry laptop webcam and buy one of these instead

Your laptop webcam is sabotaging your first impression. These five can fix it

I'm holding my Logitech C920 1080p webcam in my hands.

The webcam built into your laptop might be good enough for a quick call with friends and family. But its shortcomings become much harder to ignore when you are presenting a semester project, interviewing for an internship, or maybe if you're planning to stream for fun.

Laptop cameras also tend to sit far too low, especially when the computer is placed directly on a desk. Meanwhile, a dedicated webcam lets you position the camera closer to eye level. This improves the framing and brings larger sensors, better microphones, and more effective low-light processing.

Audio / Video

I desperately want a new classic Walkman, but Sony probably can’t give me one

Tech minimalism is begging for a new Walkman. Though rebuilding it may be close to impossible

Sony Walkman WM2011

Every few months, another piece of tech that seems obsolete crawls out of a drawer and becomes cool again. The age of minimalism has revived the popularity of iPods among younger buyers. Dumbphones have become an escape hatch from endless notifications. Similarly, digital cameras are dangling from bags again. Physical media keeps attracting people who want something they can actually hold instead of another frustrating subscription.

All of this makes it the perfect time for Sony to bring back the classic Walkman, which was a phenomenon during the 80s and 90s. I would love one. Give me a compact cassette player, physical buttons, and wired headphones. Keep the apps, notifications, and algorithms that shape your taste of music. No more AI assistants or personalzied feeds, just you and your Walkman. There is only one problem though. Recreating the Walkman that people love and remember, would be far harder than putting an old design back into production.

Audio / Video

Proton reveals how smart TVs track you and the escape situation is pretty grim

Modern smart TVs fingerprint your screen content at the chipset level.

Google TV applications on the Sony A95K TV.

Your smart TV may know far more about your viewing habits than you realize, even if you rarely use its smart features. In a new privacy explainer, Proton warns that many modern TVs quietly collect data about everything displayed on the screen and share it with manufacturers, advertisers, and analytics companies.

The worrying part is that escaping this tracking is becoming increasingly difficult because many privacy controls are buried deep in settings or enabled by default. Proton argues that buying a smart TV today often means accepting a level of surveillance that most people never knowingly signed up for.