Are you a person who prefers separate audio gear for workouts, Commutes, calling, and listening to music? Some of you may have different headphones to perform the tasks mentioned above. But if you are looking for an all-rounder, we have JBL Live 670NC noise-cancelling headphones for you. Whether this $130 headphone is enough for you or do you need to look somewhere else? We will try to answer this question in today's review of JBL Live 670NC.
Pros:
Cons:
Sound
Build
Battery
Value
What’s in the box?
- LIVE 670NC headphones
- Charging cable
- 3.5mm audio cable
- Carrying pouch
Who should get JBL Live 670NC?
These are suitable for commuters, casual listeners, and frequent travelers as well as working professionals.
Bottom Line:
As I said, if you want headphones that shine in all areas, JBL Live 670NC is a decent choice. What do you get by spending $130? Solid build with portable design which is easy to keep in your bag, massive 65 hours’ battery with fast charging that gives you 4 hours of playtime with just 5 minutes’ charge, stable connectivity if you are using these as wireless headphones and if your battery is dead, you can go as a wired headphone. Then comes the punchy bass and JBL sound signature with some EQ presets which is truly a joyful experience of listening to music.
What's missing with these headphones? No IP rating means no protection against water and dust, and no premium codec like LDAC, you get only AAC and SBC. But I wouldn't consider it as a drawback because premium codec consumes more battery which reduces overall battery playtime.
JBL connect app is also a must-use feature with its user-friendly interface and lot of customization options. Overall, I would be happy to recommend JBL Live 670NC headphones.
You have two exciting options when you want to talk to anybody. Talk thru is a feature minimizes the volume of your music as soon as you keep your hand on the earcup or auto play/pause feature which automatically pauses the music when you remove the headset. It's your choice what to use but these features add convenience to the user for sure.
Overall, it's a value-for-the-money wireless headphone with a great build, foldable design, good looking with four color options, plenty of features to make your life stress-free and the most significant is they sound good. I would rate these 8.5 out of 10.
How is the Design and Build Quality of JBL Live 670NC?
Let's start with the form factor. JBL Live 670NC is an On-ear headphone with a folding mechanism. It's light weight weighing almost 219g. It has hinges which able to rotate the earcups. This rotating enables the headphones to sit comfortably around the neck. JBL Live 670NC is compact and has small earcups which give good isolation from the noise with its adequate clamping force. After a couple of hours, you need to take them off and wear them again otherwise the clamping force may hurt your ears.
Earcups have enough padding which feels comfortable to ears. The cushion is thick enough so that your ears don't touch the drivers directly. Earcups are circular shaped and in my opinion, these aren't suitable for big ears. In the same way, small-size headphones like JBL 670NC may not suit the big heads. look wise these feels premium. The reason is they are made up of high-quality plastic. JBL is a big name and these audio gear's build quality matches the brand name. The headband is comfortable with a cloth cover and looks premium but difficult to clean.
JBL Live 670NC package includes a 3.5mm cable, USB C charging cable, and carrying pouch. The soft carrying pouch doesn't give any protection to the headphones. JBL Live 670NC isn't waterproof or has no IP rating which is a little bit disappointing because its design and build is ideal for commuting and workouts but no protection against sweat and rain is a big constraint.
The charging port is on the left earcup and all control buttons are on the right earcup. It has touch control as well as buttons to perform necessary functions. It has a button for ANC/ambient mode, play/pause the music, increase/decrease volume, voice assistant, and talk thru, Bluetooth button.
Now Let's see how the touch control works. I found the touch control difficult to operate with one finger. It's better to perform touch control with the two fingers.
Touch once: play and pause
Double tap: Skip the track
Triple tap: go to the previous track
You can also perform the same tasks with the help of the JBL headphones app.
I must tell you that these JBL Live 670NC are available in four colors. Blue, white, Black, and Sandstone are the available options. Overall, I would rate 670NC 8 out of 10 for the design and build quality. Premium look, durable build, and portable design are the pros but no IP rating slightly larger touch controls, and circular, small earcups are the downsides.
How is the Sound Performance of JBL Live 670NC?
The most significant part for which you prefer names like JBL, and Sony is their ability to reproduce premium sound quality and JBL 670NC isn't an exception. Whether it's $100 headphones or $500 speaker of JBL, you get the signature sound of JBL.
The bass and Sub-bass were quite impressive. The real joy starts when you play these cans with the EQ presets through the JBL app. If you want punchy bass JBL 670NC is the right choice for you. Though it isn't balanced at mids like some audiophile headphones, changes in EQ presets manage the balance well.
Every instrument and vocals are crystal clear at the low end but sometimes at the mids and highs, it lacks in the instrument separation area. But the consistent frequency response even after turning on the ANC is the noticeable and impressive part that you may lack in many ANC headphones.
Overall, I would rate 8 out of 10 for the sound quality of JBL Live 670NC wireless headphones. You can also go for these if you are a working professional looking for clear phone calls. It gives you clear calls even in windy situations and in crowded places.
How is the Connectivity of JBL Live 670NC?
Wired and wireless connectivity allows you to use JBL Live 670NC in any situation. No matter whether your headphone's battery has power or it's dead, your busy day will keep going on. It has 5.3 Bluetooth with stable connectivity.
Unfortunately, you get only SBC and AAC codecs. Considering the price that's ok but when you have some other options like Anker SoundCore Space one with LDAC support along with SBC and AAC, it's confusing to choose the right one, but it's not the only parameter to make the final decision.
another significant feature to mention is multipoint connectivity which allows you to connect JBL Live 670NC up to 2 devices. Now it's easy to watch your favourite movie on a laptop and take a phone call at the same time. I must not forget to tell you that you can't have ANC, Ambient mode, and talk through with the wired mode.
Is the JBL headphones app useful?
To get the most out of it, you must download and use the app. This app allows you to choose EQ preset. You can also customize the EQ. Some other features like activating noise cancelling or ambient mode, and talk-thru mode which decreases the music volume automatically so that you can communicate with your friend without any disturbance of music.
You even don't need to remove the headphones. Using the voice assistant feature is also possible with the app. JBL headphones app also helps you to choose the right ear tip size to give you the best possible fit. It has the smart audio and video feature which gives you the best possible experience of watching videos and listening to music.
How is the Charging and Battery performance of JBL Live 670NC?
If you are fed up with frequent charging to your headphones and looking for a better alternative, JBL Live 670NC can be your companion. Because it lasts up to 65 hours with the ANC off and 50 hours with the ANC on. Our testing says that it lasts even more than 65 hours which is pretty impressive.
With the ANC it reaches up to 54 hours and 20 minutes. The volume level at the time of testing was 55%. JBL Live 670NC takes 3 hours if it's dead. Does JBL 670NC have a quick charging feature? Yes, it gives you 4 hours of playtime with the 5 minutes charging. Now let's see what the LED light indicates about the charging and other functions.
When light blinks red, it means your JBL 670NC needs charging. Stable red means the headphones are charging. The solid black colour means the headphones are fully charged. For the battery backup and charging, I would rate 9 out of 10 for the JBL Live 670NC.
