When it comes to headphones, there are so many options to choose from. Do you need it on your ears or over your ears? Do you need sound quality to be king? Or mic quality? Do you need it to be able to cook your breakfast for you? It can be overwhelming to decide, especially with the big money that can be attached to it. Well, JBL has released the JBL Live 780NC headphones, and at under $300 it’s a shockingly solid setup, but they won’t cook you bacon and eggs.
Style and comfort
The JBL Live 780NC won’t win any awards for style. It has a simple matte design, with the ear cushions being bigger than the part that does all the magic. This is totally fine. Some people like big and flashy, some people like small and hidable, these are somewhere in between. The ones I played with were black, and I liked that style,
One major plus it has is the faux leather around the headband with some good cushioning in it. This does two things. The first is to make it super cozy on your head, and the second is to make the headset look way more expensive than it is. They certainly look premium without looking flashy. Then that same leather and generous cushioning on the ear cups make the 780NC super comfy to wear for hours on end. This is aided by the fact that they are light, and over the last few weeks I have thrown things around a lot, and despite this they never felt like they were going to break.
Functionality
This is where the JBL Live 780NC shines. The sound quality is damn great given the price, and even the mics themselves are shockingly good. I wore them around some noisy areas and the person I spoke to could hear me clearly without background noise. This is especially excellent given no protruding mic means it has to do some serious magic, and they nailed it.
The button controls have power on and off, ANC options, volume buttons, and a touch-sensitive ear cup for media controls like answering calls, pausing music, etc. There aren’t a bunch more, but they nailed the buttons you need, without anything you don’t have the vibe of a mid-priced headset. They all sit relatively flush, so it is easy to use, but they don’t stand out to observers.
Like with most JBL Headphones, a bunch of these can be remapped too. So if you always have your headphones in ANC mode and want to use that button to change another setting, you can. This is, of course, done via the app, which is fantastic, but just as fantastic as it was before.
Battery life and Sound!
The battery life and fast charging was fantastic. A 5-10 minute charge got me over four hours of playtime, and they claim that from full charge they will go for 80 hours. Now this is hard to test because it is a few days of continuous play, and they have fantastic battery-saving features like stopping when you turn them off. But I will say they lasted bloody ages.
Headphones are only as good as their sound though, and my god the 780NC overachieves here. I have much more expensive pairs of headphones where the sound isn’t as good. From listening to deep bassy music to podcasters chatting, I was seriously blown away by the consistently excellent sound. These headphones even have Auracast, meaning you can pair two pairs on the same device to both listen to something you are watching. On top of that, the mic does a fantastic job with noise cancelling, where someone at the other end of a call constantly can’t hear wind or background noise. Without a mic in front of my mouth, I was not expecting it to be that good in a mid-priced pair of headphones, but they were amazing.
Should you buy the JBL Live 780NC?
If you are looking at a new pair of headphones around the $299 mark, you will be happy with the JBL Live 780NC. Their sound quality, comfort, and features feel like you spent a lot more than $300 on them.
If you can find a better pair of headphones in this price range, I want you to tell me, because these are bangers!
