It’s been somewhere over 12 hours.
It’s been somewhere over 12 hours and I still haven’t had to charge the JBL Live 670NC headphones. As I naturally finished my recent set at the gym, I sat there thinking “I haven’t even charged these things”. And much like the rest of my experience with them, it’s been nothing but an incredibly easy and brilliant interaction in the age of the internet of things.
And IOT was on display from my first interaction with them. When I connected the 670NC headphones to my mobile, they instantly triggered my Google account to register themselves too. They also named themselves while at it, which was much appreciated. They then requested if I wanted to use Hey Google with them, which under any grunting tones at my normal workspace for headphones would be rendered moot. But it was still an unexpected thing! And once again appreciated!
The mobile app is just as easy to install. I simply navigated to the Play Store, searched for JBL Headphones and done. An app that wholly represented the brand, and was once more a brilliant and easy experience. Which you may notice is what becomes my experience with the Live 670NC headphones.
Brilliant. And easy.
I’ve been lucky enough to use the Sony WH-1000MX5 headphones which I can now disclose broke on me! But we’ll bring that up later. For now, we’re here about the app experience. Which in comparison to the JBL app felt like a trudge to grind through. It felt like it had constant updating, took a lot of time to register the headphones and when adjusting settings experienced some minor delay. Where as the JBL app instantly noticed the headphones, presented the settings users would work with instantly and reflects these on the fly. And when my aforementioned grunting kept enabling the noise cancelling thinking I was talking with someone, it was just as easy to disable via the app.
The app experience may be brilliant, but it’s about the aural experience ultimately. And there are two factors here: The sound and the hardware. And once I placed the Live 670NC headphones on to listen to my personally curated daily playlist I was blown away. A deep richness to the bass which thundered forward provided an instant shot of serotonin as I took in the song playing. But this didn’t cut out the mids or treble. It just took precedent as the bass should. And for that first listen I was steeped in a world to escape too while naturally finishing my set.
The hardware works just as hard.
A fabric wrapped band feels robust and built for naturally finishing sets. The ear pieces can pivot to make them more compact, with great cushioning and faux leather meaning they’re built for long periods of wear. And a purpose-fit pouch to store them in means they’ll be just as comfortable when not in use, as they are on your ears are while in use. Which is when the callback happens. The WH-1000MX5 headphones felt like they’d last. But one day when naturally finishing my set, they just gave way. And that was that. While the Live 670NC headphones feel like they’ve got just as much life in them, similarly to their battery life. For a pair of mid-range on-ear headphones, they feel like they’re coming for the high-end range with a tonne of ammo to fight with. And the Sony headphones also lacked a pouch.
So just what are my thoughts about the JBL Live 670NC on-ear headphones?
They’re quite possibly the best experience I’ve had with a pair of Bluetooth headphones. From the hardware, to the sound, to the way they interact with and are used by other devices has been a brilliant and easy experience. And I can’t think of who else is doing it like this in the audio market right now like JBL.
One day I'm going to have to charge these headphones. Until then, I'll keep using them and loving the experience which JBL has crafted in the Live 670NC on-ear headphones.
