Solid Bluetooth earbuds with noise canceling and no overpayment? Now there are two whole options

JBL launches two new additions to the market: everyday on-ear headphones with both wireless and

wired connection, as well as with active noise reduction: LIVE 460NC and LIVE 660NC. They look great on the outside, but what about the sound and features? Let's figure it out.

Appearance
Functions
Sound and noise reduction
Autonomy
Total

Appearance

If you are too lazy to read for a long time and want to immediately find out the prices of headphones from the review:

PRICE OF JUNIOR MODEL (LIVE 460NC)

PRICE OF THE MORE FUNCTIONAL MODEL (LIVE 660NC)

Left - JBL LIVE 460NC, right - JBL LIVE 660NC

JBL LIVE 460 / 660NC - closed-back on-ear headphonestype. The LIVE 660NC is the older model, while the 460NC is simpler and the price is lower. However, most of the functions and even sound characteristics of both models are identical, but we will deal with this a little below.

Left - JBL LIVE 460NC, right - JBL LIVE 660NC

The cups are suspended on hinges that canfold inward along two axes. This way, the headphones can be folded down to take up less space in your bag. By the way, the JBL LIVE 660NC comes with a cloth bag-cover.

Left - JBL LIVE 660NC, right - JBL LIVE 460NC

One of the main design features of the headphones is the headband, covered with a pleasant fabric with a pronounced texture of intertwining threads. To clarify, this is not a props or skeuomorphism, but a real fabric.

Left - JBL LIVE 460NC, right - JBL LIVE 660NC

Headphone control is touch-button, buteasy to remember. The right cup contains all the buttons, and the outer surface of the left cup is the touch zone. Access to the voice assistant is just attached to the sensor: you can press and hold your finger to access the assistant, or double-tap for the assistant to read the last notification.

Left - JBL LIVE 660NC, right - JBL LIVE 460NC

There are a lot of buttons here, but again - figure it outit is easy in them. The slider is responsible for turning the headphones on / off, a group of three buttons - playback control and volume (single pressing of the extreme buttons: skip the track forward / backward, long hold - volume up / down), and the extreme block of two buttons is the activation of Bluetooth pairing and ANC / Ambient Aware control, that is, noise reduction or broadcasting of external sounds.

Below - JBL LIVE 660NC, above - JBL LIVE 460NC

I know it sounds strange - why such buttonsput together, but in practice I have never been confused about which one. As a rule, when you wear headphones, it is the noise control button that is needed, and it is extreme, it is easy to find it. A single press switches the mode: noise reduction -> Ambient Aware -> off, and a double press activates the TalkThru function, which amplifies speech (to talk and hear yourself and the interlocutor).

As I said, headphones support not onlywireless, but also wired connection - for this, an audio cable is supplied with each model, in addition to the USB-C charging cable. The thin side (2.5 mm jack) connects to the headphones, and the opposite (3.5 mm jack) connects to the playback device.

Functions

Fully functional JBL LIVE 460 / 660NCis revealed precisely when connected wirelessly to a smartphone. By the way, as in other modern JBL products, the Fast Pair function is implemented here, which allows you to connect with just one click (you just need to turn on the headphones next to your Android smartphone). The smartphone immediately offers to download a free proprietary application JBL Headphones, where you can control the devices.

JBL Headphones app start screen

In particular, an advanced 14-lane is available.graphic equalizer, smart audio & video control (choose between priority of sound quality and priority of connection stability), switch between Ambient Aware or TalkThru surround gain modes.

Equalizer in JBL Headphones App

Also in the application, you can select and configure the work with the voice assistant (supported by Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa), update the firmware, choose the time of automatic shutdown, etc.

Smart audio & video function

However, even if you decide to connect headphoneswire, then at least active noise suppression, as well as Ambient Aware / TalkThru functions are still available to you. However, when they are turned on, the battery power is consumed. In the off state, the headphones can work as long as they like.

Sound and noise reduction

Despite the fact that outwardly the headphones are quiteThey are very different (the cups and ear pads of the LIVE 660NC are noticeably larger than those of the LIVE 460NC), almost all of the sound characteristics are either identical, or plus or minus the same. For example, both there and there, there are 40 mm drivers, the same impedance (remember that these are also wired headphones), and the biggest difference is in the frequency range. For LIVE 460NC it is 20 Hz - 20 kHz, and for LIVE 660NC it is 16 Hz - 20 kHz. Thus, purely theoretically, the older model has a deeper bass, in practice it is not always noticeable and strongly depends on the music. But the main thing is that if you take LIVE 460NC instead of LIVE 660NC, then you won't lose much in sound.

Left - JBL LIVE 460NC, right - JBL LIVE 660NC

There are two main differences between the models: the quality of noise reduction and sound isolation.

At the same volume LIVE 660NC isolateyour music is better than LIVE 460NC. At the same time, the younger model is also quite suitable for public places, I just conducted tests at high volume and on heavy music. And all the same it was necessary to come right close to each other in order to hear something there.

Left - JBL LIVE 660NC, right - JBL LIVE 460NC

As for the shumodav, there is a similar situation here,but, as it were, the opposite: LIVE 660NC muffle more background sounds than LIVE 460NC. Most likely, this is due, among other things, to the size of the cups - if the LIVE 460NC ear pads are applied to the auricle, in the case of the LIVE 660NC, the ears are completely placed inside the ear pads.

Well, voice transmission (only with a Bluetooth connection) works fine here. Even if you are in a noisy place, the interlocutor will hear you very well.

Autonomy

Both JBL LIVE 460NC and LIVE 660NC,equipped with lithium-ion polymer batteries with a capacity of 750 mAh and giving out a voltage of 3.7 V. With a fully charged battery, the headphones can work up to 40 hours with the noise reduction on, and up to 50 hours with it off. At the same time, for a full charge it will take two hours with a current of 5V / 1A, and ten minutes of such a charge will be enough for 4 hours of music playback.

Total

JBL LIVE 660NC headphones cost 9.5 thousand rubles, andjunior model, LIVE 460NC - 6 thousand. At such a low price, both models offer good JBL signature sound, decent noise reduction (especially in the LIVE 660NC - these headphones can compete with more expensive competitors), and the ability to connect both via Bluetooth and wire. Also in the pluses, you can write down excellent autonomy and nice design.

HOW MUCH ARE YOUNGER HEADPHONES WITH A NOISE DUPLICATOR

HOW MUCH COST A MIDDLE CLASS MODEL

JBL LIVE 460NC

Choosing between LIVE 460NC and LIVE 660NC is worth havingin view of the main difference between them - the quality of sound isolation and noise reduction. Moreover, this is not at the level of “bad and good”, but rather “good and very good”. And I would like to separately say “thank you” to the manufacturer that he did not divide the models also by sound / autonomy - this would greatly complicate the choice.

JBL LIVE 660NC

So if you are looking for inexpensive, everyday on-ear headphones, then both the JBL LIVE 460NC and JBL LIVE 660NC are excellent options in their price points.