- Comfortable for long wear
- Excellent battery
- Great range and reliable multipoint
- Sound balance
- Plastic build looks kinda cheap
- Price
From millennial grey to white cars for resale value, it has been heavily documented that our world is becoming ever more desaturated. In this beige landscape we find ourselves in, what is a fair price to pay for a pop of colour? The JBL Live 780NC headphones are one of the unique pieces of tech that come in saturated colours - not pithy pastels, but a deep forest green, a pixie purple, a bronzed orange, and a midnight navy. They’re a splash of colour in an increasingly dull world, and while they look bright, the sound quality is quite the contrast. With a price just shy of $300, the JBL Live 780NC’s audio tones aren’t living up to its visual ones.
Audio quality and performance
The JBL Live 780NC’s audio quality is about what I would expect from a set of $250 headphones a couple of years ago. With inflation being what it is, seeing this same quality in a $299 set isn’t crazy, but it is still disappointing. The bass is excellent overall; it has a real depth to it that shines through across multiple bassy layers.
However, it quickly overwhelms the mids, and makes for pretty poor separation in songs with a lot going on. In "Feeling Good" by Nina Simone for example, the brass overpowers her voice, and we see something similar in "The National Anthem" by Radiohead. By the time the brass comes in at around minute three of the latter, it becomes difficult to keep track of each individual instrument. It stops sounding like music and sounds more like noise. I also found the trebles to be far too high, and easily fatigue the ears.
This is a stock standard example of a V-tuning - high bass and treble, low mids - and it is common in cheaper headphones. The thumping bass feels impressive, but when you listen carefully the rest of the audio doesn’t quite fit. At $250, this audio quality is passable, but once we get up towards $300 I expect better overall performance.
That isn’t to say that JBL isn't putting in some kind of broad-strokes effort. When connected to the JBL app, you can set up Personi-Fi, which is a personalised tonal balance based on your own hearing. You’ll be taken through a hearing test, and then the balance will be set up to compensate for how each ear hears different frequencies. The before and after difference is noticeable, but not enough to compensate for the out-of-the-box tuning.
Alternatively, there is customisable EQ within the app as well. You can toggle the levels to your liking, but there are limitations to this. No matter how much you play with the balance, the clarity and soundstage continue to be dull and narrow. There are definitely improvements to be made, but not enough to entirely balance out the audio quality.
While everything, including tech, has gotten more expensive, the audio quality of these headphones doesn’t match the price point. They’re not bad, but they don’t pop. Overall, they have a hollow kind of feel to them that will leave anyone who listens closely underwhelmed. However, if you’re more about convenience and comfort than audio quality, the JBL 780s might still be to your taste.
Design, comfort, and controls
Aesthetics and the user experience are the more interesting aspects of the JBL 780s. The colour-drenched, but retro-inspired look really stands out, and while the plastic make can look a bit cheap, it keeps them super lightweight and comfortable. I can wear these for hours and hardly even notice, whereas something like the AirPods Max will hurt my head after just one.
Similarly, the multipoint is so flawless that it is easy to wear these for a full day. During testing I could wear them to the gym in the morning, and by the time I was walking in my front gate they would already be connected to my laptop sitting ten metres away. I could literally flow in from a walk into a meeting without having to fiddle with my audio. It is a legitimate time (and sanity) saver. The battery also supports this kind of usage. With noise cancelling on, they track to around 50 hours, or 80 with it off.
As for controls, the JBL 780s have some of the smoothest and simplest on-device controls I’ve used in a while. The volume and power buttons on the earmuff are intuitively positioned, and the auto-pause is excellent. If you slightly move your headphone, it will pause, and moving it back will play again. This means you don’t have to take your headphones all the way off and back on in between conversations; you can just slide it off one ear. Although this only works if they’re touching skin. At times when the cans were over my hair or a hat, they wouldn’t want to play again.
During testing, I also found myself stoked that these headphones had a physical power button. With higher-end options like AirPods Max opting to go without, there is something comforting about knowing that my headphones were actually off when I wanted them to be.
JBL LIVE 780NC - Final Thoughts
Overall, the JBL Live 780s are more about design and usability than they are about audio quality. While all of the aesthetic and practical design choices make the JBL’s a lovely pair of headphones to use, there isn’t enough balance between the sound and the style at this price point.
You’re ultimately paying extra for the pretty colours; let's call it a tint tax. For more visual people, it will be an acceptable price to pay, but for those more aurally inclined, I'd keep an ear to the ground for something more balanced.
Did you like this article? Good! Why not make us a preferred source in Google? Click below, tick the box, and WhistleOut stories will show up more often when you search for related content.
Anula Wiwatowska
Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram
Related Articles
