- JBL announces its new Live 780NC and 680NC headphones
- Not to be confused with Tune 780NC / Tune 680NC, unveiled last September
- Oh, and there’s a portable AI karaoke speaker too
The Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) aren’t the only best wireless headphones worth spending a lot of money on; you might not associate JBL with premium headphones, but the hugely successful brand does have a few mid-range options, and two more are on the way.
The company has just announced two new pairs of cans — not to be confused with the two 780 and 680-suffixed options unveiled last September, and available from November — both upgrades on pairs released in 2023.
And unlike the Tune 780NC and 680NC unveiled six months ago, this new “Live” duo cost a little more than the mid-range or cheap headphones I associate the brand with.
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The first release of the duo is the on-ear JBL Live 680NC, costing $159.95 (about £120, AU$230, but we’re waiting to hear about these gadgets globally). This set of headphones has an upgraded 40mm driver, improved noise cancellation, 80-hour battery life, and redesigned look (all compared to the 670NC).
Then there’s the over-ear JBL Live 780NC, which go for $249.95 (about £190, AU$360). This is largely like the other model but an over-ear proposition. They have a greater number mics for more accurate noise cancellation, EQ designed to work at lower volumes, and something called ‘Personal Sound Amplification’ which sounds like a listening test, though JBL’s press release doesn’t elaborate.
Key takeaways? Compared to the X70NC or Tune prefixed models, the Live range sees small tweaks and improvements across the board, and they do look more premium… but are also slightly more expensive. Such is life, I suppose; the year of price hikes continues.
Party speaker’s in the house tonight
Lest we forget, there’s a third present under JBL’s tree: the PartyBox On-The-Go 2 Plus, the latest in its line of portable speakers-come-karaoke machines. It offers 100W output, with two tweeters and a woofer, and lasts for 15 hours on a charge.
The selling point of this $419.95 (about £320, AU$600) speaker is the brand’s JBL EasySing technology, which can identify and reduce vocals in songs, so you can sing along without competing with the singer. It also seems to have tech that lets you record your singing, reduce background noise and boost the pitch if you’re struggling to sustain those high notes (or even to faithfully carry a tune).
All of these have the ‘AI’ marketing label stamped across them, but reading between the lines, it seems to be the specific-task algorithmic type of AI (rather than the actively super-intelligent, stealing-our-jobs, bad kind of AI).
The PartyBox comes with a wireless microphone, which seems to be what facilitates these features, but JBL is also selling them separately: there’s the EasySing Mics for $199.95 (roughly £150, AU$280, and Mics Mini for $179.95 (around £130, AU$250). It seems the former is designed for PartyBox speakers, and the latter for Go, Grip, Flip, Charge and other JBL speaker lines.
The best noise cancelling headphones for all budgets
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