JBL Live 670NC – Review

I firmly believe that JBL offers some of the best value in the wireless headphones market. After being quite impressed with the Tune 770NC, I was excited to try the new Live 670NC. Coming in at $199, these cans provide great portability, solid sound quality, and a deep feature set. But enough of the spoilers. Let’s get into the review. 

What you get:

• Live 670NC headphone
• Cloth carrying pouch
• USB-C charger
• 3.5mm headphone cable
• Quick start guide
• Safety instructions and warranty guide

Design:

Let’s start off with the obvious: this is an on ear set of headphones. This is a headphone that targets portability and comfort for travel and long listening sessions. The Live 670NC clocks in at 219 grams, which is extremely light. I was able to wear these headphones for a considerable amount of time without feeling any weight on my head. The Live 670NC also sports a nice fabric material over its headband and features soft, synthetic leather ear cushions. These materials make for a remarkably comfortable headphone.

Like other JBL portable headphones, the Live 670NC has a handy folding mechanism. So these have great  flexibility if you need to fit these into a tightly packed backpack or suitcase while traveling. The ear cups also swivel 90 degrees so you can wear them around your neck when not in use. In practice, I found wearing them like this to be unobtrusive and convenient. 

All told, the Live 670NC gives great build quality for the price. With the fabric headband and comfortable ear cushions, this isn’t just a cheap plastic headphone. It’s nice to see features like these which take the headphone’s design to the next level. 

Functionality:

As I mentioned before, JBL extends a whole slew of features to this headphone. First and foremost is the battery life. This headphone lasts 65 hours on a full charge (50 hours when Bluetooth and ANC are turned on) and can quick charge up to four hours of playback in just five minutes. The headphone can pair with two separate devices at a time, so you can switch between listening to music or watching videos on one device and quickly switch over to another to accept a call. 

The Live 670NC can be operated multiple ways. First, the outside of the headphone’s ear cup is touch sensitive. You can play, pause, skip, go back, answer calls, mute and unmute the mics during calls and even activate voice assistants like Bixy, Siri, Google Voice, or Amazon Alexa, all with the touch of an ear cup. You can also access all of these features through buttons on the lower end of the ring on the right ear cup. 

Near these are a second set of buttons; one to control noise canceling modes and another for bluetooth pairing. There’s also a switch for turning the headphone on and off and a 3.5mm port for plugging the headphone in for wired listening. On the left earcup is a USB-C port for charging. Smart features also include automatic pairing when turned on for the first time and the ability to play/pause when taken off and put back on. 

Then there’s the companion JBL Headphones app. Here, you can set and customize your noise canceling modes, set EQ, adjust left/right sound balance, and access all the controls that the buttons offer as well. 

Sound Impressions:

The Live 670NC promises “JBL Signature Sound,” which is similar to the Harman target. The first thing I noticed when listening to this headphone is the boomy bass. If you like bass, this is a good wireless headphone to consider. The bass can go quite deep, with nice bloom. I’m not a basshead myself, so I opted for JBL’s vocal EQ preset, and this put things in the perfect place for me. I got a solid sense of dynamics from Kendrick Lamar’s “FEEL.” with nice separation between bass drum hits and bass guitar licks. 

Mids are slightly recessed, but still come through rather clearly. I listened to Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ “How Can I Tell You” to get a sense of the Live 670NC’s midrange. I was happy to hear the vocals presented with good clarity, and acoustic guitar tones well covered from the boomy low end to the plucks of the strings in the top end. 

However, this isn’t the most detailed midrange in the world. Separation could be better and vocals get a little raspy in the upper mids. But this is solid for the price point and competes quite well with other headphones in this price bracket. 

The highs would be my one gripe with the headphone. While they resolve detail decently, treble frequencies can sound a bit shrill on busier tracks. Vampire Weekend’s “Harmony Hall” sounds great until the added layers of the chorus come in. When that happens, the treble is first to lose fidelity. That said, for acoustic music as well as bass-heavy music, this won’t really be a problem for you. 

Summary:

The JBL Live 670NC is a solid entrant into the wireless headphone field. With great features, a long lasting battery life, and solid comfort, this is a great headphone for people who are on the go. The sound quality is pretty good for the price range with dynamite bass performance to boot. If all of that sounds up your alley, then this might be a good headphone for you. 

The JBL Live 670NC will be available soon at Audio46.com.