- JBL announces its new Live 780NC and 680NC headphones
- Not to be confused with Tune 780NC / Tune 680NC, introduced last September
- Oh, and there’s also a portable AI karaoke speaker.
The Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Generation) headphones 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 has some 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 options with suffixes 780 and 680 presented last September and available from November, both updates to pairs released in 2023.
And unlike the Tune 780NC and 680NC introduced six months ago, this new “Live” duo costs a bit more than the cheap or mid-range headphones I associate the brand with.
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The duo’s first release is the supra-aural JBL Live 680NC, which costs $159.95 (around £120, AU$230, but we’re waiting to hear about these devices globally). This pair of headphones has an improved 40mm driver, improved noise cancellation, 80-hour battery life, and a redesigned look (all compared to the 670NC).
Then there’s the supra-aural JBL Live 780NC, which costs $249.95 (around £190, AU$360). This is largely similar to the other model, but an over-the-ear proposition. They have a larger number of microphones for more precise noise cancellation, an equalizer designed to work at lower volumes, and something called ‘Personal Sound Amplification’ which sounds like a listening test, although JBL’s press release doesn’t go into further detail.
Key takeaways? Compared to the stock X70NC or Tune models, the Live range sees minor tweaks and improvements across the board, and feel more premium… but are also a bit more expensive. That’s life, I guess; The year of price increases continues.
The party spokesman is in the house tonight.
Lest we forget, there’s a third present under the JBL tree: the PartyBox On-The-Go 2 Plus, the latest in its line of portable speakers turned karaoke machines. It offers 100W output, with two tweeters and a woofer, and lasts 15 hours on a charge.
The selling point of this $419.95 (around £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 appears to have technology that allows you to record your singing, reduce background noise, and increase pitch if you’re having trouble sustaining those high notes (or even faithfully carrying a melody).
These all have the ‘AI’ marketing label stamped on them, but reading between the lines, they appear to be the task-specific, algorithmic type of AI (rather than the actively super-intelligent, job-stealing, bad type of AI).
The PartyBox comes with a wireless microphone, which seems to be what facilitates these features, but JBL also sells them separately: there are the EasySing Mics for $199.95 (about £150, AU$280, and the Mics Mini for $179.95 (about £130, AU$250). The former appears to be designed for the PartyBox speakers, and the latter for the Go, Grip, Flip, Charge and other lines of speakers. JBL.
The best noise canceling headphones for all budgets
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