JBL Live 780NC and 680NC review: Great leaps, greater missteps

## Summary
Pros Comfortable Lots of features Wide soundstage Solid ANC Cons Hollow bass Need the app to disable ANC and Ambient modes Middling mic quality So much more expensive $250 at Best Buy JBL 79 100 Expert Score JBL Live 680NC With on-ear noise-canceling headphones being a more rare commodity, the JBL Live 680NC fills in a gap that folks definitely need, but it still isn’t the best that it could be. Pros Comfortable Lots of features Bassy sound Solid ANC Cons Narrow soundstage Need the app to disable ANC and Ambient modes Middling mic quality $159 at B&H Photo Design and comfort Outside of varying colors and cup sizes, the JBL Live 780NC and 680NC look practically identical. Seamless customizable features The ANC button and USB-C port on the Live 680NC (Rami Tabari for Engadget) Despite the near $100 price gap, you get the same set of features for the JBL Live 780NC and 680NC, all wrapped up in the JBL Headphones app. If you stuck them in a lab and crunched the numbers, there might be, but in my testing using the JBL Live 780NC and 680NC as everyday headphones, there’s virtually no difference outside of the passive noise isolation you get from over-ear design.

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JBL Live 780NC (left) and Live 680NC (right)
(Rami Tabari for Engadget)
JBL introduced
two new headphones
to its Live series lineup and both are fighting to
live
up to expectations. Don’t get me wrong, the
JBL Live 780NC
and
680NC
are both a solid set of cans, but in a sea of noise-cancelling headphones, one of them definitely has more appeal. The biggest differences between these two headphones are the over-ear and on-ear cups, and surprisingly, their audio quality. Let’s get into what does and doesn’t make them so special.
JBL
76
100
Expert Score
JBL Live 780NC
The JBL Live 780NC are a solid set of headphones that are easily lost in the sea of mid-range cans. It’s enough to be a decent companion, but not enough to excel.
Pros
Comfortable
Lots of features
Wide soundstage
Solid ANC
Cons
Hollow bass
Need the app to disable ANC and Ambient modes
Middling mic quality
So much more expensive
$250 at Best Buy
JBL
79
100
Expert Score
JBL Live 680NC
With on-ear noise-canceling headphones being a more rare commodity, the JBL Live 680NC fills in a gap that folks definitely need, but it still isn’t the best that it could be.
Pros
Comfortable
Lots of features
Bassy sound
Solid ANC
Cons
Narrow soundstage
Need the app to disable ANC and Ambient modes
Middling mic quality
$159 at B&H Photo
Design and comfort
Outside of varying colors and cup sizes, the JBL Live 780NC and 680NC look practically identical. They have these hockey puck-looking ear cups that are divided from the leatherette pads. The design looks like someone’s idea of headphones from 10 years ago. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it feels a bit clunky. Despite that, the metal hinge and leatherette band are more pleasantly minimalist. The cups also fold up neatly in a heart shape so you can slot them easily in the included bag.
There’s a dedicated volume rocker on the left ear cup while the right holds room for a USB Type-C port, the active noise cancelling (ANC) button and a combo power/Bluetooth switch (yes, it’s a switch, not a button). Meanwhile, you get all of the touch controls available on the right cup of each set of headphones.
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Both headphones felt a little uncomfortable to wear at first, but it usually takes time for me to get used to new cans. After spending several hours each with them, they eventually grew on me. They’re both a bit snug, but neither one left me aching at the end of the day. I felt more relief when taking off the 680NC because of the added pressure of on-ear cups, but I’m also not used to the on-ear design.
Seamless customizable features
The ANC button and USB-C port on the Live 680NC
(Rami Tabari for Engadget)
Despite the near $100 price gap, you get the same set of features for the JBL Live 780NC and 680NC, all wrapped up in the JBL Headphones app. It’s easy to set up and you don’t even need to make an account.
The first thing you might want to do is hop over to the settings and add the “disable ANC” function to the rotation. Out of the box, you can either switch between ANC or Ambient mode on the headphones, which is super frustrating — I shouldn’t need an app to enable a basic action. Most headphones these days allow you to cycle between ANC, Ambient mode and off (neither).
At the very least, the app offers a thorough suite of features. You can adjust the strength of the ANC and Ambient modes. Enabling Adaptive ANC allows automatic noise cancellation changes  based on the surrounding noise level, while Personal Sound Amplification makes everything around you sound louder than normal. The latter was incredibly helpful in writing this very headphone review, ironically, as I had to keep an ear out for my child potentially committing a crime (kidding… mostly).
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The JBL Live 780NC and 680NC are packed with the features I’d expect from a pair of premium headphones. They offer 360-degree spatial sound, an adaptive EQ, Auracast, automatic pausing and simultaneous Bluetooth connections with automatic switching.
You can also customize all of the controls, from the ANC Button to the Touch Panel, which includes two call shortcuts and four general shortcuts, one of which is already dedicated to native voice assistants like Bixby and Siri. You do need to put a little more pressure than you might expect in order for the touch controls to activate, though. This is a bit of a learning curve, so it would’ve been nice if it was more sensitive.
Sound quality
The Live 780NC (left) and Live 680NC (right)
(Rami Tabari for Engadget)
The JBL Live 780NC and 680NC both feature 40mm neodymium drivers, but they offer completely different soundstages. With the 680NC, I noticed the bass hit a lot harder during the
DanDaDan
soundtrack, but voc

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
N/A

### Areas for Consideration
- Pros Comfortable Lots of features Wide soundstage Solid ANC Cons Hollow bass Need the app to disable ANC and Ambient modes Middling mic quality So much more expensive $250 at Best Buy JBL 79 100 Expert Score JBL Live 680NC With on-ear noise-canceling headphones being a more rare commodity, the JBL Live 680NC fills in a gap that folks definitely need, but it still isn’t the best that it could be.
- Seamless customizable features The ANC button and USB-C port on the Live 680NC (Rami Tabari for Engadget) Despite the near $100 price gap, you get the same set of features for the JBL Live 780NC and 680NC, all wrapped up in the JBL Headphones app.
- But I don’t think the 780NC is worth the extra $90 on sound quality alone, since you’re trading one issue for another.

### Implications
- Our stories may include affiliate links; if you buy something through a link, we may earn a commission.
- Pros Comfortable Lots of features Wide soundstage Solid ANC Cons Hollow bass Need the app to disable ANC and Ambient modes Middling mic quality So much more expensive $250 at Best Buy JBL 79 100 Expert Score JBL Live 680NC With on-ear noise-canceling headphones being a more rare commodity, the JBL Live 680NC fills in a gap that folks definitely need, but it still isn’t the best that it could be.
- The first thing you might want to do is hop over to the settings and add the “disable ANC” function to the rotation.
- Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The JBL Live 780NC and 680NC are packed with the features I’d expect from a pair of premium headphones.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers headphones, jbl, live topics. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 1838.