JBL Live Pro Plus review: our full review – Headphones and earphones

The American manufacturer completes its range of wireless Bluetooth headphones with the JBL Live Pro + TWS, equipped with innovative 11 mm transducers and a three-level active noise reduction system, for peaceful listening in noisy environments. With the famous JBL sound?

The True Wireless JBL Live Pro + TWS headphones a priori tick all the boxes: active noise reduction, an attractive battery life of 7 hours per charge, a well-crafted mobile app, a reasonable price and… a famous name. JBL is indeed not the first comer, the American manufacturer enjoys an incomparable aura in the world of sound systems (concerts, cinemas) and hi-fi. In recent years, its name has even been associated with successful portable speakers: JBL Charge 5, JBL Pulse and JBL Boombox in the lead. If the latter have conquered a large audience, it is mainly because of their powerful and characteristic sound that the brand calls the “JBL signature”.

JBL Live Pro Plus datasheet

This test was performed with headphones loaned by JBL.

Neat design and pleasant wearing

The JBL Live Pro + TWS earphones come in the form of oval shells flanked by a tactile stem. In-ear type, these headphones are inserted into the ear canal. However, this is not the only way they dock to the ear, since the shells are designed to fit into the hollow of the ear pin. This system works very well and the headphones once in place in the ear do not move, even when moving quickly. We had no slippage or discomfort during our tests let alone discomfort, even after several hours of listening. In addition, since the earphones almost always take the same position in the ear canal, their sound signature does not vary.

Each earpiece incorporates a dynamic transducer 11mm in diameter, a size not common in wireless headphones – it’s more often 6mm – due to the lack of space due to the integration of an amp and a battery in each earpiece. The advantage of large transducers is to achieve a higher sound volume with less distortion and dynamic settling, especially at low frequencies, because the diaphragm moves less.

Each JBL Live Pro + TWS earphone is equipped with an amplifier and a 55 mAh battery, which is supposed to offer it a battery life of between 6 and 7 hours, depending on whether or not active noise reduction is used. The latter works through four microphones, also used to broadcast surrounding noise to the listener (ambient mode), as well as for hands-free voice calls. The Bluetooth 5.0 controller, housed in the right ear cup, is compatible with SBC and AAC audio codecs.

JBL provides a storage case with built-in battery, which offers three charging cycles of the headphones. The cumulative autonomy can therefore reach 28 hours. This case is compact and magnetic to secure the placement of the headphones. It takes 5 minutes of charge to give 1 hour of battery life to discharged headphones, or about 2 hours for a full charge. When the charge is complete, the flashing LEDs on the front go out. Note that the box can be recharged with the supplied USB-C cable, or by induction (Qi charging). In the latter case, it will be necessary to purchase a compatible charger.

Finally, the JBL Live Pro + TWS headphones are IPX4 certified and resistant to perspiration and splashing water. However, they should not be immersed in water under any circumstances.

A very complete app

JBL offers to download the JBL Headphones application to configure its headphones. It is pleasant to use. The main screen provides access to three active noise reduction modes, two ambient listening modes, a 10-band equalizer, as well as a Bluetooth latency reduction mode. The latter is only really useful to reduce the audio delay when playing, because for videos, the synchronization is corrected by the OS of the smartphone.

In the advanced settings, it is possible to assign functions to the touch controls of each earpiece: reading, ambient sound, volume or voice assistant. Finally, it is possible to deactivate touchscreen controls.

Some bugs to fix

In use, the JBL Live Pro + TWS headphones did not convince us. First of all, their gripping often involves placing the fingers on the tactile controls of the rod, with the batch of involuntary controls that one imagines. It is therefore not uncommon to activate noise reduction mode, or ambient listening if these modes have been configured in the app. To make matters worse, no voice message is played, so much so that you don’t really know in which mode the headphones are except to open the application on your smartphone. On several occasions, waking up was problematic, with ambient mode activating on its own and on a single earpiece. Another pitfall, the headphones have sometimes refused to reconnect to our smartphone. Placing them back in their case, however, quickly solves this problem.

More annoying, the stereo balance is fluctuating, the sound sometimes circulating from left to right, then vice versa. After a few minutes, a blackout occurs – probably a reset of the radio link – and the correct balance is then reestablished. Another problem, the promising equalizer with its twelve adjustable frequencies is not at all practical: some points disappear when they are too close to each other. Difficult in these conditions to adjust the tonal curve.

As for the quality of voice calls, we were well heard on Skype or WhatsApp, but less well on mobile networks, sometimes with echo.

Pleasant insulation

The JBL Live Pro + TWS earphones offer three modes of active noise reduction: daily, travel and active. Daily and active modes have a fairly similar impact on bass noise, with the latter suppressing them even more effectively. The active mode intervenes as for him at the same time on the surrounding low sounds and, to a lesser extent, mids. These three modes are very convincing and bring real comfort to the user. On the other hand, the impact of each mode on the musicality of the headphones is perceptible, with a withdrawal of the medium frequencies for the first two, and a reinforcement of the low frequencies (high-bass) for the third. The restitution is therefore distorted. Either way, the active noise reduction is very satisfactory.

The ambient mode, which allows you to hear what is happening around you through the microphones of the headphones, offers two modes. The first says Ambient Aware therefore mixes the surrounding noises with the music, without reducing the volume. As a result, you can hear a car approaching, but not clearly an interlocutor. For this, it is the mode Talk Thru to be used and the music is then muted.

Listening impressions

We listened to Spotify and our benchmark FLAC files, including pop, rap, techno, jazz and rock music. In short, a bit of everything, not to mention watching some movie clips on Plex and Netflix. An Android smartphone and a MacBook Air were used, with all the Bluetooth codecs supported by the JBL Live Pro + TWS: SBC and AAC.

We were disappointed: JBL’s expertise is not found in the transducers that equip these JBL Live Pro + TWS headphones. First of all, these suffer from membrane colorings (mechanical distortions) which mar the reproduction of the medium and high frequencies, resulting in distorted timbres. The phenomenon is particularly marked in the high frequencies, which makes the percussions acidic and afflicts the female voices with whistling and an artificial tessitura. Male voices are better off, but lack substance and definition.

It’s a shame, because the sound signature desired by JBL is not lacking in interest, with a clearly physiological curve: low register forward, midrange back, treble forward. On paper this type of curve offers balanced listening at very high volume. In practice, the roughness described above is accentuated as we listen louder, resulting in excessive hearing fatigue.

The soundstage, for its part, lacks precision and ventilation. The stereo is not very wide and, above all, the depth is too limited. The approximation of the positioning of the sound elements, combined with the lack of space between the different planes, makes the sound space uncomfortable. Finally, when noise reduction is activated, the JBL Live Pro + TWS headphones lose a good part of their punch in the bass and compress their reproduction a little more.

Exemplary autonomy

The announced autonomy is respected, since the headphones surrendered after 6h50 minutes, by alternating the listening phases with and without active noise reduction. Considering that the JBL Live Pro + TWS are not stingy with low frequencies and that this requires a lot of current, this is a good performance.

Pricing and availability of JBL Live Pro + TWS

The JBL Live Pro + TWS headphones have been available since April 1. They are available in four colors: black, white, pink and beige, at a price of 179 euros.