Discreet design and decent sounds from JBL buds
While Apple defined the modern wireless earbuds era, we’re now in a time when effective, decent buds cost from around €50.
So what should you expect if you’re asked to pay more? JBL’s recently-released Live Free NC+ is a good example of the extra tech you should be getting.
Here, your €160 delivers extra features such as wireless charging (with any Qi charger), a choice of voice assistants (assuming you have them enabled on your phone) and an ability to toggle between noise cancellation and other listening modes.
This latter feature promises to be the premium one, but wasn’t the strongest element of the JBL buds, in my use of them.
But there’s plenty to admire about these wireless Bluetooth earbuds.
The first is JBL’s conveniently discreet design. Not only are the buds themselves (which come in black, white, blue or pink) small and relatively snug-fitting, but the pill charging box is also smaller than most others I’ve tried.
This is handy for most of us who use pockets instead of bags. It’s an all-plastic affair, but that’s completely fine at this price point.
Connecting the buds for the first time is also very easy – just open the box and your phone’s Bluetooth will pick them up.
And there’s no confusion with detecting when the buds are back in their box, a fault that far too many rivals suffer from (and which leads to wasted battery and puzzlement as to why the audio on your phone or the phone call appears to be muted). The JBL Live Free buds switch instantly.
As for the audio quality, it’s thoroughly decent although slightly dependent on a good fit – you’ll hear very good quality if you push the buds in a little with your fingers.
If your ears are the type that just don’t like buds getting right in, it will sound a little tinnier. That was my experience, anyhow.
A companion app (My JBL Headphones) gives you plenty of good equaliser options.
I used this from the off, as I prefer slightly bassier audio from smaller buds such as these.
There are a couple of preset ‘smart audio modes’ you can choose to apply from within the app, too.
These modes, ‘normal’, ‘audio’ or ‘video’ didn’t make much difference to my ears.
Neither, I’ll have to say, did the ‘active’ noise cancellation.
I could tell it was operational when choosing it, but there’s nothing like the kind of dampening effect you’ll get with higher-end buds or (ideally) over-ear headphones.
Then again, few buds achieve any kind of comparably decent noise cancellation.
Battery life isn’t quite as good as some rival buds, but more than acceptable with up to seven hours in between box charges and two full charges per wall-powered plug charge.
However, water resistance levels are great, with a full IPX7 rating.
I did experience one or two glitches with the buds – the right-hand one occasionally dropped for a few seconds once or twice each day.
This is unusual and may have simply been a slightly faulty copy of the product. It was an irritant rather a deal-breaker, but I’d definitely be replacing it if using it as my daily headphone set.