JBL Live Pro 2 with ANC in the test: better for music than for speech Wireless charging, active noise cancellation, 40 hours of battery life and good speech quality are the hallmarks of the TWS headphones JBL Live Pro 2. 2:30 p.m. techstage
Wireless charging, active noise cancellation, 40 hours of battery life and good voice quality are the hallmarks of the TWS headphones JBL Live Pro 2. In the test, we show what the in-ears can really do.
Completely wireless in-ear headphones with ANC are now standard for most audio manufacturers. The models don’t even have to be expensive; between 80 and 140 euros there are already very usable devices. This is shown by the Amazon Echo Buds (test report) , the Edifier Neobuds Pro (test report) or the Skullcandy Indy ANC (test report) .
The JBL Live Pro 2 now available want to stand out from the market with another highlight. The focus here is on “perfect phone calls”, as the manufacturer himself states. Can that be true? If you search the web for “in-ear telephony” or “Bluetooth headphones for telephony”, you will find hardly any hits worth mentioning. However, anyone who sees the many people in the city center and the train station making phone calls knows that there must be a market for this.
Accordingly, in addition to sound quality, battery and handling, we are also focusing on voice quality with the JBL Live Pro 2 this time.
design and delivery
The JBL Live Pro 2 are headphones with silicone plugs and a classic bridge design as known from the Apple Airpods (test report) . The two headphones come to the customer with a charging cradle, a short USB-C charging cable and ear pads in three different sizes.
The in-ears are well made and look chic thanks to the silver stripes on the outside. However, the cover of the microphones and the edges of the assembled housing do not look valuable. Here you can feel the transition between the individual components with your finger. Plus point: The Live Pro 2 have no status LED. So you can also use it in the bedroom, for example, without your partner being disturbed by the lighting.
The charging cradle feels very valuable. It lies well in the hand and the snap closure keeps it closed reliably. We also discovered a special feature that not every headphone has. A spring is integrated in the snap lock, which gives a slight resistance when closing. The lid of the charging cradle doesn’t just fall shut, you have to close it with pressure. This greatly simplifies handling when removing, because you don’t have to open the lid with a finger.
Sound Quality, ANC & App
The sound of the JBL Live Pro 2 is largely balanced in the basic setting. The highs are pronounced, the bass powerful but not exaggerated. The mids blur a bit. The equalizer of the free JBL app is nice here. With the “Club” mode, the mids of pop songs come out well, a bass mode pushes a lot of lows on the ears. You can also create individual sound profiles.
In the app, you can also stop using voice assistants. Alexa, Siri or Google are available here, depending on your preference.
The active noise cancellation (ANC) is noticeable, but does not seal it off completely. If you are out and about with the headphones, you will mainly hear lower-pitched noises; such as cars or slamming doors. This can greatly reduce ambient noise, but not completely block it out. If you want to be quiet from the outside world even without music, you have to use over-ear headphones like the Bose Quiet Comfort 45 (test report) , the Valco VMK20 (test report) or the Nura Nuraphones (test report) . We also compare twelve true wireless headphones with ANC elsewhere .
Ambient Aware is the name of the function that allows ambient noise to pass through completely. Here you can hear your own music at full volume, and noises from the surrounding area are also played in completely. This is of no use on a bike or in other situations with a lot of wind. The wind that the microphones transmit to the headphones greatly reduces the music experience. You can adjust the sensitivity of Ambient Aware, but we didn’t get a satisfactory result.
The Talk-Thru experience is better . Here we mainly only hear voices from the outside world, other noises are faded out. However, the music volume is greatly reduced with Talk-Thru.
All in all, the headphones with their functions make sense in quieter environments. For example in an office to be able to concentrate better. Thanks to auto pause, the headphones pause the music immediately as soon as you take the headphones out of your ears. Despite Ambient Aware and Talk-Thru, you have to make a lot of compromises for sports or large crowds.
voice quality
“Perfect phone calls” should be possible with the JBL Live Pro 2 – at least that’s what the manufacturer says. In reality, things are different. Our opponents can hear us clearly and distinctly, but also the environment. Above all, wind, squeaking trains or road traffic are perceived as disruptive noises by the other person. Thus, a short phone call with loud ambient noise is possible, but it’s not a pleasure.
The situation is different when using the JBL Live Pro 2 in quiet environments; i.e. in the office. We can easily talk to our counterpart for a longer period of time without them getting tired of the loud background noise.
battery pack
With ANC, the headphones last about eight hours on one charge, according to the manufacturer. Without ANC, you get around ten hours at medium volume. We slipped from 50 to 20 percent battery level after three hours of continuous sound. Accordingly, six to seven hours (with ANC) seem realistic. If you listen at full volume and still make phone calls in between, the battery life will of course be reduced. If you put the headphones in the charging cradle for 15 minutes, you get four more hours of battery life. Overall, the charging cradle provides 22 to 30 hours of additional battery.
Price
The JBL Live Pro 2 costs from 120 euros. This means that they are well below the RRP of 180 euros from June 2022.
Conclusion
Solid sound, many setting options, good ANC and solid Ambient Aware with normal ambient noise – the JBL Live Pro 2 are very solid headphones, but not perfect. If you are looking for perfect ANC, perfect voice quality or perfect sound, you should look at other headphones. Here we recommend taking a look at our post on twelve true wireless headphones with ANC .
If you wait until the first price drop of the JBL Live Pro 2, you will get solid in-ears with a strong battery.
