JBL Live 460NC Wireless Headphones Review

The JBL Live 460NC have a fairly non-descript design that looks very similar to the JBL Live 660NC Wireless. These on-ears have a mesh fabric-lined headband with plastic ear cups marked with the brand's logo. They come in four different color variants to better match your style: black, white, blue, and pink.

The JBL Live 460NC are comfortable. They have a lightweight feel, and the ear cups have a good range of motion to accommodate several head sizes. The headband also feels comfortable. However, some users may find that the clamping force of the headphones is a bit uncomfortable, especially over long periods. If you want to disperse your headphones' clamping force so it's not directly against your ears but don't want bulky headphones, the JBL Tune 770NC Wireless include soft ear pads, though they can feel tight on people with larger ears.

The JBL Live 460NC have good controls that are easy to use and provide good feedback. There are volume up and down controls that also allow you to skip the track forward or back with a press and hold, respectively. The middle button allows you to play or pause your audio and answer or end a call. You can hold down this button to decline a call too. If you touch the JBL's logo on the left ear cup for two seconds or hold the middle button for two seconds, you can activate voice assistant (either Google Assistant or Alexa). You can also click the ANC button once to turn on or off ANC or Ambient Aware, which allows you to hear background sound while still listening to your audio. You can press this button twice for talkthrough, too, so you can chat with others without removing the headphones from your head. The buttons feel very clicky and are easily distinguishable from one another. There are also max and low volume chimes and a chime for powering on or pairing the headphones.

The JBL Live 460NC have great breathability. Since they're on-ear headphones, they don't fully cover your ears, so your outer ear should stay fairly cool. They also don't trap in a lot of heat, so you shouldn't notice too much of a difference in temperature if you're wearing them during physical activity or long listening sessions.

The JBL Live 460NC are passably portable. The ear cups can swivel inwards to help reduce their footprint, making them a bit easier to fit into a bag. However, they don't come with any carrying case to protect them when you're on the go.

The JBL Live 460NC have good build quality. The headband is made of a rigid mesh fabric with slight padding. There's also a metal plate to help reinforce the frame. There's faux leather padding on the ear cups too. Overall, even though the hinges feel like a weak point, these headphones are still well-built and feel sturdier than other similar on-ears like the Skullcandy Riff Wireless 2. They can survive a few accidental drops without taking too much damage.

The JBL Live 460NC have fair stability. While they should stay in place during casual listening sessions, they can easily fall off with more intense head movements. Luckily, their wireless design eliminates the worry of a cable snagging and pulling them off your head.

• JBL Live 460NC headphones
• 1/16" to 1/8" TRS audio cable
• USB-C to USB-A charging cable
• Manuals

The JBL Live 460NC have a neutral sound profile with a touch of extra thump and rumble, making them suitable for a variety of audio content. Activating their ANC does not noticeably change their sound. If you prefer a different sound, their companion app offers a parametric EQ and presets so that you can tweak their sound to your liking.

These headphones have good frequency response consistency. The bass range is very consistent. However, treble accuracy can vary depending on fit, seal, and positioning. That said, if you take the time to adjust the headphones on your head, you should get a more consistent sound each time you use them.

The JBL Live 460NC have outstanding bass accuracy. They have a slightly overemphasized low-bass which delivers a touch of extra thump and rumble to your mixes. The rest of the response is well-balanced and flat, resulting in a warm and punchy sound.

The JBL Live 460NC have impressive mid accuracy. The range is fairly flat and neutral, though the dip in the high-mid can weaken vocals and lead instruments.

The JBL Live 460NC have decent treble accuracy. The slightly overemphasized low-treble ensures the detail and articulation of vocals and lead instruments. A peak in the mid-treble can make sibilants bright. However, the treble response here represents the average treble response, and your experience may vary.

The JBL Live 460NC have decent peaks and dips performance. There's a slight mismatch in the left and right driver in the mid-mid range, resulting in the left driver having a bit more boxy and forward sound while the right driver pushes vocals and lead instruments to the back of the mix. Another dip in the high-mid slightly weakens vocals and lead instruments, while a peak in the low-treble makes the upper harmonics of these sounds a bit harsh. Another peak in the mid-treble makes sibilants like cymbals piercing.

The JBL Live 460NC have a decent imaging performance. Most of the weighted group delay falls below the audibility threshold, which results in transparent treble. However, some peaks in the bass range indicate a slightly loose bass, but it's fairly minor. There is also some amplitude mismatch between the L/R driver, which could indicate a noticeable difference in level between the left and right drivers. That said, L/R drivers are well-matched in frequency and phase response, which is important for the accurate placement and localization of objects (like voices or footsteps) in the stereo image. These results are only valid for our unit, though, and yours may perform differently.

The JBL Live 460NC have a poor passive soundstage. Since they have an on-ear design, they struggle to interact with your outer ear. The soundstage seems unnatural, small, and as if coming from inside your head rather than from speakers placed all around you. They also have a closed-back design, so the soundstage won't sound as open or spacious as open-back headphones.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance of these headphones is okay. There's some distortion present at high volumes, particularly in the right driver. There are also a couple of peaks at regular listening volumes in the treble range. As a result, there may be some distortion present in your audio. However, this can be relatively hard to hear with real-life content.

These are the settings used to test the JBL Live 460NC. Our results are only valid in this configuration.

These headphones also have a smart audio mode which is advertised to improve your audio latency based on what you're doing. We tested our model using the 'Audio Mode', but we don't know how the other modes perform.

The JBL Live 460NC have a satisfactory noise isolation performance. Thanks to their active noise cancelling (ANC) feature, they can cut down a bit of bass-range noise like bus or plane engines. However, it may not be enough for commuting. They do a better job of reducing mid-range sounds like ambient chatter, though. They can also block out the high-pitched noise of an AC unit, although their ANC doesn't offer much better performance than their passive capabilities in this regard.

The JBL Live 460NC have a decent leakage performance. A significant portion of the leakage is concentrated between the mid to treble range, which sounds somewhat thin. If you're listening to audio at high volumes in a noisy environment, people around you shouldn't hear it.

The recording quality of the JBL Live 460NC's mic is mediocre. It sounds thin and muffled, but you should still be understood by whoever is on the other end of the line.

The microphone offers a sub-par noise handling performance. It struggles to separate your voice from moderate ambient noise around you and performs best in quiet environments.

The JBL Live 460NC have an impressive battery performance. Although they're advertised to last roughly 40 hours with the ANC, we measured just under 30 hours. Battery life can vary according to use, so your real-life results may vary. If you need a similar pair of on-ears with an even longer battery life, it's worth checking out the JBL Live 670NC Wireless instead. These headphones are advertised to have a 10-minute quick charge, which supplies 4 hours of continuous playback time, although we don't currently test for this. You can use the headphones passively with their audio cable if you run out of battery life.

Update 05/26/2021: We have raised the scoring of this test from 7.5 to 8.0 to better reflect the app's features and ease of use.

The JBL Headphones app is great. It has a parametric EQ and presets, so you can customize their sound to your liking. You can also turn 'Ambient Sound' on and off, as well as ANC, Ambient Aware, and Talk-through. You can also turn the auto-pause on or off, adjust the auto-off timer, check the headphones' battery, and set up the voice assistant.

There's also a smart audio mode advertised to improve your audio latency based on what you're doing. There are three settings: 'Video Mode', 'Audio Mode', and 'Normal'. We tested our model using the 'Audio Mode'.

Update 12/16/2021: These headphones were updated to Test Bench 1.5 and their latency values have changed. Our previous Test Bench 1.4 measurements reported the Video Mode's iOS latency at 111 ms. However, our new test bench uses an average of three measurements instead of one, resulting in 51 ms of latency on iOS when using 'Video Mode'. As a result, we have updated our text to better reflect test bench 1.5 measurements.

The JBL Live 460NC have great Bluetooth compatibility. They support multi-device pairing, meaning you can connect the headphones to your phone and laptop at once. Using 'Audio Mode', they have low latency on iOS and Android, nice if you like to stream video from your smartphone. Their latency is higher on PC, so they may not be suitable for gaming. That said, if you use them in 'Video Mode', they have 50ms of latency on Android and 51ms on iOS, which still falls within good levels. However, note that some apps and devices seem to compensate for latency differently, so your results may be different.

The JBL Live 460NC come with a 1/16" to 1/8" TRS cable that only transmits audio, so you can't use their mic. They also come with a USB-C to USB-A cable to charge the headphones.

The JBL Live 460NC are only partially compatible with Xbox consoles when using their audio cable plugged into the controller. While you can receive audio, you can't use the mic.