JBL Live 650 BTNC Wireless Headphones Review

The JBL Live 650 BTNC have a simple, sleek over-ear design. The cups are large and have thick padding, while the headband has a mesh coating. They have metallic accents on the cups and hinges which gives them a more premium look. They come in all-black, all-navy, or all-white color schemes.

The JBL 650 BTNC are comfortable. The padding on the cups is quite soft and their overall design feels fairly lightweight. You can wear them for long listening sessions without feeling a lot of fatigue. However, the cups are quite shallow, so they might not be ideal for people with larger ears.

The control scheme is fairly simple and quite responsive. The physical buttons are easy to locate and to use. You get common functionalities like call/music management, volume control, and ANC control. They also have a dedicated button for Bluetooth sync, which is easy to use and makes pairing quite simple. Additionally, you can enable your device’s voice assistant by tapping once on the JBL logo on the left ear cup. However, this can be accidentally triggered when manipulating the headphones, which can be annoying.

These over-ears aren't the most breathable and trap a fair amount of heat inside the ear cups. The seal around the ears can block airflow and you may notice a temperature difference when wearing them for workouts. Over-ears usually make you sweat more when working out.

The JBL Live 650 BTNC aren't the most portable, but they fold into a more compact format. Their cups also swivel to lay flat, which is easier to carry around your neck or to slide in a bag. They come with a soft pouch that doesn’t add too much bulk to their design.

The JBL 650 BTNC come with a soft pouch that can only protect them against light scratches. It doesn't protect against physical damage due to falls and the material doesn’t seem to be water-resistant. On the upside, it's easy to carry around and doesn’t add much bulk to the headphones.

The JBL Live 650 BTNC have a similar build to the JBL E65BTNC Wireless. They have a slightly more polished look but don’t feel more durable. The cups are dense enough and should survive a few accidental falls without too much damage though. The headband is solid thanks to a reinforcing metal sheet, yet it's still fairly flexible. However, we suspect the hinges to be the weak point, and they could break with time.

The JBL 650 BTNC are quite stable. You shouldn’t have any problems during casual listening sessions, but they may wobble around a bit when running. On the upside, their wireless design means you won’t have any cables in your way that could yank the headphones off your head if it were to get stuck or hooked on something.

• JBL Live 650 BTNC headphones
• 1/8" TRRS audio cable
• Micro-USB charging cable
• Carrying pouch
• Manuals

The JBL 650 BTNC have a slightly bass-heavy sound profile that adds a little extra thump and punch to your audio, making them suitable for listening to bass-heavy music like EDM. That said, their mid and treble ranges are quite balanced and neutral, so vocals and lead instruments are still clearly and accurately reproduced. There's even a parametric EQ and presets available in the JBL Headphones app so you can customize their sound more to your liking.

The JBL 650 BTNC have good frequency response consistency. Bass and treble delivery may vary slightly across different listeners, depending on the fit, seal, and positioning on your head. However, it shouldn't be too noticeable.

The JBL Live 650 BTNC have satisfactory bass accuracy. The entire range is overemphasized, so there's extra thump and punch in your mixes, which is ideal for fans of bass-heavy music. That said, it shouldn't be too overwhelming for fans of a more neutral sound.

The mid accuracy is excellent. The range is quite flat and neutral, so vocals and lead instruments are clearly and accurately reproduced. The slightly overemphasized high-mids can make them a bit honky or harsh, however.

The JBL Live 650 BTNC have very good treble accuracy. The range is pretty balanced, so vocals and lead instruments are detailed, bright, and brilliant. However, they may also sound a bit harsh or piercing at times.

The JBL Live 650 BTNC have good peaks and dips performance. There's a slight dip across the low to mid-mids that can nudge vocals and lead instruments towards the back of the mix, and the peak in the high-mids can make those same instruments honky or harsh. The uneven low-treble can make vocals and lead instruments alternately veiled or harsh, while the peak in the mid-treble produces piercing sibilants.

The imaging performance is amazing. The weighted group delay falls below the audibility threshold, resulting in a tight bass and a transparent treble reproduction. Additionally, the L/R drivers of our test unit are very well-matched, which is important for the accurate placement and localization of objects (instruments, voice, footsteps), in the stereo image. However, these results are only valid for our test unit, and yours may perform differently.

The JBL Live 650BTNC have a poor soundstage performance. The soundstage is perceived as large, but it can also seem a bit unnatural. Audio seems like it's coming from inside your head, rather than from speakers placed all around you.

The JBL Live 650 BTNC have a decent WHD performance. While there are a few peaks at high volumes, most frequencies fall within good limits, resulting in a mostly clear and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings we used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when using these settings.

The JBL Live 650 BTNC have decent noise isolation. Even with their ANC feature turned on, they struggle to block out bass-heavy background noises like bus and plane engines. Fortunately, they perform better against higher-frequency ambient noises, like people talking around you or the hum of a nearby AC unit.

The JBL Live 650 BTNC have a good leakage performance. They don't leak a lot of noise, and escaping audio sounds quite thin, so it shouldn't be too noticeable in a typical office setting if you listen to your audio at loud volumes.

The JBL Live 650 BTNC's microphone has a mediocre recording quality. Your voice is thin and muffled, but it should still be understandable to whoever's on the other end of the line.

The integrated mic is mediocre at noise-handling. It struggles to separate your voice from background noises, even if you're calling from a moderately noisy environment. It's better-suited to making calls from quiet settings.

The JBL Live 650 BTNC have a good battery performance. With their ANC enabled, we measured about 22 hours of continuous playback, which should be more than enough for a normal workday of casual listening. That said, battery life can vary depending on usage, so your real-world experience may vary. They only take just under two hours to charge fully, which is good. Unfortunately, unlike the JBL Live 660NC Wireless, they don’t have any power-saving features, so be sure to turn them off when you’re not using them. On the upside, you can use them passively with their analog audio cable, even if the battery is dead, which is convenient.

The JBL Live 650 BTNC are compatible with the JBL Headphones app. It's a good app that gives you access to a full parametric EQ. You can add as many points as you want and fully customize their sound profile. Unlike the Sennheiser HD 450BT Wireless, you can also turn the ANC on and off from the app. Unfortunately, it lacks a few features like a playback control or some room effects, but overall this app is still a good tool to help enhance your listening experience.

The JBL Live 650 BTNC headphones are Bluetooth-compatible and can also be connected to two devices simultaneously, which is very convenient, especially at work where you can switch your audio source from your computer and phone easily. However, their latency with PCs as well as iOS and Android devices is likely too high to be suitable for gaming. That said, some apps compensate for latency differently, so your real-world experience may vary.

The JBL Live 650 BTNC come with a standard 1/8” TRRS audio cable that has an in-line microphone as well. This means that they support audio and microphone on pretty much every platform that has the appropriate jack, like gaming console controllers and PCs.

You can plug these headphones into your Xbox One controller for full audio and microphone compatibility.