JBL Live 660NC Wireless Headphones Review

The JBL Live 660NC have a simple over-ear design that's very similar to the JBL Live 650 BTNC Wireless. They have large plastic ear cups with the manufacturer's logo in the center. The headband, in contrast, has a mesh fabric coating, but it also has the manufacturer's logo on the top-facing side. They come in four colors to better suit your style: black, blue, white, and pink.

The JBL Live 660NC are decently comfortable. They feel lightweight on your head, while the ear cups and headband are well-padded and comfy. However, you can start to feel them clamp on your head after long periods of use.

The JBL 660NC have good controls. They're located on both ear cups and are easy to use. The volume up and down buttons allow you to skip a track forward or backward by pressing and holding the respective buttons. The middle button lets you play or pause audio as well as answer or end calls. You can also decline calls by holding this button. You can touch the JBL logo on the left ear cup for two seconds to activate Google Assitant or Amazon Alexa voice assistant. If you use a different voice assistant, you can activate Siri or another voice assistant by holding the middle button for two seconds. You can also click the ANC button once to two this feature on, off, or activate 'Ambient Aware', which allows you to hear background sounds while still listening to audio. You can also press this button twice for talk-through, so you can chat with people without removing the headphones from your head.

Overall, the buttons are clicky and are easily distinguishable. They chime when powered on or pairing the headphones. There are also chimes for min or max volume.

The JBL Live 660NC have okay breathability. The ear cups trap in some heat, and their seal can block airflow. You may notice a temperature difference when wearing them during physical activity, which could make you sweat more.

The JBL Live 660NC have mediocre portability. The ear cups can swivel inwards to help reduce their footprint, making them easier to place in a bag. They also come with a soft drawstring pouch to help protect them when you're on the go.

The JBL Live 660NC come with a soft pouch that only protects the headphones from light scratches and dust. It also has a drawstring closure. The material doesn't seem water-resistant either, and the fabric won't guard your headphones against physical damage like falls.

These headphones have a good build quality. They're made of plastic with faux leather padding. The headband is coated in a mesh fabric, and there's a metal plate inside it to help reinforce the frame. However, they lack an IP rating for dust or water resistance, although we don't currently test it.

The JBL Live 660NC are stable headphones. Thanks to their clamping force, they should stay on your head during casual listening sessions as well as moderate physical activity. Since they have a wireless design, you also don't have to worry about something snagging the headphones off of your head.

• JBL Live 660NC headphones
• 1/8" TRS to TRRS audio cable
• USB-C to USB-A charging cable
• Carrying pouch
• Manuals

These headphones have a slightly bass-heavy sound profile that delivers a touch of extra thump and punch to your mixes. They're still well-balanced enough for a variety of audio content, though. If you prefer a different sound, their companion app has a parametric EQ and presets, so you can customize their sound.

The JBL Live 660NC have decent frequency response consistency. They're prone to inconsistent bass delivery, and you may especially notice a drop in bass if you have thick hair or glasses. There's also some deviation in the treble range. That said, if you take the time to adjust their fit and seal on your head, you should get a more consistent sound each time you use them.

The JBL Live 660NC's bass accuracy is excellent. There's an overemphasis in the low and mid-bass, which results in a touch of extra thump, rumble, and punch. However, the slight dip in the high-bass can weaken their boominess.

The JBL Live 660NC have outstanding mid accuracy. The range is exceptionally well-balanced and flat, so vocals and lead instruments are clear, accurate, and detailed.

The JBL Live 660NC have decent treble accuracy. It's underemphasized across the range, which results in slightly veiled vocals and lead instruments. Sibilants like cymbals are also a bit dull.

The JBL Live 660NC's peaks and dips performance is good. There's a peak in the low to mid-bass, which adds extra thump and punch. A dip in the high-bass lessens the boom in your mix. Another peak between the mid to high-mid makes vocals and lead instruments a bit boxy and intense. The left and right drivers then diverge in the low-treble, so the dip in the left driver veils the upper harmonics of vocals and lead instruments while the right driver makes them sound harsh. The peak in the mid-treble makes sibilants like cymbals piercing.

The imaging performance is great. The weighted group mostly falls under the audibility threshold, but small peaks indicate a slightly loose bass. The treble is fairly transparent. The left and right drivers are also well-matched in amplitude and frequency, which is important for the accurate placement and localization of objects (like voices or footsteps) in the stereo image. While there's some mismatch in frequency, it's fairly slight, although there may be holes in the stereo image. These results are only valid for our unit, though, and yours may perform differently.

The JBL 660NC have a poor passive soundstage. Their soundstage doesn't feel particularly large or natural. It also feels like sound is coming from inside your head, rather than coming from speakers placed around you. The soundstage also doesn't feel as open or spacious as that created by open-back headphones.

The JBL 660NC have a good weighted harmonic distortion performance. While there are a couple of peaks of normal listening volumes in the treble range, this can be hard to hear with real-life content. Most frequencies fall within good limits, which results in mostly clear and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when using 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 660NC have a decent noise isolation performance. They have active noise cancelling (ANC), but it struggles to cut down bass-range noise like bus or plane engines. It does a better job of cutting down mid-range sounds like ambient chatter, as well as high-pitched noise like the hum of an AC unit. However, their ANC doesn't offer much better performance than their passive capabilities in this regard.

The JBL Live 660NC's leakage performance is good. Most of the leakage is concentrated in the mid to treble range, which should sound mostly thin. If you're listening to audio at high volumes in a moderately noisy environment, the leakage shouldn't be too noticeable.

The JBL Live 660NC's microphone is alright. Your voice sounds thin and a bit muffled. However, you should have no problem being understood by whoever's on the other end of the line.

Update 10/28/2021: These headphones have been updated to test bench 1.5. In this update, we made changes to the way we test noise handling. We now use a subjective evaluation of our audio clips. This new method has resulted in different results than what we had reported in our previous test bench. As a result, the scoring of this box has changed, and we have updated our results.

The microphone's noise handling performance is mediocre. It struggles to separate your voice from moderate noise, so you may need to take calls from a more quiet environment.

The JBL Live 660NC have a great battery performance. Although they're advertised to last around 40 hours with their ANC, we only measured just under 26 hours. That said, battery life can vary according to your usage, so your real-life results may vary. On the upside, they charge in under two hours and have an auto-off timer to help conserve battery life when not in use. You can also use them passively with their audio cable if you run out of battery life.

The JBL Live 660NC are compatible with the JBL Headphones app. They have a parametric EQ and presets so that you can customize their sound to your liking. You can also turn 'Ambient Sound' on or off and switch between ANC on, 'Ambient Aware', ANC off, and talk-through. You can turn auto-pause on or off, adjust the auto-off timer, see the battery life, and set up either Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa voice assistant.

There's 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', but we don't know how the other modes perform.

Update 10/28/2021: These headphones were updated to Test Bench 1.5 and their latency values have changed. Our previous Test Bench 1.4 measurements reported 'iOS Latency' at 94 ms and 'Android Latency' at 121 ms. However, our new test bench uses an average of three measurements instead of one, resulting in 'iOS Latency' at 164 ms and 'Android Latency' at 204 ms. As a result, we have updated our text to better reflect test bench 1.5 measurements.

The JBL Live 660NC have great Bluetooth compatibility. They can connect with up to two devices at once, which is nice if you like to stay connected to your phone and laptop. They also support Google Fast Pair for seamless pairing with your Android device, although we don't currently test for this. However, their latency on PCs as well as iOS and Android devices is somewhat high, and you may experience delays between your audio and visuals. That said, they also have a dedicated 'Video Mode', which can help reduce latency. Using this mode, they have 22 ms of latency on Android, 45 ms on iOS, and 177 ms on PC. However, some apps and devices compensate for latency differently, so your results may vary.

The JBL Live 660NC come with a 1/8" TRS to TRRS cable, which 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.

You can plug the JBL Live 660NC into your Xbox One or Xbox Series X controller. However, you can only receive audio and can't use their mic.