Sennheiser HD 4.40 BT vs JBL Live 500BT Wireless

Which Headphones Are Better?

Products

Sennheiser HD 4.40 BT Wireless
JBL Live 500BT Wireless

Tested using Methodology v1.5

Updated Jan 11, 2024 08:35 PM

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Tested using Methodology v1.5

Updated Apr 26, 2022 09:05 PM

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Our Verdict

Sennheiser HD 4.40 BT Wireless

JBL Live 500BT Wireless

The JBL Live 500BT have a very small edge over the Sennheiser HD 4.40 BT Wireless. They feel slightly better-built and less plasticky, and their sound quality is slightly better as it doesn’t lack as much detail in the treble range as the Sennheiser. You also get about 10 extra hours of battery life with the JBL. Their audio cable also features an in-line microphone, which the Sennheiser are lacking. However, the Sennheiser support NFC pairing and have lower latency, which is better suited for watching video content without any delay. 

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Variants

  • HD 4.40
  • JBL Live 500BT (Black)
  • JBL Live 500BT (Blue)
  • JBL Live 500BT (Green)
  • JBL Live 500BT (Red)
  • JBL Live 500BT (White)

Check Price

Standard
HD 4.40
SEE PRICE
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Black
JBL Live 500BT
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Standard
HD 4.40
SEE PRICE
BestBuy.com
Blue
JBL Live 500BT
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Amazon.com
Standard
HD 4.40
SEE PRICE
Walmart.com
Green
JBL Live 500BT
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Amazon.com
Standard
HD 4.40
B&H
Red
JBL Live 500BT
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White
JBL Live 500BT
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Main Differences for
Neutral Sound

Threshold 

0.10

Neutral Sound 

7.3
7.5

Treble Accuracy 
 

5.6
7.6

Bass Accuracy 
 

8.6
8.1

Full Comparison

Design

Style  

Design Picture 2  

Type  

Over-ear
Over-ear

Enclosure  

Closed-Back
Closed-Back

Wireless  

Yes
Yes

Transducer  

Dynamic
Dynamic
Show Text 

Comfort 
 

7.0
7.0

Comfort Picture  

Weight  

0.5 lbs
0.54 lbs

Clamping Force 
 

0.9 lbs
1.4 lbs
Show Text 

Controls 
 

6.1
7.0

Controls Picture  

OS Compatibility 
 

Not OS specific
Not OS specific

Ease Of Use  

Okay
Decent

Feedback  

Mediocre
Decent

Call/Music Control  

Yes
Yes

Volume Control  

Yes
Yes

Microphone Control  

No
No

Channel Mixing 
 

No
No

Noise Cancelling Control  

No
No

Talk-Through 
 

No
Adjustable

Additional Controls  

No
Voice Assistant
Show Text 

Breathability 
 

6.7
6.5

Breathability After Picture  

Avg.Temp.Difference  

5.1 °C
5.8 °C
Show Text 

Portability 
 

6.5
5.8

Portability Picture  

 

7.1" (18.0 cm)
6.8" (17.3 cm)

 

4.5" (11.4 cm)
6.1" (15.5 cm)

 

1.8" (4.6 cm)
3.1" (7.9 cm)

Volume  

58.00 in³ (950.45 cm³)
129.00 in³ (2,113.92 cm³)

Transmitter Required  

No
No
Show Text 

Case 
 

5.5
0.0

Case Picture  

Type  

Pouch
No case

 

N/A
N/A

 

N/A
N/A

 

N/A
N/A

Volume  

N/A
N/A
Show Text 

Build Quality 
 

7.0
7.5

Build Quality Picture  

Show Text 

Stability 
 

7.0
7.5

Stability Picture  

Show Text 

Headshots 1  

Angled Picture  

Side Picture  

Headshots 2  

Front Picture  

Rear Picture  

Top  

Top Picture  

In The Box  

In The Box Picture  

Show Text 
Sound

Sound Profile 
 

Frequency Response  

See details
See details

Bass Amount 
 

1.12 dB
2.01 dB

Treble Amount 
 

-2.79 dB
-1.18 dB

Frequency Response Consistency 
 

6.3
6.9

Consistency L  

See details
See details

Consistency R  

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See details

Avg. Std. Deviation 
 

0.81 dB
0.65 dB
Show Text 

Raw Frequency Response 
 

Raw FR L  

See details
See details

Raw FR R  

See details
See details

Bass Accuracy 
 

8.6
8.1

Bass  

See details
See details

Std. Err. 
 

1.93 dB
2.7 dB

Low-Frequency Extension 
 

10 Hz
10 Hz

Low-Bass 
 

1.76 dB
3.03 dB

Mid-Bass 
 

1.55 dB
3.4 dB

High-Bass 
 

-1.29 dB
-0.7 dB
Show Text 

Mid Accuracy 
 

8.9
8.9

Mid  

See details
See details

Std. Err. 
 

1.44 dB
1.41 dB

Low-Mid 
 

-1.41 dB
-1.16 dB

Mid-Mid 
 

0.33 dB
0.01 dB

High-Mid 
 

1.07 dB
-0.62 dB
Show Text 

Treble Accuracy 
 

5.6
7.6

Treble  

See details
See details

Std. Err. 
 

6.26 dB
3.59 dB

Low-Treble 
 

-4.48 dB
2.14 dB

Mid-Treble 
 

-3.31 dB
-0.52 dB

High-Treble 
 

-8.19 dB
-10.53 dB
Show Text 

Peaks/Dips 
 

7.3
7.2

Peaks/Dips Graph  

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See details

Peaks 
 

1.48 dB
1.89 dB

Dips 
 

2.21 dB
1.26 dB

Imaging 
 

7.8
8.3

Group Delay  

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See details

Phase Response Mismatch  

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See details

Weighted Group Delay 
 

0.35
0.46

Weighted Phase Mismatch 
 

6.3
4.82

Weighted Amplitude Mismatch 
 

0.96
0.53

Weighted Frequency Mismatch 
 

3.26
2.33
Show Text 

Passive Soundstage 
 

4.6
4.3

PRTF  

See details
See details

PRTF Accuracy (Std. Dev.) 
 

3.58 dB
2.14 dB

PRTF Size (Avg.) 
 

1.09 dB
1.85 dB

PRTF Distance 
 

15.3 dB
6.21 dB

Openness 
 

4.7
4.4

Acoustic Space Excitation 
 

2.5
2.8
Show Text 

Virtual Soundstage 
 

0.0
0.0

Virtual Soundstage  

Head Modeling 
 

No
No

Speaker Modeling 
 

No
No

Room Ambience 
 

No
No

Head Tracking 
 

No
No

Virtual Surround 
 

No App
No

Weighted Harmonic Distortion 
 

7.1
7.2

Weighted Harmonic Distortion  

See details
See details

WHD @ 90 
 

0.510
0.287

WHD @ 100 
 

0.222
0.362

Test Settings 
 

Firmware 
 

Unknown
Unknown

Power 
 

On
On

Connection 
 

Bluetooth 4.0
Bluetooth 4.0

Codec 
 

SBC, 16-bit, 48kHz
SBC, 16-bit, 48kHz

EQ 
 

No EQ
Off

ANC 
 

No ANC
No ANC

Tip/Pad 
 

Default
Default

Microphone 
 

Integrated
Integrated
Isolation

Noise Isolation 
 

4.7
4.9

Noise Isolation  

See details
See details

Isolation Audio 
 

Overall Attenuation 
 

-13.55 dB
-14 dB

Noise Cancelling  

No
No

Bass 
 

0.18 dB
-0.35 dB

Mid 
 

-10.23 dB
-11.63 dB

Treble 
 

-31.46 dB
-31 dB
Show Text 

Leakage 
 

7.8
7.5

Leakage  

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See details

Leakage Audio 
 

Overall Leakage @ 1ft 
 

34.66 dB
36.54 dB
Show Text 
Microphone

Microphone Style 
 

Integrated 
 

Yes
Yes

In-Line 
 

No
Yes

Boom 
 

No
No

Detachable Boom 
 

No
No

Mic  

Yes
Yes

Recording Quality 
 

5.2
6.0

Microphone Frequency Response  

See details
See details

Recorded Speech 
 

LFE 
 

310.89 Hz
486.43 Hz

FR Std. Dev. 
 

5.27 dB
2.42 dB

HFE 
 

3,272.31 Hz
3,417.19 Hz

Weighted THD 
 

68.863
6.242

Gain 
 

38.09 dB
39.81 dB
Show Text 

Noise Handling 
 

7.4
6.7

SpNR  

See details
See details

SpNR 
 

19.97 dB
11.67 dB

Noise Gate 
 

Always On
No

Speech + Pink Noise Handling 
 

8.0
6.5

Speech + Pink Noise Audio Sample  

Speech + Subway Noise Handling 
 

6.5
7.0

Speech + Subway Noise Audio Sample  

Show Text 
Active Features

Battery 
 

7.6
8.8

Battery Type 
 

Rechargable
Rechargable

Continuous Battery Life 
 

28.9 hrs
36.9 hrs

Additional Charges 
 

0.0
0.0

Total Battery Life 
 

28.9 hrs
36.9 hrs

Charge Time 
 

2.4 hrs
1.8 hrs

Power-Saving Feature 
 

No
Auto-Off Timer

Audio While Charging 
 

No
No

Passive Playback 
 

Yes
Yes

Charging Port  

micro-USB
micro-USB
Show Text 

App Support 
 

0.0
7.5

App Picture  

App Name  

No App
JBL Headphones

iOS  

No
Yes

Android  

No
Yes

macOS  

No
No

Windows  

No
No

Equalizer 
 

No
Parametric + Presets

ANC Control 
 

No
No

Mic Control  

No
No

Room Effects 
 

No
No

Playback Control 
 

No
No

Button Mapping  

No
No

Surround Support 
 

No
No
Show Text 
Connectivity

Bluetooth 
 

7.9
8.3

Bluetooth Version 
 

4.0
4.2

Multi-Device Pairing 
 

No
2 Devices

NFC Pairing 
 

Yes
No

Line Of Sight Range 
 

284.00 ft (86.56 m)
302.00 ft (92.05 m)

PC Latency (SBC) 
 

131 ms
220 ms

PC Latency (aptX) 
 

118 ms
N/A

PC Latency (aptX HD) 
 

N/A
N/A

PC Latency (aptX-LL) 
 

N/A
N/A

iOS Latency 
 

48 ms
155 ms

Android Latency 
 

27 ms
285 ms
Show Text 

Non-Bluetooth Wireless 
 

0.0
0.0

Non-BT Line Of Sight Range 
 

N/A
N/A

Non-BT Latency 
 

N/A
N/A

Wired 
 

9.5
9.5

Cable Picture  

Analog Audio 
 

Yes
Yes

USB Audio 
 

No
No

Detachable  

Yes
Yes

Length  

4.80 ft (1.46 m)
4.10 ft (1.25 m)

Connection 
 

1/8" TRS
1/8" TRRS

Analog/USB Audio Latency 
 

0 ms
0 ms
Show Text 

PC Compatibility 
 

Analog 
 

Audio Only
Audio + Microphone

Wired USB 
 

No
No

Non-BT Wireless 
 

No
No

PlayStation Compatibility 
 

PS4 Analog 
 

Audio Only
Audio + Microphone

PS4 Wired USB 
 

No
No

PS4 Non-BT Wireless 
 

No
No

PS5 Analog 
 

Audio Only
Audio + Microphone

PS5 Wired USB 
 

No
No

PS5 Non-BT Wireless 
 

No
No

Xbox Compatibility 
 

Xbox One Analog 
 

Audio Only
Audio + Microphone

Xbox One Wired USB 
 

No
No

Xbox One Non-BT Wireless 
 

No
No

Xbox Series X|S Analog 
 

Audio Only
Audio + Microphone

Xbox Series X|S Wired USB 
 

No
No

Xbox Series X|S Non-BT Wireless 
 

No
No

Base/Dock 
 

0.0
0.0

Type 
 

No Base/Dock
No Base/Dock

USB Input 
 

No
No

Line In 
 

No
No

Line Out 
 

No
No

Optical Input 
 

No
No

RCA Input 
 

No
No

Dock Charging 
 

No
No

Power Supply 
 

No Base/Dock
No Base/Dock
Show Text 

Check Price

Standard
HD 4.40
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
Black
JBL Live 500BT
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
Standard
HD 4.40
SEE PRICE
BestBuy.com
Blue
JBL Live 500BT
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
Standard
HD 4.40
SEE PRICE
Walmart.com
Green
JBL Live 500BT
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
Standard
HD 4.40
B&H
Red
JBL Live 500BT
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
 
White
JBL Live 500BT
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com

Sennheiser HD 4.40 BT Wireless

JBL Live 500BT Wireless

Comments

  1. Comparison

Sennheiser HD 4.40 BT Wireless vs JBL Live 500BT Wireless: Main Discussion

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