[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] JBL 770nc Headphones
This review may get to be on the longer than the average so please bear with my to many words.
JBL is all about sound, so when these arrived at my door step, open the package, check the contents and direct to the music. First test was with semi-lossless music files using the included audio cable.. Bounced around various recordings from different eras, different genres. Then onto specific recording I am quite familiar and know well. Non-electrified instruments sounded natural and correct. Then onto electric guitars and some with crazy amounts of distortion. To my biased ears, the sounds were ever so slightly mellowed.
OK, now onto streaming music with cable attached, and a long way from lossless. Yeah I could tell a difference in the music but still more than acceptable. Switch to Bluetooth and maybe a little reduction in quality in some recordings and like no change in other recordings. Go figure! Did well on podcasts. Easy to tell who had the better recording system to make podcasts.
As a side note the box says “PURE BASS”. This references a higher quality of bass not a louder bass. Reasonably well accomplished on these headphones.
The Noise Canceling does work. And work well. I can be with my wife while she watches her TV show I don’t care for and I can listen to mu music that she does not care for. Should be interesting how well the noise cancel system works on airplane flights.
Charge the phone. Battery life unknown. Hey it is type C charging but got to wonder about that very short charging cord. Hmmmmm. But I like the orange color. And speaking of cords, included is a flat 48” audio cable. 3.5mm X 2.5mm. Some of us do prefer a hard wire connection over blue tooth. In the hands the headphones had a nice feel of quality and reasonably light weight. Gently surprised!
Now we get to my primary issue: Everything is BLACK ON BLACK. A different color for the various buttons would be nice. A subdued gray would be just fine. Just hinting. The JBL headphone app does alleviate a few of my gripes. And maybe increase the tactile feel so to find the correct button?
Onto the secondary issues: The ear-cups do not breathe well. Sweaty ears and sweaty stripe across my bald head from the band. Ear-cups reasonably comfortable and headband cushioned nice. Part of me wishes the headphones were a true over the ear and not on-the-ear. And I thought the cup size a little off. Those with smaller ears a tight fitting over-the-ear unit and those with mid to larger ears an on-the-ear unit.
I did not try to do any phone calls although the headphones are capable, simply not my style. And a button is involved. Back to one of my gripes.
When taken as a complete package the quality of sound is the winner. No, the headphones are not of audiophile level. Maybe view them as an upper end listening device for private listening.
I did give these a 5-star review. In reality it is more like a 4.63 star review. So I rounded up.
Will I continue to listen with them? Yes. Will I use the headphones frequently? Yes. Will I recommend them to friends and relatives? Yes. Will I tolerate the shortcomings? Yes. Obviously the final verdict is “YES”.