JBL Live Pro 2: the cheap noise-canceling headphones you've been waiting for

JBL Live Pro 2: the cheap noise-canceling headphones you've been waiting for

JBL Live Pro 2: minute review

JBL is famous for its mid-range audio products that sometimes offer competitive options at twice the price of your money. And the good news is that the JBL Live Pro 2 headphones are no exception.

The JBL Live Pro 2 are the latest truly wireless headphones from the friendly brand and the successor to the JBL Live Pro+ headphones. Here are some notable improvements, including adaptive noise cancellation, multi-device pairing, and more customization options now in the app.

These earbuds are great for everyone and can definitely claim a spot in our best true wireless earbuds guide, and we'll be adding them there shortly. Thanks to the 11mm dynamic speakers, the sound is powerful, clear and deep. But you can also change the sound of these headphones with an in-app equalizer and a bunch of presets. The accompanying app is generally a joy to use, with a nice design and plenty of customization options. It's amazing how many companies get it wrong, but luckily JBL doesn't.

The buttons look great too, with a minimalist design and stems that have a mirror finish and a capacitive panel for gesture control. We found them to be very comfortable, with a choice of small, medium and large silicone tips that create a seal for the ANC to really shine through. This keeps the buttons firmly in place and makes it a solid choice for all-day wear and even exercise.

Who are they not for? Those with a higher budget may want to opt for a pair that offers improved sound performance along with noise cancellation, but you'll have to pay a lot more for noticeable improvements. We weren't that impressed with call quality at times either, and there were a few instances of connection drops.

But to be fair, we'd really have to be picky to find a lot of fault here because there's a lot to like about these headphones. Ultimately, the JBL Live Pro 2 proves that you don't need to spend a small fortune to get great sound and great ANC these days. Well done JBL.

Close-up of the JBL Live Pro 2 headphones case on a brown table

There are small LED lights on the front of the charging case that indicate (approximately) how much battery power is left. (Image credit: Future)

JBL Live Pro 2: price and release date

The JBL Live Pro 2 was released in June 2022 and costs €129,99 / £149,95 / AU$199,95. We tried the dark blue buttons, although they look closer to black in some lights, but there are also silver, pink (pink), and black to choose from.

At the time of writing, the black earphones are much cheaper in the UK and US at £99.99 / £99.95 – great news if you can't justify spending more than £100 / £100 on a new pair .

This price is ideal for a pair of true wireless headphones with good noise cancellation. It's a competitive space in the $100/€100 mid-range price range, though, as you can see from our best budget headphones guide. You can choose between Cambridge Audio Melomania 1 Plus, Beats Studio Buds and Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0; all similarly priced rivals and all among our top midrange picks.

At this price, the JBL Live Pro 2s are also significantly cheaper than some of the best true wireless earphones you can buy today, like the Sony WF-1000XM4 Wireless Earbuds, which cost twice as much at $250 / £279.99 / AU$449.95. . Once again, these are considered high-end buds and only for those with a much bigger budget anyway.

JBL Live Pro 2 headphones held up against the camera

Note the small JBL logos at the bottom of the mirrored tops. (Image credit: Future)

JBL Live Pro 2: design

The JBL Live Pro 2 has a stem-like design, mirroring the look of several other true wireless earbuds on the market, including the Apple AirPods line, Huawei Freebuds Pro 2, and Nothing Ear(1).

That's not to say they don't look distinctive. JBL brings its own more angular version of the design. The body of the buds is matte plastic with a high gloss finish on the outer side of the stem. We love that sparkly touch and think it adds a premium feel to the buds, but not everyone will like it.

These buds are IPX5 rated, which means they're waterproof and will withstand a little sweat, but they're not completely waterproof and you shouldn't throw them in the tub and hope it ends well. This level of waterproofing is still very good compared to some buds that don't have a water resistance rating at all (and even the AirPods Pro 2 only have an IPX4 "splashproof" rating, remember) but it's not nearly as impressive as rivals. Like the Jabra Elite. 7 Active with IP57 rated water resistance.

You'll find a selection of S, M, and L bits in the box and we're happy with the smaller size. They were incredibly comfortable to wear, partly because they weighed just 4,8g each, and stayed in place for hours.

To get the right fit, there is a feature in the app called "Check My Best Fit". This plays a short snippet of music to ensure you have a good seal in each ear to get the most out of the ANC. Other headphones have a similar fit test feature, but the one on offer here got us going right away.

While the JBL Live Pro 2 isn't marketed specifically for fitness, since it's safe and IPX5 rated, we decided to test it out in a few different scenarios. They stayed in place through a 30-minute yoga class and light jog. They may not be ideal for intense workouts (the seal they create in your ear canal can be affected if you sweat a lot), but they performed well in our tests.

The JBL Live Pro 2 Charging Case is small enough to fit in a pocket and weighs 48,4g. It has a rounded pillbox-style design with a clamshell lid which, again, is pretty standard for true wireless earphones these days. Magnets keep the earbuds in place while they charge, and small LEDs on the front give you a rough indication of how much battery you have left.

JBL Live Pro 2 headphones on brown table

The mirror finish on the temples looks great, but is prone to tarnishing. (Image credit: Future)

JBL Live Pro 2: features

There's 10 hours of battery life on the buds and an additional 30 hours on the Live Pro 2, giving you 40 hours in total. It might not be the best battery life we've seen yet when compared to true wireless earbuds, but it certainly lives up to this standard.

For comparison, the higher-end Sony XM4s have 8 hours on each bud, but only 16 on the case; the Bose QuietComforts only have 6 hours on the buds and 12 hours in the case and the latest Apple AirPods Pro 2 offer 6 hours on the buds and an additional 30 hours in the case.

But some mid-range stars offer similar specs to the JBL Live Pro 2, like the Cambridge Audio Melomania 1 Plus with 9 hours on buttons and 41 hours in the case and the exceptional battery of the Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0, which boasts 10 hours. of the buds and another 70 from the powerful case.

The accompanying app is one of the easiest features to use on the JBL Live Pro 2. It's amazing how many audio tech brands make good friends and then let them down with an app that can't present them as their best day ever. There is none of that here.

Pairing with your phone is incredibly simple. Bluetooth synced in seconds, and the app connected less than a minute later. In the app, you see the buds at the top with levels showing you the exact battery levels. Then there's a dedicated section for ANC, another with the equalizer, a section for gestures to learn and adjust them, and a VoiceAware slider, which controls how much of your voice you hear on calls.

Other settings are also found here, such as a fit test, the Find my buds function, power saving mode, and voice assistant settings and voice prompts. It's great to have so many features here and they're displayed in a way that doesn't feel overwhelming.

On the buds themselves, there is a capacitive touch screen on the stem and this is how you control them with gestures. For example, you can turn noise cancellation on and off by left-clicking and holding to activate Siri. All of these are customizable, at least to some degree. You can't decide which gestures do what, but you can select which one takes precedence over which button.

As always, these gestures took a bit of getting used to, and while they were mostly responsive, there were times when we did notice a slight lag, though only for a few seconds. It wasn't much of a problem to control the music, but we did miss a call when the headphones didn't respond immediately.

JBL Live Pro 2: sound quality

Noise cancellation is the real star of the show here. In fact, we'd say there are some of the best noise-canceling headphones out there, especially for under $150/€150. To get a significantly better ANC experience, you're going to have to pay a lot of money, and by that we mean more than $200. 200 / €XNUMX.

Noise cancellation was capable in a variety of settings. When riding the subway with noisy passengers and loud screams from the train, the noises were silenced. Not completely, but very noticeably. In an office environment with voices and ambient noises, there was an almost eerie silence. If you work in an office, travel regularly, or just like deep immersion and peaceful silence from great ANC, these headphones are a fantastic choice.

The good news is that there are a few ANC settings you can change here. So you can enable ANC in the app, but you can also customize it. You can turn adaptive ANC on and off, which means that the ANC level adjusts according to the level of ambient noise. Walking from a busy tube station to a quieter street, we found that it worked remarkably well. You'll also find leakage compensation, ear canal compensation, and ear canal testing, all of which add to the wonderful sound...

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