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JBL Live 780NC (left) and Live 680NC (right) (Rami Tabari for Engadget)

JBL introduced two new headphones to its Live series lineup and both are fighting to live up to expectations. Don’t get me wrong, the JBL Live 780NC and 680NC are both a solid set of cans, but in a sea of noise-cancelling headphones, one of them definitely has more appeal. The biggest differences between these two headphones are the over-ear and on-ear cups, and surprisingly, their audio quality. Let’s get into what does and doesn’t make them so special.

JBL

76100Expert Score

JBL Live 780NC

The JBL Live 780NC are a solid set of headphones that are easily lost in the sea of mid-range cans. It’s enough to be a decent companion, but not enough to excel.

Pros- Comfortable

- Lots of features

- Wide soundstage

- Solid ANC

Cons- Hollow bass

- Need the app to disable ANC and Ambient modes

- Middling mic quality

- So much more expensive

$250 at Best Buy

JBL

79100Expert Score

JBL Live 680NC

With on-ear noise-canceling headphones being a more rare commodity, the JBL Live 680NC fills in a gap that folks definitely need, but it still isn’t the best that it could be.

Pros- Comfortable

- Lots of features

- Bassy sound

- Solid ANC

Cons- Narrow soundstage

- Need the app to disable ANC and Ambient modes

- Middling mic quality

$159 at B&H Photo

Design and comfort

Outside of varying colors and cup sizes, the JBL Live 780NC and 680NC look practically identical. They have these hockey puck-looking ear cups that are divided from the leatherette pads. The design looks like someone’s idea of headphones from 10 years ago. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it feels a bit clunky. Despite that, the metal hinge and leatherette band are more pleasantly minimalist. The cups also fold up neatly in a heart shape so you can slot them easily in the included bag.

There’s a dedicated volume rocker on the left ear cup while the right holds room for a USB Type-C port, the active noise cancelling (ANC) button and a combo power/Bluetooth switch (yes, it’s a switch, not a button). Meanwhile, you get all of the touch controls available on the right cup of each set of headphones.

Both headphones felt a little uncomfortable to wear at first, but it usually takes time for me to get used to new cans. After spending several hours each with them, they eventually grew on me. They’re both a bit snug, but neither one left me aching at the end of the day. I felt more relief when taking off the 680NC because of the added pressure of on-ear cups, but I’m also not used to the on-ear design.

Seamless customizable features

The ANC button and USB-C port on the Live 680NC (Rami Tabari for Engadget)

Despite the near $100 price gap, you get the same set of features for the JBL Live 780NC and 680NC, all wrapped up in the JBL Headphones app. It’s easy to set up and you don’t even need to make an account.

The first thing you might want to do is hop over to the settings and add the “disable ANC” function to the rotation. Out of the box, you can either switch between ANC or Ambient mode on the headphones, which is super frustrating — I shouldn’t need an app to enable a basic action. Most headphones these days allow you to cycle between ANC, Ambient mode and off (neither).

At the very least, the app offers a thorough suite of features. You can adjust the strength of the ANC and Ambient modes. Enabling Adaptive ANC allows automatic noise cancellation changes based on the surrounding noise level, while Personal Sound Amplification makes everything around you sound louder than normal. The latter was incredibly helpful in writing this very headphone review, ironically, as I had to keep an ear out for my child potentially committing a crime (kidding… mostly).

The JBL Live 780NC and 680NC are packed with the features I’d expect from a pair of premium headphones. They offer 360-degree spatial sound, an adaptive EQ, Auracast, automatic pausing and simultaneous Bluetooth connections with automatic switching.

You can also customize all of the controls, from the ANC Button to the Touch Panel, which includes two call shortcuts and four general shortcuts, one of which is already dedicated to native voice assistants like Bixby and Siri. You do need to put a little more pressure than you might expect in order for the touch controls to activate, though. This is a bit of a learning curve, so it would’ve been nice if it was more sensitive.

Sound quality

The Live 780NC (left) and Live 680NC (right) (Rami Tabari for Engadget)

The JBL Live 780NC and 680NC both feature 40mm neodymium drivers, but they offer completely different soundstages. With the 680NC, I notic

JBL Live 780NC and 680NC review: Great leaps, greater missteps