Odi Productions
In this article, I’m going to share my HONEST JBL Live 770NC review for those who are wondering whether they are WORTH IT in 2026. I’ll also be comparing the JBL Live 770NC vs Tune 770NC, Anker Soundcore Space 2, Space One, Q45, Space One Pro, Sony WH-CH720N, Sony ULT Wear, Beats Studio Pro, and more!
I’m going to do my best to share whether these headphones are worth it, and ideally who these headphones are for. I bought these headphones with my own money, and was NOT sponsored, paid, or received a free copy for review. All thoughts are my own.
I’ll be sharing my critical opinion with 10 years of experience as a professional music producer, audio engineer, and tech journalist. I also run the RecordingNow YouTube channel with over 25,000+ subscribers and over 5 million views.
Let’s dive right in!
JBL Live 770NC Headphones Review in Short
When on sale, the JBL Live 770NC is one of the best headphones under $150. It’s an absolute bass cannon with decent build quality, strong battery life, and serviceable noise cancelling for a budget headphone. I would highly suggest choosing the Live 770NC over the cheaper JBL Tune 770NC if you can afford it. Competes with Anker Soundcore Space One Pro, Soundcore Space 2, Soundcore Space Q45, Soundcore Space One, Sony ULT Wear, Sennheiser Accentum, Sony WH-CH720N, Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2, and Nothing Headphone (a).
Pros and Cons
- Incredible bass response
- 50-hour battery life
- Decent build quality
- Comfier than cheaper JBL’s
- Strong clamping force
- No hi-res codec support
Order HERE for the LOWEST PRICE AVAILABLE (Do NOT pay retail):
Save money with RENEWED!
Disclosure: These affiliate links may provide a discount and in return, give us a commission in order to keep this website 100% independent to ensure honest unfiltered reviews 🙂
Sound Quality
First Impressions on the Stock Sound…
The stock sound profile of the JBL Live 770NC leans quite consumer-friendly, with a strong emphasis on bass and treble from the 40mm drivers.
The bass immediately jumps out to me, it has large amounts of sub-bass with a visceral impact, while not being as boomy as other similarly-tuned budget headphones.
The treble is detailed albeit a bit artificial-sounding stock, but at least the soundstage is pretty open for a budget headphone.
Luckily, there is a pretty flexible custom EQ inside of the JBL app, and the Live 770NC responds fairly well to EQ, which is typically a sign of quality drivers.
I do wish the Live 770NC had hi-res codec support such as aptX or LDAC, like in the higher-end JBL Tour One M3.
I think a hi-res codec would squeeze out a bit more sound quality from the Live 770NC’s drivers, as I hear some good potential here.
Full Sound Quality Test
The star of the show is the massive bass response, which is easily one of the most satisfying bass I’ve heard from a budget headphone in this class.
Out of the box, the 770NC is already quite bass-forward, but it can be pushed even harder via custom EQ.
The bass is both initially impactful with some good slam in the lower sub-bass frequencies.
Now for those who aren’t big fans of exaggerated bass, you will definitely need to make use of the custom EQ, which the Live 770NC responds well to.
I would say the mids are fine once you turn down the bass regions, sounding more balanced in tonality.
The treble is almost equally as forward as the bass in the stock sound profile, and it’s just a bit bright and artificial.
It is detailed, however, and overall is a nice complement to the massive bass.
Overall, the Live 770NC is one of the best-sounding headphones I’ve heard around $200, but is heavily geared towards modern genres with sub-bass like Pop, Hip Hop, and EDM.
Sound Quality Comparisons
vs JBL Tune 770NC
The Live 770NC and Tune 770NC are quite similar in sound quality, sharing the same 40mm drivers.
The main difference is in their acoustic structure, with the cheaper Tune 770NC having less interior earcup space, thus leading to a slightly smaller soundstage.
Both headphones share consumer-friendly stock sound profile, which is slightly more emphasized in the Tune 770NC.
Between the two, I think the cheaper Tune 770NC “needs” EQ more than the Live 770NC, the latter which I can enjoy stock.
The bass is massive and quite impressive on both headphones, with a slight advantage to the Live 770NC that sounds cleaner and more controlled with authority.
Overall, both headphones are fun V-shaped bass cannons that punch well above their respective price points.
vs Anker Soundcore Space 2
The Soundcore Space 2 is a couple years newer than the Live 770NC, and they share similarly good sound quality for being budget headphones.
They are both tuned similarly for the consumer-friendly sound profile.
Between the two, I give a slight advantage to the Live 770NC due to its more impressive bass response.
The Space 2 has a small advantage in supporting LDAC, which would’ve been nice on the Live 770NC.
But even without hi-res codec support, I still prefer the JBL over the Space 2 slightly.
vs Anker Soundcore Space One
The JBL Live 770NC is in a tier above the Soundcore Space One’s sound quality, in my opinion.
I’m simply underwhelmed with the Space One as a whole, and found the Space 2 to be a major upgrade across the board for sound quality.
Sound Quality Score: 8.4 out of 10
Comfort
The JBL Live 770NC is slightly lighter than average in weight for the over-ear, wireless noise cancelling headphones as weighed on my scale:
- Sony WH-CH720N – 186.4 grams
- JBL Tune 720BT – 223.2 grams
- JBL Tune 770NC – 227.1 grams
- Skullcandy Hesh ANC – 229.6 grams
- Bose QuietComfort – 236.1 grams
- Sony WH 1000XM5 – 245.9 grams
- Sony WH 1000XM4 – 251.6 grams
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra – 254.4 grams
- JBL Live 770NC – 254.5 grams
- Anker Soundcore Space One – 260.6 grams
- Anker Soundcore Space 2 – 262.8 grams
- Anker Soundcore Life Q30 – 264.6 grams
- Beats Studio Pro – 268.6 grams
- CMF Headphone Pro – 280.8 grams
- Anker Soundcore Space One Pro – 286.3 grams
- Sennheiser Momentum 4 – 292.9 grams
- Anker Soundcore Space Q45 – 297.5 grams
- Nothing Headphone (a) – 311.4 grams
- Sonos Ace – 318.1 grams
- Nothing Headphone (1) – 328.3 grams
- Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 – 332.3 grams
- Apple AirPods Max – 387.8 grams
Although about 27 grams heavier than its cheaper JBL Tune 770NC sibling, the Live 770NC is still a fairly light headphone for the class as a whole.
I much prefer the comfort and more spacious earcups of the Live 770NC over the Tune 770NC that is much more cramped inside the earcups.
The one comfort flaw that does stick out is quite a strong clamping force from the factory, similar to other JBL headphones I’ve tested.
Other than that, the earpad cushions and headband could be a bit more plush and supportive.
Overall, not bad once the clamping force loosens up, and much better than the Tune 770NC.
Comfort Score: 8.0 out of 10
Features / Battery Life / Build Quality / Practicality
Features
The JBL Live 770NC was originally released in August 2023, so they have many modern wireless headphone features:
- Built-in microphones for taking calls
- Bluetooth 5.3
- Adaptive Noise Cancelling
- Spatial Audio
- 10-band custom EQ
- Multi-point connection
- Physical buttons and controls
- Transparency Mode
- Includes carrying case bag
- Foldable design
- Stereo cable
Battery Life
The JBL Live 770NC has 50 hours of battery life with ANC on, and 65 hours with ANC off.
- Nothing Headphone (a) – 75 hours (ANC on), 135 hours (ANC off)
- Marshall Monitor III – 70 hours (ANC on), 100 hours (ANC off)
- Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 SE – 60 hours (ANC on), 100 hours (ANC off)
- Sennheiser HDB 630 – 60 hours
- Sennheiser Momentum 4 – 60 hours
- Sennheiser Momentum 5 – 57 hours
- Anker Soundcore Space 2 – 50 hours (ANC on), 70 hours (ANC off)
- Anker Soundcore Space Q45 – 50 hours (ANC on), 65 hours (ANC off)
- JBL Live 770NC – 50 hours (ANC on), 65 hours (ANC off)
- Sennheiser Accentum – 50 hours (ANC on)
- JBL Tune 770NC – 44 hours (ANC on), 70 hours (ANC off)
- Anker Soundcore Space One Pro – 40 hours (ANC on), 60 hours (ANC off)
- Anker Soundcore Space One – 40 hours (ANC on), 55 hours (ANC off)
- Nothing Headphone (1) – 35 hours (ANC on), 80 hours (ANC off)
- Sony WH-1000XM6 – 30 hours (ANC on), 40 hours (ANC off)
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) – 30 hours
- Sony WH-1000XM5 and WH-1000XM4 – 30 hours
- Sonos Ace – 30 hours
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra (1st Gen) – 24 hours
- Apple AirPods Max 1 and 2 – 20 hours
In my testing, I found this rating to be accurate.
50 hours with ANC on and 65 hours with ANC off is well above average for this class.
There is a fast-charge feature that adds 4 hours with just 5 minutes of charging time.
Build Quality
I find the materials and build quality of the JBL Live 770NC to be quite good for its pricepoint, and a whole lot better than its cheaper Tune 770NC sibling.
While the Tune 770NC straight up just feels like cheap plastic, the Live 770NC is covered in more variety of materials, such as metal in the headband slider.
Now, these are certainly not as premium as their flagship $300-400 JBL Tour One M3, but for its “budget” price, I would say the Live 770NC feels above average.
Practicality
Thanks to its lightweight foldable design, strong battery life, decent build quality, and respectable noise cancelling performance, the Live 770NC makes for a great daily driver.
There is better noise cancelling in the flagships from Sony, Apple, and Bose, but expect to pay a premium for that.
It would be nice to see a hardshell case for travel, but very few headphones come with one at this price.
Features / Battery Life / Build Quality / Practicality Score: 9.0 out of 10
Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) Performance
If there’s one area that the budget-friendly headphones fall behind the $400+ flagships, it would be noise cancelling performance.
Luckily, the Live 770NC is surprisingly decent in noise cancelling performance for a budget headphone of its class.
The strong clamping force and slightly more premium materials lead to decent passive noise isolation.
Then turning on the Active Noise Cancelling results in a noticeable decrease for ambient noise, especially in the lower frequencies.
Now, I still put the ANC in a tier clearly below today’s best-in-class, mainly due to the lack of real-time filtering of mid and high frequencies that the flagships are so good at.
But play some music and the ANC does a serviceable job.
The transparency mode “Ambient Aware” works fine as well, but also a touch below the flagships which sound more natural and truly “transparent”, for lack of a better word.
Noise Cancelling Performance Score: 8.0 out of 10
Value
The JBL Live 770NC retails at a full price of $219.95 USD, but has gone down to as low as $120-$150 on sale.
Renewed prices are down to around $95 at the time of this writing, which is an absolute steal in my book.
At its full price, the Live 770NC is actually a pretty fair package for the price, but its value really starts to grow as it gets towards that sub-$150 sale price.
When on sale, the Live 770NC is definitely on my shortlist of best headphones under $150, especially if you’re looking for a bass cannon with decent noise cancelling.
Value Score: 8.5 out of 10
Overall Scoring Breakdown
Sound Quality (50% of score): 8.4 / 10
Comfort (10% of score): 8.0 / 10
Features / Battery Life / Build Quality / Practicality (10% of score): 9.0 / 10
Noise Cancelling (20% of score): 8.0 / 10
Value (10% of score): 8.5 / 10
Overall: 8.35 / 10
Is the JBL Live 770NC Worth it?
If you ever find these on sale under $150 (or Renewed for under $100), I do fully recommend the JBL Live 770NC.
I much prefer the JBL Live 770NC over the cheaper Tune 770NC, as it’s much more comfortable with better build quality.
The materials, feel, and build quality of the Live 770NC is definitely in a tier above the budget headphones like the Tune 770NC, Sony WH-CH720N, Sony ULT Wear, and Sennheiser Accentum, to name a few.
For $200 or less, some other appealing alternatives are the Sennheiser Momentum 4, Soundcore Space One Pro, Sony ULT Wear, and Nothing Headphone (a).
Some very strong alternatives in this class of wireless headphones are:
- JBL Tune 770NC
- Anker Soundcore Space One Pro
- Sony ULT Wear
- Sony WH-CH720N
- Anker Soundcore Space 2
- Anker Soundcore Space Q45
- Sennheiser Momentum 4
- Sennheiser Accentum
- Anker Soundcore Space One
- Sony WH-1000XM5
- Nothing Headphone (a)
- Nothing Headphone 1
- CMF Headphone Pro
- Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2
- Skullcandy Hesh Evo
- Skullcandy Crusher Evo
- JBL Tune 720BT
- Bose QuietComfort (2023 model)
- Beats Studio Pro
I highly recommend you check those out next!
Order HERE for the LOWEST PRICE AVAILABLE (Do NOT pay retail):
Save money with RENEWED!
Disclosure: These affiliate links may provide a discount and in return, give us a commission in order to keep this website 100% independent to ensure honest unfiltered reviews 🙂
How We Tested and Our Methodology
RecordingNOW.com is a 100% independent publisher with over 10 years of experience testing and reviewing consumer electronics and headphones.
We currently purchase the products we test with our own money, and are not paid by any company or manufacturer to influence our opinions or decisions.
After purchasing the product, we conduct up to hundreds of hours of detailed hands-on testing in a controlled, acoustically-treated environment.
ODi Productions is our resident expert and author of this article, with 10 years of experience as a professional music producer, tech journalist, and audiophile.
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