JBL Live 670 NC review: What are the best JBL on-ears worth?

At the end of last year, JBL introduced new on-ear headphones with ANC, the Live 670 NC. We've found out for you what they can do and whether it's worth buying.
With the Live 670 NC, JBL introduced the successor to the popular Live 460 NC. These have retained the stylish design and compact dimensions of their predecessors, but have also received a few minor upgrades, such as improved sound. You can read below what the headphones are worth and whether I can recommend them to you.
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tl; dr
Overall, I liked the Live 670 NC. They offer really good sound with lots of bass, a chic and modern design and compact dimensions. The battery is also surprisingly good and has to be mentioned positively. The operation and control of the headphones via the JBL Headphones app are also really good. The only criticism I have is the comfort, albeit due to the design. Nevertheless, I can recommend the Live 670 NC to anyone looking for good on-ear headphones with a very good price-performance ratio. However, I would advise anyone who often listens to music for long periods of time, would like a more comfortable version of the headphones and can live with a slightly higher price to buy the JBL Live 770 NC. These are extremely similar to the Live 670 and differ almost only in their design, as these are over-ear headphones.
Unboxing & scope of delivery
The headphones are delivered in a dark gray box with orange accents, as is typical for JBL. The scope of delivery is quite manageable. In addition to the headphones themselves and their storage bag, there is only a charging cable, which is typically orange for JBL, a 3,5 millimeter jack cable and the usual paperwork in the delivery. Everything you need is included, but nothing more.
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Design, workmanship & wearing comfort
The headphones are, as is typical for the Live series, pretty well designed and look stylish. The headband is covered with fabric, which not only looks good but also feels pretty high-quality. The rest is made of matte black plastic. The outside of the ear cups is decorated with a JBL logo in the middle. They are also covered with a type of artificial leather and are well padded. In addition to the black model I tested, there is also a white, a blue and a sandstone-colored model. The mechanism for adjusting the size locks into place in several stages and seems robust. The headphones can also be folded up, which means that JBL is not following the current trend of omitting this feature, which I really liked. Overall, the workmanship leaves nothing to be desired and is of a very high standard.
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At the bottom left is the USB-C port for charging the headphones, as well as a status LED. At the bottom right are the control buttons, the power button, and the 3,5 millimeter jack connection, which is still present. Everything is really well made and nothing rattles. The weight is low at 219 grams. This has a positive effect on the wearing comfort, which is actually quite good for on-ear headphones. Personally, my ears hurt after wearing them for a while, but that is almost always the problem with on-ear headphones for me and I have to say negatively.
Operation, voice quality & connection
The Live 670NC can be operated in several ways. You can either use the buttons on the bottom right or tap the right ear cup. In addition to a minus and a plus button for adjusting the volume, there is also a multifunction button in the middle that you can use to control playback and to fast-forward and rewind a track. The touch field has a similar functionality. Tapping once is play or pause, tapping twice is fast-forward and tapping three times is rewind. Calls can also be accepted and rejected using the touch field and the middle button. The voice quality on these is solid, but could be better.
Overall, I really liked the operation and I think it's good that JBL lets the user decide whether they want to use the buttons or the touch field and not just rely on the latter. The headphones also have a wear detection function that automatically starts and pauses the music when you put the headphones on and take them off. The headphones are connected to a device either via Bluetooth 5.3 or via the included 3,5 mm jack cable. The Bluetooth connection was always stable and trouble-free. Multipoint is also supported via Bluetooth, which means you can connect the headphones to several devices at the same time and then switch between them seamlessly.
Sound quality, noise cancellation & transparent modes
JBL has installed two 670mm drivers in the Live 40 NC, which cover a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz. The sound is really good and I was pleasantly surprised. Despite their compact dimensions, the headphones sound dynamic, get nice and loud and offer an extremely high bass, even more than their big predecessor, the Live 660 NC. Of course, they don't quite match the sound of the top models like the Tour One M2, but I don't expect that in this price range. The ANC is also really good, but could be much better, which is partly due to the design, as the ear pads do not enclose the ears and therefore do not seal as well as real over-ear headphones.
Like most other JBL headphones, the Live 670 offers two transparency modes. The first is called Ambient Aware and is a classic transparency mode that ensures that you can hear your surroundings well even when wearing the headphones. I really liked this one and it can almost keep up with the more expensive Tour One M2. The second mode is called TalkThru and ensures that voices in particular are clear and distinct, which is better for conversations. In reality, however, I notice almost no difference in voices compared to the Ambient Aware mode and everything is a bit duller, which is why I hardly ever use it.
Charge the battery
The headphones' battery has a capacity of 850 milliampere hours and provides enough energy for a playback time of around 40 to 50 hours with and 55 to 65 hours without ANC. This value is also a good deal better than that of the predecessor and the current JBL top model and is really strong for this price range. The big advantage of this long battery life is not that you can wear the headphones for 50 hours at a time, as that would probably have health consequences, but that you have to charge the headphones less often. If the battery does run out, the headphones can be charged in around 3 hours via the USB-C port.
JBL Headphones app
Of course, the Live 670, like almost all other new JBL headphones, are compatible with the JBL Headphones app. This allows you to control all the functions of the headphones and personalize some settings. Personi-Fi 2.0 is also offered here again, allowing every user to create their own individual soundprofil to compensate for any hearing impairments or similar. There is also an equalizer so that you can finally adjust the sound to your own liking. Things like the ANC modes or the room sound settings can also be adjusted via the app. Overall, I really like the JBL Headphones app and I think it is one of the best on the market. It is clear, has a modern design and offers access to all the important functions.
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Prices & Availability
The JBL Live 670 NC came onto the market for a price of around 150 euros. But now they only cost around 100 euros, which I think is a really good and fair price for what they offer. You can buy the headphones at all common electronics stores, as well as from JBL itself: