With beautiful pastel colours, round shapes and all kinds of functionality, the JBL with the Live Pro+ TWS earphones are an attractive option. You can read whether the bluetooth in-ears are for you in this JBL Live Pro+ TWS review.
JBL Live Pro+ TWS
Recommended retail price € 179,-
Colour black, blue, gray, pink, white, red, beige
Link bluetooth 5.0
Battery 55 mAh (earpiece), 500 mAh (charging case)
Weight 5 grams (earpiece), 50 grams (charging case)
Features microphone, touch control
Connection usb-c
Website www.jbl.nl
6 Score 60 
- Pros
- wearing comfort
- app
- battery life
- noise reduction
- Negatives
- Loses connection
- Sound quality unconvincing
The preparation of this review took longer than usual. Testing was extremely difficult, because while listening the music regularly cut out and the problem was difficult to reproduce, making it difficult to tell whether I was suffering from a production error or a defective product. The first turned out to be the case, but luckily it was easy to fix.
Some listens went as expected, some listens the connection dropped continuously. First the noise reduction went away, two seconds later the sound. Turn Bluetooth off and on, restore the app, remove the device in the bluetooth settings, or even connect another playback device. It all turned out not to work. Much to the frustration. What is it about?
Sometimes a solution is so close that you overlook it: the headset makes poor contact with your ear, causing small movements to lose contact and the earbuds to stop playing because the playback device thinks you don’t have the earbuds in. Simply positioning or pressing the ears differently can be enough.
That doesn’t have to be a deal breaker, but it is certainly an important feature to keep in mind if you want to purchase the JBL Live Pro+ TWS.
JBL Live Pro+ TWS features
In the longer period of time that I test the JBL headset, the price has fallen rapidly from 179 euros to about 140 euros. Perhaps JBL was also a little too enthusiastic when it launched the Live Pro+ TWS, because the earphones are very complete in terms of features. You have access to a beautiful app (iOS and Android), noise reduction, ambient sound mode, voice assistance, fast charging, wireless charging, splash water resistance and multiple microphones for clear sound when (video) calling.
Also in terms of audio, the specifications are neat: 20 Hz – 20 kHz frequency range, an 11 mm driver and an impedance of 16 Ω.
Quite a bit of time has been put into the design of the earphones and the charging case, which catch the eye (or ear) with its colours, matte finish and round shapes. Wearing comfort has also been thought of, thanks to rubber tips, the earpieces can be adjusted to size and the ear canal is closed for the best audio quality and optimal operation of the noise reduction. The ears are quite light, so that the ears are comfortably attached for a longer period of time.
listening experience
The sound quality that JBL offers is somewhat disappointing. In contrast to the somewhat cheaper earphones from JBL, the sound is more balanced and the bass does not dominate. Still, sound details, especially high and mid-tones, fall away a bit. This makes it more difficult for me to completely immerse myself in the music.
The playback modes leave a better impression. The sound transmission works as expected and is a nice feature if, for example, you wear your earphones in traffic. You hardly notice the noise reduction, and that is something positive. You don’t have any pressure on your ears and you don’t get much from your environment anymore. For wireless in-ears that is quite impressive.
Battery
How long you last with your charged JBL Live Pro+ earphones depends on the playback mode. JBL claims 8 hours of playback time. That is in practice a little more than seven hours, when you have noise reduction or ambient noise off. If you have these modes on, or if you make regular calls, the battery will last about six hours. Which is quite okay compared to other wireless earphones. The charging case has a capacity to charge both earphones 4.5 times. In net terms, you arrive at a playback time of about 31 hours. After which you (fast) charge your charging box wirelessly or via the USB-C port.
Alternatives to the JBL Live Pro+ TWS
Whether you are going to compare the JBL earphones with headsets in the same suggested retail price range, or retail price range, differs quite a bit. For example, for 179 euros you also have the Jabra Elite 85t and the Denon True Wireless earphones, which are a better choice in almost all areas. For the 140 euros that the JBL Live Pro+ costs, you simply have a good choice, especially in terms of battery life and wearing comfort. If the sound quality is important to you, then the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2, Teufel Real Blue TWS and the much cheaper Nothing Ear(1) will give you a better sound experience.
With none of these alternatives I had trouble with the earphones making bad contact and therefore stopping playback.
Conclusion: Want to buy JBL Live Pro+ TWS?
All-round, the JBL Live Pro+ TWS is fine. But there are a few minor caveats, especially the fact that the earphones struggle to keep contact with the ear and therefore playback stops. Also the sound quality and the price could be better. On the other hand, there is excellent noise suppression, battery life, app and wearing comfort.
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