JBL Live Buds 3 Review
I never knew i needed this and now i can’t live without it
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Retail Price: $229.95
Out of the Box
The JBL Live Bud 3 comes packaged with the standard setup like most earbuds nowadays. JBL throws in a USB-A to USB-C charging cable, 4 different size ear tips, a charging case, and the pair of earbuds. There isn’t any additional fluff or anything particularly unique about the offering from the box. The charging case weighs 69 grams and each earbud is 5 grams which amount to a total together of 79 grams.
The special selling point of the JBL Live Bud 3 is of course the glaring screen on the case. The Live Bud 3 case has an LED touch screen allowing you to use it as a second set of controls to adjust volume, answer calls, and act as a media control hub. We’ll touch on this later, but if you’re buying this set of earbuds, it’s most likely because JBL caught your eye using this screen on the box. The earbuds are packed with a 10mm dynamic driver along with Bluetooth 5.3. The Live Bud 3 also features Active Noise Cancelling, spatial audio, JBL headphones app and IP55 resistance. So all in all at least on paper, it’s a solid offering for a good pair of modern earbuds.
Battery Life
The charging case comes with a small touch screen
During the entire testing period I had with this pair of earbuds, I’ve never once had to think about charging it because it was about to run out of juice during a day. I occasionally topped the case off when I had an opportunity to, but I never had to worry about it dying on me during inopportune times. Just 10 minutes plugged in can get another four hours of playtime. I also liked the premium feature that is wireless charging as you can just plop this down on a Qi charging mat and get some electricity running into it.
I can say easily that the JBL Live Bud 3’s battery life is better than my pair of Apple Airpod Pro 2’s. The case has a working touch screen and the battery life is still amazing- which is a shocker to me as it does look to drain more energy while operating its core functionality. JBL advertises up to 10 hours of playtime, and 40 hours combined with the charging case. Might as well strap this on my wrist and call it my new watch.
Fit and Comfort
Unfortunately, my never ending journey once again continues as I search for the perfect fitting earbuds to go into my ears. The inclusion of the 4 different ear tip sizes gives a lot of customizable options to keep a snug fit in order to create better active noise cancelling. While these fit very well for me, if I wear them for longer than an hour, my ear does become a bit sore from the snug fit. The physical size of the Live Bud 3 aren’t the biggest and the tip itself is actually the only piece suctioned into your ears. The rest of the earbud body is sitting on the outside of the ear. So maybe it’s the weight of the earbuds themselves that hanging onto the ear in that position causes this discomfort for me, but still, its far from the worst fitting earbuds I’ve reviewed. I took these earbuds on multiple short flights and they weren’t uncomfortable for me for short bursts, but it was only when I was wearing them for long hours without rest while working that I noticed the discomfort.
Function
On the Live Buds 3, JBL added something unique that I have yet to review on any other earbud and headphone. At first I thought it was a gimmick, putting a touch screen on something that didn’t need a screen reminds me of screens on fridges and toaster ovens. The obvious first thing I did was check to see how it would look if I was to upload a picture onto the background of the case. I mean how could I not set it to a picture of my late dog, Stella? It’s a trivial thing to be able to do, but I thought it was a nice touch to personalize an otherwise dime a dozen-looking device.
Then after awhile with it, it clicked on me how amazing it is to have the convenience of having the case as the music player controller. Not only that, but I’m able to answer calls and check the battery status without looking at an app on my phone. It even lets me ping the earbuds in the event that I misplaced them somewhere! It’s a nice feature I didn’t know I needed in my life. This is by far the highlight of the JB Live Bud 3. The touch screen itself is only a measly 1.45-inches, but that really doesn’t matter much as you’re not going to be using it to watch content or anything. For a control and information hub, it’s perfectly suitable and satisfactory to use. You don’t really think much about an earbud case, but this functionality is actually quite perfect as you’re going to be carrying this case around with you at all times anyway. Might as well make it functional.
JBL also has a downloadable app to set commands, turn on ANC, ambient sounds, etc. It also allows you to adjust the equalizer which is a nice feature to help create a better sound. The app isn’t the most pleasing or necessary feature, but it’s a nice tool to have if one chooses to play around with more settings.
Although a lot of earbud and headphone feature the same Bluetooth technology, I swear these for some reason connect the fastest in my arsenal of products. They connect to my device faster than I can open my Spotify app. Not once did I have an issue with disconnecting and trying to reset my Bluetooth settings. The earbuds use Bluetooth 5.3 while the case is utilizing 5.1. It’s not 5.4 nor is it the new Bluetooth 6.0, but you’ll have to take my word when I say it’s noticeably quick and reliable to connect. My Airpods Pro 2 ironically uses the same Bluetooth version, but the Live Buds 3 blows them out of the water and I thought Airpods were pretty fast already.
As for the other features, the ANC is good but not great. For this review, I happened to fly a few times across country and was able to spend a lot of time matching the Live Buds 3 side by side with the Airpod Pro 2. In a noisy airplane cabin high up in the sky is a perfect scenario to really see how good an OEM’s ANC is. The noise cancelling on the Live Bud 3 are a more mild compression when compared to the Airpod Pro 2. It’s good enough for daily use, but doesn’t block out all the external noise that an earbud close to reaching $200 in retail price probably should be doing. The benefit of altering the fit of different ear tips do help produce a slightly better seal in your ear, but it’s still a step down from the other top tier ANC out on the market. Once again, this is priced to compete on the higher end of the market so I do think it’s fair to expect more when other competitors have shown that ability in their offerings. Obviously I can’t make comparisons to over the ear headphones as those are superior for ANC in every way, but at least compared to comparable earbuds like the Airpods, it’s not quite matching up here in this department.
Sound Quality
The JBL Live Bud 3 features a 10mm dynamic driver and it does pack a punch. Going along with my Apple comp since I was in the air with both sets during my review period, I do think that it has a comparable sound profile to the Airpod Pro 2. It doesn’t sound as crisp as the Airpod, but it’s pretty close. The honest reality I’m going to exclaim now is that to the general consumer out there looking to discern between all of these earbuds from different makers, the audio quality of many of these earbuds nowadays are pretty solid. Most of them squeeze in familiar drivers and tune them to perform a certain way. It’s pretty hard for non-audiophiles to tell the difference between them. For me, a lot of what makes the sound quality acceptable is actually the design of the shape of the earbuds and how they sit in the ear.
Everybody has Spatial Sound like JBL does on this. Everybody is stuffing a bunch of mics into these small bodies to make better call quality. JBL has 6 in this one if you’re wondering. Low frequencies are punchy and clear, while mid-range vocals sound quite natural and real-tone. The high end gets somewhat dynamic in sound profile.
Verdict
The JBL Live Bud 3’s touch screen case is by far the highlight of this earbud offering. It provided something I’ve never experienced on any earbud package and it’s an excellent feature that I never knew I needed in my life. I now look at other products in my inventory while I have them out and about and wish every one of them had this addition of these controls. The sound quality and fit are good enough for a product in this price range so in my opinion, the added distinction of a touch screen gives earbuds from other companies a legitimate run for their money. It’s a solid offering, and while it lacks a tad on the sound quality and fit side (personally for me), it makes up by offering a new feature I never knew I needed.
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