JBL Live 3 BT – choose your style – Buds, open or closed stick (AV review)

JBL Live 3 is a range of hi-res Bluetooth buds in three designs to suit you: traditional buds, Beam buds, and Flex buds. They all come with a smart charging case with an LCD screen for app-free use.

To make it more interesting, all three cost the same—$249.95—so part of this review is to demystify the three types and their differences.

Let’s start with JBL Live 3 features.

Item	JBL Live Beam 3	JBL Live Buds 3	JBL Live Flex 3
Website	Product Page	Product Page	Product Page
Style/weight	Stick/in-ear/5g	Buds/in-ear/4.6g	Stick/pods on-ear/4.5g
Colours	Black, Blue, Silver, Purple	Same	same
JBL Signature Sound	Yes	Same	Same
App
True adaptive noise cancelling with custom control	Yes	Same	Same
BT LE	5.3	Same	Same
Codecs	SBC, AAC, LD3, Hi-Res Wireless Audio over LDAC	Same	Same
Playback total hours inc. case	48	40	50
Mics for hands-free and ANC	6	6	6
Multi-point, Android fast connect and switch.	Yes	Yes	Yes
IP rating	55	55	54
Dynamic Driver	10m	10mm	12mm
Battery and case mAh	68/680	60/620	50/690
Bud Hours life ANC on/off	10/12	8/10	7/10
Case Hours ANC off	36	30	40
Qi 5W and USB 5V/1A/5W charge	Yes/2hours/10min for 4 hours	Same	Same
Personi-Fi 3.0	Yes	Same	Same
JBL Spatial Sound	Yes	Same	Same
3 sized ear tips	Yes	Yes	No
Google Finder	Yes	Same	Same
Auracast	No	No	No

We have the JBL Live Beam 3 for review—software version 4.1.0. The Beam and Buds use the same driver and share similar audio and noise-cancelling characteristics as they are in-ear canal. The Flex has a larger driver, is on-ear, and cannot achieve passive noise cancelling like silicon tips, but it should have a similar adaptive ANC capability.

Australian review – JBL Live 3 series – Beam as tested

Website	Beam Buds Flex Quick Start Guides can be found at the above URLs under Support
Price	$249.95
From	JBL Online, Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Bing Lee, Myer, Officeworks
Warranty	1-year ACL
Made in	China
Company	JBL (founded in the mid-40s) is short for James B. Lansing. (Yes, he was the Lansing in Altec Lansing.) It is now part of the Harman group of companies owned by Samsung.
More	CyberShack JBL news and reviews

We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

We are also tightening up on grading. From now on, Pass, for example, means meeting expectations for the price bracket. We consider a Pass mark to be 70+/100 with extra points added for class-leading and excellence.

First Impression – Interesting charge case with LCD screen and well-made – Pass+

I have not seen an LCD screen on a case, and it is there to reduce reliance on the App. Almost everything the app can do is on the swipe across touch screen. Is 1.45” big enough? It is functional if you have good eyesight.

I prefer the Beam in-ear style (I never liked on-ear AirPods), and the stick makes inserting and removing them easy. It is also touch-sensitive for controls.

But what impressed me the most was the new JBL Headphone app, one of the most comprehensive I have ever seen. Forgive the following details as it does so much that may be handy for you.

Codecs – Pass and Hi-Res Wireless Audio over LDAC – Exceed

Out of the box, you have SBC and AAC.

The App can enable Hi-Res Wireless Audio 24-bit/96kHz via LDAC (if your host device supports that). But it warns that this disables Personi-Fi, Spatial Sound, Low Volume EQ and Leakage compensation. That is all to do with BT and having the bit rate to support hi-res over LDAC and its effect on battery life.

Let me just say that Hi-Res is superb.

The JBL Headphone App

You start by pairing the BT with the host device. It can multi-point pair to two devices (tested on Android and Windows).

Please forgive the detail; this app is amazingly comprehensive, with features seldom seen for buds.

Home page

Battery information – left and right buds and the case.

ANC, Ambient Aware, and Talk Through

It is Adaptive—the buds determine the level based on external sound. It can provide up to 30dB reduction at 100Hz and is variable from 20 to 300Hz. You must have a proper fit for passive noise reduction, and the ‘Check My Best Fit’ does that. If you don’t want Adaptive, turn that off and set your level from one to seven.

In our tests, it did a great job with 20-100Hz noise and was pretty good with 100-300Hz (high bass and low mid). It has none of that ‘compression’ you feel with some buds.

Ambient Aware has a 7-position slider setting to adjust the amount of outside sound let in.

Talk Through allows you to respond to conversations. It has enough side-tone (to hear your voice in the buds). You can set it to Smart Talk to automatically change to Talk Through when you speak and return to music when you are quiet.

Personal Sound Amplification

Simply put, you use a slider to select the level of amplification of surrounding sounds—like a hearing aid. You can also adjust the Left and Right Balance to compensate for different ear hearing levels.

This is excellent for the hearing-impaired.

Smart Automation

You can set it for auto-play, pause, and auto-answer calls.

Smart Audio and Video

I am unsure what it does, but I suspect it helps with lip-sync delay.

Gestures

You can allocate different commands or call controls to the left and right bud.

Custom Charge case – interesting

It is a Bluetooth 5.1 case that connects to the smartphone. It offers a 1.45” on-screen touch adjustment for brightness, volume, EQ, ANC, music control, accepting/rejecting phone calls, messages, and more. You can also use the screensaver with your photos. You can select which of the eight functions shortcuts you want to see.

Audio tab

Hi-Res Wiresless Audio 24-bit/96kHz LDAC

This is the first JBL product that can do Hi-Res audio over LDAC without wires! It sounds superb.

If defaults to off as it uses more battery life. But I must say that using LDAC, regardless of how much battery it takes, is impressive.

EQ

Presets include (these can all be tweaked as well) – LDAC may override some presets.

• Studio (neutral – flat) and likely the one you will most use
• Bass (recesses mid and treble)
• Club (slightly recesses mid)
• Extreme Bass (severely recesses mid and some treble
• Vocal (recesses bass and treble to focus on 1-4kHz.
• Jazz (recesses mid) for increased bass and treble
• Custom +/- 6-step from, 32Hz to 20khz.
• Adaptive EQ (for low-volume compensation)
• Leakage compensation (where a mic picks up too much sound leakage from the ear)

Spatial Sound

This is an upmix of 2.0 sound to JBL spatial sound with movie, music, or game presets. It does not mean on-device processing of Dolby Atmos or DTS:X.

Personi-Fi 3.0

To quote JBL: Hear and feel every note of your playlist. Shape your audio to match your personal listening profile with interactive customisation tools that use precise information about you and your preferences to provide the exact sound curve that suits you best.

This basic hearing test reproduces tones in each ear to customise your sound profile—regrettably, it did not work for the review.

Left/Right sound balance

Many people don’t have equal volume hearing in each ear. This is terrific to balance volume.

Max Volume Limiter

It defaults to Bluetooth 80dB maximum, but you can disable this if you are not concerned about hearing damage.

Call settings

• Auto sound level optimiser to balance the voices
• Sound – natural, increased treble, increased bass
• Voice tone – natural, powerful, bright
• Voice-aware (side tone) slider to set how much voice you hear in the buds.
• Private call mode (use one bud as an in-hand mic).

Other tab

Relax sounds

Five white noise genres and a timer of up to 60 minutes.

Find My Buds

It emits a high-pitched sound.

Power saving

Auto standby or off

Support

Set-up, Quick Start guide, FQ, Reset and Software update.

Hands-free calls – Pass

The six mics (one voice beamforming, one ANC and one internal ANC) are good. They control wind and background noise quite well.

Callers commented that the (app defaults) produced a slightly tinny voice and over-processed sounds. The key is to customise the Calls tab to suit your needs, and these will then meet or exceed your expectations.

Comfort – Pass+

We wore these for over eight hours, and they felt pretty comfortable. There was never that feeling that you needed to take them out.

In-ear is unsuitable for pulsatile tinnitus, itchy ear, and hay fever sufferers. Buy the Flex on-ear instead.

Battery – Pass+

JBL claims ANC on/off of 10/12 hours plus the case at 36 hours (ANC off). We tested at 75% volume and got 8 hours and 25 minutes. Verified.

USB-C charge time is about 2 hours (USB or Case), and fast charge is 10 minutes for four hours. We did not test Qi, but we expect about twice the charge time.

Build-quality – Pass+

Sure, they lack the real metal highlights and woven fabric cases of more expensive brands, but overall, the build quality is above what you expect at this price.

Sound – Pass+ verging on Exceed with Hi-Res Wireless Audio via LDAC

In-canal or on-ear buds require more work than over-or-the-ear headphones. We tend to be slightly more subjective than just measuring native sound signatures.

Maximum volume: 82dB – loud

Native sound signature: It has bass starting at 43dB, and by 50dB, it is then flat to 5kHz. It takes a dip to avoid harshness and then flat from 10-15kHz before declining. This is a typical unprocessed JBL neutral sound signature, and we love it.

The word that comes to mind is ‘nice’. Its sound range is excellent, and it is pretty immersive (although all Buds have a sound stage inside your head), which is what I expect. We played Dolby Atmos and DTS:X content, adding more width and height to the sound stage.

LDAC is excellent quality if you have the codec on your phone.

CyberShack’s view – JBL Live 3 are excellent, especially for the price

I compared them to the top-of-the-range Sennheiser Momentum 4 True Wireless BT/ANC earphones – can’t get better and Sony WF-1000XM5 – are these the best noise-cancelling earphones ever?

The Sennheiser Momentum 4 has superior, audiophile-grade sound and a range of Qualcomm aptX codecs. Its strength is its music quality, perhaps the best I have heard for pure listening pleasure. Add in Auracast compatibility and it is the leader.

The Sony WF-1000XM5 is also a tad better than JBL in audio quality and the leader in noise cancelling. Like the JBL Live 3, it has SBC, AAC, and LDAC.

No, they are not as good as these, which are twice the price. But they punch well above their weight for general listening. Hi-res wireless audio and noise cancellation. Joe and Jane Average should buy these and be deliriously happy.

Ratings

• Features: 90—The app and the LCD case are fully featured, offering customisations seldom seen elsewhere. They are class-leading.
• Value: 90 For all that you get, $249.95 is cheap.
• Performance: 85 – only marginally behind the best and come very close with hi-res LDAC.
• Ease of Use: 80 – The app is so comprehensive that it may take some time to customise and use the features fully. The LCD case makes basic changes easy, but the screen is a little hard to read.
• Design: 85—Offering three styles for the same price is a great idea (although this review does not cover the Flex on-ear).