JBL Live Pro 2 - Here are all the upgrades for 2022
/What you see right here is the culmination of 75years of JBL audio heritage, combined with Harman's audio research expertise and five years of audio fine-tuning by one of the most well-known audiophile brands in the world, AKG and all of this is backed by Samsung.
The JBL Live Pro 2 & I took these on holiday with me & do you what… I love them. But before I tell you why. Let's talk about all the upgrades JBL has made over last year, offering the live pro +.
Number one. The Bluetooth chip has been upgraded from 5.0 to 5.2. This means we still have multi-point pairing, but now Bluetooth LE is supported. LE stands for Low Energy. This means the Live Pro 2 are more power-efficient & also the audio latency has been reduced from 150ms to 100ms thanks to this upgrade.
And with this new BT tech comes an excellent new feature. Called ShareMe, which allows the live pro 2 to relay the audio from the earbuds to another set of earbuds… Think of ShareMe as a modern-day replacement for one of these (audio splitter).
Another significant upgrade made this year vs the Live Pro+ is the playback time. Despite the case & the buds remaining almost identical in size. JBL has levelled up the battery life from 28hrs to 40hrs… with ANC off. What's interesting about this is that the ANC on the playback time still beats the live pro plus+ ANC off playback by 2hrs. And the quick charge has improved as well. What was previously 10mins for 1hr on the Live pro + has now jumped up to 15mins, delivering 4hrs. That's Speed & power right there.
When it comes to voice calls. The 6 beam-forming mics have been upgraded in performance. I'll let you be the judge of the improvements here. Watch the video here : JBL Live Pro 2 review
But listen, hear. This is a big one. The driver size remains the same with 11mm dynamic drivers…big driver means, in theory, a big sound. But the difference here is a slight change to the shape of the tubes and ear tips. Harman spends a lot of researching this kind of stuff & sometimes its little things that make a big difference…
They now have trademarked oval tips… these should help to improve the ANC and assist with comfort and potentially improve the audio too. And some of the other new features that JBL has introduced this year. Is the ShareMe I already mentioned, plus multi EQ, voice prompts, and sidetone known as Voice Aware within the app. This a feature that allows you to hear your own voice when on calls & you can adjust the levels on this within the app.
You might be thinking, why would I need that? Well, let's say you are on a conference call, you will know if your mics are picking up too much noise and disrupting everyone on the call. Also you know how I talk louder sometimes when you can't hear your own voice… like I often do when wearing headphones… well yeh you can avoid that with this feature.'
Something else that's been upgraded this year is that now the Live Pro 2's support AI hot words can be set up so that you don't need to use your hands to summon your AI anymore on android devices. Just say the word & AI will awaken. This means skipping, pausing, playing, and even volume can all be done without lifting a finger… I like the sound of that. And of course, the capacitive touch controls are still present and can be customised within the app if you are old school like that…the wear detect sensors are still on board, so they'll know when you're wearing them or not.
Another significant upgrade is the IPX rating has levelled up from IPX4 to IPX5 on the earbuds & not the case… this means they can survive sand, dust, rain, and sweat better than before. Here are a couple of visual differences compared to last year's model. The case still has Qi wireless charging, only this time it has a light grey satin finish. The stems of the buds now have a gloss finish as opposed to the Matt finish & the orange accent on the silicon tips is no longer present… they're now just black.
And although JBL did sponsor this video. I want you to know my opinions on these are my own…and haven't been altered in any way.
So now let me tell you why I like these so much. So when you first set them up. You are greeted with the check my fit feature, which uses the mics to measure audio leakage from the buds…and helps you get it right from day one. That's followed by the ear canal test, which measures noise reaching your ear canals & creates a custom ANC profile for you specifically…again this really makes them feel like your own. Then you get the AI setup. And tips and tricks. So all this stuff made me like them from the moment I put them on.
The app is really well done. It gives you complete control over almost everything. From aware ambient levels, talk through allows the vocal range through & voice aware levels for calls. And there are also power saving options within the app as well. Which can extend the battery if you are stuck on a desert island. You can bring down the latency when needed for movies and gaming or prioritise music sound quality. You've got all your ANC and ambient modes and adjustments available… and the live pro 2 does support adaptive ANC, so it can adjust automatically for you.
But the star of the show in the app is the EQ control. It's the perfect balance of complexity and simplicity. I like how you can take one of the presets, for example this one, the AKG target curve and tweak it to your own taste and save it as one of your own custom EQs. Whilst the app is fantastic, you know what makes these better. The flexibility of sound quality. If you look at the Studio EQ, JBL has in fact dialled down the bass a lot… so that means there's a lot of room for you, if you want to turn it up to the 11. This is what I did, of course, for my Hip Hop EQ… and the bass output is outstanding… there's no distortion at all, even when maxed out.
What's really impressive is that even when you use a bass-heavy EQ you don't sacrifice clarity. I did my usual genre headphones playlist tests, and I can tell you that these earbuds are incredibly versatile. They're so nicely balanced out of the box with the studio EQ. Vocals are clear and crisp, and instrumental tracks sound detailed and nuanced… it's honestly hard to fault them.
Now, let's talk ANC. So I have used these on a plane, on a train and in a car & new true adaptive noise cancelling is very good and blocking out the usual rumbling ambient noise. They ANC gets even better when you play music at the appropriate levels, of course… and even when you're not and you're not listening to anything. I would even say when it comes to earbuds, they are in the top tier when it comes to ANC.
And that is why I love these new JBL Live Pro 2 earbuds… and the price point. These are a good sound investment, in my opinion. There are four colours to choose from so that you can choose the right hue for you & If you're looking for a sports version on these, check out the reflect flow pros or if you want that legendary JBL sound in a portable speaker. Check out this video on the Charge 5… see you in the next one.
