JBL Quantum 800 Wireless Headphones Review

The JBL Quantum 800 are gaming headphones with customizable RGB lighting, which is nice if you like to match your team's colors for gaming tournaments. However, as they're mostly plastic, they don't look particularly sleek. The high gloss plastic around the ear cups especially catches the eye, and it's easy to see fingerprints all over it. If you want to wear these out in more casual spaces, they still look like gaming headphones. If you're interested in a pair of JBL gaming headphones but want a detachable boom microphone, check out the JBL Quantum ONE, though the ONE are wired-only.

These headphones are decently comfortable. They don't clamp too tightly but feel loose overall, and they can move around your head. They're also fairly heavy, so you may feel fatigue if you wear them for long hours.

These over-ears have okay controls. You'll find buttons along both ear cups, but there aren't any music/call controls like playing or pausing audio. There's an infinite volume wheel as well as a channel mixing wheel. Both wheels are pretty close together, though, and it's easy to accidentally change their settings if you're reaching for something else. On the upside, you can flip the mic upward to mute it.

Noise cancelling button:

• Single press: Turns ANC on and off.
• Press and hold: Turns TalkThru on and off. This feature lowers your audio so you can have conversations without taking off the headphones.

Mic mute button:

• Single press: Mutes and unmutes the microphone.
• Press and hold: Turns RGB lighting on and off.

These headphones have sub-par breathability. They have an over-ear design, which covers your entire ear and traps in heat. You can feel a temperature difference if you wear them during long listening sessions.

Like most over-ear gaming headphones, these over-ears aren't very portable. Their ear cups can swivel to lay flat, which is nice if you want to put them in your backpack, but they don't have a case to protect them. The microphone isn't retractable or removable, so it can snag on something if you're trying to store them. Their portability won't be an issue if you want to keep them by your desk or couch.

The JBL Quantum 800 have an okay build quality. They're mostly made up of plastic, which causes several issues with the design. Parts of the headband squeak when in use, and its headband mechanism can loosen to its maximum setting, making these headphones feel like they're drooping off your head. They still feel like they can withstand a few accidental drops or bumps. If you're looking for better-built JBL headphones with an over-ear design, try the JBL Live 660NC Wireless.

They have mediocre stability. They'll stay in place if you're gaming from your desk or couch; however, if you move your head while gaming, they won't stay put and can easily fall off.

• JBL Quantum 800 Gaming Headset
• Wireless USB dongle
• USB-C charging cable
• 1/8" TRRS analog cable with an in-line remote
• Microphone windscreen
• Manuals

These headphones have a bass-heavy sound profile that's pretty boomy. The treble is uneven and veils vocals and instruments while sibilants are piercing. At least dialogue is still fairly clear. If you prefer a different sound profile, you can use the EQ in their companion app to help create a sound that better suits your needs.

These over-ears have a mediocre frequency response consistency. While they're pretty consistent in the bass range, there's a lot of inconsistencies in the treble range. Treble delivery is sensitive to the headphones' positioning and placement, especially because they're not the most stable.

The JBL Quantum 800 have okay bass accuracy. It's overemphasized across the range, producing a thumpy, boomy bass. That said, some listeners may prefer a bass-heavy sound as it can help add extra emphasis to explosions in video games.

The mid accuracy is outstanding. The range is very neutral and flat, resulting in vocals and lead instruments that sound detailed, natural, and present. If you're playing games with a lot of dialogue, like Mass Effect, voices will be clear and easy to follow.

The JBL Quantum 800 have disappointing treble accuracy. It's uneven, so instruments and vocals lose a bit of detail and clarity while sibilants like S and T sounds become bright and piercing. However, their treble response varies noticeably, depending on how you position the headphones on your head.

The peaks and dips performance is unremarkable. A couple of minor peaks in the bass range can slightly muddy parts of the mid-range. However, the large dip in the low treble reduces the clarity and detail of vocals and lead instruments. The following peak can make sibilants bright and piercing too.

JBL makes a lot of headphones, and while a vast majority of them have well-matched drivers and, thus, solid imaging performances, others show some discrepancies. Imaging indicates a manufacturer's quality control and ergonomics, though, and it varies between units. Our unit's right driver has a little bump in the low bass range, but otherwise, everything is below the audibility threshold, ensuring mostly tight bass and transparent treble reproduction. The L/R drivers of our unit are also fairly well-matched in amplitude and frequency response. However, there's a large phase mismatch between the L/R drivers, which can have a small negative effect on the stereo image and how objects are spatially oriented.

Their passive soundstage is poor. While the soundstage sounds somewhat natural, it doesn't seem very large. You'll perceive sound as inside your head instead of being in front of you.

These headphones have JBL's Quantum Surround 7.1 and a DTS X virtual surround feature. This feature helps create a more immersive and 3D audio experience.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance is decent. While there's a small spike in the treble range at a moderate volume level, it affects a very small band and isn't very noticeable.

These are the settings used to test the JBL Quantum 800 Gaming Headset. Our results are only valid when using these settings.

These over-ears have great noise isolation. Their active noise cancelling (ANC) feature can reduce some bass noise, like the sound of bus and plane engines. While their ANC does a similar job to the passive noise isolation in the mid and treble range, it still manages to block out a significant amount of noise in both ranges.

The leakage performance is good, especially for gaming headphones. While leakage covers the entire range, it all falls below the noise floor of an average office.

They have a boom microphone with a removable windscreen. While we normally use wireless when available, we tested this microphone using a 1/8" TRRS cable, which produced better results than when we used it wirelessly.

The recording quality of the boom microphone is decent. While your voice lacks depth or fullness, it will still be clear and understandable to whoever's on the other line.

The noise handling of the microphone is decent. The mic can separate voice from background noise but has a little more trouble in loud environments. However, this isn't too much of an issue if you're gaming from a quiet space like a living room.

The battery performance is mediocre. The manufacturer advertises them as having 14 hours of continuous playtime, but that's with the RGB lighting and ANC off. If you have both features on, they last about eight hours, which is quite a bit lower. They also fully charge in just over an hour and a half. That said, battery life can vary depending on use.

These headphones use JBL Quantum Engine as their companion software. It gives you access to a graphic EQ plus presets, and you can even adjust the mic level, which is nice. However, you can only use this software once you turn the headphones' Bluetooth off.

These headphones have great Bluetooth connectivity. While they don't have NFC pairing, you can connect them to one Bluetooth device, like your smartphone, and another device, like a PlayStation console or your PC, via their wireless dongle to receive both audio outputs simultaneously. That said, their latency on PC and Android is fairly low when streaming YouTube videos, while their iOS latency is slightly higher. However, some apps and devices tend to compensate for latency differently.

These headphones support a non-Bluetooth wireless connection via their USB dongle. Their latency is a bit higher than many other gaming headphones, which can cause your audio and visuals to fall slightly out of sync.

These headphones come with a 1/8" TRRS cable with an in-line remote.

When using their 1/8" TRRS audio cable, you can plug these headphones directly into your PC or PlayStation headphone jack for audio and microphone compatibility. If you're using their USB dongle, you'll have full audio and microphone compatibility with a wireless connection.

Using their 1/8" TRRS audio cable, you can plug the JBL Quantum 800 directly into your Xbox controller for audio and microphone compatibility. However, you can't use these wirelessly.

These headphones don't have a base or dock. You can plug the included wireless dongle into a PS4 or PC, but it isn't compatible with Xbox consoles.