JBL Tune 660NC Wireless Headphones Review

These are on-ear headphones with a simple, quite nondescript appearance. They have a narrow plastic headband and the manufacturer's logo stamped onto each small round ear cup. They're available in a few different colors, including 'Black', the variant we tested, and 'Blue', 'White', or 'Pink'.

They're fairly comfortable. They're light and don't put too much pressure on your head. The ear cups' hinges also have a good range of motion. Unfortunately, the headband only has a small amount of padding in the middle, which may make them a little less comfortable if you wear them for long periods.

They have good controls. The buttons are all found on the right ear cup and are easy to distinguish from each other. The buttons are clicky, and you hear audio cues when you reach maximum or minimum volume and when you pair the headphones with a device via Bluetooth.

'+' and '-' buttons:

• Single press: Raise or lower the volume.
• Press and hold: Skip the track forward or backward.

Center button:

• Single press: Play/pause audio or answer/end a call.
• Press and hold: Decline a call.
• Double tap: Activate voice assistant.

ANC button:

• Single press: Turn ANC on/off. When in a call, mutes or unmutes the mic.

They have good breathability. Their on-ear design doesn't completely cover your ears, which will allow for more airflow than most over-ear headphones. While they trap a bit of heat, you won't sweat more while wearing them.

They're reasonably portable. The ear cups swivel to lay flat, making the headphones more compact and easier to store or fit into a bag. However, they don't come with a carrying case or pouch to protect them when you're on the go.

They have an unremarkable build quality. They're made of cheap-feeling plastic, and the faux leather padding on the headband isn't very comfortable. While the ear cups have a good range of motion, the headphones' yokes and hinges don't feel particularly solid. They aren't rated for dust or water resistance, but that's the norm for on-ear headphones.

They aren't very stable. Like the JBL Tune 510BT Wireless, they aren't intended for workouts and are likely to fall off your head, even during moderate exercise like a jog in the park.

• JBL Tune 660NC headphones
• USB-C to USB-A charging cable
• 1/8" TRS cable
• Quick Start guide

JBL Tune 660NC have a slightly V-shaped sound profile. It lends mixes some extra rumble and punch. Voices and instruments sound clear and accurate but are slightly veiled by an underemphasis in the low-treble. Sibilants are also bright and somewhat piercing. Unfortunately, they don't have an EQ or presets to help customize their sound profile.

They have good frequency response consistency. Their bass delivery is fairly consistent, but you may experience a drop in bass if you wear glasses or have thick hair. There's also some inconsistency in the mid and treble ranges depending on the headphones' fit and positioning, so you may need to take the time to adjust them each time you wear them to get a consistent sound.

The JBL Tune 660NC have very good bass accuracy. The low and mid-bass ranges are overemphasized, which adds thump, rumble, and punch to your music. There's also a bit of extra high-bass, which adds warmth and a bit of boominess.

They have fantastic mid accuracy. The range is even and well-balanced, so vocals and lead instruments sound clear, present, and accurate.

The JBL Tune 660NC have okay treble accuracy. There's some underemphasis in the low treble, so voices in songs like the chorus of Homemade Dynamite by Lorde sound veiled instead of clear. The peak in the mid-treble adds brightness but also makes sibilants like cymbals or S and T sounds seem harsh and piercing.

They have an okay peaks and dips performance. There are peaks and dips across the range, indicating that the headphones struggle somewhat to control their sound profile. A shallow dip in the mid to high-bass adds body and boom, while a dip across the low-treble slightly veils instruments and lead vocals. There's also a dip in the mid-treble followed by a bigger peak in the same range, making sibilants like S and T sounds seem alternately piercing and dull.

They have excellent imaging performance. JBL headphones tend to have well-matched drivers, which results in good imaging and indicates the brand's quality control and ergonomics. Our unit's weighted group delay is almost entirely below the audibility threshold, except for a very small bump in the bass range which loosens their bass ever so slightly. However, it's not very noticeable overall. Also, the L/R drivers of our unit are well-matched in terms of amplitude, frequency, and phase response, so objects like voices and footsteps are accurately placed within the stereo image. However, imaging varies from unit to unit.

The JBL Tune 660NC have a poor passive soundstage. While you'll perceive sound as coming from speakers placed in the room around you rather than from inside your head, the soundstage doesn't seem very natural or wide. It's also not very open or spacious, which is typical of closed-back headphones.

The JBL Tune 660NC have a good weighted harmonic distortion performance. At moderate volumes, there's some distortion in the mid-treble range. A narrow peak also affects a small range of low-bass frequencies in the right driver. However, it's hard for most people to hear with real-life content, and otherwise, all frequencies fall within good limits, resulting in clean and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test the JBL Tune 660NC Wireless. Our results are only valid when you use the headphones in this configuration.

The JBL Tune 660NC have sub-par noise isolation. They have an ANC system that doesn't isolate you well from bass-range sounds like rumbling bus or plane engines. It does an okay job of blocking out higher-pitched noises, like a background conversation or humming A/C unit, but it's still not quite on par with other JBL on-ears like the JBL Live 670NC Wireless.

The JBL Tune 660NC Wireless have a good leakage performance. They leak less audio than the JBL Tune 510BT Wireless, and you can listen to music at high volumes in a moderately quiet environment, like an office, without much risk of bothering people around you.

The integrated mic has a decent performance. Recorded speech sounds thin but fairly clear and easy to understand.

The integrated mic has a mediocre noise handling performance. In moderately noisy places like an office, background noise is still audible and distracting during calls. It can be difficult to understand or even hear you if you're on the phone somewhere loud, like a subway station.

The JBL Tune 660NC's battery performance is very good. With their ANC on, they last for about 42 hours of continuous use, which is close to the advertised 44-hour battery life with ANC on. The manufacturer also advertises that they last for 55 hours with the ANC off, and they have a five-minute quick-charge feature for two hours of playback. Unfortunately, they don't have any power-saving features like an auto-off timer or standby mode. If you run out of battery life, you can use the headphones passively with the included audio cable. Also, battery performance can vary with real-life use.

They have great Bluetooth connectivity. You can pair them with up to two devices simultaneously, allowing you to switch from listening to music on your phone to watching a movie on your computer without re-pairing the headphones. An incoming call always takes priority, no matter what device's audio you're listening to, though. Unfortunately, their latency on PCs and iOS and Android devices is somewhat high, so you're likely to notice some audio lag if you're gaming or watching videos. That said, some apps and devices seem to compensate for latency.

You can use these headphones wired with their included 1/8" TRS to TRRS cable. However, you can only receive audio using this cable as the TRS connector can't simultaneously transmit stereo audio or mic audio. They also come with a USB-C to USB-A cable to charge the headphones.

These on-ears support a wireless connection with PCs via Bluetooth but have high latency when used that way. They can also receive audio via analog connection, eliminating latency, but you can't use the mic.

The JBL Tune 660NC can only connect with PlayStation consoles with the included 1/8" TRS cable. You can hear audio but not use the mic.

The JBL Tune 660NC are compatible with Xbox and Xbox Series X if you plug their 1/8" TRS cable into a controller. However, you can only receive audio.