JBL Live Beam 3 Review

The first thing you probably notice about the $199.95 JBL Live Beam 3 noise-cancelling earphones is that their charging case has a touch screen. It’s much more advanced than most charging cases out there, letting you control playback and switch between different sound modes. The case is an undeniable point in their favor, but the earphones also offer premium sound quality, good active noise cancellation (ANC) and great battery life. Use a comprehensive companion app and you’ll be our new Editors’ Choice winner for noise-canceling earphones under $200.

Design and Features: A cool charging case and long battery life

Available in black, blue, silver or purple, the stem-style Live Beam 3 earphones feature a two-tone design with plastic and metal components. They don’t fit my ears perfectly (I found that the plastic finish makes the earpieces prone to wiggle with heavy movement), but one of the four sets of included eartips (XS, S, M, and L) should help you achieve some level of stability. The $229 Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 earphones use a matte material that puts them in a better place to play.

Internally, the 10mm dynamic driver provides a frequency range of 20Hz to 40kHz. The earphones support Bluetooth 5.3, AAC, LDAC, and SBC codecs, multipoint connection with up to two devices, and a whole host of Google services (Fast Pair, Audio Switch, and Find My Device).

Touch surfaces on the outside of each earpiece operate the controls. By default, a single tap on the left earbud switches between ANC and AmbientAware (clarity) modes, a double tap activates talkthrough mode, and a tap-and-hold gesture invokes your device’s voice assistant. On the right, one tap controls playback, two taps skip a track, three taps skip a track, and a tap-and-hold activates your voice assistant. A double tap on either side answers or ends the call. Squeeze-based controls can sometimes be better on earbuds with stems, but these touch controls worked flawlessly in testing. You can choose the control type for each earpiece, but you can’t adjust each gesture. For example, you can set the left earbud to handle playback operations and the right earbud to handle noise cancellation modes, but nothing more granular than that. You can’t control volume, playback and media from the earbuds at the same time.

An IP55 rating means the earphones are reasonably resistant to dust and water. Neither sweat nor rain should be a problem, although you shouldn’t risk getting them drenched. For even better protection against the elements, consider upgrading to the IP68-rated Jabra Elite 8 Gen 2.

The charging case is not weatherproof. On the plus side, it has a large, high-resolution color touch screen. It shows the time, displays remaining battery life for the earphones and case, lets you control playback, and lets you switch between EQ and noise cancellation modes. The case is slightly bulky as a result but should still fit in most pockets.

JBL estimates that the earphones can last 10 hours with ANC on and 12 hours with it off The charging case provides an additional 30 hours of battery life with ANC on. All of these numbers are fantastic. For comparison, the Elite 8 Active Gen 2 earphones can last around 8 hours with ANC on and another 24 hours out of their case.

The company says the Live Beam 3 earbuds fully recharge in 2 hours, and a 10-minute session will give you 4 hours of playback time. You can charge via the rear USB-C port (there’s a short USB-A-to-USB-C cable in the box) or wirelessly.

App Experience: Extensive, with excellent EQ

The JBL app (available for Android and iOS) is easy to use. It also lets you smoothly switch between noise cancellation modes and tweak the aforementioned controls. The built-in EQ is one of my favorites. You can choose from six presets or create a custom one with 10 bands between 32Hz and 16kHz. And the earbuds have a Personi-Fi feature that promises to optimize the audio response to your preferences.

Alternatively, you can toggle the auto-pause feature, conduct a fit test and enable the sound-based Find My Buds feature. The latter requires being within Bluetooth range and is unlike Google’s location-based Find My Device feature.

Finally, you can use the app to choose which features are available through the charging case Doing so makes it easier to access your most helpful screens You can adjust screen brightness, as well as preset options or choose a wallpaper from your photo library

Noise Cancellation: Excellent for the price

The JBL Live Beam 3 earbuds offer decent noise cancellation. They seriously hurt the sound of a plane’s engine, especially when it comes to low-end roar. They also cut most of the higher frequencies in this scene, although the higher mids come through more clearly. The earphones quieted the sound of a bus engine, but more complex sounds could still be heard. In a busy cafe, the circuitry dampened the vocals enough that I could listen to music in peace. Overall, the ANC isn’t on the same level as the class-leading Apple AirPods Pro ($249) or the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds ($299), but it performs as well as you’re going to get for under $200.

AmbientAware mode seems to let most of the highs pass through. It works well if you want to be aware of your surroundings without removing the earbuds, but it doesn’t sound very natural. I’m a big fan of the SmartTalk feature, which automatically enables talkthrough mode when it detects you’ve been talking for a predetermined amount of time (5, 15, or 20 seconds).

Sound Quality: Well-rounded performance

You can go into the in-app EQ to tweak the sound to taste, though the default audio signature (which I used for testing) is generally detailed and rich. I didn’t find the JBL’s simulated spatial sound profiles all that compelling. They can be entertaining to watch movies, but they make music unnatural. If you’re curious, they’re easy enough to try.

The earbuds can sound a little muddy in the lower bass region, like on The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” but this tendency doesn’t prevent the track from coming across faithfully overall. Percussion has plenty of detail, while other instruments get plenty of separation.

On Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” Driver successfully brings out the details from instruments like the guitar and violin, as well as his deep vocals. The earphones replicate sonic elements like the sound of guitar strings quite well, adding to the natural tone of the track.

Kendrick Lamar’s “Loyalty” also sounds great. The earbuds perfectly capture the sub-bass while lending admirable clarity to both Lamar and Rihanna’s vocals. Percussion elements also cut through the mix quite well. While the instrumental separation isn’t class-leading, there’s enough here to give the track a spacious feel.

On orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ “The Gospel According to Another Mary,” the strings are clear and vibrant. Violins have a good amount of cut, while lower strings like cellos are far from muddy. Vocals also shine decently well.

The voice mic array works well. Every sound was easily audible from a test recording on my iPhone, and I heard no Bluetooth artifacts. As such, these earbuds will work well for calls and other forms of communication with a strong signal.

Verdict: A new sub-$200 standard

JBL’s Live Beam 3 earbuds offer enjoyable audio, great battery life, a good range of codecs, and a nifty companion app. They don’t compete with class leaders on the ANC front, but then again, they cost considerably less. A slightly finicky fit and some on-ear control limitations are downsides, but they’re not enough to keep the pair from earning our Editors’ Choice award. If you need a particularly secure fit and a more durable design, we recommend Jabra’s Elite 8 Active Gen 2 earphones, another Editors’ Choice winner. They trade the Beam 3’s touch-screen charging case for a water-resistant one that can transmit Bluetooth audio via a USB-C or 3.5mm connection.