The JBL Live Pro 2 follows on from the American-branded Live Pro+ launched last year. The Live Pro+, launched last year, won us over with its all-round quality, but this relaunch features improvements in several key areas. Adaptive ANC, upgraded water resistance and better battery life are some of the key changes in an already very capable true wireless earphone costing around £100. However, despite these welcome improvements, the JBL Live Pro 2 still suffers from a couple of problems that held their predecessors back.
Bluetooth connectivity has been upgraded from version 5.0 to 5.2, allowing you to connect to two devices at the same time, although Bluetooth multipoint is still present and correct. Codec support also remains the same, with only SBC and AAC available; the lack of support for high-res codecs such as LDAC and aptX Adaptive remains disappointing, but not particularly surprising given the Live Pro 2’s price point.
[content-egg-block template=offers_logo hide=price]Battery life has been significantly improved across the board. The earphones themselves can be used for up to 10 hours with ANC off, three hours longer than the Live Pro+ was able to achieve. The charging case allows for three full charges, and the battery life is approximately 40 hours when not using noise cancellation. This is a significant increase from the Live Pro+’s 28 hours.
The JBL’s default tuning is well balanced despite this strong bass reproduction, and I rarely felt the need to reach for the in-app EQ. However, it does come in handy at times, and is a welcome inclusion not available on all true wireless earphones that cost this kind of money. By replacing the different noise cancelling modes with a single adaptive ANC system, JBL has eliminated the need to access the app to select specific levels of noise cancellation, which is definitely a good thing. Thus, JBL has eliminated the need to select noise cancellation levels in the app.
As with the Live Pro+, customisation of the touch controls is somewhat limited. Control categories can only be assigned to the left and right buds, and you have to choose between ambient sound control, volume control and two of the playback and voice assistant controls. As the playback and pause controls are covered by the Live Pro 2’s wear detection, I chose the ambient sound and volume groups. But it would be useful to have more freedom of choice. Especially as the voice assistant is not easily accessible in this configuration.