Jbl Quantum 800 Wireless Over-ear Performance Gaming Headset Reviews

JBL tried to exercise a bit too much with its flagship Quantum 1 gaming headset, offer programmable lighting, active noise cancellation, and fake surroundings sound enhanced by head tracking in a $300, wired package. The Quantum 800 tries to do a lot, too, merely by foregoing the caput tracking it manages to offering most of the aforementioned features in a much more convenient wireless package for just $199.95. The result is a compelling headset that offers plenty of features for its price, along with potent audio performance. That's enough for the JBL Breakthrough 800 to earn our Editors' Option for wireless gaming headsets.

Blueprint

The Quantum 800 is sleek and dark, covered in matte gunmetal and blackness plastic. The back of each earcup holds a circular textured console with the JBL logo, which lights up with customizable colored lighting when the headset is on. Metal, cogitating nighttime gray plastic frames the light-upwardly panels. The left earcup holds the flip-downward boom mic, a foam-covered sheathing mounted on a potent but bendable black rubber arm.

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The earpads are padded with a generous amount of memory foam, wrapped in soft faux leather. The underside of the headband has lighter padding but similarly supple faux leather. The consequence is a soft, snug over-ear fit that should be comfortable for long gaming sessions, with strong noise isolation that enhances the headset's active dissonance cancellation.

A ability switch and a Bluetooth pairing push sit on the bottom border of the correct earcup. All other controls and connections sit along the back and bottom edges of the left earcup, including a USB-C port for charging, a iii.5mm input, a mic mute button, a volume wheel, a game/chat balance wheel, and an active noise cancellation button. USB and 3.5mm cables are included, along with the USB transmitter.

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The USB transmitter is a 2.iv-inch-long black plastic stick that terminates in a USB plug. It'southward a bit large for a wireless dongle, though it's skinny plenty that it should fit in well-nigh crowded ports. An indicator LED sits on the top next to a JBL logo, with a connect button on the side.

According to JBL, the Quantum 800 can last up to 14 hours with the lights disabled. Your use will vary depending on the volume level you use and whether y'all continue the lights on.

Connectivity and Software

The Breakthrough 800 is designed to exist used with a PC through the USB transmitter. It also supports Bluetooth if you desire to connect information technology to your telephone, and has a iii.5mm port for using the headset wired with any game console (or anything else with a headphone or headset jack). All the customizable features crave a wireless connection to your PC, though.

JBL's QuantumEngine software lets y'all adjust a diversity of features on the headset. Information technology provides a 10-band customizable EQ with multiple presets, to start. Yous can also toggle DTS simulated environs, JBL'southward own QuantumSurround, or disable simulated surround entirely. The colored lighting on the sides of the earcups is also programmable, and you can adjust both the JBL logo and the outer light ring to bicycle through up to 5 different colors at various speeds. The microphone menu offers few options, only you can adjust the sidetone (how much of your voice comes through the headphones when you talk) in addition to mic volume.

Microphone

The nail microphone is very sensitive and sounds fantabulous with some tinkering. My outset test recordings were filled with sibilance, but after I reduced the microphone book a bit in the QuantumEngine software, it worked much better. Test recordings after the adjustment were articulate and sharp.

This is a very good mic, though if you want to seriously record or stream you might want to consider getting a defended USB microphone instead of relying on a headset.

Dissonance Cancellation

The Quantum 800 features active noise cancellation (ANC), like the Quantum One headset. The difference is that it's much more useful on the Breakthrough 800 considering of the Bluetooth connectivity; you can connect information technology to your telephone and savour ANC when out and about. The ANC button on the headset toggles information technology on with a long printing, and switches betwixt ANC (or not-ANC) listening and a pass-through way that lets y'all hear your surround clearly with the headset on.

Typically, yous demand to spend a hefty clamper of money to get headphones with good ANC, and the feature is rarely found on gaming headsets at all. The Quantum 800's ANC is surprisingly strong, cutting out a decent amount of surrounding noise without producing a low-level hiss or significantly irresolute the sound of what y'all're listening to (problems often establish in cheap ANC).

The noise cancellation isn't quite as strong equally Bose'southward ANC technology, but the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 are twice as expensive as the Quantum 800. In this price range, if you want skilful ANC (and don't need a smash mic), the Sennheiser Hd 450BT is an excellent pair of headphones with audiophile-pleasing sound. Otherwise, you'll exist spending much more for amend noise cancellation.

Functioning

Music sounds very proficient on the Quantum 800 when you use the right settings. Similar with the Quantum One, I found the bass to sound thin unless you use the Bass Boost EQ preset, which produces a more robust sound that doesn't sacrifice whatsoever clarity in the mids or highs. Curiously, using the QuantumSurround simulated surround way produces the all-time balance when listening to music. The mode boosts treble to match the strong bass, and while the issue is a somewhat scooped signature that isn't particularly authentic, it's an exciting and balanced sound. Stereo and DTS modes don't heave the college frequencies, then music tin can audio a bit flat or (if you utilize the Bass Heave preset) bass heavy.

The steady bass pulsate in Fleetwood Mac'due south "The Chain" sounds full and weighty, without any distortion even at maximum (and unsafe) book levels. Information technology doesn't quite rattle the head with subwoofer levels of bass, but it's still a powerful thump. The guitar strings and vocals both come through clearly in the mix, fifty-fifty with the prominent bass.

The opening audio-visual guitar plucks in Yes' "Roundabout" get plenty of resonance and a expert amount of string texture, and when the electric bass kicks in it sounds punchy. The guitar, cymbals, and vocals sit squarely in the eye of the mix, and aren't overwhelmed by the bass.

The Crystal Method's "Born Too Slow" also demonstrates the Quantum 800'south strong bass response and solid treble. The driving, ominous backbeat of the track sounds full and almost thunderous, and the guitar riffs and shrieking vocals get enough presence to stand up out in the mix.

For games, Doom: Eternal sounds very good on the headset. The Bass Boost EQ makes shotgun and rocket blasts seem thunderous, but even the more mids-focused FPS EQ preset brings strong bass response to the activeness. The false surround effect offers good positional imaging when dealing with a oversupply of enemies effectually you, and the different sounds of weapons come up through distinctly.

A Catchall Headset for PC Gamers

The JBL Quantum 800 is an impressive gaming headset that does a piddling bit of everything, and does information technology all surprisingly well. It'due south wireless, information technology has programmable lighting, it offers false surround sound, its microphone sounds good, and it fifty-fifty has decent noise cancellation. It doesn't have quite the audio accuracy of more expensive headsets similar the Astro Gaming A50 or Sennheiser GSP 670, and it doesn't support game consoles. If you're a console gamer, the Astro A50 remains a stiff choice, and if you want to save money, the $100 Razer Nari Essential offers surprisingly skilful functioning. For $200, though, the Breakthrough 800 packs a lot of features and very potent performance into a parcel that doesn't quite striking flagship prices, and that's enough to earn it our Editors' Option for wireless gaming headsets.

JBL Quantum 800

Cons

The Bottom Line

The JBL Quantum 800 wireless gaming headset does a bit of everything, and does it all surprisingly well.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/jbl-quantum-800

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