JBL Quantum 360 Wireless

On paper, JBL's Quantum 360 Wireless has all the right qualities. There's 2.4GHz wireless and Bluetooth, mesh fabric ear cushions with clear left and right labelling, and they're both lightweight and quite comfortable to wear. So a big plus for that.

Like most of its competitors, it has chosen not to disclose anything as basic as the chipset, driver specifics, or similar. After all, it's not important to know anything other than "40mm, dynamic". It's a bit like describing a car as "red, with four wheels". It's not wrong, it's just hugely inadequate and downright useless.

There aren't just the usual one or two colours, no, there are two additional variants in shades of purple and one with turquoise contrast. They're bright, with very plasticky neon colours, but someone is bound to find it hugely appealing. The black one we got is in the most bland of the bunch, and I was slightly shocked to find out that they sell for £80. Half of that would have been a more fair price.

However, the build quality is like American cars: really poor, even for the price. The swivel joint is very thin and sits between two pieces of extremely thin plastic. It hardly needs much pulling before it breaks. It's been years since I've seen something this inadequate, and you'll find SteelSeries headsets that are 10 years old and that cost less when new with better build quality.

The controls are fine, but I'm a little annoyed by the spring button that has to be held to one side or the other when switching between Bluetooth and regular wireless. Battery life is the main Achilles' heel of the product. It's been many years since we tested the first wireless headset that could last 100 hours, and now we're down to just 22, and that's without RGB. They even have the nerve to call it a "long" battery life. It's been six years since the first headsets hit 100 hours, and in 2022 HyperX released a model that hit 300 hours. Three years later, we can't even hit 25 hours... It doesn't make sense. Many competing brands offer double and triple that. There has to be a better way to do this.

The big sales pitch comes courtesy of JBL's own QuantumEngine software, a strange name, but it does offer up a pretty convincing surround effect, I'll give them that. But it's ugly and really needs a loving designer's touch, as a white font on a black background died in the 90s for a reason. It's a headache to read.

Unfortunately, the sound is as bloated as their current president. The bass thumps, and while very dynamic and correctly transient, it drowns out pretty much everything else. There's only room for a little treble, like on Anna Lapwood's church organ recordings, which are given some space. If you're the type of person who thinks machine gun volleys are never loud enough, this is the headset for you.

The microphone is not particularly impressive. Its sensitivity is very low, probably to avoid letting too much noise into the recording, but it also leads to very low volume and the sound is both a bit thin and tinny. It was fine 10 years ago, but today, no, not at all, especially as soon as the price goes over £60.

All in all, it's hard to recommend this headset. The sound and build quality in no way match the price, and the software is just a bit annoying. I find it hard to believe that a company that has created an optimal curve, The Harman Curve, and is behind so many great brands with great sound, can spit out such an inferior, indifferent plastic nightmare - especially in a market that is as competitive as this and that will give any business school student nightmares.