JBL Quantum 600 - Review

I pretty much say this every time, I love reviewing hardware and headsets are some of the best, but with JBL releasing their first gaming headsets, I was a little worried. The company is very well known for high quality audio, but that doesn’t mean that it would translate to headphones, so did they succeed, or should they stick with standalone speakers.

Perhaps the most critical part of any headset is the form factor, because if you can’t wear the headphones, the sound means little, and JBL took their time and did a really solid job with these. The ear cups are shaped almost perfectly and I say that because the shape is not quite an oval, with the bottom of the shape being slightly narrower than the top. I say that they are almost perfect because they are just not quite long enough, and while might not be a problem for some, for many it will be annoying. I say that because the padding on the earcups is so soft and comfortable, so even with the smaller space, I never felt pinched in there. Where the cups are connected to the band contains enough range of movement that even if your head were an odd shape, they would still comfortable, which is a welcome thing.

Control wise things are pretty normal, the bulk of the controls are on the left ear cup, with the power being contained on the right. The strange part is that the charging port is on the left, which is not an issue, but with the power controls on the right, it just feels a little out of sorts. On the left cup is also where you will find your volume and balance options, as well as a button for muting the microphone, which as has become standard, is also on the left ear cup. The nice addition is that this is where you will also find a 3.5mm jack port, allowing for direct connection to most devices, like mobile phones or Switch. The left ear cup is also where you will find the microphone, which is a permanent addition to the headphones, as in it can’t be removed, lowering it removes the mic from mute and raising it will enable mute, if you don’t want to do that action, there is also a button that does it. The microphone being always attached is a little annoying as I could see the headphones being used by non-gamers, if it were removeable, not a big deal for some, but for others it might be.

The microphone also has a small issue in that the arm doesn’t appear to be flexible, as the design was made for it to be one entire piece, which is not a big deal, but trying to learn where you can bend the arm and not have it break something is a trial and error process that I can see most people ignoring. Also on both ear cup is the JBL logo, which contains some LED’s and lights up via the computer program you get access to, you can customise it, but it is not as crazy in-depth as others have gotten over the years.

Overall, the design of the JBL Quantum 600 is solid, it contains an insane amount of padding on the ear cups, the headband itself is padded, but only really effective across the top of the band. The controls are also easily accessible on the left ear cup, except to turn it on, that is located on the right and there is enough of a distinction on the two wheels, to show which one is balance and which is volume. The mic arm is a little weird, as there are no visible markings to show which part you can bend and which part is rigid, so it takes some trial and error and little bit of faith, to ensure you getting the right spot.

Now we get into sound, because we know it to be a comfy headset, but if the sound matters not, then keeping your ears warm is all it is really good for. Thankfully JBL know a thing or two about sound and they have managed to bring that expertise to this headset in a strong way. Each ear cup contains a 50mm driver, which is on the larger end of the gaming headset spectrum, most sit around 40mm, so the 50mm is a nice and welcome addition. When playing games the sound quality was wonderful, even without tweaking any settings, which is possible by the JBL app, which is a free download. There are a bunch of pre-set options in the equalizer, should you want to encourage some more bass, but I found the default to be a solid coverage of all I needed. The Quantum 600 also sports a nifty feature called QuantumSurround, spelt just like that, which has two modes once enabled, the basic or the most advanced options and I highly suggest you go advanced.

As succinctly as possible, this feature knows where you head is at and adjusts the sounds to match it, perfect for gaming and if you go through the advanced options you can tweak things to get the best sound. As you can tell the software how wide your head is and how tall you are, it can place your headset in the centre of the sounds, making sure that if you turn your head to the side, the sound stays where it should instead of moving with you, it sound a little weird, but once you experience it in game, you won’t want to go back to playing without it. If that seems a little much for you, the headset also comes packed with dts X for headphones, which is a 7.1 surround effect, while not as fancy as the JBL version, it still offers a great listening experience. The only annoying factor for it, is that you can’t enable the modes without the software and while it makes sense for on PC, if you are in the middle of a game and realise you didn’t enable it, you have to pause the game, swap to the app and turn it on, a button would make that process much easier.

I tested the Quantum 600 out with games, like the new releases of Serious Sam 4 on PC and Hades on Switch, some classic Australian rock through the phone and of course connected to a PC for some voice chat and in each instance, wearing the headset was never an issue and that is a massive win. The sound quality though was crystal clear in each instance of use and while watching movies with them on might seem excessive, there is no denying just how wonderful they are, thanks again to those 7.1 surround sound modes. The microphone is a decent quality and can pick up most sounds without issue and thankfully, manages to avoid that background trash that some mics love to pick up, I just wish it were removeable.

The Quantum range starts out at a budget price, with the 100 series priced at $60 and for those looking for the ultimate, the One can easily suit there. The Quantum 600 actually falls in the middle ground of the two, making it far more accessible to most gamers and the quality of the headset, for the price you will pay, is just amazing. The microphone will cover your gaming needs without issue and even better, it works perfect on regular chats, it provides a clear and crisp capture of your voice, without any extra background noise becoming the star. There are some questions as to the design of it, trying to learn where the mic can bend and where it can’t requires some fortitude and I do wish it was removeable, as these would be great headphones without it as well.

The Score

9.0

Review unit provided by JBL

The Pros

+The headset is amazingly comfortable and able to sit for long periods of time without issue

+The sound quality is great, it is crisp and clean and when you enable the extra modes, becomes even better

The Cons

+Not being able to enable their spatial audio or the dts modes, without the software is a bit of a letdown

+The microphone has a uniform shape in its case, making it hard to see where you can bend it, plus it is always attached