JBL Quantum 910 Wireless headphones for the win

The Quantum 910 is a dedicated gaming headset that’s unapologetic about its brash lighting system, large headband and ear cups. Inside each cup are big orange L and R letters to indicate left and right. The ear muffs use soft faux leather and are large enough to fully encapsulate my medium size ears nicely. The headband also sports the same soft padding and offers excellent comfort with a medium clamping force that ensures the headset doesn’t move when you do, while not being so tight that it becomes uncomfortable during long gaming sessions. The headband has a decent amount of adjustability that should suit even large heads.

The headset is on the heavier side at 420g, but I didn’t find it uncomfortably so, even after wearing them for several hours at a time.

The star of the show is the lighting system which illuminates the ear cups and large JBL logos on the outside. You can’t customise the logo, ring and notch lights but you have six cool lighting schemes to choose from in the JBL Quantum Engine PC software.

The lighting might be too much for some or you may want to maximise battery life in which case you can just turn them off.

The Quantum 910 has a swivelling non-detachable built-in mic that has a small foam muffle on the end — it kept falling off so I used a spot of glue to keep it in place.

The mic along with two dials (game audio-chat balance dial and volume control), two buttons (ANC and mic mute), a 3.5mm audio jack and a USB-C port are all located on the left ear cup. On the right are the power/Bluetooth pairing slider and spatial audio/head tracking control buttons. I love having physical controls but I found it hard to get used to what was where and I often had to take the headset off to see where the ANC or spatial audio buttons were. It’s also easy to turn down the chat dial instead of the general volume dial but with lots of use, you do get used to this.

The headphones come with a USB-C charging cable, a soft pouch, a calibration mic, a 3.5mm audio cable, a USB-C to USB-A converter and a USB Wireless dongle.

Features and performance

The Quantum 910 is jam-packed with features and comes with a lot of compatibility for a variety of devices other than pure PC gaming. I mostly did my testing on a gaming PC but they also work well when connected to devices via Bluetooth like phones or tablets. If you’re not happy with Bluetooth lag you can also connect them using the 3.5mm audio cable to gaming consoles that accept a 3.5mm headphone jack. JBLs list of compatible devices including Mac, PC, Xbox, PlayStation and Switch but it also worked well for me on my Steam Deck.

The Quantum 910 battery performance varied a lot depending on lights on/off, ANC mode or spatial audio but JBL claim you should be able to get up to 34 hours with music playtime with Bluetooth plus 2.4GHz on and ANC plus RGB lighting off. Under ideal conditions, you should be able to get up to 47 hours of talk time or 44 hours of music over Bluetooth and with ANC and lighting off.

Head tracking is an interesting concept where the headset tracks the movement of your head in order to keep the sounds coming from your PC or device in the same place. The theory is sound and it does work but I find it more of a party trick than a feature I can’t live without.

The JBL QuantumEngine software for PC is where you can get the most from the headset. Here you can update the firmware, turn head-tracking on or off, choose different equaliser settings, edit the LED lighting options and see the battery level. The spatial sound options include JBL QuantumSphere 360 with support for up to 7.1 audio — you have to enable it in the Windows settings.

You can also calibrate the headphones using the calibration mic. Just ‘start calibration’ in the app and it will walk you through the steps required which include plugging in the mic, inserting the mic plug in your left ear and then your right and then the software will create a custom calibration profile. There’s also an advanced mode where you can input your head measurements.

I think spatial audio is one of those features that you’ll either love or hate. I'm somewhere in the middle and find it really depends on the content. I also thought the DTS virtual surround option was a little more realistic to my ears and had less reverb or hall effect. However, for some this spatial audio may literally be a game changer as it helps to hear sound better in a virtual 3D space. It also depends on the style of game you’re playing too — expansive open-world games are a very different audio experience to the positional audio required in a first-person shooter for example.

Sound Quality

Without getting too deep into sound quality, the Quantum Engine headphones are excellent and not just for gaming. I loved using them to watch movies and even listen to music. I also found them brilliant for online meetings thanks to the top-notch mic and the vocals of people on my calls were crisp and clear.

Of course, where they really shine is while playing games.

Verdict

JBL’s Quantum 910 Wireless are ideal for those who have several gaming devices and especially for PC gamers. The headset has lots of excellent features, brilliant build quality, multiplatform support and decent battery life. If you only play on Xbox or PlayStation then I'd suggest looking at headphones that are specific to your console rather than these.

JBL Quantum 910 Wireless - Very.ie €264.99