JBL’s new CLUB cans find the balance between top headphones and studio monitors
JBL are looking to connect the line between the quality of studio monitors and general listening headphones with their CLUB series.
JBL have revealed a new series of headphones that look to up the game in audio quality. They’re putting studio-grade tech used by sound engineers and recording musicians inside the headphones and combining them with the staples of modern headphones.
The difference between studio monitors and your standard consumer headphones is in their frequency signals. Studio headphones aim to have a flat output so that audio can be heard at it’s rawest and most natural so they can faithfully mix it. Headphones for personal enjoyment are alternately tuned to enhance music.
The CLUB series will include JBL’s own Personi-Fi software. Listeners will be able to design their own personalised EQ curve from their mobiles. Once the EQ is set to their tastes it can be set permanently so that it’s applied automatically each time the headphones are turned on until changed by the user.
CLUB headphones will come with a Hi-Res certification, capable of producing frequencies up to 40 kHz beyond the capabilities of the human ear. The most expensive pair in the series come packing a graphene driver which is meant to produce better sound than cheaper magnetic material. Graphene also makes for a much lighter construction without impacting on it’s build quality.
All headphones in the series will come with adaptive noise cancellation which will sample ambient noise 50,000 times a second to cut out noise, according to JBL. Depending on the model of CLUB headphones, the active noise cancellation differs in it’s capabilities – whilst the CLUB 700BT doesn’t feature it at all.
JBL claim that their CLUB 950NC pair will last for 55 hours on battery power. The most advanced pair in the series, the CLUB ONE model can run for 23 hours with it’s ‘true’ Active Noise Cancellation turned on and much longer without.
JBL’s on-ear CLUB 700BT will cost $150, the over-the-ear CLUB 950NC pair will cost $250, and the CLUB ONE model will cost $350. They will all be made available this Spring.