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Updated April 11, 2024·
If you're mindful of your budget and need something versatile for daily use, the JBL Live 670NC offers solid comfort, built-in controls, and active noise cancelling for a variety of environments while being less expensive. They're suitable for air travel and casual music listening, but their overall sound quality might not satisfy audiophiles. On the other hand, if sound quality, particularly for music, is your top priority and price is less of a concern, the Thieaudio Monarch Mk II excels, offering best-in-class audio performance with excellent build quality. However, they lack wireless connectivity, noise cancelling, and built-in controls, which could limit convenience in portable use or noisy situations. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the JBL Live 670NC
Good for phone calls
Very good for air travel
Very good for podcasts and audiobooks
Advantages of the Thieaudio Monarch Mk II
Best in class for music
Very good for TV and video
Key differences
Music
6.5/10
9.5/10
The Thieaudio Monarch Mk II is best in class for music, while the JBL Live 670NC is only fair.
Gaming
5.4/10
6.7/10
The Thieaudio Monarch Mk II is only fair for gaming, while the JBL Live 670NC is poor.
Phone Calls
7.4/10
5.1/10
The JBL Live 670NC is good for phone calls, while the Thieaudio Monarch Mk II is poor.
Podcasts and Audiobooks
8.6/10
7.9/10
The JBL Live 670NC is very good for podcasts and audiobooks, while the Thieaudio Monarch Mk II is good.
TV and Video
5.5/10
8.8/10
The Thieaudio Monarch Mk II is very good for TV and video, while the JBL Live 670NC is poor.
Noise Reduction
6.7/10
6.0/10
The JBL Live 670NC and Thieaudio Monarch Mk II are both only fair for noise reduction, though the JBL Live 670NC is somewhat better.
Battery
65.0 Hours
N/A
The JBL Live 670NC has 65 hours of battery life. The Thieaudio Monarch Mk II does not have a battery.
Cost
$100
$999
$50
$100
$150
$200
$250
$300
$350
$400
The JBL Live 670NC has a price of $100 and the Thieaudio Monarch Mk II costs $999.
Build Quality
8.0/10
9.0/10
The Thieaudio Monarch Mk II has excellent build quality, while the JBL Live 670NC has very good build quality.
"No other earphone I have listened to in the past 12 months has given me as much joy as the Thieaduio Monarch MKII. One of those IEMs will make you question where we can go from here. The sound is jaw-dropping, leaving you wanting more and more. It makes you want to run through your entire music library and reevaluate. It makes you not feel bad about paying full price for them, especially in a hobby where buyers' remorse is genuine. For me, it's top tier, rivaled by a few but not surpassed."
Get a great deal on the JBL Live 670NC or the Thieaudio Monarch Mk II
About JBL
JBL is an American audio equipment manufacturer. Owned by Harman International which is, itself, owned by Samsung Electronics. JBL markets a wide array of monitoring speakers, professional headphones and consumer market headphones and earbuds. It was founded in 1946 by James Bullough Lansing (whose initials give the company its name) and has become one of the most prolific audio companies ever. Their products were responsible for audio during the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
About Thieaudio
Thieaudio is the in-house brand of Linsoul Audio, a Chinese earbud and headphone retailer specializing in what the community lovingly calls Chi-fi, that is high fidelity brands out of China. Thieaudio was established in 2019 as the creative engineering branch of Linsoul. As of today, they market three different lines of earbuds, Voyager, Legacy and the extremely well-received Monarch.
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