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Updated April 11, 2024·
If you highly value wireless convenience, better portability, and active noise-canceling for a quieter listening experience, especially when exercising or traveling, the JBL Live Flex 3 earbuds would be more suitable despite their higher cost. However, they provide poor performance for TV, video, and gaming due to latency issues. In contrast, if gaming and durability are your top priorities and you prefer a fuller soundstage with over-ear comfort, the Razer Kraken headphones offer excellent mic quality and low latency ideal for this purpose at a more budget-friendly price, but at the expense of portability and with no wireless functionality. 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 Flex 3
Very good for music
Very good for exercise
Advantages of the Razer Kraken
Very good for gaming
Good for TV and video
Key differences
Music
8.0/10
7.1/10
The JBL Live Flex 3 is very good for music, while the Razer Kraken is good.
Gaming
5.5/10
8.3/10
The Razer Kraken is very good for gaming, while the JBL Live Flex 3 is poor.
Podcasts and Audiobooks
5.9/10
4.7/10
The JBL Live Flex 3 and Razer Kraken are both poor for podcasts and audiobooks, though the JBL Live Flex 3 is somewhat better.
TV and Video
5.7/10
7.4/10
The Razer Kraken is good for TV and video, while the JBL Live Flex 3 is poor.
Noise Reduction
8.3/10
6.5/10
The JBL Live Flex 3 is very good for noise reduction, while the Razer Kraken is only fair.
Battery
10.0 Hours
N/A
The JBL Live Flex 3 has 10 hours of battery life. The Razer Kraken does not have a battery.
Cost
$216
$50
$0
$50
$100
$150
$200
$250
$300
The JBL Live Flex 3 has a price of $216 and the Razer Kraken costs $50.
"Generally the Kraken is a very comfortable headset and there’s nothing that really identifies it as anything else. All in, the Kraken performed exactly as I’d expect a premium, designated gaming headset to perform: performing well in game audio, though not quite with the same quality of those headsets further up the price scale."
Get a great deal on the JBL Live Flex 3 or the Razer Kraken
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 Razer
Razer is an American-Singaporean hardware manufacturer aimed specifically toward the gaming market. They manufacture a very wide array of gaming laptops, tablets, phones, peripherals and, of course, headphones and earbuds both wired and wireless. Since 2016, Razer has owned the THX suite, aimed at quality assurance of audiovisual systems such as speaker sets, video game consoles and even movie theaters.
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This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec earbuds & headphones team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest earbuds or headphones information and makes it digestible for you.
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About the Earbuds or Headphones team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
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Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
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Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
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Luis is a Mexico-based headphones expert. He’s been making headphone recommendations for five years and has close to 100 pairs in his personal collection.