PRODUCT REVIEW: JBL® Everest™ Elite 700

Please do remember that this review is based on the use from a professional DJ and not your normal “Audiophile”.  Now with that statement out of the way I was not very impressed with my overall purchase of the JBL® Everest™ Elite 700 Headphones.  There are some features that I did enjoy having, but there was a lot more that I was not very happy about.

We’ll start out with the positives about the JBL® Everest™ Elite 700 headphones.  The headphones them selves fit very snug on my head, but that also might very from person to person. Very comfortable to wear during a 4 to 6 hour event. They turned out to be lightweight even though they are a larger size of headphone.  I really enjoyed the perfectly sculpted ear cushions. They cup the ears perfectly and block out most of the ambient sound.

The JBL® Everest™ Elite 700 features Bluetooth 4.1 and connects with ease every single time.  The Bluetooth allows you to use the headphone built-in media controls on the edge of the left ear piece.  JBL® has also allowed use of the built-in microphones for hands free calling when paired with a mobile device like a BlackBerry, Droid, or iPhone.  Now if you don’t want to use or can’t use the Bluetooth feature they do come with a 3.5mm jack cable.

JBL® Everest™ Elite 700 is also powered by a built in rechargeable battery that will last 15 amazing hours, so there are no worries about running out of power mid set.  They charge up with the use of a micro USB port on the bottom of the right ear cup.  The JBL® Everest™ Elite 700 has built in auto off sensors to preserve that amazing 15 hour battery as well.

Now onward to the nitty-gritty. JBL® has packed them with NXTGen Active Noise Cancelling.  It’s a cool feature and concept, but as for DJ use it’s not needed and if you get the basic JBL® Everest™ 700 it can save you $100 USD.  When spinning with this feature on I did notice the headset speakers bottoming out. This made it very annoying when trying to pick out specific sounds during a mix.

I feel like the structure of the JBL® Everest™ Elite 700 could have been a lot better.  Spending $300 USD on headphones they need to feel like they will last and not snap apart when you take them on and off.  JBL® might have done this to gain the lightweight feel or just to save money on construction.  If I used these for one tourist season outside everyday I don’t for see them making it all the way through.  A plastic head band is not the best possibility on such a premium headphone.

JBL® also has listed “Smart Technology: Personalize your listening experience via the MY JBL Headphones app” on the box.  This app is not compatible with MANY devices and judging by the many bad app reviews it doesn’t even function or work correctly.  Again if a company is going to push such a high dollar product they need to get everything corrected ASAP.

So overall from my standing point as a professional DJ the JBL® Everest™ Elite 700 is a massively overpriced full plastic headphone with okay sound and features.

Happy Giggin’

-DJ Stephen Craig