At CES 2020, I covered JBL’s very first gaming headsets. I was excited to see how the venerable old audio company could put its own spin on a crowded category. When the JBL Quantum One and JBL Quantum 800 debuted, however, I walked away with a shrug. JBL could make a competent gaming headset, but it couldn’t really make one that justified its high price and convoluted interface. With the JBL Quantum 910, however, that could change.
As part of its CES 2022 lineup, JBL announced the Quantum 910 headset, which will debut in Spring 2022 and cost $250. That’s a fair step down from the $300 Quantum One — and, remember, the Quantum One is also a wired headset. Still, $250 is fairly expensive as gaming headsets go. JBL wants to justify the peripheral’s high price with a number of features that cheaper gear doesn’t offer.
First off, there’s JBL’s innovative head-tracking feature, which alters the directionality of the sound as you move your head. In the Quantum One review, I discussed how this feature sets JBL gear apart from most of its competitors, but doesn’t necessarily make a huge difference, as you don’t actually turn your head that often while staring straight ahead at a monitor.
On the other hand, the Quantum 910 also offers 50 mm drivers, two kinds of wireless connectivity (USB and Bluetooth), a high-end microphone, Discord chat integration, leather earcups and software customization options. You also get 24-hour battery life and play-and-charge functionality — something that earlier models sometimes struggled with.
The Quantum 910 isn’t the only JBL headset coming out this year. There’s also the JBL Quantum 810 ($200), which drops the 910’s head-tracking features, and the JBL Quantum 610, which doesn’t offer Bluetooth options or as good of a mic.
JBL is also entering two new gaming spaces, with the JBL Quantum Stream microphone ($100) and the JBL Quantum TWS earbuds ($150). The Quantum Stream seems to be targeting streamers, with easy mounting and RGB features, while the Quantum TWS offers both USB-C and Bluetooth connectivity for a variety of systems.
While JBL has put a lot of resources into developing gaming gear, the company hasn’t yet had a standout product in that field. So far, the JBL gaming products that Tom’s Guide has reviewed have been competent products, albeit usually overpriced and lacking features that come standard on competing devices. On the other hand, the sound quality has been impeccable, which is not surprising, given JBL’s pedigree.
For more information on this year’s tech announcements, stay tuned to our CES 2022 live blog on Tom’s Guide. We’ll also review future JBL gear as it becomes available.
