I am not really a product reviewer, the things that matter to me are rarely the things I see mentioned in professional product reviews. With that being said, I wanted to share some thoughts on a product I’ve found myself using a ton over the past few months, my Jaybird BlueBuds X.
My history with headphones & earphones is long, I’ve owned everything from the Bose QuietComfort to Shure earphones, a ton of skullcandy, JVC, etc. My general problem is not one of audio quality but of fit, comfort and durability. You see, either I have abnormal ears or earbud designers don’t know what they are doing, BECAUSE NOTHING FITS. If I do find something that fits, the cable breaks after not too long, a result of wrapping the cord around the audio player/phone when not in use. And in the case of cans, my ridiculously big head[1] means they are either super uncomfortable or they break. But enough about my whining, how are the JayBirds different? Well, for one, no wires.
Wireless
I never thought it would make such a drastic difference. But no wires means that when you take them off for a second, you can just let them hang around your neck. The JayBirds also do a pretty good job connecting to my phone as soon as I turn them on. While that may seem like ‘duh’ feature, you’d be surprised at how many devices have trouble with what is essentially necessary functionality for a Bluetooth device. I’m looking at you unnamed German car manufacturer.
Battery life is pretty good too. Advertised is 8 hours and I can safely attest that as long as I remember to charge them at night, I go through a whole day of listening without running low on battery.
Fit
Fit is decent, not perfect but decent. It’s not as good as my JVC and the included tips leave a lot to be desired. I’ve been ordering different “premium” memory foam tips but haven’t stumbled across anything I fancy enough to recommend yet. They stay put when working out at the gym but I don’t really run or bounce around a lot.
One gotcha is that these earphones are big. They stick out. I had originally planned to wear them under a helmet when snowboarding or riding but that is not happening. They often are conversation starters at coffee shops, in fact my co-founder has called them ear-dildos. They don’t look ugly at all, they’re just big. I got the white but after seeing both in real life, I should have ordered the black version.
Sound quality
They sound good, not compressed at all. I’m tone deaf though so this is not an area that I care about in particular. Sound isolation is good although these do not get nearly as perfect seal like Shure earphones do. Volume is loud.
Controls & Microphone
These come with a microphone and three control buttons. The buttons play nicely with Spotify & Soundcloud on my Android. The middle button brings up the Android voice dialer, couldn’t figure out how to make it bring up Google Now. The microphone is so-so. I would really love to be able to take calls but unfortunately half the time people can’t hear me. I haven’t figured out yet why sometimes it works perfectly and sometimes it fails harder than Windows ME but if you’re buying these for the microphone then don’t.
Conclusion
Despite a few drawbacks, the JayBird BlueBud X earphones are a great product. Not having wires is very liberating and the combination of good battery life, great bluetooth implementation and not having an external unit means I can listen to music for the most part of the day and let these hang around my neck when not using them. Overall, this is a product I recommend.
- literally and sometimes figuratively