JBuds Hi-Fi Noise-Reducing Ear Buds (Black)
by JLAB
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List Price: Our Price: $9.95 You Save: $40.00 (80%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Speakers See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of JBuds Hi-Fi Noise-Reducing Ear Buds (Black)
Customer Review: jBuds anyone?
Summary: 3 Stars
OK OK. Don't get too excited! For the first time in my life they stayed in my ears! I thought I have some deformed ear holes that I can never use ear phones. My right ear still hurts though, but not as bad as the iPod ear phones. I am using the smallest size ear plugs. They do reduce the noice a little bit if you are using the smallest plugs. But they reduce a lot more if you are using the medium or the large ones. Smallest ones are the ones that fit in my ears without me having to push hard so I guess they're my size. Like the other reviewer said, the problem is with bass and treble. I listen to a lot of electronic, techno, and house music, and I am missing the boom boom part. Well, life is not perfect. That's the reason for three stars. If you listen to pop, r&b, hip-hop and other contemporary music, these ear phones sound bettter. I tried Gwen Stefanie and they sounded a lot better than my DJ's mix electronica. $20 is worth spending. Try them and you might like them base on what music you listen to. I'm keeping them nonetheless.
Update a week later: Now I'm trying the medium size buds. I kinda have to push them a bit but the bass sounds a lot better if they're tightly fit in the ears. Also reduce a lot of outside noises. I said reduce, not cancle. They're noise reducing ear phone, not noise cancling ear phones (make no confusion). However, they tend to become a lot quieter indoors (therefore increasing the music volume). I have to lower the volume on iPod when I enter the library or anywhere inodoors that doesn't have a lot of noises. Similarly, I have to higher it a bit when I walk on the street. I have the iPod flip-open leather case right on my belt so turning the volume up is no big deal. I just thought you should know that. Also piano sounds vergood in these ear phones. Any classical music. I was at the bookstore with my iPod on shuffle mode once and there was this Beetoven track came on and I thought it was being played on the bookstore's ceiling speakers. And then I realized it was only my iPod playing in my ears through jBuds. :-) It sounded so natural and made me forget I had the ear phones on. :-) I am loving them!
Customer Review: Slightly Better than Standard iPod Earbuds...
Summary: 3 Stars
JBuds Hi-Fi Noise-Reducing Ear Buds (Black) are just an average set of ear buds. I bought them to replace a broken pair of stock iPod ear buds. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an audiophile so I can't comment too much on the sound quality other than to say they sound close to as good as the apple ear buds, not better. I probably should tweak the equalizer a bit to help out. Since I mainly listen to Podcast I'm not too worried about the sound quality.
The three covers that come with the JBuds are soft but aren't a really good noise reducer as the product description indicates. Though I do feel that they reduce noise better than the standard apple ear phones do. I have fairly small ear canals so this could have something to do with why they don't block a lot of noise. This brings me to my next point.
I don't think the smallest ear bud covers are small enough. I have trouble getting them to stay in my ear. Once I finally manage to get them in correctly, they stay well enough for me to do some light running without them constantly falling out. On a positive note, these are more comfortable than the Apple ear buds and you don't have to worry about the ear bud covers constantly coming out.
The cord length is way too long and thin; this creates a cord tangle problem that is worse than normal.
Something else I didn't think about when I purchased these was the shape of audio jack--it's a elbow unlike the straight connection used by the Apple ear buds. I doesn't prevent the ear buds from plugging into the iPod but it doesn't seem natural either. Luckily, I can still charge the iPod with the head phones plugged in.
These are definetly not the quality of a $49.95 pair of headphones as the original price would lead you to believe. However, they are probably worth the $19.95 I paid given the different ear bud cover sizes and moderate sound quality. The next time I purchase some ear buds I'll probably pay a little more to get a nicer pair without the design problems these exhibit.
Customer Review: Unimpressed
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought these ear buds to replace a pair of Skull Candy ear buds. I was encouraged by the positive reviews but did notice most mentioned minimal bass response. Sadly, "minimal" doesn't even begin to describe it. To try them out, I found a song with a good walking base line. The mids and highs at the beginning of the song sounded crisp but as the bass kicked in, I was amazed at just how much of the lower frequencies were missing. At first, I thought perhaps I needed to play with the equalizer thinking maybe they weren't as sensitive to bass. Using a "bass booster" EQ resulted in a very annoying bass sound which reminded me of a cheap pair of speakers without a subwoofer - producing a slapping noise.
Another claim of these ear buds is their "noise-reducing" capability. I took my pair to the gym where there is constant background noise thinking it would be a great test. Unfortunately, the ear buds barely seemed to make a dent in the noise and I ended up having to raise the volume just to be able hear the lyrics like I normally would. With my previous Skull Candy's, I would normally keep the volume between 30 and 50% but with the JBuds, I was forced to go up to 60 - 70% to get the same level as before. My concern is that ideally I'd like to keep my volume as low as possible to minimize hearing damage and the JBuds definitely didn't seem to offer much help.
Overall, I don't feel like these ear buds are completely unusable. I think if you're one who enjoys even a moderate amount of bass or likes to have as much background noise removed as possible then you probably will not be very fond of these. However, if not, then you probably will enjoy the sound you get from these. The highs are extremely clear and the mids are respectable for the price so I must acknowledge that I did appreciate that aspect. These ear buds are also very comfortable and at times it almost felt like they weren't there. The cord is of generous length and overall, the build of it is pretty solid.
My recommendation is to look elsewhere first before deciding on these.
Customer Review: Mixed feelings - UPDATED: GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE
Summary: 4 Stars
*** UPDATED: JBud's customer service got in touch with me (after I posted my initial comment) and told me that the cable problem was probably due to an isolated defective unit and sent me a new set of headsets free of charge. They are working great so far. I was very impressed by their pro activeness, it is hard to find that level of ownership in large companies. Kudos for that.
Again, very good headphones for the regular user. I strongly recommend them. Good sound, very comfortable and good external noise reduction. I use a different set of headphones at the gym though.
First things first. These are 10 dollar headphones, so all things considered they give a very good bang for your bucks. If you are a casual user or you don't have much physical activity (I will get to that point), I would strongly recommend them. The sound quality is good and they are very comfortable. They have this rubber thing which helps to reduce external noises.
Now, if you are quite active, these might not be the headphones for you. I am the kind of person who carries his headphones around in his pocket everyday, since I listen to music about 2 hours a day while walking or working out. I am not very careful with them and as a result of that, I think that the cable in the jack is damaged and now I can only hear music from one bud. Additionally, they are a real pain in the ass if you jog/run with them. They just keep coming out of your ears because of all the movement. Also, I have had bad experiences with the cable length, it is too long and it gets tangled with the dumbbells at the gym. The last thing I need when I am carrying 90 pounds in each hand is to have to be concerned about where the damn headphones cable is. I need music to function, especially at the gym, and it extremely pisses me off when my music gets interrupted because they got tangled on dumbbells or they fell down because I am running.
Bottom line, for normal users, pretty good choice. If you are going to use them at the gym, you might want to reconsider.
Customer Review: New 2010 Jbuds not as good as old Jbuds circa 2008
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm really quite disappointed with my new buds I purchased recently. I bought a pair of Jbuds back in 3/2008 and those buds sounded great from the beginning (without any burn-in time) and have never failed. I was getting a second mp3 player so wanted a second pair of buds for ease of use, so figured I'd get another pair of Jbuds expecting the same quality. I was sadly mistaken.
New buds vs Old buds
-New buds have straight connector instead of angle connector (BIGGEST ISSUE for me)
-New buds have a much stiffer cord making it more difficult to wrap up and stuff in the travel case. The cords do not de-tangle easily and seem to get caught in my clothes. The rubber casing seems 'stickier' or more clingy
-New buds sounded so bad I burned them in using the Jlab burn in loop online and after 60 hours the new buds sound ALMOST as good as the old buds (which probably have 2k hours by now but I never burned in the first pair and they always sounded great)
-New buds are not as loud as old buds on the same player with same volume settings
-New tips fit better and are comfier but that could be from being new
Overall the new buds just don't live up to my old buds, but what annoys me the most about them is the straight connector. It's simply in the way, making my Clip+ much too wide to sit comfortably in my shoulder, on my neckline, or even in my hoodie pocket. I am pinching the cord when I'm crouching and lifting which causes the sound to cut out temporarily, and I get stabbed in the neck by the plug almost every time I'm reaching above my head. There are only so few places I can hold the player where it will not get damaged from impacts and the connector is in the way in all of them! I wish they still made these with the angled plug or at least had an adapter to get for those who need angle plug. I contacted the company regarding this to see if I could get an older model but I never got a response. I wish I would have purchased 2 pairs back in 2008 instead of getting stuck with this new 2010 pair I can't really use.