JBuds J2 Premium Hi-Fi Noise-Isolating Earbuds -Onyx Black
by JLAB
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List Price: Our Price: $14.48 You Save: $65.47 (82%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Speakers See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of JBuds J2 Premium Hi-Fi Noise-Isolating Earbuds -Onyx Black
Customer Review: Disappointing..... really disappointing.
Summary: 2 Stars
In anticipation of the jbud rep's response to my review, I will try to be proactive as possible in this review. I will list the pros first...
1) They are lightweight.
2) They had Black in stock.
Now for the rest.....
I had high hopes for these earbuds only to be sadly disappointed. I read the directions carefully and I broke them in EXACTLY as recommended. I have the proper silicon ear piece to ensure a proper fit (this isn't the first time I have had ear buds!!) The bass is weak, the highs are distorted and the mids are just not there. I tried them out on various genres of music, podcasts, PSP games and a movie. The result was the same... disappointment. Admittedly I am somewhat of an audiophile and I do have high standards but for this price range (before sale price), I expected something more. I almost spent the extra $$ to buy the j3's but opted for the j2's since they had better reviews. Now I am glad that I didn't waste the extra money. I own several pairs of earbuds the from lower priced Skullcandy, mid priced Panasonic & Sony, to the expensive studio quality ones that are tucked safely away at the moment. I have to say that both my Skullcandy earbuds sound better than the j2's by far. I didn't expect noise cancellation or even noise reduction so there is no let down there but I did have hopes for at least a decent listening experience. I know the rep will probably say that these are defective in some way but I highly doubt that they are... they just sound bad in general. It really sucks that I wasted 48 hours on these things. It's not even worth the hassle of sending them back since I have already lost a few days on these major disappointments. I will probably pass these off to my 12 year old but I expect he will say something about these as well. In any event, spend a little more time researching, a bit more money and purchase different earbuds. Your ears will thank you for it.
Customer Review: Very nice, but not great.
Summary: 4 Stars
These are nice IEMs (In-Ear Monitors), though certainly not worth $80. I'm assuming that the $80 price is just a mark-up so they can be marked back down to $30. If these broke, I would probably buy them again, because they're definitely worth $30, and maybe even more than that.
In terms of sound quality: the clarity is nice, though high frequencies aren't nearly powerful enough. This creates problems with vocal music, because the high overtones of singing are vital to hearing the beauty of tone present in really good voices. You'll want to adjust the equalizer settings on your mp3 player (or whatever you're listening to) to hear the treble.
These have a good amount of bass-- not so much that it smears the other frequencies out, but not so little that it sounds at all tinny. Whether you like bass a little or a lot, you won't need to fiddle much with the bass settings on the equalizer to make it sound good to you. (The only exception is for the extreme bass lovers, who may not find it quite as forceful as they like it. Everyone else, trust me, you'll be fine.)
Sometimes the mid-range is a little smeared, but you have to be listening specifically for it to even hear it in those cases. At any rate, the mid-range is orders of magnitude better than the treble.
Miscellaneous: These look pretty durable, which is a nice change from the previous JBuds which broke way too easily. They fit comfortably in the ear, and stay well unless you're doing vigorous athletic activity. The sound isolation is quite nice.
Final Verdict: A very nice $30 pair of IEMs. Casual listeners and beginning audiophiles will be glad they bought them, especially at this price. Serious audiophiles, the ones who listen for individual instruments in a band and want to feel like they're in the room with the performers, go for something higher quality because you'll have too many complaints about these.
Customer Review: Once loyal customer extremely disappointed
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought my first pair of J2's about 2 years ago when I was looking for an upgrade over the stock iPod earbuds. I was very pleased with the sound quality and comfort of the J2's -- so much so that I purchased 2-3 additional pairs as gifts for friends and family members and routinely recommended them both on internet forums and in "real life" exchanges. My first pair lasted several months, until a newly acquired puppy chewed through the cord.
In need of replacement earbuds, I didn't think twice about purchasing more J2's (which, fortunately, had come down in price since the time of my initial purchase). I ordered two pairs -- one for home/laptop use and one for gym/iPod use.
Within a matter of several weeks, I noticed that my gym earbuds apparently had some kind of short/connection problem in the plug, as I would get sound out of only one ear. Upon returning home, I connected a pair of cheap Sony's to my iPod and they didn't suffer from this problem. Though frustrated by the disruption to my workout and the fact that I was out a pair of recently purchased earbuds, I chalked it up to bad luck and didn't think much else about it.
That is until a few days later, when I laid down in bed to watch Netflix prior to falling asleep and noticed that the other pair of J2's were having this exact same problem. To say I was frustrated would be a tremendous understatement. Two almost brand new pairs of earbuds no longer functional, and no way to watch the end of my movie with my wife asleep next to me. What good is a product if it is completely unreliable?
I'm not sure if my experiences are the product of a manufacturing defect or just poor quality control, but there's no doubt that something is amiss at JLabs. I was a once loyal customer of and vocal advocate for JLabs products but can't in good conscience continue to purchase, much less recommend, their products.
Customer Review: Ultimately not worth it.
Summary: 2 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The JBud earphones are clear, and the sound quality is not bad. These are the type of earbuds that you wedge into your ear canal, not the kind that rest there. Wedging them in your ear is not as uncomfortable as it may sound and they have included three different sizes of the rubber to be sure it fits well. I listened to both music and lectures/audiobook/podcasts while reviewing the product.
The downsides to the product are that they can't get that loud, it falls out of your ear anytime the cords gently snag on anything, and the bass is too soft. The Amazon price for the JBud J2 is three times that of the sony earbud's I've been buying for years and the sound quality is not as good as those either. With those things in mind I cannot recommend the product for the price range that it is in. Even if it were ten dollars, I would still buy the Sony earbuds over this.
I will also add, that after following the recommendations of the manufacturer (as sent to me in the comments section) and "warming" them up for twenty four hours I did notice an improvement in the sound quality. There is a great deal of clarity in these headphones. Also after wedging them into my ear more deeply and twisting as some of the other reviewers recommended they were less prone to falling out, although they still fall out more frequently than I'd like anytime they are lightly snagged. I stand by the bass and max volume being too soft. However, with the increase in sound quality after the warming up phase I would bump my review to a three star (but Amazon won't let me). They are not bad for Amazon's price of twenty-five, I would never buy these for the list price.
Customer Review: Overhyped.
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought two pairs of these for $9.99 each during a deal; I sent them in for a refund shortly after poor sound quality even after burn-in. They sound absurdly bad before burn-in. Even after more than 50 hours of burn-in with their online burn-in tool (which is very nice!), they still sounded worse than many other sets of earbuds, including some stock ones.
Construction
The overall construction of the earbuds (cords being an exception) seems cheap, somewhat more like a toy than would be expected from quality earbuds. The silicone earbuds that come with these are the most uncomfortable that I've ever tried before. They're rough, thin, and irritating, despite earbuds normally not bothering me at all. Other than during some sound quality testing during/after burn-in, I don't think that I'd be able to tolerate wearing these for long. It doesn't seem like they'd last particularly long given how thin they are either.
One other thing to note is that the cord will go into the earbuds themselves. It seems like this would cause the wires to break more easily than most others where the cord is anchored.
The one good thing is that the cord is pretty thick, so it won't get tangled as easily as some earbuds that use thin cords.
Other Manufacturers
Earbuds made by Sennheiser, Sony, V-Moda, Denon, etc. would be a better choice and have a more comfortable and solid feel. From personal experience, Sennheiser has a two year limited warranty with excellent customer service; all e-mail responses were returned within a maximum of two days.
List Price, bit of a tangent
The $79.99 list price is ridiculous, considering the quality of construction and sound. While it's understandable that many companies probably do this for the same reasons ("good" deal/"zomg, must be better" hype), $80, really? Even paying $9.99 was too much.