JBuds Hi-Fi Noise-Reducing Ear Buds (Black)
by JLAB
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List Price: Our Price: $9.88 You Save: $40.07 (80%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days 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: Awesome earbuds for the $$
Summary: 5 Stars
I use these phones to listen to my MP3 player. I bought them to replace two pairs of Coby noise isolating headphones I purchased elsewhere. The Coby buds were less than five dollars a set, and for the price were really good buds. BUT I've gone through two pairs in less than 5 months. I also have a pair of much nicer Audio Technica noise cancelling earphones, ATH ANC3WH.
The Cobys were much more comfortable and actually isolated more sound than the ATs cancelled. I say this because I could listen to my Sansa with the volume at about 20%. With the ATs, I usually listen at about 50% volume. Not ideal for long term use. I bought the ATs mainly for air travel. They are very uncomfortable in my right ear. They are in ear canal phones, but part of the phones cover the cartilage that comes out of the center of the ear canal. (I have no idea what that part of the anatomy is called! The ear "uvula?") In any case, when I remove the ATs after wearing more than 30 minutes there is definite pain. I don't experience it on my left ear, so I'm not sure what the deal is. I'm disappointed in this as I spent FAR more on the ATs than either the Coby's or the JBuds.
The ATs revealed more subtleties in the music than I ever noticed before. Instruments I never noticed jumped out, background vocals shown through. There is even one song I have which I never noticed a speaking voice in the background. The first time I heard it with my ATs, the voice was so clear I nearly jumped out of my skin. I was cleaning up my back patio and I thought someone had walked up behind me unbeknownst to me. It startled the heck out of me. When I saw no one had snuck into my backyard and onto my deck, LOL, I rewound the player and listened again. Only then did I realize it was on the recording I was listening to! That part of the ATs was incredible. CRAZY! I really appreciated the nuances revealed in my old music. On the other hand, I found when using the ATs and my Sansa I started to get a lot of static. I had been very happy with the player until I got the ATs. I went back online and read several reviews that mentioned the Sansa was known for static at low volumes. I started to dislike my Sansa and began looking for a better MP3 player that would benefit from my more $$ headphones. I was not happy about having to shell out more money to enjoy listening to music again, but I figured I spent so much on the nicer phones I should invest in a nicer player.
Now onto the JBuds. They are most comfortable and come with three sizes of very soft silicone inserts. I'm using the medium size wich fit very nicely in my ears. I am no audiophile, but as far as I'm concerned the sound is great. I hear subtle notes in the music that I never noticed on the Coby's much like the ATs. Additionally, I'm again keeping my player volume lower, around 20-30%. The even better news is with the JBuds there is NO STATIC when listening to my Sansa. I am tHrIllEd!!! I am back to LOVING my Sansa as I did before. = ) But I do still have the new MP3 player coming. Not happy about that....Oh well, maybe static was just an excuse to buy something new.
If you are an average headphone user with basic needs, you can't go wrong with these phones. At their current price of sub ten dollars, they're a thing of beauty! Buy them now....don't wait for them to go up in price!
Customer Review: Simply amazing for the current price
Summary: 5 Stars
I snatched up two sets of these ear buds at their current fraction of retail price as my husband and I are both avid music lovers and are rarely seen without our Archos media players. I was very hesitant at first given the reviews stating the ear buds failed after a fairly short period of time, but I figured for $10, you really can't go wrong. We have never had premium quality ear buds and both of us have been prone to ear soreness after extended use with our traditional ear buds. My husband especially suffered from this as he is always listening to music and podcasts throughout the day and at work and often uses music to help clear his mind to fall asleep at night. I had hoped that these JBuds would be great for both of us, and so far, I have not been disappointed.
The included instructions state that you have to let the JBuds play music for an extended period of time to play at their full potential. If that's true, I am in luck because right out of the box they sound amazing. The quality is very crisp and clear yet very full. With my JBuds in, I am completely immersed and it's a beautiful thing. It sounds and feels as though the music is all around me. I am no audiophile, but music is a huge part of my life and these buds have multiplied my enjoyment of my music tenfold. Even when listening to podcasts, the voices are clear and it sounds as if the person talking is right in front of me. I know this is much owed to the ultra comfortable silicone ear buds which block out a surprising amount of external sound. The weather has been horrid here lately with harsh winds and I walked outside to take my pups in the back with my JBuds in and I didn't hear the howling wind at all. I have even been using these when gaming which has also been a treat. I love my Logitech G35 7.1-Channel Surround Sound Headset, but as it requires a restart of my game, I'm not always willing (or able) to restart on the fly to plug in my headset. In those situations, I plug in my JBuds and I'm completely immersed in my gaming world.
As for comfort, as that was the driving force behind this purchase, they have not let me down. It was strange, at first, being that the way the JBuds fit as compared to standard ear buds is very different. The JBuds slide further into the ear than I am used to and it felt odd for the first five minutes or so. After that, I hardly noticed they were in. The soft silicone is fantastic for holding the buds gently in place but not putting any pressure whatsoever on the ear itself which was always our biggest problem. Standard ear buds have to be wedged into the ear and rely on that to stay in place, which not only leads to a less secure fit but soreness over time. The silicone ear buds fix both issues.
My husband and I are both very pleased with this purchase and they have met and exceeded all my expectations for the price I paid. (I got two pairs for less than the half the price of one pair at retail!). I don't know if my review would be as glowing had I paid retail price. In truth, I probably would not have paid retail price for these just because I don't feel this type of product is worth that kind of money, but for what I paid, I am extremely happy and I'm even thinking about buying a few more sets for my nieces and nephew who aren't seen without their iPods. For this price, the quality is unsurpassed. You won't be disappointed!!
Customer Review: Deep sounding and very comfortable
Summary: 5 Stars
I was used to the earphones i got with my iPod when I bought it one and half years ago, but like many of you, the outer rubber part wore off, and then finally the plastic cracked, mainly because the earphones were getting hit on various hard objects, such as walls, subway doors, fists(?) lol. Nah, just general use, and frankly, you cannot expect a pair to last more than 18 months of rigorous daily use.
Anyways, back to the JBuds. Firstly, they fit in way deeper in the ear than the iPod headphones, so, the bass sound is really pronounced. Some techno and K-pop songs that had a good percussion rhythm sounded completely new with this JBuds. The deep seating earbuds also allow the iPod to be set at a lower volume than usual. Subway chatter and train track rattling can be effectively cancelled even with less than 40% volume, while with the old iPod, I had to rack it to 65~70%. That is definitely a plus.
These are sort of in-ear style earphones, so, it might take a while to get used to the "intrusive" style if you are used to the regular style earphones. For the first two weeks, my ears would usually feel heavy and ring after a few hours of use with these, but now I have gotten used to them, so its no big deal.
Once you get over the unfamiliarity issue, these are almost absent-minded earphones. I like to call them absent-minded, because they are so comfortable, and snug that you forget that you have them on (just like me old iPod headphones, which is a very good thing).
These dont have a very powerful grip on your ear, so a slight tug is enough for these to come flying off my ear. Usually this isnt a problem, but coupled with a really long (about 1.5 times the length of the iPod earphones, for those that might want to compare. In the regular SI units, I think about slightly more than one metre) cord, it might cause a few mishaps. I keep mind wound up in my pocket. So, dont even think about jogging with these, unless you have ears shaped like crevices.
Its an in-ear sort of model, so dont even think about taking a nap while wearing them. If you happen to roll to your side and put your weight on your ears, you will have a rude and painful awakening. I speak from experience.
I am not really a professional sound artist or an audiophile, so I will not speculate on this pair's sound quality, but it is on the same level as that of the iPod earphones, and most people are satisfied with music of that level. It does provide deeper sounds, mainly due to the increased proximity to the ear drum, but it seems to work okay over the entire range. I have no complaints about the sound, to be honest.
It comes in three bud sizes, large, medium and small. I have average sized ears (or at least I think. My ears look like out of a biology textbook, or so I have been told, so I can speak for most people), and the only size that fit me was the small. The other two simply fell off my ear. So, that gives you an idea of what sort of ears you need to order from your surgeon next time :D
For about ten dollars, I would say this is a steal compared to buying a replacement for the iPod headphones, which go for $35 last time I checked. I'd suggest these as your first choice replacement pair. They are good value for money. I have had them for over two months, and I am not regretting it one bit.
Customer Review: Also Good: Minimalist Packaging
Summary: 5 Stars
Plenty of other folks have mentioned these are great earbuds.
The squidgy silicon caps are incredibly comfortable for most of us, but it is quite understandable that they simply don't work for others. Luckily, they're cheap enough (for most of us) that it is worthwhile to purchase a pair to check out the comfort and fit.
But what I was especially pleased by was the packaging.
Earbuds wear out--at least for me, they do. I sometimes put 'em in a pocket and that wears out the connection right next to the plug, so I'm happy if they last six months. I just purchased to inexpensive pairs of earbuds here, these JBuds Hi-Fi Noise-Reducing Ear Buds (Black) and some Sony MDR-ED21LP Fontopia In-The-Ear Headphones.
The JBuds came in a small zip-lock bag with a single piece of folded paperboard packaging. (Their text: "JLab believes in being eco-friendly. This minimalistic packaging reduces waste.") Small enough that Amazon shipped it in a bubble-wrap envelope.
The Sonys, in contrast, are in a hard blister pack--not quite as nasty as the impossible-to-cut plastic, but of the same ilk. The plastic is glued to paperboard backing, so the latter cannot be cleanly separated for recycling. Inside is more packaging paperboard and some inserts, as well as an astonishingly superfluous vinyl drawstring carrying case for the earbuds. I've already got two or three of those sitting in a drawer somewhere; I've never met anyone that takes off their earbuds and stows them in one of these things. I'd be quite interested to hear if anyone does--if you do, add a comment to my review. But I'm pretty sure that Sony is just being mindlessly wasteful, which isn't much of a surprise.
But what really galled was that Sony's packaging was big enough that Amazon couldn't use a bubblepack envelope, and so shipped in a box, which was almost as big as a shoebox and mostly wasted space full of packaging material. Why Amazon couldn't combine the two packages I don't know, but Sony is still on the hook here for their sins.
It helps that the JBuds are one-third cheaper than the Sonys, but both seem to change prices intermittently.
So: if you're just grabbing a pair of work-a-day earbuds and all else turned out to be pretty much equal, go for the JBuds. The company is more sensible about their packaging and deserves the business.
Customer Review: Like the ability to change earbud size
Summary: 5 Stars
I use these earbuds for listening to the radio at work. The offer acceptable blocking or ambient noise, but not noise canceling such as the acclaimed Bose headphones (which I've tried and don't like). As I said in the title the ability to choose from 3 different earbud sizes is great, I opted to use the small size because while it doesn't reduce ambient noise as much they are more comfortable to wear for 6 to 8 hrs. a day. The long cord is also a great feature.
As for sound quality, I do sound engineering and recording on the side as a hobby and am an experienced classical musician of 15+ years so I am going to try and be detailed here. There are certainly better headphones on the market, such as the pair of Sony MDR-V6 studio monitor headphones I own. Those headphones also cost a lot more and I would be very unhappy if they were stolen out of my desk. Your not going to get to get the low end response you would out of a pair of studio monitor headphones or a full range PA system, but the frequency response seems relatively flat over the full human hearing range down to around 55Hz which is way better than most cheep ear buds. I will also mention that as the manufacturer recommends, these ear buds will sound better after about 24hrs of playing medium volume music because the drivers "burn in" as its called which means the alignments loosen up a bit to allow for more accurate sound reproduction. I like the sound quality of these over the over the ear headphones provided with most CD players and radios, and I would even recommend them for mp3 players over a lot of the other earbuds out there. They sound better than the JVC Marshmallow which my girlfriend has and I can't stand. Also they can get quite loud with out distortion so I recommend listen responsibly, set the volume limit on your ipod to a level that doesn't tire your ears or make them ring after your done listening. Remember it is very easy to cause hearing loss from listening to music with headphones or earbuds because they are in your ear, thus the closer to your ear the sounds source, the less power it takes to reach damaging volume levels, this is a logarithmic relationship not linear making it all the more a sensitive issue!
As a note I've had these for 2 months and I think they were a great buy for the money ($10).