Intro
I am an avid listener of everything be it music, YouTube videos, podcasts, TV series, or anything. I’m basically always listening to something and up until recently, I’ve always used wired headphones. Since I do so much listening I have a nice pair of Sennheiser’s that are awesome like the CX 100 in-ears I’ve been using for the last couple of years and especially for the price. I use those for home and the office where I don’t have to worry about them falling out but when I go hiking and run I typically swap for these JBL Endurance RUN headphones that I found again very capable both in sound quality and in the ability to not fall out even though they do occasionally because they are wired and the wires might get pulled on unbeknownst to me. When I’m sweaty from working out that problem is exacerbated.
Full Guide
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Table of Contents
Background
I’ve been very hesitant to cut the cord when it comes to headphones because I’ve always felt wired was better not only for the main quality perspective but even from an environmental one because having wireless devices requires charging and batteries which not only makes them more expensive but when not taken care of these create a large environmental footprint in the form of e-waste.
Sennheiser CX 100
My original at-home and office daily drivers
JBL Endurance RUN
My original work out headphones
Purchase Motivations
As of late wanting to get away from being stuck with a wire for instance having to take my headphones out when I want to get up and move around as I do on a regular basis at home at work and then having to switch from my computer to my phone, is starting to get all my nerves especially with all the talk of airpods and earpods and whoever knows kind of pods, so I started looking for my own pair of wireless headphones.
Now the headphones I wanted to get needed to have certain requirements. In the top 3 of those requirements are good sound quality, the ability to stay in while active, and have the ability to use only one at a time. Of course there were other essentials like battery life, easily switch between devices, and good build quality.
Research
Luckily I have a few friends with the aforementioned most popular wireless in-ears like the Apples and the Samsung. They very graciously allowed me to try them for a short time to see if they would work for me. I found that while they had good overall sound quality and were easy to use they weren’t so good at staying in my ear especially when got sweaty during a hike. The vibrations of every step caused both of them to slowly inch out until they no longer could hold on so it was back to the drawing board. I read over many reviews and even almost fell for the Raycons but luckily enough people talked about them not being the best in several categories.
Purchase Choice
Then I stumbled across a YouTuber who is an avid hiker and biker like myself and had the same issues I was trying to solve and recommended the JayBirds Vista 2’s. I liked how they looked and the way that they hook into your ear to stay in place so I took a leap of faith and bought a pair for myself on Amazon for $119 on sale.
An important feature with the Vista 2s is that they feature IP68 waterproof, sweatproof, and dustproof, with MIL-STD 810G freeze, shock, and impact resistance.
- Type: In-Ear Style
- Noise-isolation: Passive & Active Noise Reduction
- Impedance: 23 Ohm +-15% at 1KHz
- Speaker sensitivity: 103.5 +-1.5dB at 1KHz
- Output 12 mW RMS (with level limit)
- Total Harmonic Distortion <3% (1KHz, 1mW)
- Audio Format: 16-bit Stereo
- Codec: Bluetooth® SBC Implementation & AAC
- Response Bandwidth 20Hz – 20kHz
- Driver Size: 6 mm
Review
Looking at them in person I really like the design which is a bit different from the other popular earbuds that stick out and then go down which reminds me of the Cybermen from Doctor Who. I think the defining feature of these earphones is this hook, it’s nice and soft but does a really good job of hooking into your earlobe, specifically the concha cymba, as long as you have the typical human ear layout. Once you have them inserted they really do not come out, I’ve had these for a couple of weeks now, and even when I’m hiking or running, and especially when I get sweaty there is no risk of them coming out. I feel that’s partly due to the great seal it makes which prevents sweat from making any headway and loosening the buds.
While they do come with three different size ear pieces I found that the ones it came with were just the right ones for me unlike the JBLs where I had to switch to a smaller earpiece to fit and seal correctly which is still didn’t.
Although these are my first wireless headphones I found the case fits perfectly in my pocket without feeling like there’s a whole lot of extra stuff in there and if it’s in my hiking bag I’ll forget about it. I feel this is because it’s flatter than other wireless cases I’ve seen that are more square. The quality is great overall and I love how the headphones just snap in place when you put them in.
Pairing
Pairing them is extremely easy, just keep the case open with both headphones seated, hold down the button until the light flashes and do a search on your Bluetooth-compatible device which basically showed up instantly every time. Whether it was on my phone or my computer at home where I do have a Bluetooth antenna for such devices or at work where I simply bought a $14 Bluetooth dongle it all worked seamlessly.
I can switch between all 3 devices very quickly just open up the Bluetooth settings and tell it to connect and it will automatically switch between all the devices seamlessly. These headphones can save up to 5 different profiles So you can be paired with 5 different devices just not connected simultaneously but the ability to switch back-and-forth is so easy it’s worth mentioning.
Audio Quality
Now I’m not an audiophile but I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the audio quality I’m looking for and comparing these to say the Sennheisers I think are a pretty good comparison as I’ve been using those for many years and the Jaybirds sound just as good if not better and even if the tones aren’t exactly what you like the jaybird app, which is phenomenal on it’s own, has it’s own EQ so you can adjust most everything you want to make the sound exactly match what you like. The EQ setting is saved in the earpiece so when you switch to another device like a PC where the app isn’t accessible you can experience the sounds as you like.
The app also includes a ton of other features like the ability to change the button mappings, voice prompts, battery meter, and more.
As I assume was actually common I can use just one headphone at a time which essentially doubles my listening time or quadruples it really as 1 earpiece will last roughly 6 hours if you’re not using Active Noise Cancelation (ANC) or SurroundSence, then you just swap it out for the other earpiece and while the first one is charging you can keep listening and you could really do this up to four times before the battery in the case is also depleted which basically leads to 36 hours of straight listening or as I use them 4 work days worth, again using just one earpiece at a time.
They claim clear voice processing for calls and conferences but it felt like there was room for improvement as even in perfect condition, in a quiet room, it still sounded muffled and distant.
Active Noise Cancelation
Since these are in-ears there’s passive noise canceling but the Active Noise Cancelation which does use up additional battery power is good enough although I don’t use them very often since in most scenarios like when I’m hiking, I only use one at a time so that I can hear my surroundings for bears and other wildlife to photograph.
SurroundSence
In these cases, I assume some people would like to use the SurroundSence which pipes in and amplifies the surrounding noise so that you know what’s going on around you and while this does work you can definitely hear background noise as it’s constantly listening and piping in at the same time like an earring aid. The volume of which you can control in the app. I don’t use it since I just stick to only using one earpiece at a time and I can naturally hear everything without using an additional battery.
Negatives
In the weeks since I bought these headphones the only things I’ve run into are fairly benign, like the magnet is so strong on the case that trying to open it with one hand is actually a bit difficult. If there was a notch to get your fingernail in that would help.
The only other issue I’ve run into is when playing videos on YouTube it doesn’t always start playing through the headphones for some reason and I have to pause and restart the video for the headphones to pick up. It’s not like the audio plays through the phone’s speakers, it just doesn’t play at all. I feel this might be an issue with the YouTube app instead of the headphones because it works perfectly with all other apps like Amazon Music, Kindle, Tiktok, etc.
There’s also no wireless charging but I really don’t see an issue with that since wireless charging is incredibly wasteful and ineffiecent.
Conclusion
It think it’s pretty simple, if you are very active and want something that doesn’t look like all the other headphones out there these are the ones to go for. Great audio quality, lots of features, and perfect fit, for me, it’s a no brainer.
- Note : If the size of the earbud tips does not match the size of your ear canals or the headset is not worn properly in your ears, you may not obtain the correct sound qualities or call performance. Change the earbud tips to ones that fit more snugly in your ear.Specific uses for product : Sports and Exercise
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