audiosplitz: Jabra

IT Show 2016 - Portable Music Roundup

March 12, 2016

One of the quarterly consumer tech shows is now in full swing at Suntec Convention Centre from 10 to 13 Mar 2016.

Wait no more!
Check out our roundup of portable audio gizmos at the IT Show 2016 that is going for steal.

Wireless Earphones

Earin
Price: SGD 329 (from SGD 349)
Features - Totally wireless (ie. no cables) / Trend setter / With charging capsule
Location - audiosplitz / Treoo (6571)

Jabra Rox Wireless
Price: SGD 128 (from SGD 168) with Free Magnetic Pouch
Features - Wireless / Dust and water proof
Location - Best (8245) / Harvey Norman (6138) / Nubox (309)

Wireless Headphones

Sennheiser URBANITE XL Wireless
Price: SGD 419 with Free Gift of either OCX 686 Sports or PMX 686 Sports wired earphones (each valued SGD 149)
Features - Over-ears comfort / Wireless or wired / Touch controls / NFC
Location - Sennheiser

Sony MDR-1ABT
Price: SGD 399 (from SGD 499)
Features: Over-ears comfort / Wireless or wired / Touch controls / NFC
Location: Treoo (6571)

Noise Canceling
Bose QuietComfort 20 (QC 20)
Price: SGD 399 (from SGD 499)
Features: Kick-ass noise canceling / Wired / Aware button for toggling ambient sound level
Location: Atlas Warehouse Sale (336)

Sports Earphones (Wired / Wireless)
Bose SoundSport In-Ear
Price: SGD 99 (from SGD 219)
Features: Wired / Great value / Comfortable StayHear tips
Location: Atlas Warehouse Sale (336)

Jaybird X2 Wireless
Price: SGD 229 (from SGD 259)
Features: Wireless / Excellent sound / Great fit / Comply Foam tips
Location: audiosplitz / Treoo (6571)

Sony NWZ-WS413
Price: SGD 149 with Free Casing
Features - Dust and Waterproof (you can swim with it!) / 4GB memory / No external music device needed
Location - Sony (8115)

Wired Earphones
Jays a-JAYS Five
Price: SGD 108 (from $138) for Android / iOS
Price: SGD 69 (from $138) for Windows
Features - Great value / Great bass / Dedicated in-line remote for device type
Location - Treoo (6571)

Wired Headphones
Klipsch Reference R6i On-Ear
Price: SGD 175 (from SGD 199) for 1 pair purchase promo at 10% off
Price: SGD 169 (from SGD 199) for 2 pairs purchase promo at 15% off.
Features - Very lightweight / Great bass / iOS compatible remote
Location - Best (8245) / Challenger (8321) / epiCentre (8101) / Harvey Norman (6138) / Nubox (309)

Speakers
UE BOOM 2
Price: SGD 269 (from SGD 319)
Features - Wireless / 360 degree type / 15h battery life
Location - Best (8245) / EpiCentre (8101) / Nubox (309)

Beats

2015 Holiday Gift Guide - Portable Audio

December 20, 2015

As Christmas beckons and 2015 comes to an end, let's take a look at some great portable audio gear you can gift for your loved ones. Not sure what to get? Fret not! We break down a few choices for each persona.

Merry X'mas folks!

Fashionistas
1. Beats Solo 2 Wireless (SGD 490)
This model is a head turner with the variants like the Active Collection (for sports lovers), and Luxe Editions (for a more premium look) being recently released.

2. Sennheiser MOMENTUM On Ear (M2) (SGD 319)
The MOMENTUM series is helluva looker and why change a proven formula? And they haven't, given its design has been around since 2013.

3. Master & Dynamic MH30 (SGD 549)
This New York company is certainly going places with its premium design. Want something novel? It ain't seen very much in Singapore (yet).

No Cables Please (Wireless)
1. Bose SoundLink on-ear Bluetooth (SGD 379)
The OE SoundLink is one of the best in the wireless on-ears category for sound delivery. The price is very decent too.

2. Sennheiser URBANITE XL Wireless (SGD 419)
They are great headphones for street wear and high quality sound over Bluetooth makes for good icing on the cake.

3. Sony MDR-1ABT (SGD 499)
A good choice for a multitude of reasons - It's comfortable, it supports aptX and LDAC codecs and it's a Sony.

Sports Lovers
1. Jaybird X2 Wireless (SGD 259)
These rank right up there for sports earbuds. They are highly customizable and the Comply foam tips offer great noise isolation and fit.

2. LG Tone Active (SGD 189)
The space-age looking TONE series has been a killer product for LG. What better way to improve it than to make a sports variant?

3. Jabra Sport Coach (SGD 248)
It's pretty hard to find an effective product that gives an integrated software and hardware fitness solution.

Users On-The-Go (Noise Canceling)
1. Bose QuietComfort 25 (SGD 529)
The QC25 blocks off sound to the extent that you feel you're in a world of your own.

2. Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay H8 (SGD 699)
This is a premium looking pair to be seen with. Oh, and it's great to use on an airplane where the engine hum is just taken away.

3. Sony h.ear in NC (MDR-EX750NA)
This really light pair of in-ears works wonders on the train. Once you flick the switch on, the train grinding sounds are magically reduced.

Audiophiles
1. Klipsch Reference X20i (SGD 999)
These are certainly pricey but the sound delivery will certainly appeal to purists.

2. Grado SR60e
The SR60e is their entry level headphones and despite that, the quality of the music is simply amazing for its price.

Bluetooth

Jabra Sport Coach - Integrated Fitness Solution

October 02, 2015

Copenhagen-based audio manufacturer, Jabra announced the launch of their latest sports in-ears called the Sport Coach Wireless in July 2015. At SGD 248, these are on the higher end of the pricing range of sports earphones. Let's take a look at how these fare.

Design
First things first - we check out the unboxing.

Out of the 3 colors available, we were handed the yellow unit. The earphones are also stocked in red and blue.

The box is relatively compact with a magnetic latch on the right side.

Flipping over the cover unveils the earphones beneath a layer of transparent plastic.

Peeling open the layer of plastic and opening the yellow box at the bottom will give you the protective pouch which in turn contains the whole set of accompanying accessories. After removing the cable ties that are linked to the in-ears, we took out the product proper.

At 16g, the Sport Coach Wireless is undeniably light, much like others in its range like the Jaybird X2 Wireless (13g) and Plantronics BackBeat Go 2 (14g). They are worn only in the traditional under the ears method with the in-line remote set on the right side.

There are two fit clips provided - they serve to bunch the cord together behind your neck to minimize the cable tangle (and rustle). Jabra recommends three ways to knot 'em up nicely.

Features
What makes these in-ears unique is that Jabra designed an accompanying mobile app called Jabra Sport Life that works with iOS 7.0+ and Android 4.0.3+. While originally supported for the Sport Pulse Wireless earphones, they are extended to the Sport Coach. The app allows you to 'plan, track and analyze your cross training workouts'. We go more into this in the Performance section.

The Sport Coach is built to military standards (IP55) meaning that these buds are sweat proof + weather proof + shock proof. Aye to the first two but we didn't go to the extent of throwing the Jabras on the floor to test how shock proof these were 'cos we needed to return the unit :)

Jabra includes what they market as the TrackFit Motion Sensor. During jogging, tapping the Sports button on the left earbud triggers a voice that gives information such as distance run, speed and cadence. This is an incredibly useful feature that shows off the potential of hardware and software integration. Double tapping will disable the voice updates.

You can connect the Sport Coach via Bluetooth for up to two devices. To pair, just hold the multi-function button until the right earbud's LED flashes blue. Follow the voice prompts to complete the pairing.

Multi-function button flanked by the volume buttons

The connection by near field communication (NFC) is equally easy. Just ensure your source device has activated NFC, turn on the earphones and press the in-line remote onto the player's NFC point. On that note, the button actuation of the remote is firm though the niggling point is the inability to deactivate the confirmation sounds when a button is pressed.

The in-line remote doubles as the NFC point of contact

You have a range of 3 ear wings, 4 ear gels and 2 fit clips to play around for customization. I found the small ear wings the most ideal for commuting while the medium made the most sense for jogging. For the ear gel, medium was ideal.

Performance
On to the test run!

While the haze season in Singapore is back with a vengence, I somehow managed to find some clear skies earlier in September to squeeze in a jog. Off I went for a 2km run around the Alexandra Canal.

'1' and '2' mark the hitting of the respective kilometer marks

During the run, I stopped every now and then to test the different ear wing modes. The constants were the ear gel size (M) and the fitclip style (optimal) where the two clips bind the cords as tightly together to reduce both the cord brushing against the neck and the microphonics.

A separate session to highlight the battery life displayed

1. Ear wings (S), Ear gel (M)
This was the easiest mode to insert into the ears. However, the fit wasn't there as I constantly had to readjust the earbuds to balance out the sound on the left and right sides.

2. Ear wings (M), Ear gel (M)
At roughly 600m into the jog, I swapped the small ear wings for the medium version. They provided probably the best balance of comfort and ear fit though the audio wobble was still audible with each heel strike.

3. Ear wings (L), Ear gel (M)
T'was one tight experience - When wearing the large sized ear wings, the tip pressed into my ears but the flipside is that the audio wobble reduced considerably.

Throughout all three modes, the noise isolation was never ideal as I could make out ambient noise even while the beats from Armin van Buuren's Take Me Where I Wanna Go were pounding my ear drums during the run. I tried to tie the cable as tight as possible to reduce the microphonics but somehow, there's only so much that can be done when earphones are natively worn under the ears.

Not exactly the fastest of runs but hey, I had to swap ear wings, yea?

There are different workout functions in the Sports Life app such as Calorie Burn goal and Time goal. I chose the Cross-Training which led to a few rounds of crunches and lifting of knees. This app gives the idea that Jabra is no slouch in providing a fitness solution providing visual feedback on your performance.

Cross training!

For commuting usage, the Jabra's sound output is admirable. A listen of Brandon Flowers' Crossfire gave the impression that it is a well tuned earphone that neither emphasizes the bass nor the treble. Bass heads may be a little disappointed but on my side, the overall delivery of the music clicked for me. For added comfort, go for the small ear wings.

To charge, just pull back the ear wing and plug the cable to the micro-USB slot. After 2 hours to get a full charge, you get 5.5 hours of music playback, a fair number compared with the Jaybird X2 Wireless that gets 8 hours and Beats Powerbeats2 Wireless which gives 6.

Jabra even includes a Jabra Sound app that you can use as a substitute for your default music player. The app can only be used once you enter the unlock code provided in the box. I didn't the app too useful though the redeeming feature is the ability to activate Dolby Sound Enhancement, though I found the sound rather spaced out for my liking.

Jabra Sound app - You can turn on / off Dolby

Overall
The Jabra Sport Coach Wireless is great sports wireless unit that considers the overall jogging / workout experience. While the hardware itself could do with some upgrades, it is the integration with the software that makes for a more compelling package.

Audio Sources
Take Me Where I Wanna Go - Armin van Buuren feat. VanVelzen (Spotify 320kbps MP3) on Samsung Galaxy S4
Crossfire - Brandon Flowers (320kbps MP3) on Samsung Galaxy S4

Credit to Jabra and PRecious Communications for a review unit.

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