v-JAYS Heavy Duty Bass Speakers
Friday, 07 January 2011
The Swedes responsible for the excellent earbuds reviewed last thing last year have also come up with headphones. They feature a light and elegant design, in functional black. No bling here. The v-JAYS feel comfortingly strong compared to the fragile-seeming SkullCandy headphones, despite being way less bulky.
With the v-JAYS, for $160, you get a short-cabled headset, a 70cm cable extender, square ear-cushions on the headset itself with two spares in the box, and a two-year warranty.
The ear parts fold inwards for storage or toting with each speaker unit mounted on ball joints, allowing a tilt of up to 40° forwards/backwards to fit virtually any head/ear shape.
With a low impedance, what’s not represented in real bass (they only go down to 25Hz) is partially made up for in volume. As JAYS’ literature points out, use with caution if you’re a fan of block-rockin’ beats.
The cord is short at 60cm – too short to reach your pants’ pocket or into a bag, but perfect for, say, a clipped on nano or an iPod in an armband.
Add the extender, though, and you get a full 130cm – that’s about 27 more centimetres than the Apple In Ear Speakers.
The sound
I used the same tracks as in the other tests – my standard test suite. Surprisingly, the sound was expressive, considering the lack of bass response. Not that there’s a terrible lack – many headphones have the same range, down to just 25Hz. Yet even on the Public Image track The Suit, all that rumbly bass sounded pretty good, with the added benefit that the rest of instrumentation is perhaps the clearest I have ever heard and I started noticing things I had never noticed before – either an indictment of my perception .
They’re good enough that I can clearly hear the difference between the ‘good’ and ‘lesser’ versions of Tropical Hotdog Night, but this was track 4 in my test and a slight added sibilance in the high end was starting to wear me down. If I kept these ’phones, I would EQ tracks like this slightly and be happy with the superb mid-tone and treble clarity and surprisingly well rendered bass tones.
Like the Anner Bylsma track, the Zoe Keating (another cellist) track sounded excellent – rich, warm and detailed.
These are sensitive (read: ‘loud’) headphones yet even when I cranked to pain point, them I couldn’t make the break points that really throw some ear phones and headphones drop or distort. These I have marked in the Beefheart and Morrisette tracks.
However, I found myself pressing the v-JAYS into my head to really appreciate the bopping, bouncing bass line in the Canadian’s You Oughta Know.
Conclusion — well designed, light and comfortable headphones with excellent clarity
What’s great — superb headphones for classical music, well designed, light, strong and comfortable. Anner Bylsma and Zoe Keating shine with the v-JAYS.
What’s Not — a seeming extra sibilance in some tracks doesn’t suit some other types of music so much
Needs — someone who appreciates an unobtrusively-designed headphone with great audio clarity
4/5
v-JAYS Heavy Duty Bass Speakers, $159.95
System — 40mm dynamic open speakers made from Mylar, with a sensitivity of 98dB SPL@1kHz (impedance 24 Ohm@1kHz).
Frequency Response 25Hz-20,000Hz, weight 59 grams with TPE coated copper 60cm wire cord, gold-plated Stereo Mini-Plug 3.5mmStraight, Gold-Plated Stereo Plug 3.5mm (1/8 in)
Available from — MagnumMac and online at yoobee.com. Also available at most Apple retail shops, online from TotallyMac and from TelstraClear.
Marketed via MacGear NZ Ltd. Product site is JAYS SE.
