Home > Consumer Reviews > JBuds J2 Premium Hi-FI Noise Isolating Earbuds (Purple/Lavender)

JBud J2 Earphones

Summary:
A lot better than original Apple iPod earphones, but have limited low end range until broken in. The great noise isolation means you don't need to turn the volume up.

Details:
I tested the J2 phones on a cross-country plane flight on an MD-80 and a 737-800. The headphones were compared using an iPod nano first generation as a source and 2nd generation Apple iPod earbuds and Koss in-ear memory earbuds as comparison units. I used some classic rock (e.g. Chicago) and male an female vocalists (IZ and Norah Jones, among others) as listening material.

The fit of the J2 buds worked out well for me. I'm usually hard to fit with in-ear or semi-in-ear phones. The J2 comes with three sets of compliant rubber ear inserts, and one of them fit me perfectly, which is just great. During the four hours I kept them in my ears they were very comfortable and worked well. During my flights, half volume on the old iPod was sufficient to block out the competing plane noises.

The J2s look good, feel sturdy and are nicely finished overall. I wish they would include some sort of case or cord-keeper, though.

The J2 buds are very weak on the low end in my opinion. To put this in context, I'm in my fifties, I don't listen to hip-hop or rap on any regular basis, and I don't need/want bone crushing bass. I just want to be able to have a reasonable feel of the bass and rhythm line. Even if I set the EQ for "Bass boost" I couldn't get these buds to give me sufficient bass line. They're just very weak down there. To my ear, they roll off sharply below something that feels like 100Hz. This is surprising for in-ear buds which usually require bass attenuation rather than bass boost. By comparison, my Koss phones sounded like the bass from a "bad-boy" car stereo at the stop light at the same settings. The J2s are weak enough in the low range that it could be a non-starter for you.
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UPDATE: I read another review which claimed the J2 needs a break in period of about 24 hours of on time at medium volume to loosen up and sound good. I found that the bass level on mine went up from poor to good. It's still weaker than my Koss phones, but overall the sound is now more balanced.
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The goodness of the J2s comes when listening to solo vocals, piano solos, and other material that has strong mid-range and upper mid-range frequency content. They sound clear and well-defined. In particular, if your musical taste leans toward vocals accompanies by acoustic guitar, these are your earbuds. With the noise isolating earpieces, the J2 buds sounded good with this kind of material even while sitting on the plane.


Pros:
Three sets of in-ear rubber cushions (small, medium, large) allow for good seal and comfortable fit.
Noise isolation good enough for plane travel.
-It's not like having a set of Bose because it blocks ALL sound equally, which means you need to take them off if you need to hear the flight attendant, etc.
Clear sound in midrange and highs - great for vocals.
The plug is narrow near the business end so that it fits past the too-small hole in my iPod case.
-I haven't checked, but it seems likely it would fit an iPod touch, too.
Cord and fittings seem sturdier than others (e.g. Apple).

Cons:
Weak bass until break in period of 24 hours use - I messed with my EQ controls a lot to correct the weak low range and couldn't get sufficient bass for my taste until after the break in period. Even then it's
-NOT a great rocker or hip-hop set.
-About the same bass output as the original Apple.
-Much weaker than a comparison "in-ear" phone like the Koss.

Conclusion:
If you primarily listen to acoustic, folk, vocals, or audio books, these could be great for you. If you listen to bass heavy rock or hip-hop, you need to continue to search.

I bought these headphones a few months back from Amazon. After trying out nearly 7 headphones prior to this one I realized that going by only a few reviews was not enough. I checked out some other sites before I decided, rather uncomfortably to try another set of headphones. I am more than satisfied with these headphones.
Headphones sound good and have a thicker wire compared to most others. The earpiece fits quite snugly in my ears and feels good. I don't hear my music too loud and hence have never experienced any cracking in voice and unpleasant diaphragm vibrations. The bass and treble seems to be quite well balanced and for those who use portable devices and don't feedle around a lot with the equalizer and presets will love this. The price was another factor which I considered before buying these. I would say almost anybody can afford them. Three months is a long time to judge the headphones and I have used them for over 500 hours by now and they seem to work well. Even after the wire being pulled hundreds of times and some out of the way roughness these headphones seem to survive it all!!
The only problem which I can foresee with some of us may be; being unable to achieve a snug fit with these.
The bottom line:- I would recommend these headphones to anyone who listens to music for an hour or two everyday and mostly uses a portable device to do so.

I bought these about a month ago. One headphone broke 3 days into using them. I use them at work, where I just walk around and check things. I was not rough or careless with them. I was actually just walking home when they broke.

I am not someone who goes out of their way to bash a product or company, but the particular J2s I bought were sub-par.

I agree with the other reviewers that the construction of the buds is good and I wished they would have worked. The problem I have is that the sound volumes between left and right are way off - like the left bud is 2x as loud as the right. I even did the 24 hour burn in, like Jlabs recommends, and while it did make the sound better, it did not even out the overall volume levels to anything resembling normal.

So I figure it is just a bad set, and Jlabs will make it right. Not so.

After 5 days of waiting, 2 emails with no reply and 3 calls that all end up in voicemail with no way to leave a message I am feeling ignored. A simple auto-reply to the email that Jlabs calls 24-hour would have been nice.

I am considering sending them back to Amazon for a refund, if I don't hear back from the company real soon.

UPDATE

So, I was contacted by JLabs after about a month and their customer service stepped up to the plate to offer replacement and threw in a portable speaker set.

Amazon had already replaced the buds - and the new ones were rock solid. Very good sound through both ears.

If I had to re-rate the product it would get 4 of 5 stars. The only downside to these is that they are a little larger then my Sennheiser pair. Otherwise a great product from a company that does what is right, in the end.

The connection (between the wire and the jack) broke after 2 months of regular use.