The Newcomer to the Bluetooth Earbud Market: JBird Freedom
Aiden from Hardware Canucks here and welcome back, everyone! Today, we're going to dive into one of the newest additions to the Bluetooth earbud market - the JBird Freedom. As a long-time fan of JBird's BlueBuds X and X2 line, I was excited to see how their latest offering would stack up. With its compact design, focus on audio fidelity, and active use in mind, the JBird Freedom aims to appeal to anyone looking for form and function. But with a $200 price tag, will it be worth the investment?
As soon as we unwrapped our JBird Freedom earbuds, we were impressed by their sleek and compact design. Measuring only 13.8 grams, these earbuds are tiny compared to other wireless solutions on the market. Their curved body makes them look almost minuscule, and they don't protrude as far from the ear, allowing for excellent helmet compatibility and minimal visual intrusion. To achieve this small form factor, JBird shifted the wireless components into the volume control hub, creating a slightly bulkier hub due to the battery. While the design is certainly impressive, it's not without its quirks.
One thing that really caught my attention was the remote hub. I'll be honest, I still can't get over how it works as intended but doesn't feel like an elegant solution. The weight of the hub makes the earbuds have a weird imbalance with the right side pulling more heavily than the left, and aesthetically, it leaves something to be desired. However, this design choice won't affect everyone's experience, and many will still find themselves drawn to the Freedom.
The JBird Freedom is not without its competitors in the market, though. For $150, you can pick up the JBird BlueBuds X, which offer similar audio quality and form factor for a lower price point. Additionally, if your wallet is larger than these earbuds, you may want to consider JBird's previous products, such as their popular BlueBuds X2 model.
When it comes to sound quality, I was pleased to report that the JBird Freedom delivers some of the best sound I've heard in a Bluetooth earbud. Vocals are natural and clear, bass is controlled but present, highs are great, and mids are defined. It's worth noting that the right ear tip makes a big difference, so be sure to grab the white right ones that fit for optimal performance.
However, noise isolation was not the Freedom's strong suit. The earbuds don't isolate much background noise, which might be disappointing for some users. But I soon realized that this could be a blessing in disguise - if you're out running or riding, being able to hear your surroundings is essential. On the other hand, the sound signature can be quite flat and neutral at first glance.
Fortunately, JBird has included their My Sound app, which allows for EQ controls and customization of the earbud's sound signature. This feature will be a game-changer for many users who want more control over their audio experience.
In conclusion, while the JBird Freedom is an excellent product in its own domain, I couldn't help but feel that it's hard to stomach its $200 price tag when compared to its competitors. With some minor issues with control and volume management, I'd recommend keeping an eye out for JBird's previous products or waiting for any potential updates before making a purchase.
For those on a budget, the JBird BlueBuds X are still an excellent option that offers similar audio quality and form factor at a lower price point. And if your wallet is larger than these earbuds, you may want to consider other options in the market that offer better value for money.
Overall, I'd recommend checking out the JBird Freedom if your wallet is large enough and you're willing to overlook its small quirks. With proper customization and a bit of patience, this earbud can deliver an excellent audio experience.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ene hello everybody Aiden here with Hardware Canucks and I battle against cords as being a constant quandry with convenience coming at the cost of quality jbd has been a strong player in the Bluetooth earbud market for quite a while now with the bluebud X and X2 lineup being exceedingly popular for those active and on the go now jbird is introducing a new lineup the freedoms these are smaller in pretty much every way than the x2s except for the price at $200 these are pretty expensive and that's going to be a hard cost to stomach for many users the jbird freedom aims to combine an extremely compact Wireless design with a focus on audio Fidelity and active use the freedom does so by integrating a battery and a Bluetooth 4.0 module into the design they are supposed to appeal to anyone looking for Form and Function but a $200 price tag may be at Hard Sell for some folks in the nicely designed box we have our earbuds and a selection of accessories there's a nice cameraing pouch the charger and micro USB cord shirt clip and cord management Clips three earbud wings and six ear tips three of these ear tips are rubber but jbirds also includes three sizes of comply foam tips in the Box it's a nice accessories kit but let's focus our attention on the buds one thing is certain the jbird freedoms look great we've got this tiny curved body for the buds which make them look minuscule when compared to other Wireless Solutions they're sleek and they' don't extrude as far from the ear thanks to that small form factor allowing for excellent helmet compatibility and minimal visual intrusion rather than removing components to achieve such a small footprint jbird shifted the wireless components into the volume control Hub creating this slightly bulkier Hub due to the battery this is where you charge access volume control and pair them I still can't get over the remote Hub though while it works as intended it doesn't feel like an elegant solution its weight makes the freedoms have this weird imbalance with the right side pulling more heavily than the left and aesthetically it leaves something to be desired the design of the jbird X2 with the internals in the earbuds will probably still appeal to many people making the freedom less of a replacement and more of an alternative the Freedom's Hefty $200 price tag is a hard sell especially when jbird themselves still have the x2s for $150 and you can pick up the original blue BS X for only 80 honestly even with the freedom around the older models are Ste at their current price that being said there's going to be a market which appreciates these earbuds this small form factor will fit easily in your pocket and the 13.8 G weight means these are perfect for any activity no cord leads to Ultimate freedom of movement and if you're working out in the gym you can place your phone beside you which allows for far greater Freedom the Bluetooth experience is seamless too once you paired it initially you can simply power on the earbuds and they'll connect instantly I didn't experience exp erience any odd dropouts or signal degradation through my time with these the most notable trade-off for the freedom is their battery life jbird advertises up to 8 hours like their X2 line however that number is a bit misleading as it is including the charger due to physical restrictions jbird could only squeeze a 125 mAh battery into the freedoms amounting to an advertised 4 hours of battery life so they included another battery in the charging cradle thus giving the 8 hours since you're not going to be keeping the Cradle on you should think of this as a 4-Hour device with an external battery Bank on the note of the Cradle while it's very small and portable it's also very easy to lose and because of the proprietary nature it's the only way to charge these earbuds so keeping it safe is important the upside of the battery life is that I actually got closer to 5 and 1/2 hours of battery with constantly High listening volume and after an hour and a half the Cradle had fully recharg the buds for most people this will be fine but do expect to have to charge these every couple of days if you use them frequently while the earbuds are nice and small I found that the fit wasn't quite right for me of course this is an extremely subjective thing and different earbuds will fit different people but for me I couldn't get a snug fit the included comply tips were disappointing compared to my experience with their tips on the sh se215s and I just ended up using the rubber ones the fit was all right but I never felt like they were that secure which is a big issue when active the upside to this is that jbird includes These Wings for additional security and in my experience they work really well holding the earbuds in snuggly even when on the Move however they do add bulk to the form factor and they make the earbuds less comfortable for extended listening another trade-off some might not appreciate however you won't find any problems with the sound I'd wager these are some of the best sounding bluet truth earbuds on the market vocals sound natural and clear bases controlled but definitely present highs sound great and mids are definitely defined as well now the right ear tips will make a big difference so make sure that you've got the white right ones that fit but when they do the these definitely sound great noise isolation was average they don't isolate a whole lot of background noise which I was disappointed with at first but then I realized that's probably a good thing if you're out running or riding you'll be able to hear your surroundings out of the box these sound quite flat and neutral which isn't common of most mainstream focused earbuds and I was quite surprised and it only gets better once you grab jaybird's my sound app here you get EQ controls and you can tune the earbud sound signature to your preference many people won't enjoy the neutral sound signature so I love having the option to completely customize it and now it's down to nitpicks for $200 I want a polished experience and for the most part the jbird freedom delivers I did have some little issues though and most of them were centered around control of the device the first issue is with the buttons the volume and play pause buttons are really mushy and without looking at them it's hard to tell if they''re being actuated I'd prefer much clicker buttons to more easily distinguish presses volume control is another issue although this is partly to do with Android on some devices you'll find clunky control with independent volume on the freedom and on the device then with the latest Android M update you get simplified control but the volume steps are too big meaning that it's either too quiet or too loud you can't adjust volume on the earphones when no media is playing you just get a frustrating battery 60% warning hopefully volume management can be resolved in an Android update or a workaround from jbird at $200 the jbird freedom is going to hit your wallet hard but you'll likely find Value in them they're excellent in their own domain but when you remember that you're paying $50 more for effectively worse battery life for that smaller form factor it might be hard to stomach keep an eye out on JB Bird's previous products with the X2 and BlueBuds X for better bang for your buck if your wallet is larger than these earbuds and you can stomach their small quirks then the freedom might be the one for you so thank you for watching everyone if you enjoyed this video make sure to leave a like and leave any constructive critique down below I'm Aiden with Hardware knu make sure to subscribe to the next video and we'll see you in the next one\n"
