Monday, April 22, 2013

MashButtons reviews Jabra's Music lineup. A Vox and two Revo's

Jabra has provided me with their recent headphone lineup, and while Jabra has been such a powerhouse in the mobile headset industry, they seem to be following the latest headphone trend with the release of the in ear Vox earbuds, the on ear wired Revo, and the Bluetooth Revo Wireless. Jabra’s has paired with Dolby on their Music range of headphones by enhancing the experience with Dolby Digital Plus and the Jabra sound app which which comes with preset equalizer options and customizable multi band equalizer. After a week with each pair of headphones it is time to put my notes on paper and see how they compare.

I will be reviewing the three headphones in order of preference saving the best for last, so that being said we will start with Vox. Jabra’s Vox is an in ear headphone with inline three button remote and drivers that are just under 9 mm in size. The sound is amazing, not just the clarity but the range of sound as well. The bass is deep, a lot deeper than most other in ear headphones I have reviewed, but the comfort is good and allow for movement without fear from falling out. The bad, well that would be getting shocked in the ear while jogging from the static electricity. I have never encountered this before any other headphones or earbuds, and could be due to the dry climate but this wasn’t a small shock and it was all up in my ear holes. However if my usage were in more sedentary environment, I would prefer these over the other two models for the comfort and the sound.

Next up is the corded Revo, sure they may not be my preference of over ear headphone, but Jabra’s corded on ear headphones immediately scream comfort. While the frame is built very solid with durable materials, but where it connects with your dome, it does gently with soft ear pads and a rubber air bubble for comfort during long periods of use. Once again the cord includes an in line 3 buttons remote, while the cord is removable and the sides fold in for compact storage. The Revo’s come sporting 40mm drivers on each side, packing a punch with deep bass, and while the highs don’t come off as clear as that experienced with the Vox’s, the Jabra sound app’s equalizer helped get them close. While the Revo is quite similar to the wireless model, it somehow does not compare after moving onto the Bluetooth cord free sibling.

My favorite of the three are hands down the Jabra Revo Wireless, for two big reasons. The first would be the liberation from being connected to your phone via cable. The other would be the sound quality being delivered wirelessly is amazing, when historically the quality would suffer due to lack of cable. Charging is also easy, fully charged provides 12 hours worth of talk/music and should you run out of charge or be without a Bluetooth capable device, just plug in the cable and you are good. The build quality is the same as the Revo wired headset, nice and sturdy, but here is the kicker, no line for inline remote. Jabra took care of this rather creatively by using a turntable touch control allowing the ability to control volume by running your finger around the outside of the right speaker, you can also track forward/backward by double clicking or take calls. My only issue was that I wish it came with a more durable carrying case.