MashButtons goes full wireless with Jabra’s Elite Sport

Jabra has recently provided me with their recent truly wireless earbuds, the Elite Sport, which isn’t just for listening to music cord free, but also provides heart rate monitoring and coaching while also being compatible with a number of fitness apps. Since these are completely wireless,  a clamshell charging case is included and in regards to charging, Jabra is boasting up to 13 and a half hours between charges. These ear buds integrate with Jabra’s Sport Life application, which allows for planning workouts, tests fitness levels, along with analyzing and recording fitness activity.

Out of the box and into my ears, these buds were easy to sync but uncomfortable, but after a few failed attempts to get the right fit with the various sized EarWings and EarGels, I was able to get them to stay in my ears comfortably. What I really liked about the Elite Sports was that when charging their case, Bluetooth would disconnect, then would automatically connect to my phone once the case opened. During use, I learned that one ear bud can be used should you want to be aware of your surroundings, but be aware that it must be the right side because once the right gets too far from the left side, the left side will shut off.

I was able to wear these comfortably through a workout, but got a little uncomfortable towards the end of a two hour flight. While there are buttons to control the volume, track, and heart rate, the buttons were very small and would have to firmly press the earbud into my ear to get the button to click. My only other complaint is probably just a personal preference but the sound quality, while crisp and clear with various music genres, was lacking in bass. I am not sure how the sound compares to apple’s wireless ear buds, but my comparison was with my Bose SoundSport that are similar in size but wired.

Being that the Elite Sport are completely wireless I was worried that they would fall out of my ear while active, but they fit snug and didn’t fall out, dry or sweaty. The amount of features are plentiful to help justify the heavy price and stand out among the handful of truly wireless earbuds and the sound quality stays clear at any volume and does well drowning out noise. These are best fit for active lifestyles with their ability to effectively stay in my ears, monitor workouts, provide coaching, and link to my Apple Watch so the phone wasn’t needed to be on me to listen to my playlist and track my activity. Jabra’s Elite Sport is available now for $249.99.

Pace, the latest wireless earbuds in the Jabra Sport lineup

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Next we have another wireless sports headset from our friends over at Jabra and this time around, they have provided us with the Sport Pace. The Sport Pace, following the recent releases of the active lifestyle inspired lineup, which includes the Pulse and Coach, was designed to keep you on track. The Pace wireless ear buds provide in ear updates, workout tips, and motivational guidance for training through the Jabra Sports Life app. Unboxed and app installed, it is time to see how the Pace stands against it’s Jabra Sport siblings.

I didn’t know what to think of the supportive arms that go behind my ears, but after wearing a short time, it was hardly noticeable unless while wearing a hat. What is particularly enjoyed was how light they were, weighing in at less than an ounce, while still being capable of delivering six hour of playback and the ability to take a hit. They take a few hours to fully charge but like a lot of new electronic devices being released, the Sport Pace offers a rapid charge ability, which allows an hour’s worth of music and monitoring in only 15 minutes of charge.

In terms of sound quality, Pace performs much a lot like the Pulse or Coach, with bass heavy delivery paired with clarity that didn’t disappoint regardless to genre or volume. The accompanying app, which delivers the feature that sets Pace apart from other wireless headphones was easy to use and was pretty convenient and delivered with just a touch of a button. Along with tracking my workout history, the Sport Life App also integrates with other sports applications preventing having to prioritize between apps.

After my time spent with Jabra’s Sport Pace, there is a lot of bang for your buck in this featherweight package. Being so light that they were hardly there to the lightning fast charge to get me through a workout when I forgot to recharge, I was hard pressed to come up with any downside, outside of not providing a travel case or enough playback time to tune out noisy neighbors on long trips. The Jabra Sport Pace is available now in three reflective colors for the price of $99.99.

Jabra's new Sport Coach: Made with the Cross Trainer in mind

Jabra has done it again and released a new wireless headset for the active minded, with the Sport Coach. The new earbuds are similar to the Sport Pulse, released last year, but with another trick up it’s sleeve as these headphones become your workout coach for a variety of different workouts. This is made possible through the Jabra Sport app and the TrackFit motion sensor housed within these compact buds to monitor distance, steps, calories burned, and more. As someone that still suggests the Jabra Sport Pulse as my favorite wireless buds, I am excited to see if these will take the throne. 

Out of the box, the Sport Coach looks strikingly similar to the Pulse as the color was the difference in which stands out. What’s inside on the other hand is significantly different as the TrackFit communicates well with the Jabra Sport app in tracking my activity, but the Coach function of the headphones were great. It is easy to customize or start your workout and select your music source so that you just put down your phone and get moving. The variety of included workouts is nice as well and the ease of use made me want to use the app more for tracking and goal setting, which I anticipated getting forgotten after just a few uses…I was wrong. 

The battery life is a bit short running five and a half to six hours between charges, but luckily they charge quickly. I do see that the silicon ear form that covers the charger port getting stretched out and needing replacement quickly depending on how often you go between charges. In terms of the sound quality, my biggest deciding factor in choosing headphones, these earbuds are bass heavy and perform clearly at high volumes with little sound bleeding, I would have just liked a longer battery life to use on the plane while traveling. This workout coach is available now in a variety of three colors for the price $149.99.

MashButtons reviews Phiaton's new Bluetooth Active Noise Cancelling buds, the BT 220 NC

Phiaton, one of my personal favorite headphone headphone companies for making sleek and stylish headphones with sound quality as strong as their designs, has provided me with their latest Bluetooth Active Noise Cancelling earbuds the BT 220 NC. This new model takes the previous PS 210 BTNC and updates the designs, internals, connection, battery and more. These little dongle connected wireless earbuds are equipped with Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC connections, Active Noise Canceling, Multi-Point Connection and a long battery. Lets see how they perform after improving and already great set of earbuds. 

The first thing I noticed out of the box is the design and material change from the smoothed edged plastic dongle with a spring loaded clip to the hard edged and more narrow design that used metal instead of plastic and uses a stationary clip to attach to your wardrobe. These changes are vast improvements as I felt that the 210’s had a cheaper feel in comparison to the sturdy feeling new 220's. On top of the more durable feel, the buds fit comfortably for extended listening by way of the included various sized ear tips and comply foam tips.

The sound and noise canceling during the extended use is great thanks to the 14.3 MM drivers, which provides clear highs and a nice range for a variety of genres. The noise canceling is not really noticeable while listening to music, but if you are using to drown out ambient noises on a flight or trying to fall asleep in a large city, they work great by canceling out 95% of ambient noises. I have a work phone and a personal phone so the connection abilities provided are what impressed me the most. The Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC connection options are fast if not instant to set up and start listening to music or attending conference calls and the Multi-point connection to two devices simultaneously.

In the end, the BT 220 NC is a damn near excellent set of earbuds. Why not perfect, that has to do with the weight of the hanging dongle that clips to my short collar or sleeve which is no slouch felt awkward using while active. The battery life is no slouch either as they tout 16-17 hours of talk or music or 300 hours of standby time to go longer between forget to recharge before use. Phiaton's new Bluetooth Noise Cancelling ear buds are available now for $179.00.

MuseMini brings wireless audio to earbuds with the UberBuds

Next up we have Musemini's answer to Jabra's Sport + Wireless headphones with the the Uberbuds. Rightly named, these buds cut the cord and offer an even more compact solution to active people looking to reduce time spent adjusting headphones while working out. The Uberbuds are minimalistic on the outside, but inside the buds Bluetooth 4.0 is used to help deliver the signature UberTone high quality sound. Outside of the buds, but still in the package came three pairs of various sized tips and UberStays for the most stay protection and a hard clamshell case to provide safety when stored away. Jabra was the first “sports” wireless headphone we have had the opportunity to review, so lets see if they still carry the torch or if the UberBuds will take the throne.

For starters, these buds are much easier to just stick in my ear and go. Sure I wrestled with the tips at first, like most other earbuds, after time and figuring out the UberStays, it was a quick sync and go process without fumbling with the 90’s hearing aid look to support the receiver and stay in place. I was a bit worried that I would be fumbling here and there during movement but on a bicycle, eliptical machine, or skateboard I had no issues outside of how often I was removing them to hear what people were saying. The battery life is nice, especially with how small the UberBuds are, I got a whole work shift in without them dying, which means that those looking to only use while working out, should likely only have to recharge once a week. The charger was a bit difficult to figure out at first but is nice that no port covers need to be removed, which can be even more diffucult if you lack the amount of nail needed to unplug. Most surprising though was the sound quality, they were loud, clear, and packed a punch with a lot more bass than I am used to from earbuds.

MuseMini’s UberBuds threw me for a loop, as I was expecting to get a very compact set of wireless earbuds, and while I got just that, but both the size and the amount of bass that came from them were a very, very nice surprise. With wireless fitness headphones, it is very important that they stay in and with the UberBuds, they were much easier to put in without struggling to get them in place to start moving. Sure the charger is not a universal micro USB input, so you have to make sure not to misplace it and the hard clamshell case is a nice added touch to prevent wrapping the headphones and risking damage over time. The UberBuds are available now with a black or yellow cable for $129.99.