JAYS
a-JAYS Two
Driver: 8.6 mm Custom Speaker
Sensitivity: 96dB @ 1kHz
Impedance: 16 Ohm @ 1kHz
Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20 000 Hz
Cord: TPE coated flat tangle free cable, L 115 cm (45 in)
Weight: 14 grams (0.49 oz)
Plug: Straight gold-plated stereo plug 3.5mm (1/8 in)
Colour: Deep High Gloss Black
Manufactured by Jays IEMs Sweden
https://www.jays.se/
As seen in the pictures these IEMs come off as a very simple and low impact design. The wear-ability is key here, as the build accomplishes the idea of a driver in a case with nothing added. There is a simple Swedish aesthetic in both form factor and look. Cheers to a-Jays for finding a design which not only sounds bigger than it looks, but making a simple IEM you can wear for hours and hours at a time. My only issue in the end was the cable was floppy and heavy. I had the cable replaced which is maybe something that not everyone is going to want to do at this price point?
They come in an elaborate box including an airplane adapter, a great group of high quality tips and a splitter to add another set of headphones from the source.
Sound:
These, as with all a-Jays, have their house sound. The sound reproduction is just slightly V-Shaped and contains a fairly large head-stage but not super giant. Maybe the best part of the sound-stage is all the instruments seem to fall into a natural placement. Going with a fairly laid-back stance they offer a simple maybe warm listen-ability which gets you almost all the detail and offers a smoothness of sorts. I admire the IEMs for walking that line of being both analytical and fun. Every time I use them it takes a moment before I'm like "Ya, that's right, that's why I like these things."
The sound in relation to price.
Price on these ranges anywhere from $25-$80. To put that in prospective is hard as I'm not as schooled as many on Head-Fi listening to 100s of IEMs a year. I can tell you they offer a smoother and more luxurious sound in comparison to maybe the Piston 3s. So if both were $20, I would go with the a-Jays. In many ways they are a nice complement IEM to the Piston 3s offering a different sound signature. The a-Jays end-up providing a detailed treble and smoother mid and lower mid-range. Still there ends up being a style of lower mid-bass detail and emotion where the Piston 3 can take the lead for a moment.
Get the a-Jays 2 a clean signal with a grand source file of most musical genres and you find out why they have been regarded so highly here. It's not that they do anything really well but they also do nothing at all wrong. To be hyper-critical there is a slight wash of lower mid detail at times. Still when you find-out they do every genre with style you start to forgive them. They seem to just adapt with the genres. Shift gears from rock to classical to soundtracks to techno and they really are a pair of do all IEMs.
Bass:
These guys are far from flat. The bass response is just going to be too much for some members. Not only do you have nice middle and lower bass, there is a nice detail which is only going to end in the IEM not performing the lowest sub-bass frequencies at a place. So to judge the bass, it's fun, playful and robust just not going fully into deep sub areas.
The Treble:
Maybe a fault would be a lack of detail and head-stage to a point here? Still there is just a nice listen-ability due to everything being just so musical. Not looking for piercing treble and do not need the additional analytical informational content, there's an IEM for you here. What we are left with is a fun listen. Every once in a while the smooth middle mid areas come out reminding us how we have enough musical information to be endlessly entertained. There is never any congestion of treble and at the same time it's on the slight darker side of warm if treble can even be judged in such a way.
The Mids:
Maybe just slightly too laid back? They are recessed in. Still if this is what it takes to complete the sound signature then I can live with it. The simple non-aggressive mid-area has a charm of sorts. It's maybe that there is such a cohesive organic quality that we can forgive these guys? Combine that with the fact that we are experiencing a style of lucidity of smoothness and comfort both in wear-ability and ease of listening make these a winner. They end up being a do all IEM with a fun all around stance of character, making them "the" take along pair if I have room for only one pair of IEMs on a trip.
In Conclusion:
A complete IEM toolkit in sound-signature never lacking excitement but slightly short on detail. An easy pair of IEMs which would seem to fit anyone first off and comes with a quality set of ear tips which I use on almost all my other IEMs. If you can find them for $25, the price is worth it just for the tips alone. If you end up getting along with the signature it's an added plus.
Disclaimer:
IEMs are just like foot-wear or food. If you get into the style for the money all is well. If not, keep looking.
