Preamble:
Bought these brand new with my own money. Have used these regularly for running, gym weight sessions and taekwondo.
Comparators
Jaybirds X3
Source
Apple watch 4
Iphone X
Tracks
Bass response: Drake MIA, Ed Sheeran South of Boarder
Mid response: Ed Sheeran South of the boarder, Toto Africa, Sam smith How do you sleep
Treble response: sam smith How do you sleep, Dj snake You know you like it
General work out trakcs (EDM, Rap (eminem Kamikaze, rap god), Mix of Jay Z (Niggas in paris, empire state fo mind)
Packaging
Odd choice by apple here. Seems like they were trying to cut costs.
The included tips are not that great
Build
Good.
They are robust and can take a knock and fall and be completely fine
Fit
Really good fit.
The ear hooks are good at keeping them stable and in your ears
Symbio W and Final Audio E tips work really well to get a better seal (go a size up)
Comply foams also work well
Tips impact the sound signature to a decent degree, silicones (exagerate the highs slightly) and foams diminishes it
UPDATE: After further comparison to my girlfriends Jabra 65t and using the Final E tips, the isolation is no longer a problem. It is reducing atleast ~15 - 25db.
Form Factor + Semantics
one of the best truely wireless options
battery life on these things is incredible, i can do 2hr sessions 5 times a week and not need to recharge the case.
Only bad thing is the shallow fit, they bleed noise and don't isolate well
The buttons work very well, volume rockers on both sides is very convinent
The play, pause, skip, rewind and siri buttom works well (sometimes can lag, but nothing major)
An annoying caveat, music pauses automatically when you remove them which is a bit annoying.
Sound
Take this section with a grain of salt. As after all, they are not intended to be audiophile eargasm inducing headphones.
These are tuned to be fun and energetic sounding, which is ideal for working out, not for critical listening. If someone does a FR it'll be U shaped, with boosted bass and slightly boosted treble.
They are easily an upgrade from my previous jaybird X3. i think they are one of best options of working out. Interestingly, the issue with low volume can be sorted by using tidal. But only bad thing due to Apple being assholes, tidal can't be used on the apple watch, only apple music can be. The ease of syncing and ease of use (for apple users) packaged with the decent sound signature, make these a very compellnig contender.
Bought these brand new with my own money. Have used these regularly for running, gym weight sessions and taekwondo.
Comparators
Jaybirds X3
Source
Apple watch 4
Iphone X
Tracks
Bass response: Drake MIA, Ed Sheeran South of Boarder
Mid response: Ed Sheeran South of the boarder, Toto Africa, Sam smith How do you sleep
Treble response: sam smith How do you sleep, Dj snake You know you like it
General work out trakcs (EDM, Rap (eminem Kamikaze, rap god), Mix of Jay Z (Niggas in paris, empire state fo mind)
Packaging
Odd choice by apple here. Seems like they were trying to cut costs.
The included tips are not that great
Build
Good.
They are robust and can take a knock and fall and be completely fine
Fit
Really good fit.
The ear hooks are good at keeping them stable and in your ears
Symbio W and Final Audio E tips work really well to get a better seal (go a size up)
Comply foams also work well
Tips impact the sound signature to a decent degree, silicones (exagerate the highs slightly) and foams diminishes it
UPDATE: After further comparison to my girlfriends Jabra 65t and using the Final E tips, the isolation is no longer a problem. It is reducing atleast ~15 - 25db.
Form Factor + Semantics
one of the best truely wireless options
battery life on these things is incredible, i can do 2hr sessions 5 times a week and not need to recharge the case.
Only bad thing is the shallow fit, they bleed noise and don't isolate well
The buttons work very well, volume rockers on both sides is very convinent
The play, pause, skip, rewind and siri buttom works well (sometimes can lag, but nothing major)
An annoying caveat, music pauses automatically when you remove them which is a bit annoying.
Sound
Take this section with a grain of salt. As after all, they are not intended to be audiophile eargasm inducing headphones.
These are tuned to be fun and energetic sounding, which is ideal for working out, not for critical listening. If someone does a FR it'll be U shaped, with boosted bass and slightly boosted treble.
- Bass: With the stigma surrounding beats, i was really expecting the bass to be bloated and over bearing. But boy was i wrong. The bass is tight and well controlled. Fast decay with good amount of punch. Perfect for a work out. Only caveat is, having the turn up the volume very loud to acheive a good bass slam. Comparing against the X3, the powerbeats (suprisingly) has a cleaner and tighter bass. The X3 sounds bloated and muddy by compaison. I need to reiterate, the bass on these is really well done.
- Mids: Decent, vocals sound nice, albeit sounding a bit distant.
- Treble: Nicely done, has a good amount of detail. No harshness or silibance at all.
- Stage: For a bluetooth work out set, decent.
- Instrument seperation: I think the Z7m2 does really well here. It is able to seperate instruments very very well.
- Isolation: Bad, they do not isolate well at all. This is due to the shallow fit and as such i would recommend going up a tip size to achieve the best seal.
- To really bring out the sound, it needs to cranked up, which when workign out is fine, but i wouldn't recommend listening to these on high volumes while stationary (hearing damage), i think the movement generated whilst working out offsets the amplitude of the sound.
They are easily an upgrade from my previous jaybird X3. i think they are one of best options of working out. Interestingly, the issue with low volume can be sorted by using tidal. But only bad thing due to Apple being assholes, tidal can't be used on the apple watch, only apple music can be. The ease of syncing and ease of use (for apple users) packaged with the decent sound signature, make these a very compellnig contender.
