My review of the Jays a-Jays

[OliT]

Here's my review of the a-JAYS two. 
 
First, to start off with, the packaging is very nice. It's sturdy and stylish and definitely gives a good impression. 
 

 

 

 
 
 
The accessories include an airplane adapter, a splitter and a variety of different sized sleeves. I found that the largest sleeves were the best fit for me. In comparison to the Creative EP-630 the sleeves are a bit harder to change. I found that folding out the earpieces helped in getting them back on the phones.
 
 

 
The flat cables are a nice touch, and while they become a little bit more bulky than regular thin round ones, they haven't tangled once for me even though I've had the phones in my pocket for a couple of days. The build quality of the phones themselves is good, I might have had a bit of bad luck since my left phone has a bit of a quirking noise when touched. There's also a little bit of what seems to be glue on the left phone. It's possible that this was a miss in QA or something related to them being an early batch.
 
As far as sound quality goes, I have a couple thoughts.
 
First. The bass is quite heavy and deep. It easily loses definition in songs where there's a lot of fast bass and doesn't really do it for me in songs heavy on instrumental music. It does sound fairly good in some electronic music, such as some songs by Infected Mushroom. If you like a lot of bass, the a-JAYS might not be bad.
 
Second. I don't care that much for the presentation in the mids or highs. They're drowned by the bass and the phones don't really excel at presenting vocals especially good. At times, I feel like there's a shroud over voices. To compare, I quite like the mid and high response of my different AKG phones, as well as my Stax electrostats. I'm not saying that it's a fair comparison, but I also prefer other earphones to these. 
 
Third. The soundstage is good. I found that the phones are able to produce a trustworthy and comfortable stereo image. 
 
 
To sum things up: 
 
 
Pro's: 
Excellent packaging
Accessories
Flat cable
Build quality
 
Con's:
Sound quality
 
 
Good phones for the price with a nice accessory bundle, but the sound doesn't really impress me.
 
 
 
 

 

[2rooi123]

nice review but totally a different from others
good thing i got the version 3
you might need some burn in before making any conclusions

 

[mp3]

It could be burn in, I really don't know what else could be the reason for such a different sound.
Although I thought they sounded quite good from the beginning as well, they do sound even better after a while though.

 

[OliT]

I've had them burning in for at least 20 hours, so I strongly doubt that it's due to that. There might have been a slight improvement over the hours, but I still wouldn't say that the phones are neutral or especially remarkable in sound quality. It could just be that we prefer a different sound altogether and that I have other references than you. 
 
edit: After a direct comparison with my K701:s using the same source, I think that it's the boomy bass of the a-JAYS that's affecting the mids and highs. 

 

[mp3]

Neutral is one thing they are not, that I agree with, they have a somewhat V shaped sound sig with powerful bass and quite sparkly highs, which may not suit everyone.
 
For their price and for the basslovers they are very good though.

 

[OliT]

I haven't heard much of the sparkly highs you are talking about, but as I said in my review, I find them decent or even good for the price. Very good is definitely overstating it in my book, but I guess we can just agree to disagree here. I hope that the people who have bought them are happy with them, and that those who haven't give them a try if possible and see if they like them more than I do. 

 

[mp3]

Just goes to show how differently we can perceive sound, neither one of us is right or wrong, it's all down to personal preference and taste, all we can do is give our view on them, then it's up to each and everyone to decide what to do.

 

[racer_x124]

I'm sold. What's the best way to get them in the states?

 

[mp3]

http://www.jays.se/retailers/retailers/

 

[OliT]

I just saw that the a-JAYS are a bit cheaper than I got the impression of, so I've changed my summary to "good for the price". Also made a few clarifications on the sound quality part. They are still a bit bass heavy for my taste, though.

 

[racer_x124]

Looks like they don't have them at amazon.co.uk and jays wont ship to the USA it seems.

 

[mark2410]

http://www.jaysearphones.co.uk/our-promise-108-c.asp
 
they will

 

[racer_x124]

The 3's are $82 shipped it appears.
 
$26 for tax + s/h
 
I think I'll just wait for them to show up here rather than pay a 50% price increase.
 
edit: no tax (long day at work and it was e3. I'm fried)
actual total is $72

 

[mark2410]

you should get them minus VAT as your outside the EU

 

[jabooni]

Now it's time for my review!!
 
I felt like I've wasted money on these after buying the Lady Gaga Heartbeats headphones yesterday (sounds dumb right?), but I thought otherwise as they are actually much better! The sound quality is great (as compared to Sennheiser CX-200 and the Heartbeats), and I really love the flat cable. They cost SGD$98 here and it's really worth the price due to the generous amount of accessories. I'd recommend these to anyone!