Jaybird - X4 Wireless Headphones - Storm Metallic/Glacier

---- Summary ---- Pros: - Great audio quality - Water and sweat proof - Secure fit - Comfortable during workouts Cons: - Prefer the cable management system of the Jaybird X3 headphones ---- Review ---- Design: As a previous owner of the Jaybird X3 headphones, I am happy that the design of the new X4 model is very similar. I like having the ability to wear the headphones under or over my ears, and the small control module is nonobtrusive and easy to use. What I miss about the X3 headphones is their cable management system that allowed users custom fit the cable behind the neck so that there was minimal to no bouncing while running or working out. While I do like how quick and easy it is to adjust the cable with the speed cinch system of the Jaybird X4 headphones, I preferred the previous model’s cable system. Jaybird made a significant improvement over the X3 headphones by adding IPX7 waterproof certification to this model. While sweatproof coatings often suffice, it is nice knowing that the Jaybird X4 headphones can weather the elements and handle accidental drops into water. Overall, I like the design. My only wish is that clips were included so that the cable management system of the X3 headphones could be used instead of the speed cinch system, if desired. Performance: The Jaybird X4 headphones deliver crisp audio with powerful bass. The default setting is great, but there is also an EQ app that allows for customized sound. I enjoyed the ease of testing different sound settings and found the perfect fit for me. Thanks to the Jaybird EQ app, I have a renewed love for some of my favorite songs to run or workout to because of the audio quality these headphones produce. In addition, the audio has never cut out or distorted, even during strenuous workouts, so they perform very well. Features: After fully charging the headphones, I got a little less than eight hours of music playback. I am satisfied with that battery life and appreciate how quickly the headphones charge back up. Taking calls is easy with the control module, and I have been told that my voice sounds clear on the other end when I am on a call with someone. The control module also allows users to activate Siri or Google Assistant, and I have found that my questions or requests get picked up by the mic accurately. Verdict: If you own the Jaybird X3 headphones and are wondering if upgrading to the X4 model is worth it, I personally do not think it is. There is not quite enough improvement over the X3 headphones. However, if you are looking for a great new pair of headphones for your active lifestyle, I would highly recommend the Jaybird X4 headphones. Along with other admirable qualities, they are well designed, produce great audio, have a long-lasting battery, and they are IPX7 waterproof certified. These headphones do not disappoint.

==== Summary ==== The Jaybird X4 earphones blew me away with its quality build, supreme comfort, and excellent audio quality. It does so many things right - light & durable, super comfortable in the ears, water resistant, excellent control over sound through the custom EQ app, great audio, and long battery life. Athletes will love the Jaybird X4 as well as casual users who value sound quality and water resistance flexibility. Jaybird has lived up to the hype and has created a very good and compelling product. These are fantastic earphones. **Pros: -Light and comfortable design. -Secure fit with soft ear fins/hooks. -Both the silicone & Comply foam ear tips are comfortable. -Comfly foam ear tips provide great natural/passive sound isolation. -Fantastic audio quality (with in-app EQ adjustment). -Good phone call quality. -Excellent battery life. -Earphone control buttons work well. -Excellent Jaybird app (custom EQ, battery status, Find my buds). -IPX7 water resistance. -Quick charge. -Tangle-resistant cord. -Cord cinch is useful. **Cons: -Very short (~3") & propriety charge cradle cable with no wall charger. ==== Design & Comfort ==== The Jaybird X4 earphones are designed very well - for both athletes and casual earphone users. It is light, made with durable materials and quality plastic, very comfortable for extended usage during normal & physical activities, and come with both soft silicone and Comply foam ear tips (in different sizes). Between the two types of ear tips, I prefer the Comply foam tips (size small). They are more comfortable to wear and they also offer better passive sound isolation than the silicone ones. In addition, sound quality gets a boost, especially in bass-heavy songs. The ear fins come in two different sizes as well and they're soft and compliant and fit inside the ears snugly and securely. I'm a jogger and the X4 was an excellent running companion with its secure fitment, outside noise isolation, and comfort. During my usual 5 to 6 miles run, I sweat profusely so it was good to know that the X4 is IP7X water resistant. I also appreciate being able to quickly clean the earphones with water without fear of damaging them. The Jaybird X4 is controlled with a 3-button remote module located near the right earpiece - volume up, volume down, and the middle multi-function button. The middle button is used for Power On, Power Off, Bluetooth pairing, answering/ending phone calls, and launching Google Assistant (with my Samsung Galaxy S9+). Everything worked smoothly and perfectly. The X4's battery is replenished by a charge cradle with a cable. One side of the charge cradle snaps onto the body of the remote module of the X4 and you then plug the other end of the cable into a charger or device that accepts USB Type A. I successfully charged the X4 by plugging it in to my laptop, my desktop PC, and one of my smartphone chargers. It took a little while for me to get used to snapping on the charge cradle to the X4. It was kind of annoying trying to align the pins on the charge cradle to the remote module despite the four small guiding tabs on the charge cradle that help with the alignment. I'm sure muscle memory will kick in soon, though, and the process will become easier and faster through time and repetition. With that said, I prefer this charge cradle method over having to using my fingernail to pull back a rubber or plastic flap before inserting a charging cable. I believe Jaybird is using this method to meet its water resistance and durability requirements. All in all, Jaybird has created some awesome hardware with lots of thoughtful and useful features. 10 out of 10 from me~! ==== Sound Quality ===== Out of the box, I found the sound to be just so-so though it was still better than my other two wired Bluetooth earphones - some $30 earphones from Amazon and a $100 JLab earphones. Once I opened the Jaybird app and played around with the EQ settings, however, the sound quality became FANTASTIC and AWESOME. I started with the "Warmth" preset profile and made sound quality my own by adjusting the Low, Mid, and High ranges within the "Customize" option. After saving & applying my custom preset, my enjoyment of music from the Jaybird X4 went from a 7 to 10 out of 10. I highly recommend everyone to invest some time and play around inside the EQ settings to tailor the music to one's personal tastes. It really does make a HUGE difference. I am not what you call an audiophile but the X4 - after EQ tuning - has really impressed me with its sound quality. The sound is crisp and clear, the bass is pretty decent (for Bluetooth earphones), sound separation and dynamic range are well-presented, and it delivers very well-balanced audio. I love it. Is it as good or better than over-the-ear headphones such as the Sony 1000XM3 or Bose QC35 Series II? Of course not. But for wired Bluetooth earphones that offer easy portability, lightness, and durability during physical activities, I don't think one can do better than the Jaybird X4. 10 out of 10~! ==== Battery life ==== The X4 offers very good battery life. 8 to 9 hours of playtime is higher than most other similar competing products and you won't have to charge it midday like you do with those small wire-free Bluetooth earphones. 10 out of 10. ==== Conclusion ==== Jaybird has created an excellent product in the Jaybird X4. It is stylish, light, well-built, super comfortable, durable, easy to use, and provides fantastic sound quality. The icing on the cake is its IPX7 water resistance and long battery life. For anyone that asks me to recommend a good pair of wireless Bluetooth earphones, I'll tell them to get the Jaybird X4. It is some good stuff.

This is my first time owning a pair of Jaybird Bluetooth wireless headphones. I have previously owned a Powerbeats3, but do currently own a Powerbeats X. This somewhat reminds me of the Powerbeats 3, though not entirely (and had a great plague of problems with the Powerbeats 3 due to supposedly not really sweatproof, and I sweat a lot). I have tried these so far only one time at the gym doing sweaty cardio, and so far they still are functional. They somewhat remained stuck inside during the duration of my workout (you have to push them back in sometimes, which has been the same with any type of earbuds for me). Asides from that, the Jay birds X4 came in a nicely packaged box, with a compartment “door” that shows the other accessories such as your different size earbuds/tips, carrying case, along with a USB charger. When I first put them on, the ear tips that were already on them stock, didn’t seem to stick well. They would slip out. Fortunately as I was going through the bag of different ear tips, I have found one that are supposedly mushy like, or memory foam like, but they do stick and creates a great seal of isolation. As I played some music, it sounded pretty well. Though I understand that there is a companion app for this. Of course first you would have to pair your Jaybirds, and then launch the app. Sometimes in the app, it will show that no devices are connected, but it only takes about a few seconds or a bit so and then you are all set showing your connected. The companion app is a must have to use these. The “bring the bass” preset is ideal for alternative rock music or heavy metal. However, in my case with the iPhone, it does have an equalizer in the music settings. For the most part, pretty much from owning the first iphone, that setting has been mostly off. I have not tried listening to these with the equalizer settings onto a different preset, and at the same time having a preset on the Jaybird’s app. I can imagine that it may cause some over modulating or some distortion. I would pretty much say to leave the equalizer off in the music settings of the iPhone, or any other smart phone (that supports the companion app.) The Bluetooth range is good, as I tested this from going from one room in the house (leaving my phone behind), down the hallway, and right entering the kitchen there’s some hiccups or disconnect. But my phone will be always in close range. I find the charger to be something different, rather than a common mini usb plug or anything else, there’s metal contacts that you align with to the Jaybirds’ contacs, to charge. I believe that will be easy to get used to. I often have the loop under my chin that around/over my neck (the same with the powerbeats 3), that appears the only good way for me to wear them. But I’ll definitely start using these more from time to time, and will try them next when it comes to swimming. I believe these are a great alternative to AirPods or powerbeats, and reasonably priced too.

So I've never owned any Jaybird headphones however I always read that these are good headphones with great sound. I'm normally a Bose or Sony kind of guy so these were a bit different. As far as wireless headphones go, I prefer all wireless earbuds. Main issue I have with these wired headphones is the sound/vibrations from the wire as it rubs against my neck. I have Jabra 65t's, Bose Soundsport and Sony WF-SP700N earbuds. All of which are really nice. Not a big fan of wired earbuds however these are quite nice. The eaerbuds come with the normal goodies; different sized earplugs, USB charging cable and a coin purse carrying case. As far as sound quality goes, I'm quite impressed with these. To date I like the sound from my Sony SP700's as they provide nice, punchy base. These aren't quite as punchy in that respect however the sound is bright and crisp. Overall, pretty nice headphones. As I haven't used Jaybirds previously, I can't really comment on how these are different from previous versions. However, if you're in the market for some wired "wireless" earbuds then these are a good choice.

I really like these jaybird X4 wireless sport headphones. They were easy to pair to my phone and the 3 button controls are easy to get used to. The X4's sound great with a variety of music with really good Highs and MIds with good Bass for in ear speakers. The X4's are very comfortable to wear and feel very secure. I'm no Xtreme workout type of person, but they stayed in place while doing some home repair projects and never had any connection issues with the phone being in the next room. I like that the ear pieces are tethered together as I knocked one out and didn't have to worry about it falling off the roof. Overall these jaybird X4's sound really good, are comfortable to wear, easy to use controls and have great battery life.

The headphones sound OK (flat preset) out of the box. You MUST download the Jaybird app and change the sound in there. You can download presets that people have already made, or make your own. You can mess with the high, mids, and lows it is very advanced. I have the X3, X4, and Vistas. I love Jaybirds. I've returned many headphones (bose, sony, etc) bc they just don't get that loud, leaving me feeling just "Eh they're OK" about them. Jaybirds definitely get super loud and they sound amazing after adjusting the EQ in the app. Great headphones for runners AND for people just looking for good headphones to listen to music.

The Jaybird X4's are a great set of wireless earbuds. They come packaged with an assortment of ear rubbers and foams that will fit any ear. The sound was nice and loud and provided a decent amount of passive noise cancellation. The range for my phone to earbuds was about 22 feet. You can download the Jaybird smartphone app that adds extra features to your earbuds such as changing the sound equalizer and locating your earbuds if they're lost (at the cost of extra battery life). The only issue I had with them was finding out how to skip and rewind tracks which is done by holding the volume up/down for about a second. If you have any questions about these earbuds please feel free to ask.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS: As with most Jaybird products, packaging is, essentially, the same…fairly small, but still too large for what’s contained within; fairly basic in what’s printed on the box, but providing the necessary information; easy to open, and easy to access contents. Design of the new X4 is straight-forward, with an easy-to-use 3-button in-line control (volume up/forward, play/pause/voice assist, & volume down/back). While most companies provide three ear tip sizes (Sml, Med, Lrg), Jaybird has, for some unknown reason, chosen to only include two (Size 1 & Size 2). As for what “actual” sizes these corollate to, I have no clue. I can tell you that, with the typical 3-size offerings, I wear the medium, and with the Jaybird offerings I’m wearing Size 2. Thankfully, instead of just two pair of silicone ear tips, as included by most manufacturers, Jaybird has “partnered” with Comply, to include two pair of their “Ultra” memory-foam ear tips (which I’m using, and, as with all Comply ear tips, they are fantastic). However, that being said, the ear fins do come in three sizes (I’m using Size 2 (which I’m assuming equates to ‘Medium’). Speaking of ear fins, these are a better design than the ear fins that came with the X3. Lastly, there’s Jaybird’s new “Speed Cinch” system, for (so-called) “perfect adjustment”…more on this, later. BATTERY, AND WATER RESISTANCE: Jaybird claims an 8-hour battery life, and, with my use so far, I’ve gotten anywhere from slightly below, to slightly above. I can’t say how long it takes to fully charge them (Jaybird claims 2hrs), as I have not actually timed a full charge. At the same time, I can tell you that Jaybird’s claim of 10 minutes charging providing 1hr of playback is accurate. As for the earphone’s water resistance, I haven’t “taken them for a swim”, and I don’t plan to, but they claim an IPX7 certification, meaning that they should be able to be submerged for up to 30 minutes, at a maximum depth of one meter. If you buy these, and want to test this out, go ahead, but, as I said, I’m not planning any such test…I’ll just ‘believe’ their claim. SOUND QUALITY: These have a really great, albeit a neutral & flat, sound. For audio purists, this will be considered a huge “plus”, but, for those who prefer the (faked) “boom” sound of Beats, Skull Candy, etc, you might be somewhat disappointed. At the same time, for those who want to increase the base (as well as the rest of the spectrum), Jaybird has an app (iOS & Android), similar to apps being offered by other manufacturers, available, with the simplistic name of Jaybird MySound. In addition to preset & customizable EQ settings, you can also download additional presets, through the “Discover presets” section of the app. Regarding the EQ, it’s somewhat different than what most people expect. Instead of the usual pre-defined Hz settings, the EQ is divided into three sections (LLOW, MID, & HIGH). The EQ is, essentially, a 5-band EQ, and there are Hz points (20Hz, 128Hz, 500Hz, 4kHz & 20kHz) shown at the bottom of the EQ, but the five “bands” are not assigned to any particular Hz point – just as you can slide any point up/down, to increase/decrease volume within that band (or, to be more accurate, a band range), you can also slide the points right/left, to change the Hz point that band (band range) has control over. While I’d appreciate a ‘higher band’ EQ (ie. 7-band, 9-band, or, better yet, 11-band), giving users the ability to change the bands/band ranges each “band” is associated with is a nice touch. One final point about the app – in the lower-right corner, your earphone’s battery life remaining is shown, so you have a simple way of determining how much remaining battery they have. ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS: One thing I REALLY like about the X4’s is how they charge. I’ve had two iterations of Plantronics “Backbeat” series, and, while not a “problem”, charging them has always required multiple steps, as the charging port was covered by a rubber ‘flap’. With the Jaybird X4, charging is as simple as “snapping” the 3-button control into the charging cradle, which plugs into any USB charger, or computer USB-A port. NOTE: Do NOT plug into anything supplying more than 5V, as it WILL damage the earphones. The recommended output is 500mA, although my 1A charger hasn’t caused any problems (probably because it’s still a 5V). firmware updates (when released) will also be performed through the charging cradle. FINAL VERDICT: This isn’t as easy to answer as I was hoping. First, compared to the X3, there’s not much improved, in terms of sound quality. Second, both utilize the same app, so both have the same “adjustment” ability. However, the inclusion of Comply ear tips, as well as the redesigned ear wings, does show improvements in other areas. Complicating the matter ever further is the fact that, shortly after Jaybird released the X4, they released an almost-identical pair called ‘Tarah’. As far as I’m able to tell, the only difference between these two is that the X4 provides 8hrs of playback, while the Tarah ‘only’ provides 6hrs. if that additional 2hrs is worth an extra $30, then, by all means, go out and get yourself the X4. On the other hand, if two additional hours doesn’t mean all that much to you, save yourself $30, and buy the equally-good Tarah. If you are “on the fence” between these three, here’s the primary points of what you need to know: 1) The X3 & X4 provide 8hrs playback, the Tarah provides 6hrs 2) The X4 & Tarah provide IPX7 protection, the X3 provides no water protection 3) The X4 & Tarah take 2hrs to fully charge, the X3 takes 3hrs 4) The X4 sells for $130, the Tarah & X3 are $100 Beyond these four key points, the X4, Tarah, and X3 are (essentially) identical in terms of performance. The only other “differences” are in design. So, whichever you decide to get, you’ll be getting a great pair of wireless earphones. Personally, while I don’t plan of wearing them in the rain, I do tend to “overheat” easily, thus the IPX7 rating of the X4 & Tarah is a huge benefit, as is the 2hr full-charge time. As for the 8hr vs 6hr playback, as a professional chauffeur, longer playback time is always better, as I can have long wait times when picking up clients at the airport (especially when it comes to international flights), not to mention long “wait” periods while on a Roadshow, and extended periods between clients. While I like saving money whenever possible ($30 saved on earphones can buy quite a few cups of coffee at Starbucks), the additional 2hrs of playtime is still worth it to me. Disclaimer: This product was provided free, or at reduced cost, for the purpose of reviewing the product. Nevertheless, the above review, be it positive, negative, or anywhere in-between, is a 100% honest review, and the price paid played absolutely no part in my review.