I picked up some new earphones at Costco the other day. 

I hadn’t heard of s-JAYS but their packaging was very Apple-esque and oozed sophistication and quality. After attempting to research these earphones on the internet the only information I could find was that the Costco price was roughly half the rrp (Costco price £35.23 gbp) so  I decided to take the gamble and picked some up anyway. 

JAYS are a Swedish company however the UK is the first country to get the s-JAYS and Costco might be the first retailer here to sell them. The s-JAYS use some clever technology – according to s-JAYS themselves.. “They use the new JAYS technology Sirens. Sirens uses the same technology as the micro armature but in the same form factor as a normal dynamic driver. The Siren driver gives a much better overall sound then a dynamic driver and still it has a low price”

 Now that doesn’t mean much to me – but it sounds like they are trying something new so good luck to them.

I also own the following earphones, Sennheiser CX-500, Sony MDR-EX71 and Shure E2C. 

Shure E2C 

Most expensive, uncomfortable, tickly cable down the back of the neck, probably the best sound quality – but couldn’t live with them so got the Sennheisers instead.

Sennheiser CX-500

Good Value, sticky rubbery thin cables that annoyingly get twisted and curled up. Lack of bass. Upgraded to the Sonys.

Sony MDR-EX71

Comfy, light, easy to put in/take out. Strong bass. However felt that there was room for improvement and the rubber earpieces keep falling off, so I bought the s-JAYS.

s-JAYS

The most versatile of the lot. The earpieces can be oriented one way so they can be worn over the ear or twisted the other way to wear as  standard (both options are comfortable). The cable can be routed around the back of the neck or normally down the front without any weird sticky out cable kinks. They come with a smart case, a variety of sizes of rubber ear pieces and a foam squeeze fit one. This is the same as the Shure earphones and similarly to Shure the  s-JAYS also come with protective wax barrier filters.

JAYS don’t skimp on the extras, also included are a headphone splitter and an airplane adaptor. The headphones are attached to a good quality cable. A sensible length (not too long) extension cable is supplied which could be eschewed in favor of a volume box/remote wire if required. I think the plug may well be too thick for the mk1 iPhone – but adaptors can easily be obtained.

I find that the design of the earphones fit my ears perfectly whatever the orientation. With the appropriate size of rubber earpiece inserted in the ear, the opposite butt of the earpiece wedges comfortably against the inside of the other side of the ear, securing it in place. This of course might not work for everyone but given the lack of uniformity in ear shape  the fact it can be worn in two different ways means the design is very clever indeed.

Sound quality – Definitely the most naturalistic when compared to the Sony or Sennheisers.   In comparison, the Sennheisers are thin and tinny. The Sonys have more bass – but at the expense of clarity, they actually sound rather muffled when compared to the s-JAYS. I didn’t even notice the Sonys were muffled until I tried the s-JAYS. The s-JAYS sound more open and expansive,  like listening to speakers rather than headphones. The s-JAYS are louder than the Sony or Sennheiser and this is important as I know that a lot of people find these others too quiet. I can’t compare the sound quality with the Shures – I haven’t used them for years as I just found them to be uncomfortable and really couldn’t cope with the wire having to run down the back of my neck (I’m rather ticklish). The only significant negative for me with the s-JAYS is the difficulty in differentiating the Right from the Left earpiece. See if you can spot the near invisible R&L on the close up shot.

So in summary I’m going to keep using the s-Jays in preference to my other earphones. I’d consider the s-JAYS market position to be akin to that of a bridge camera. A bridge camera is halfway between a compact and an SLR – They generally give better results than the compacts but are a lot easier to use than the SLRs whilst still giving comparable results under the right conditions. This is the same position that the s-JAYS occupy. They are infinitely better than £10 cheapo in the ear phones, but are a lot easier to get on with day to day than the Shures or other canal phones whilst giving a comparable sound quality. I think that the s-JAYS might well be the first ‘bridge-earphones’.  

Recommended.

Click HERE for JAYS Audio info page on the s-JAYS

EDIT – 21 Jan 2008. Until a couple of days ago this was the only online review available. You can now find a proper indepth review online – put together by someone who actually knows what they are on about  - you can read it here