Review: JAYS a-JAYS Four Earphones

JAYS are pretty good in producing excellent sounding earphones – as seen with our review of the t-JAYS Three – but now with the a-JAYS Four, their latest product in their lineup, now out in the wild, does it meet up with the high expectations we have for the product? Or will it be a dud?

Our verdict of the earphones is after the jump.

JAYS may still be the little-known player in earphones here in the land down under, but they still make some damn-good earphones. And the a-JAYS Four earphones are no exception. The earphones, fourth in the a-JAYS earphone line, features the same flat cabling and good-sounding speakers – but this time adds a new remote control to allow you to control your iOS devices.

Design-wise, the earphones are stunning in its minimalist style. Flat cables that help stop the cables tangle, and there aren’t any additional knobs or whistles other than a remote control (unlike Apple’s standard stock headphones, which feature some slider thing that bugs me a lot). It also features an L-shaped audio jack, meaning that it won’t stick out that much. The remote controls have no icons – but they act the same way as the Apple remotes on its headphones. Top and bottom control the volume, while the middle

Feature-wise, it doesn’t pull back in terms of delivering the best audio quality. Earphone speakers do have a small drop, however, to 96dB sensitivity level, rather than 97dB from the a-JAYS Three, but whatever slight difference doesn’t impact on the brilliant sounds that this produces. Of course, it also features the JAYS standard 8.6mm “Dynamic Drive” speakers.

But, of course, the most important thing is the sound quality. And they really do sound excellent and vocals are really clear (some songs tested include Big Jet Plane by Angus and Julia Stone and Young Blood by The Naked and the Famous). We did find that some song genres sound were a tad off in certain areas of a song, but overall they were still excellent.

As well, since it is to be used with the iPhone, it also has an in-built microphone that claims to remove any burst and background noises. Microphone quality is alright, a bit faint from the normal position but still clear. Our testing found that some background noises remained when close up to the microphone, but traffic noises were certainly removed from the audio recording.

While JAYS have always been generous in the little extras – the t-JAYS had an airline adapter and an extra-length cord – you’re only getting the additional silicone sleeves. But, then again, this is meant to be used for your iPhone, rather than any ordinary music player. But still, would be nice to see some additional extras for the retail price of $99.

For a price tag of $99, you get a very good replacement for the standard-stock iPhone headphones that come with a mic and remote. However, as a good replacement for your audio headphones or don’t have an iOS device or iPod, you could always spend a few dollars less for the a-JAYS Three, which comes with accessories but no remote. Still, if you are looking for some pair of good sounding earphones but don’t really give a damn about the accessories, then this is a good buy for your iPhone.