Digital Lifestyle > All Reviews > Hardware > Audio > Headphones > Jaybird Freedom review

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 Jaybird Freedom review

These lightweight headphones are perfect for the gym

Cliff Joseph

Manufacturer: Jaybird
Manufacturer: Jaybird
Pros: Lightweight; sweat proof design for exercising
Cons: Expensive, could use more volume
Price: £99
We rate this 3 out of 5.Star rating:

Jaybird is well-known for its Sportband headphones – as well as its rather naff adverts featuring a busty blonde in a tight-fitting sports bra. The Freedom headphones are also designed for use when exercising, but have a completely different design.

Instead of the over-the-head design of the Sportband, they are a very lightweight set of in-ear headphones with a rubber cord that wraps behind your neck. Oh, and the ads use a naked bloke this time, presumably to atone for the sports bra stuff.

At just 16g, the Freedoms are the lightest set of headphones in this group, and ideal for wearing to the gym or jogging around the park. Jaybird includes a set of ‘ear cushions’ that fit inside your ear and help to hold the earpieces in place, but we still found it was necessary to jam them quite firmly into our ears in order to get the best sound quality.

Fortunately, three different sets of earpieces are included in different sizes, so you should be able to find a set that fits comfortably. The battery life is around six hours, which should be more than enough for most ordinary mortals when exercising.

These lightweight headphones are perfect for the gym

Sound quality is good, although the bass isn’t particularly strong and the maximum volume could be a bit higher in order to give you a lift when your energy starts flagging. The bass-boost option of the Backbeat 903+s does give them a slight edge.

Our other complaint is that the US price of $99 (£63) has been converted to £99 here in the UK. That seems a bit steep to us, especially when compared to the Backbeats.

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