Review: JAYS t-JAYS Four in-ear headphones

by Bill Palmer

JAYS offers some of the best sounding $69 earbuds Beatweek ever tested with its a-JAYS. That begs the question of whether its significantly more expensive t-JAYS earbuds live up to the expectations set by their counterpart. The t-JAYS grab your attention right out of the box thanks to the shape of the buds. Rather than being round or cylindrical, they instead feature a slim diagonal shape which I’ve not seen elsewhere. Testing them out, I quickly grew to appreciate the design. Without bulky posts getting in the way, achieving a secure yet comfortable fit was remarkably easy.

In terms of music, the t-JAYS offer a balanced audio experience. While the bass is clearly enunciated, it doesn’t overpower the mid or upper ranges. While not tuned specifically to any one genre, the t-JAYS sounded excellent on every genre I tried them with. They’re not quite the best sounding earbuds I’ve tested in the $129 range, but they’re very close.

Oddly enough, the only troubling aspect of the t-JAYS is the cabling. There’s nothing wrong with the thin round cables used here, but the flat-ribbon cables used on the cheaper a-JAYS were less likely to get tangled. And the t-JAYS employ an odd system where the cable length is short by default, but comes with an add-on which makes them longer. Most users will find that the cable is either way too short without the add-on, or a little too long with the add-on. JAYS would have done better to dispense with it entirely and simply offered a standard cable length to begin with.

But none of this changes the fact that the t-JAYS are a great sounding in-ear headphone product with an innovative bud design. Thee buttons for playback and a microphone are built in.

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 • Price: $129 • jays.se

About Bill Palmer

Bill Palmer is Editor in Chief of Beatweek Magazine. His editorial contributions include interviews with musicians and iPhone industry coverage.