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Review: Jaybird's Freedom Wireless Earbuds Are Tiny While Still Offering Great Sound

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Apr 12, 2001
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Logitech-owned Jaybird has been designing Bluetooth earbuds since 2007 and has established itself as a manufacturer known for creating quality headphones ideal for working out.

Jaybird's latest product, Freedom, is the culmination of years of design refinements. The Freedom Wireless Buds are Jaybird's smallest and most comfortable yet, with a sleek sweat-proof design, multipoint pairing, and up to eight hours of battery life. As with most products, there are some downsides, so make sure to read on to find out what to expect from Jaybird's latest product.

jaybirdbox-800x600.jpg

Design and Fit

Jaybird's Freedom Buds are tiny, a feat achieved by moving many of the audio components from the earbuds themselves to the remote control. Jaybird sells the Freedom in a range of colors from white and black to red and blue, with the earbuds themselves made from metal with plastic accents.


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Article Link: Review: Jaybird's Freedom Wireless Earbuds Are Tiny While Still Offering Great Sound
 
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https://www.macrumors.com/review/review-jaybird-freedom-wireless-earbuds/
I'm a HUGE jaybird fan, starting with them on the original Freedom's I think about 6 or 7 years ago. Currently I have a couple of pairs of the X2's and find them amazing. I'm very tempted by these new ones, especially because they are smaller. My only caveats are the battery life, and the price is just way too much. If I usually wait a few months I would expect to see many sales on them, probably in the $120 range based on the sales I saw on the X2's 2-3 months after release. I think they are worth $120, but not $200.
 
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I prefer to buy them in the $20-$30 dollar range. That way even if I'm losing them/breaking them at a rate of once a year (which is pretty accurate for me), it would still take me about 7 years before I would spend as much money as these cost. With technology enhances, tendency to lose small things, and a variety of ways/reasons for them to break, anyone would be lucky for these things to go half that time before replacing.
 
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This is timely for me, as my Bluebud X set just died out of nowhere last week. I've already read a few reviews of the Freedoms in the last few days, and this is the most positive. The general consensus from reviewers and real world users seems to be that these are not a meaningful improvement over the X2, which can be had for $80-90 these days, and is actually worse in many ways.
 
Good review Juli.

I have the Jaybird X2 model that uses a similar ear bud setup. I found the best way to get them to stay in is to use the foam pads. What I do is squeeze the foam real tight with my fingers to compress it, the very quickly jam it far into your ear. Then the foam expands back out and holds them tightly in place. To get good sound, the ear buds need to be fairly deep in the ear canal. If they slip out even a little bit the sound is lousy.

I got the X2s for $79 during the recent Amazon Prime Day sale, and I am satisfied for the money, but I can't see myself ever spending $200 on these things.
 
I'm disappointed in JayBird for not selling over the ear headsets anymore.

I was a HUGE fan of the JayBird SB1. I wore that thing constantly. It was extremely comfortable, had excellent battery life and was quite durable. They eventually released an SB2, but more recently discontinued them and only sell earbuds now.

Sticking things in my ears always causes me ear problems, so I have to use over-the-ear headphones, and I've not found any as compact and comfy as the SB1. :(
 
My last Jaybird headphones, the LI-Ion battery swelled up and could have caused a fire if I hadn't been around to see it explode. I'll wait to see if these have better longevity.
 
No way. Bang and Olufsen 's H5's are the best. Sound quality is A+ and they are VERY convenient. They only have a 5 hour battery life but they make charging an ease. I use them as my daily drivers at work and on the go and they last longer than I need sometimes.
 
love my BlueBuds X. Definitely a big fan and will buy JayBirds again in a heartbeat.
 
I want to buy these, I have the older model. But it's not on sale in the UK anywhere I've looked, even Jaybirds own website just says "Pre-order".

humph.
 
I bought these recently. I wanted the B&O H5 and was willing to wait, but my ten year old Apple In-Ear buds finally conked out and i needed something right away. And I had just received a gift card for the local mall, so I had "free" money to spend. I looked at the Bose store and the Apple Store, but I ended up at the Source comparing the Freedom and the X2... I went with the Freedom since they were newer and smaller.
The review is pretty much spot on. Sound and design is good, but the fat remote is regrettable. As it's peak summer, the cord tends to catch on my neck when it's sweaty. This causes the right bud to get tugged on. And the weight of the remote just makes it worse. Honestly I'd return them if I could, but no one accepts earbud returns. They are still very good though, and very full featured. And they haven't actually fallen out of my ear.
 
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I have to agree in regard to the remote being heavy. I was in Europe on a vacation tour and I had these around my neck. So, when we were at a museum, we had to pass through these metal detectors, and I was trying to look for my earbuds, and while I thought I lost them forever, it turns out that it slipped in-between my undershirt and the one on top of it. Now I use the supplied clip that came with it.

And those ear fins I can never figure out how to use them, so I don't use them at all.
 
joshavtech said:
No way. Bang and Olufsen 's H5's are the best. Sound quality is A+ and they are VERY convenient. They only have a 5 hour battery life but they make charging an ease. I use them as my daily drivers at work and on the go and they last longer than I need sometimes.
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Can you strap the charging case to your head if you need to? thats what i thought :D
[doublepost=1469668476][/doublepost]Ive had the bluebudx for well over a year and the x2's for about the same time. I love these new freedoms. The only way to wear these is over the ear IMO. Also, if you order the comply tips(from the actual site) they will stay in your ears without the fins. The ones that come in the box are softer comply and not that sticky material they sell on their site that don't budge once you have them in your ears.
No need to let the cable dangle and attach it to your shirt if you get these tips and go over the ear with the cord tight across the back of your hair (no pulling either this way).
Charging clip is meant for on the way home from the gym or to the gym. Its a last resort to use it while on your head but you have that option (also, with those comply tips from the site even with the clip attached they still don't budge from over ear no fin). What i normally do is charge these fully and go to the gym. On the way home i pop on the clip and by the time I'm home its fully charge. I pull off the charging clip and charge it and toss it back in my bag. I leave the earbuds in my bag now.
Sound quality i would put these a step up over the X2's(once you adjust the eq on the app) and much muchhhhhh more comfortable. The x2's opening is a bit large and uncomfortable to squeeze in. These fit nicely and feel like you aren't wearing anything at all.
little mini review from a jaybird 3+ year experience with them.
 
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Having small ears I was tempted to get these, but after reading all the reviews I decided to stick with my X2's
 
bigjnyc said:
Having small ears I was tempted to get these, but after reading all the reviews I decided to stick with my X2's
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if comfort is anything to you the freedoms are much much better than the x'2. most of my friends that tried the x2's hated how large the barrel was. its much better on the freedoms
 
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