Jam Transit Wireless Earbuds Review
March 2015 – The in-ear earbud marketplace is growing rapidly due to the use in fitness and smart phone applications for fitness tracking. The fitness marketplace has a need for wireless headphones so they do not interfere with the exercise routine or equipment. Also the marketplace is designed around media consumption as a way to pass the time during the fitness session. Since the core technology is centered around a smartphone, it also has to able to manage telephone and video chat calls on the same earbuds.
In this space, Jam Audio recently introduced the Transit Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds. These mid-priced units (under $50 MSRP) come pre-charged so they are ready to use right after purchase and can be recharged for over 8hrs of playback and talking. The wireless devices support the new Bluetooth LE interface and have a simplified connection and pairing to the phone or tablet. The earbuds have the same easy pairing as do their headphone products. At the start of the power-on the first thing the headphones do is search for a phone or tablet. Placing the mobile device into Bluetooth scan mode automatically connects to the headphones with no pairing code and just a voice command to finish the connections. The device can now be used for both music/media and communications programs. The Bluetooth connect sequence is equal in ease to using an NFC touch setup.
The earbuds are a very good general purpose earbuds, with ear hooks to hold them in place during exercise, a clip to adjust the strap between the two units, simple controls on the right hand unit, and auto on-off function with magnetic claps for the two earbuds. The phone has enough intelligence to auto-pause media when a call comes in, allow for answering the call, and then restore the media after the call is done.
The earbuds do a decent job on sound, there is a little bit of loss at the low end, due to the size of the units, but overall in the context of exercise or commuting, the units work quite well. The wireless connection, long battery life and light weight of the unit makes them comfortable for long term use, so they are a good set for air travel.
