Reviewed: Jaybird X3

About a year ago, I was on the look for a new set of wireless in-ear headphones. They had to be bluetooth compatible, had to support both audio playback and phone calls, and they had to fit my ears. After reading a lot of reviews, I ended up with a set of Jaybird X3. Here are my notes on my experience with them: 

Setup was easy enough; turn them on, connect to them via bluetooth, and the job was done. They come with a companion app

The sound quality is pretty good, and the companion app includes an equalizer function to change how the sound is balanced. For some reason, along with the sound played back, I would get a background hiss which seriously detracted from the sound, particularly when listening to podcasts and audiobooks.

Adding the smallest ear buds to the headphones, I was able to get them to sit very well indeed, an important point as I was planning to use them, among other things, while riding my bike. I soon found out that they were completely unusable for running, as they block off the ear channel so much that each step is heard clearly. When riding my bike, the sound would tend to cut at irregular intervals, even when riding at fairly low speeds (less than ten kilometers per hour), and talking on the phone was similarly patchy, both on my end, and for the person I was talking to.

I watch a fair bit of video on my iPhone, and the headphones had a persistent problem; the audio was delayed by about half a second, which got very annoying, particularly when I was trying to follow complicated technical information.

In the end, and after two attempted repairs (one of which netted me a brand new set), I returned the headphones, and got my money back. While they might be getting rave reviews from others, my experience with them was very disappointing indeed, and I cannot in good conscience recommend these headphones to anyone.