You know when you buy a new gadget, then start using it for the first time and come to realise that the company that made it genuinely put a lot of thought into the features, ergonomics, and performance?
The Jaybird X3 is one such product.
Jaybird refers to the X3 as «headphones», but you and I know them better as earphones. For this reason, and to save confusion, I will be calling them earphones in this review.
These are not my first wireless earphones, they aren’t my second or third either, but they are certainly the most memorable, and the pair that I can see myself not needing to upgrade for a very long time. The last pair that gave me this kind of feeling was the Sennheiser IE80, but I then discovered wireless freedom when decent Bluetooth earphones became a reality,
At the time of writing, there is no direct European retail outlet for the X3. I understand that we should have them in stores very soon, although international buyers can still purchase them from the official Jaybird store. Just be wary that import duty may be applied by your local customs handling body.
I purchased them from eBay two weeks ago when the Jaybird store had them out of stock for UK shipping. They are in stock now, and had I waited, I could have saved £50 at least… Such is life.
The X3 has some stand-out features that add to the listening experience for me. For one, the MySound app ( Android / iOS ) allows you to tailor the EQ from 20Hz to 20KHz and save custom profiles that can be shared with other users of the app. The app also shows the battery level, both integrated into the app, and an optional notification icon within the phone OS.
The X3 also has a very simple way to directly check battery level by pressing either of the volume buttons when there is no audio playing. An American voice will speak out the remaining percentage.
It is worth mentioning that this audio notification is rounded to the nearest 10%, so an actual 42% as shown via the app is spoken out as 40%.
Long pressing the play/pause button for more than a second launches Google Now on Android, and Siri on iOS. The same button can answer or reject incoming calls, with the ability to redial the last number with a double press. Speaking of which, voice quality seems good. The microphone is sensitive enough that my voice was able to be heard when the X3 was worn using the over-ear method.
On top of that, you can also team up two pairs of X3s whereby one will share the audio being sent to it with the other pair.
