My set from the VIP sale showed up in northern Alabama on 11/24. I’ve only had time to listen to maybe 10 songs on them. In short, they are okay, but I still prefer my Sennheiser HD 280 pro set for listening around home. But for $55 I’m happy enough to want to try them out on a future airplane ride. (For $15 or less, I’d go with my Koss KSC-75 – those are amazing for the price.)
Longer comments – they are pleasant enough sounding, but the Jabra bass is noticeably boosted compared to the Senns, and bordering on booming. They seem crisp enough on the high end, but I find myself getting a bit fatigued after listening for a while; putting the Senns on again was more relaxing. Maybe I’m straining to hear the details mostly in the high end that are harder to get clearly in the Jabras?
The Jabras seem tiny (if you’ve tried on the air traffic controller sized HD 280 pros you’ll know what I mean :)) and until I actually tried them on, I didn’t think there was any way they were actually circumaural. But they did manage to fit completely around my ears.
Sitting near my computer, which has several fans running for cooling, and putting the Jabras on muffles the fan sound a bit. Then turning on the noise cancelling is pretty neat. There are a couple of seconds of things getting strange sounding, and then it’s like the fans were turned off and the sound settles down. There is a bit of high end extra sound, kind of like the slight hissing from my tinitus (but my hearing still checks out on all octaves – I’m just sensitive at about 8KHz or so with a slight hissing) but its’ really cool listening to the background droning just go away :).
The Jabras are pleasant enough; I’m planning to keep them, and want to see what they are like with a more noisy environment like riding in the car (wind noise) or an airplane. Again, for $55, I think they are a decent deal. (If I hadn’t had the $10 coupon from buying MP3 players recently, I’m not sure I’d be quite as happy with them at $65… My Senns were only $70.)
I just got mine and I’m not sure how well they’re supposed to work. I’ll put them on and turn on the noise cancellation (without music playing), but the only noticeable difference is a hiss and somewhat muffled background noise. I can still hear people talking, dogs barking, and the tv in the background. When music is playing, turning on the noise cancellation seems to only increase the volume, not decrease the background noise. However, the lower frequencies and constant noises such as the dishwasher and washer/dryer do seem to be noticeably softer.
I read a review claiming these completely drowned out the sound of a lawnmower, mine definitely won’t do that. He failed to mention whether or not he was listening to music though. Perhaps it was the music that drowned out the lawnmower, not the “active noise reduction”.
Did I get a pair of duds, or am I expecting too much from noise cancellation?
Amazon.com has a lot of great comparisons from users to Bose. In summary though in case you don’t want to read them all, the sound for both are exactly the same according to all the reviewers and some think Bose is more comfortable and some think Jabra is more comfortable. For the price, this is an amazing deal in my opinion. I just bought these last week from a special woot deal for 49.99. I am very very happy with my purchase.
Most likely you expected too much. Noise cancelling headphones generally only cancel out background noise.
I have these (from the earlier Woot sale) and they are pretty cool. Seem pretty sturdy, are very comfy, and cancel out the background noise pretty well.
On the downside, there IS a kinda “white noise” type noise that is very subtle when you turn on the noise cancelling.
Don’t push the panic button! I am a registered nurse and snoring does not equal sleep apnea, although those folks that really suffer from sleep apnea and need bi-pap, usually always snore…but not the other way around. A sleep study is the only definitive way to diagnose sleep apnea. I’ll send you my bill
Hey WOOT…What’s the deal with the VIP coupon? To quote your email:
“Your one-time-use code will be active just long enough for you to redeem it on the Jabra headphones, a few days probably. You may try and redeem it elsewhere on woot in that time if you find something else that qualifies (say if a Woot-Off comes along or something…), but once the headsets are gone, the coupon code will be turned off.”
Well…obviously the headsets are NOT gone yet you won’t allow the use of the coupon. Honor what you say.
I have them and they are great. Check the reviews, almost all of them are positive. Why spend a lot on Bose when this can get it done for a great price.
They are fairly comfortable as the foam surrounds are like a memory foam material. As with most noise cancelling technology, there is a small “processing time” related lag when generating the inverse wave. That is why you can still hear sources where the pitch and intensity change, like a television or someone talking.
That being said they do an excellent job of eliminating droning noises like my lawnmower, PC fan noise, HVAC noise, road noise etc.
Bose speakers are good for selling to people with more money than sense.
(Though it’s entirely possible that the person who dropped $100 for the 901’s with rotted out surrounds that i salvaged from a trash pile, repaired them and turned around and sold em for $200. In which case, we both did well.)
