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Headphones as a music listening device of choice have had a fairly big evolution curve. And wireless headphones have similarly evolved to a point of 'almost' convincing us that their reproduction quality is close to being as lossless as their wired counterparts.
But good quality wireless headphones have either been too expensive or just been glorified 'handsfrees' for your Bluetooth-enabled phones. Creative Labs will attempt to fill that gap with its newly launched SoundBlaster Jam headphones. On our test bench, we spend over a week listening to music across a range of genres to understand how good the new pair of phones are.
Build The Creative SoundBlaster Jam features one of the simplest designs for a headset. Sporting a rather plasticky build with simple round speakers, the headphone's volume and power controls have been built into one of the housings. But what it lacks in design panache, it makes up for with its practicality.
The plastic used for the head band is sturdy and very flexible and the sponge ear cups are well padded and comfy. More importantly, the whole thing weighs just 83 grams.
Powering on and pairing the SoundBlaster Jam is easy with a single touch of one of the speaker housing's panel which doubles up as a power button and a long press allows you to pair it with a device via Bluetooth. Other connectivity options include NFC and a direct wired USB connection to a laptop.
Performance While playing music, the same one touch button also becomes the play and pause button. With a discreet mic, it also allows you to receive calls when the headset is connected to your cellphone via Bluetooth.
The SoundBlaster Jam features compact Neodymium drivers - often the choice of audiophile-grade speakers. The speakers produce crisp, clear sound that defy what your expectations would be from a low priced headset such as this.
Though it connects via Bluetooth 4.1, the protocol is still only a convenience and not the best for audiophile grade reproduction. Yet, the SoundBlaster Jam manages the limitations well.
The stereo stage is good and though there is audio leak from its simple, round, over the ear form, the volume levels were quite high too. There is a Bass boost button also, but during our trial pumping up the bass tended to slightly distort the reproduction when the percussions in the track were prominent.
In tracks where the vocals and a stringed instrument like a guitar or violin were the ones that dominated the stage, the bass boost worked in raising the impact.
Thumbs up for the battery life too, which at about 11-12 hours is just great.
Bottomline The SoundBlaster Jam has its form limitations. For example, in noisy surroundings and in a flight, the flat cups and over the ear form means there is a lot of noise that seeps in. No active noise cancellation here too.
The new Creative headset is also not the best pair of wireless cans that your money can buy. But for its price, right now, this is probably the best there is.
Price : ₹3,499
Love: Sound quality, low price, light weight
Hate: Too plasticky, no charger in pack
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