August 11 2014 – Today we take a look at the Rox Wireless Headphones from Jabra. The product won the won the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) Red Dot: Product Design 2014 award for excellence. and thus makes it very interesting for review.
Initially we take a look into what the company’s main messaging for a product is before we dig into a review and here is what Jabra tells us about this product “Unplugged and Uncompromised. Unleash your music with rich, full-spectrum Dolby® sound. Built with solid steel and a secure fit, Jabra Rox Wireless is for music gurus who are ready for action.”
Clearly these headphones promise good audio quality in a durable form factor. Jabra Rox Wireless are available today for an MSRP of $129.99 in Canada. Prices at the various places it is available do seem consistent and we were unable to find a better price than MSRP. Assuming free shipping the total cost including tax in Ontario is $146.89.
The Company: Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark their website tells us this about the company –
Jabra is a global producer of innovative headset and speakerphone solutions. We employ around 875 people and we have sales offices all over the globe. We enable effortless communication for mobile users, office-based and contact center employees in all parts of the world.
Our brand, Jabra, is about empowering our customers. We recognize the tremendous potential inherent in technology. It can set us free and empower us to accomplish amazing things, on our own terms. Jabra’s products harness this technology and enable their users to work, live and play on their own terms. Always connected, always on and always ahead of the game.
The Product: This is simply a pair of headphones (aka. headset, earbuds, or earphones). As expected in these days of advanced technology the Wireless Rox do come with a ton of features. As nice as all the features are the main consideration needs to be sound quality, and since these are wireless units battery life is as important. What good would kick ass sounding headphones be if they only lasted an hour before they needed to be charged? With that in mind we will list the features further down, but really focus must be on sound quality and battery life.
The Rox comes in high quality packaging – a very nice see through box with the buds in clear display. In the box we find the Jabra Rox Wireless earbuds, USB cable, protective bag, 4 sets of ColorCore EarGels, 3 sets of Jabra EarWings, Fitclip, quick start guide, and the Jabra Sound App unique registration leaflet. If first impressions count for anything in tech gadgets these days, Jabra has clearly invested time and effort to make their retail packaging stand out.
Features and specifications: The Jabra Rox Wireless promise 5.5 hours of playback and the less relevant 8 days of standby time. The range of the unit is 10 meters or 33 feet from the source (in our case an iPod Touch which was our main content hub during testing). Connection on the device is achieved through Bluetooth (4.0 support) and NFC. Standby is accomplished by connecting the two buds together through their magnetic tips (puts the unit in a very low battery drain mode but has the benefit of resuming the music immediately upon the tips being disconnected from each other).
The box also includes a serial code to unlock a mobile app that needs to be installed on your device if you wish to take advantage of Dolby Digital Plus. This means that you must use the Jabra Sound App to get the benefit.
Fit is customized with 4 different sized pairs of EarGels and 3 total pairs of EarWings that are used to secure the buds inside the outer ear canal. The list of features also includes “Weather and dust resistant” – we didnt test that feature out but we will take Jabra’s word for it.
Performance/output: We don’t have aural measuring tools at our disposal so we can only give our observations. Our standard earphones for travelling are the Klipsh S4 – a highly rated pair of noise isolating in ear headphones that provide the sound quality we require. All observations will be comparing the S4’s with the Rox.
First up we ran through the complete Led Zeppelin discography. The clarity of the mid and high notes was incredible especially on the vocals. Crystal clear is the phrase that comes to mind. The standard bass test is Zeppelin’s When The Levee Breaks. Bonham’s earth shattering bass pedal is impressive and equaled the output of the S4’s. Next on some of the mellower sounds found in Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd, the quadrophonic sound effects were reproduced in an incredible manner. Various other rock albums/songs were played and we had an overall favorable impression. Playing around with the Jabra App made the music even more intense and booming as the quest for the perfect setting became a fun task while using the unit. Overall it would be fair to say that the Jabra Rox produce better overall sound than the previous headphones of choice and are now the go to product for sound quality for us.
Aside from the sound the battery life was the main consideration. We used the earbuds on many business trips and the over 5 hours of playback is correct. We were able to hit between 5 hours and 10 minutes to 5 hours 20 minutes of continual playback on long flights. Here is the bad thing though – it takes 2 hours (or more) to charge the headphones. 2 hours to charge, 5.5 hours to discharge – not a very good ratio to be honest. As good as the Jabra Rox where we still had to carry the old wired headphones as backups on all trips.
Owners of the unit at Amazon are satisfied and give it a 3.8 out of 5 rating.
Verdict: 4 out of 5 – For $130 bucks you get killer sound, wicked portability, and excellent design. The overall product is worthy of a “Best Of T-Mak World” honor. Welcome to our cherished ear canal Jabra Rox Wireless!
For more information regarding our Jabra Rox Wireless review please check out www.jabra.ca and Twitter: @jabra_us and Instagram: @jabra
