Jaybird Freedom 2 Bluetooth Headphones Review
Ryan
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If you’ve struggled with getting Bluetooth headphones to feel comfortable while you work out, the new Jaybird Freedom 2 Bluetooth headphones give you a lot of customization options to find the ideal fit.
Design
The Jaybird Freedom 2 were designed with a lot of customization options to fit most runners’ preference. The first unique feature is the integrated cord management that allows you to tighten or loosen the wire connecting the earbuds as you see fit. This is done easily by pulling on the cord or the end pieces to make your adjustments. This allows you to wear the earbuds loosely and use the include shirt collar clip to secure the headphones.
The second unique option is the fact that the cord can be looped around your ears for a even tighter fit. This is done by turning the wing tip (ear stabilizers) until the flap is near the cord’s entry point into the earbud. You can then tighten the cord against the back of your head. In this state, you don’t really feel the headphone unit as it is no longer flapping around as you move.
The controls for the earbuds are located in the inline remote. The remote is somewhat bulkier than what you wouldn’t find on Apple’s wired EarPods, for example, and if you wear the headphones loosely without securing the cord to your shirt collar, the weight of the remote can tug on the right earbud.
The charging dock included with the earbuds also serves as a power bank doubling the earbuds’ runtime (from 4 hours to 8 hours total). The dock/power bank snaps onto the inline remote allowing you to “wear” it at the expense of making the remote even bulkier, so you’ll definitely want to secure the cord to your shirt or tighten it against the back of your head.
Sound Quality
As this earbuds seal to your ear canal, they produce a strong bass response. The mids and highs also come through even well, and the optional Jaybird app allows you to adjust the low, mids and highs even further to your liking, or download custom adjustments from the Jaybird community. It’s an interesting feature, but I am happy with the default settings out of the box.
Since you need to jam these earbuds into your ear to get the seal, the Jaybird Freedom 2’s do significantly block outside noise. This makes running near traffic tricky and, at this price point, I would have preferred to see an active and configurable noise cancellation feature instead of simply sealing out all sounds.
Battery Life
The earbuds on their own provide about 4 hours of playtime. The charging dock also doubles as a power bank and can be snapped onto the remote to add another 4 hours of playtime, which also increases the weight and the size of the remote. Unfortunately, the earbuds themselves do not have a Micro USB input for charging; they use a proprietary connection to the charging dock/power bank (which does have a Micro USB input for recharging). It’s an interesting design, but I can’t see myself running with the power bank attached due to the bulky size, but it’s handy for those times when you want to run but forgot to charge your earbuds.
Features
I like that Jaybird has made the Freedom 2s very customizable from looping them over your ear to tightening the cord. The integrated cord management is very cool but I do find it not tightening as it should quite often (one wire will be loose while the others are not).
The snap-on power bank/charger is also a cool idea, but wearing the large battery on top of the already bulky remote can look a little dorky, but it can save your workout if you forgot to charge the headphones ahead of time.
As mentioned earlier, you can also adjust the sound to your liking using the Jaybird app, and they’ve built a little “community” where users can share their EQ settings. It’s a little gimmicky, but it further extends the customization options for the Freedom 2s.
