A tale of two ear buds

The a-JAYS Threes are an audiophonic revelation. Photo / Supplied

As much as I love my iPod Touch, it must be said that the white on white ear buds bundled with it are at best average, and in reality are utter pants audio-wise. Thank goodness Apple saw fit to include an industry standard 3.5mm earphone socket on the iPod to allow it to take advantage of third party earware.

Speaking of in-ear goodness, Sweden may be better known for meatballs and Volvos, but those clever Swedes at Jays are carving out a growing following thanks to their stunning earphone line up. Plugging their mid-range a-JAYS Threes into my iPod (and my noggin) proved to be an audiophonic revelation.

Detail that had previously remained hidden within the murky depths of my mp3 collection suddenly strode onto the soundstage. The sound delivered by the AJ3s was rich, warm, yet superbly detailed, Bass was there by the bucketful, highs and mids were listenable yet not shrill or fatiguing, even during extended bouts of listening.

On the packaging front, Jays' design team seem to have been briefed to do something daring yet different. In this case (pun intended) they definitely succeeded. The bundled protective case resembles the love child of Darth Vader and Pac-Man but pulls off the rare troika of being unique, funky, and (most importantly) able to protect your shiny new ear buds.

About the real only downside to Darth Pac-Man is its lack of room when the bundled extension cable is used, requiring that you really have to stuff the ear-buds in - which can't be good for delicate cables over the longer term.

Where the AJ3s impressed, their higher end siblings astonished. Having found their irregular ear-bud shape (caused by their larger speaker drivers), to be a comfy in-ear fit, I plugged the TJ3s into my melon, and focused on their audio. Bass, whilst definitely more pronounced than the AJ3's felt whole a lot more tight and precise. Whilst the soundstage seemed full and surprisingly accurate.

Like the AJ3s, the TJ3s also come with a distinctive black "Pac-Man" protective case, however as with the AJ3s, careful cable wrapping was required, especially if their bundled cable extension was also connected.

Verdict

In terms of the quality sound that both ear-buds were able to crank out, the AJ3s and the TJ3s knocked spots off Apple Bundled ear-buds. Sheer sound quality aside, the industrial design quality of their packaging and accessories bundled also lent both buds some serious wow factor. With both the AJ3's and the TJ3s, cracking open the distinctive oval packaging revealed five additional replacement ear tips, an airplane adapter, and a stereo splitter. In short the Jays ear-bud range deliver superb value for money and some seriously ear-pleasing performance.

* Tech Specs

t-JAYS Three
System - 10 mm TCD Dynamic Speaker drivers
Sensitivity - 98dB@1kHz;
impedance16 - Ohm@1kHz
Frequency Response - 15Hz-25,000Hz
Size - (L)17.5 x (W)6.9 x (H)14.8 mm
RRP - $179.95

a-JAYS Threes
Driver Type - 8.6 mm TCD Speaker
Sensitivity - 97dB @ 1kHz
Impedance - 16 Ohm @ 1kHz
Frequency Response - 20 Hz - 22 000 Hz
Size - (L)18.3 x (W)11.8 x (H)13.8 mm
RRP - $79.95