JAYS q-JAYS Dual Armature In-Ear Earphones (Black)

by Jays

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches ; 10.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001068T5Q
• Item model number: q-JAYS Black
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 10, 2009

Product Description

Color: black

With a size of an astonishing (L)19 x (W)7.5 x (H)7.4 mm the q-JAYS are the smallest earphones on the market. Despite this it fits dual micro armatures and an AirBooster that deepens the bass and listening experience. The sound will blow you away. If you thought you had heard it all – think again.

q-JAYS are built with the same technology used in our awarded d-JAYS, but we have managed to shrink the armature size drastically. Despite a housing size almost the third of the d-JAYS, our top model fits two micro armatures in each earphone – one tweeter that delivers precise highs and one woofer that creates rich lows and mids. Furthermore an AirBooster enhances the low frequencies and gives an even deeper bass.

Smart earphone design and a soft silicone sleeve, available in five sizes, enables the earphone to fit snugly in any ear. The sleeves are washable and allow you to keep them clean at all times.

JAYS Sound Isolating System reduces the background noise of modern life. With this silent setting you can experience an amazing sound experience even at low volumes.

q-JAYS cord can be adjusted both in length and with different input connectors. q-JAYS comes standard with a 60 cm (~24inch) long cable with a straight 3.5mm (1.8 in) Mini-Plug Stereo connector. It is delivered with two 90 cm (~35inch) extension cords, both with 3.5mm (1.8 in) Mini-Plug Stereo connector, one L-shaped and one I-shaped.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great In Ear Headphones. Small, Light, Great Ballenced Sound!, April 25, 2008

By 

Benjamin D. Heller (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is my fourth pair of different in ear monitor headphones. My first were the Sony EX71, then Etymotic ER-6, then Sennheiser CX-300, now these the Q-Jays. The Q-Jays have the in my opinion a great mix of great sound, practicality, portability, and value that should make them extremely popular for a commuter who takes a subway or bus to work. First, the SOUND DAMPENING of these headphones is slightly higher than the Sennheisers and the Sonys, but not as much as the Etymotics. They claim it blocks out 90% of sounds. I don't know if that is accurate, but regardless, it is the ideal sound dampening level for me. The Etymotics needed to be "installed" deep in your ear, not the easy placement of the 71s or CX300s. They blocked out too much sound... they were dangerous to use while walking in the city. Additionally if the cord accidentally got caught on something and ripped the headphone out of your ear, there could be serious complications. The Q-jays are placed in your ear very similarly to the 71s and CX300s, perhaps a tiny bit deeper. Next the EFFICIENCY - Jays got it right. The CX300s are too efficient. They don't actually block out any hiss level of components, and if an announcement comes on during a Jet Blue flight while you are watching a movie, prepare to rip them out of your ears in pain. The Q-Jays are easily powered, but have enough resistance to avoid these unfortunate situations. BTW - The ER-6 are so inefficient, they cannot be powered by an ipod. Had the ER-6i been available at the time, that may have been at the correct efficiency level for me. On to arguably the most important factor - THE SOUND... and the Q-Jays sound great. A very balanced sound overall that produces much better imaging than any other IEMs I have tried. The highs and mids sound very smooth and realistic. Considering how small these headphones are, the sound is amazing. They bring the music to life over the CX-300 and the EX71. They can compete with large over the ear headphones in sound quality. These headphones are not bass heavy like the Sony EX71, and probably would require some equalization for ideal sounds with rap and techno music. Overall, the full spectrum of sound is achieved nicely to my ears.

The only bad part that I have found is that the cord is 2 feet long, if you want it to be longer, you then need an extension cord and the extension cord adds noticeable weight to your ears. This is a poor design decision... its designed for the portable music device to be placed in a front jacket pocket or on an armband... and while this works well, I think most users would be better served with a 3 or 4 ft cord. The extension cord when added to the headphones adds up to 5 ft of cord. This is too long. They should offer a 1.5 ft extension cord.

Overall, at $[...] I believe these are a good buy and a choice that I doubt anyone who takes the plunge will regret. If these are out of your price range, the CX300 are a good choice. If money was no object, I would still recommend these, as they are the smallest IEM on the market with great sound quality.

Update 4/29/08: I have had these headphones for a week now and can better assess their abilities. First off, the midrange and tweeter are still really impressive. I find myself being distracted when working and listening to these headphones, because I am constantly discovering new aspects of music that I am very familiar with. But the lack of low end especially at lower volumes has bothered me some. These headphones could absolutely make the low end required, as evidenced when you push the volume up a bit, but the low end frequencies seem to be approximately 5db less than I would like. It ends up sounding like a pair of very small high end bookshelf speakers. This could be corrected with some simple EQing, but unfortunately, the Ipod equalization programs are extremely disappointing, as they seem to boost the file pre-amplification, causing songs that have little headroom left to distort like crazy. Steve Jobs should be upset by this. And while this is not the q-jays fault, the lack of low end still leaves me wanting more. So as these headphones aren't quite as flat as I originally thought, I still recommend them, but this time with conditions. Regardless, a solid 4.5 star headphone, but bass heads need not apply.

Update 6/12/08
My love and appreciation for these headphones have grown. The issue with bass was a user issue and not a problem with the headphone. These headphones need to be placed deeper in your ear than the Sony 71s, and the default size of the earpiece that came installed on the q-jays was just a bit too large for proper placement in my ears. I changed sizes which was actually pretty difficult and the 5db of bass that i was looking for appeared. Overall, a very balanced headphone. Still not for bassheads, but a great choice for commuters listening to a wide variety of music.

Update 5/25/2010

Something I never really think about when buying a product is the warrantee. I just expect the product to work and the company to be reasonable. From what I hear, this is not the case with some headphone manufacturers - Logitech (Ultimate Ears). I wanted to highlight how fantastic Jays is in this regard. I had my first issue about 5 months into my ownership experience. The driver in one of the headphones stopped working. I emailed my retailer [...] and they took care of the issue and sent me a replacement set of headphones. [...] was provided quick responses and was very flexible in solving my problem. I was really happy with their service.

Almost 2 years from my initial purchase, I had a cable issue from daily use of the Q-Jays. The headphone jack or cord must have been damaged internally from wear and tear... I had sound dropping in and out, mono sound sometimes... it was unusable. I emailed [...], but as they had stopped carrying the product, the pointed me to deal with Jays directly. I contacted Jays via email and they gave me instructions on how to send the product back to them via USPS to Sweden. Turns out they couldn't fix the problem, so they sent me a complete new set even though I had only sent back just the headphones. This is pretty awesome, considering how much stuff comes with each set of Jays. Total turnaround including shipping time was 3 weeks.

With the amount of wear and tear headphones go through, it can be expected that there will be some failures. For a company to back up their product so well with minimal hassle, that is impressive.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A d*** good earphone..., October 18, 2008

By 

Gladius - See all my reviews

Ok, it's not Amstel light or Amersterdam but Sweden and made wherever.

I've tried too many IEMs and full size headphones. It's fun but pricy and one tends to focus on the qualities of the sound rather than the sound itself.

These are best IEMs I've had or used. (No, I have not used any triple drivers such as the SE 530 and assume they would sound better). For the price, though, I bet these can't be beat.

Put these in your ears (incredible how small these and their two drivers are) and detail/soundstage amaze. Treble and bass are good --- but more importantly the sound is addicting and distortion is at a minimum. Also, no hiss unlike many other IEMs. (Note: despite the lack of hiss they
are easy to drive and are a perfect IPOD companion).

I compared them closely to a pair of SE210s. (About the same price.) Some songs sounded good on both. I very much like the modest brightness of the Q-Jays over the loudness of the 210s. More importantly, some songs sound really distorted with the 210s --- especially highly compressed songs. That is, bass and vocals sound off. For example, the pretenders new "Chinese Plastic" song and "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes. I played the same songs with the Q-Jays and the distortion was not apparent. Like day and night.

Remembering back to other IEMs I've had (Ety 4p's, Ety 6i's, Shure 3c's. Sony 71s), these are the best. The second driver apparently pays real dividends.

This is how I would, somewhat subjectively, rank order them (partly based on memory and partly based on price):

Q-Jays (A)
4p/s (A-)
3c (B+)
6i (B)
71 (C+)
210s (C+)

Highly recommended. Well packaged and good accessories --- the pouch is a bit small, but no big deal.

If this fits your price point, buy them without fear. Sometimes a company just gets a product right! You'll enjoy them and your music.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The smallest headphones money can buy also happen to sound amazing., September 16, 2008

By 

Benjamin D. Heller (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: JAYS q-JAYS Dual Armature In-Ear Earphones (Maroon Red) (Electronics)

This is my fourth pair of different in ear monitor headphones. My first were the Sony EX71, then Etymotic ER-6, then Sennheiser CX-300, now these the Q-Jays. The Q-Jays have the in my opinion a great mix of great sound, practicality, portability, and value that should make them extremely popular for a commuter who takes a subway or bus to work. First, the SOUND DAMPENING of these headphones is slightly higher than the Sennheisers and the Sonys, but not as much as the Etymotics. They claim it blocks out 90% of sounds. I don't know if that is accurate, but regardless, it is the ideal sound dampening level for me. The Etymotics needed to be "installed" deep in your ear, not the easy placement of the 71s or CX300s. They blocked out too much sound... they were dangerous to use while walking in the city. Additionally if the cord accidentally got caught on something and ripped the headphone out of your ear, there could be serious complications. The Q-jays are placed in your ear very similarly to the 71s and CX300s, perhaps a tiny bit deeper. Next the EFFICIENCY - Jays got it right. The CX300s are too efficient. They don't actually block out any hiss level of components, and if an announcement comes on during a Jet Blue flight while you are watching a movie, prepare to rip them out of your ears in pain. The Q-Jays are easily powered, but have enough resistance to avoid these unfortunate situations. BTW - The ER-6 are so inefficient, they cannot be powered by an ipod. Had the ER-6i been available at the time, that may have been at the correct efficiency level for me. On to arguably the most important factor - THE SOUND... and the Q-Jays sound great. A very balanced sound overall that produces much better imaging than any other IEMs I have tried. The highs and mids sound very smooth and realistic. Considering how small these headphones are, the sound is amazing. They bring the music to life over the CX-300 and the EX71. They can compete with large over the ear headphones in sound quality. These headphones are not bass heavy like the Sony EX71, and probably would require some equalization for ideal sounds with rap and techno music. Overall, the full spectrum of sound is achieved nicely to my ears.

The only bad part that I have found is that the cord is 2 feet long, if you want it to be longer, you then need an extension cord and the extension cord adds noticeable weight to your ears. This is a poor design decision... its designed for the portable music device to be placed in a front jacket pocket or on an armband... and while this works well, I think most users would be better served with a 3 or 4 ft cord. The extension cord when added to the headphones adds up to 5 ft of cord. This is too long. They should offer a 1.5 ft extension cord.

Overall, at $179 I believe these are a good buy and a choice that I doubt anyone who takes the plunge will regret. If these are out of your price range, the CX300 are a good choice. If money was no object, I would still recommend these, as they are the smallest IEM on the market with great sound quality.

Update 4/29/08: I have had these headphones for a week now and can better assess their abilities. First off, the midrange and tweeter are still really impressive. I find myself being distracted when working and listening to these headphones, because I am constantly discovering new aspects of music that I am very familiar with. But the lack of low end especially at lower volumes has bothered me some. These headphones could absolutely make the low end required, as evidenced when you push the volume up a bit, but the low end frequencies seem to be approximately 5db less than I would like. It ends up sounding like a pair of very small high end bookshelf speakers. This could be corrected with some simple EQing, but unfortunately, the Ipod equalization programs are extremely disappointing, as they seem to boost the file pre-amplification, causing songs that have little headroom left to distort like crazy. Steve Jobs should be upset by this. And while this is not the q-jays fault, the lack of low end still leaves me wanting more. So as these headphones aren't quite as flat as I originally thought, I still recommend them, but this time with conditions. Regardless, a solid 4.5 star headphone, but bass heads need not apply.

Update 6/12/08
My love and appreciation for these headphones have grown. The issue with bass was a user issue and not a problem with the headphone. These headphones need to be placed deeper in your ear than the Sony 71s, and the default size of the earpiece that came installed on the q-jays was just a bit too large for proper placement in my ears. I changed sizes which was actually pretty difficult and the 5db of bass that i was looking for appeared. Overall, a very balanced headphone. Still not for bassheads, but a great choice for commuters listening to a wide variety of music.

Update: 9/16/08 - I lost about 80% of the sound in my right ear today... i searched and found that wet earwax has a tendency to glop that area up... so filter replacement is in order. If this happens to you, don't panic - replace the filters or clean them in water with a tiny bit of soap, let them drive, and reinstall. All in all, I still love these headphones. Well worth the money.

Update 5/25/2010

Something I never really think about when buying a product is the warrantee. I just expect the product to work and the company to be reasonable. From what I hear, this is not the case with some headphone manufacturers - Logitech (Ultimate Ears). I wanted to highlight how fantastic Jays is in this regard. I had my first issue about 5 months into my ownership experience. The driver in one of the headphones stopped working. I emailed my retailer [...] and they took care of the issue and sent me a replacement set of headphones. [...] was provided quick responses and was very flexible in solving my problem. I was really happy with their service.

Almost 2 years from my initial purchase, I had a cable issue from daily use of the Q-Jays. The headphone jack or cord must have been damaged internally from wear and tear... I had sound dropping in and out, mono sound sometimes... it was unusable. I emailed [...], but as they had stopped carrying the product, the pointed me to deal with Jays directly. I contacted Jays via email and they gave me instructions on how to send the product back to them via USPS to Sweden. Turns out they couldn't fix the problem, so they sent me a complete new set even though I had only sent back just the headphones. This is pretty awesome, considering how much stuff comes with each set of Jays. Total turnaround including shipping time was 3 weeks.

With the amount of wear and tear headphones go through, it can be expected that there will be some failures. For a company to back up their product so well with minimal hassle, that is impressive.

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