Customer Reviews

JLab J3M Micro Atomic In-Ear Earphones with Microphone - Jet Black

5 star:		(134)
4 star:		(128)
3 star:		(63)
2 star:		(89)
1 star:		(108)

 

 

I have owned a lot of different headphones for my iPhones. I use mine for commute on train for music and audio books/podcasts, in the car for calls, and at the gym for music/other audio content.

These are the most expensive headphones/earbuds with a mic I've owned, but I have used the Sony fontopias as well as a Sennheiser in ear plug as well as bud, Skull Candy buds and plugs, as well as some "made in China" Apple and Sony knock-offs you can get for $2.99 per pair here or on eBay.

These are the best sounding headphones, buds or plugs I have heard on my iPhone, and easily the best earphones/plugs with a mic. The price is not inconsiderable, but worth it if you want nuanced sounds, clear highs, and powerful but not ridiculous bass. These are rather audiophile quality, without a doubt. Very, very impressive sound. Very efficient - quite acceptably loud for most content at half or slightly better than half volume setting.

The highs are clear, which is usually the knock on ear plug style 'phones( better than the Sony fontopias which are boomy bass and unclear highs), midrange is balanced, lows are powerful, full, but not boomy or overpowering. Just a warm, rich sound. Very nice.

The build quality is superior to any similar product. Two weeks into it and they are sturdy, and just work. Very, very cool looking. I feel like a guy listening to $100 ear plugs. Very excellent ambient noise reduction, and reasonably comfy fit.

If the cable is allowed to flop on your chest when you run or work out, you DO get the cable thump sound. Secure the cable or loop the phones around the back of your head. I have not found this to be an impediment to my using them to spend 30 or 40 min on the treadmill, or doing resistance training with machines and weights.

Fabulous purchase. I will likely never switch to a different brand or consider an "upgrade" because even at twice the price, these are in the plug-style buds with a mic to beat. And nothing I've used comes close.

I got these to replace the Apple whites for my iPhone which I use a lot and on the go with them everywhere. The J3m sound great when I am sitting still. But the highly sensitive cables which give you that stethoscope feedback make these a no go for talking n walking or listening to tunes while on a run. The banging heartbeat of the cables against you while you walk or run will make your head throb. I really wish they had volume control like the apple ones especially because the do such a good job of blocking outside sounds. I may have to resort back the apple ones for everyday use and return these and get the cheaper non mic'd version for airplane travel because they do sound much better than the apple's.

Bottom line: nice ear buds for listening to music but not good for multi-use mobile phones.

I like this product. The quality is good. The sound is good, though I am still breaking them in. But there are 2 things that disappoint.
First, the case is not included. The product description, and the description of what is included both state it comes with a case. I am expecting to get a case.
Second, the phone control includes only one button. The inferior apple delivered set allows you to raise and lower the volume, but not this unit. And it is for taking a call, or activating voice control. You have to adjust the volume manually. This is really disappointing, if this is to substitute and inferior product it should do everything the inferior product plus more. I really like the ability to adjust the volume with the external control.
Those are the only 2 items that disappoint. Otherwise, this is a really good product.
I am expecting to get the case, as it always was described to be included. I am reading JLAB has great customer service, I hope I can experience it myself and they send me a case. I am truly disappointed at Amazon, a company I buy quite a lot from for not including the case.
As far as the volume controls, I'd give this product a 5 if it wasn't because there are no volume controls.
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I am just adding to my review. I was contacted by JLAB (I did not even have to contact them.) They acknowledged the error on the page at the time of my order. They were very concerned about my complete satisfaction. The offered my pick of case, model, color, etc. at absolutely no cost to me. No shipping, nada. I'm feeling really good about this company. The feeling you get when you receive outstanding customer service. I am recommending everyone to think of JLAB when getting new earbuds. My office mate thinks they look really cool and is ordering a pair himself.

First, I want to discuss the con - the one thing that prevents me from giving this product a full five stars. The jack. If you compare them side to side with the provided iPhone headphones, you'll immediately spot the problem, which is that the base of the jack is slightly further from the first segment. What this means to the user is that you can insert the jack a hair too far, and that prevents the button from working properly. Don't force the jack all the way in and you won't have a problem. Hopefully the folks at J3 will read this and adjust their manufacturing variances to make the product user proof. They've been very proactive in contacting customers who've posted critical reviews on Amazon and addressing their concerns. I took this as the mark of a quality company who respects the voice of the customer, and that made my decision to buy these much easier.


Now a word on performance. First - following the provided instructions (RTFM) and choose the correct-sized bushings to go on the earpieces. Then stick it in your ear. (I really wanted to say that.) If you do not, then you will not get a good seal and you will not get any low frequency output. The response will sound tinny. If you do, then you're in for a treat. These headphones perform easily as good as sets costing two and three times as much. Their best performance is in the mid-to-high frequencies where highs are well defined and not at all harsh. Vocals come through clean and even. Low frequency performance suffers on songs with a lot of low frequency bass. I've found that I get really good results by choosing the "small speaker" equalizer option in the iPod control panel under the Settings app.

If you're looking for an upgrade from Apples uncomfortable and poorly performing default headphones for the iPhone or you want to add microphone capability to your iPod touch, but you don't want to spend hundreds on offerings from marquis brand companies, then I highly recommend this product.

Like so many here, I bought these to replace the token failure that Apple includes with all their products and calls "earphones." I searched Amazon for days, read reviews, compared specs, and finally decided that I was just going to have to pull the trigger and try something.

When I received these, I hated them right out of the box and vowed to return them. After a couple of days though, my opinion has changed completely - let me tell you why.

First off, the picture showing the mic/remote next to the earphone? It's not quite to scale. There's some serious perspective in that photograph. In reality, the mic/unit unit is BIG - about the diameter of a pencil and twice the length of the earphones. Add that to the fact that it does not control the volume, and I was not happy. However, upon reading the instructions, I found that it does some cool things the Apple control doesn't. For instance, you can click it once to pause playback, hold it down to activate voice control, click twice to advance the next track and three times for the previous track. Once I learned this, I think it's actually much more useful than just being able to change the volume.

Secondly, I was livid about the thrumming sound that the movement of the cord produced. Other reviewers here have mentioned it. I was about to give up when I decided to try a smaller set of earcups. The size I was using completely sealed the ear canal, and I noticed that even taking a step caused a booming sound. Once I went to a smaller size, the earphones stayed in my ear fine, and I didn't have that sealed-bass-booming sound every time something moved.

Finally, I thought they sounded a little flat, without good frequency response. Going back to RTFM again, I followed the burn-in instructions, using JLab's burn in tool on their website. The audio quality has improved drastically after a couple sessions, and I'm nowhere near the 40 hours recommended burn-in time.

So, in a nutshell - some issues that may take a little getting used to, some that may require some adjustment, and read the manual and follow the instructions. The result is a very nice sounding pair of earphones for less than $20. I'm not sure what the "$89.85" retail price that Amazon quotes is all about, even JLabs themselves sell the product for $24.95, but still and all, a great value for $20. Best investment I've made in my iPhone since I bought the Angry Birds app!

Although the text has been revised since my order, I expected a case. Amazon was out of stock so I ordered directly from JLab audio. They were very friendly and gave me a coupon code to more than covered shipping and sales tax charged by their website.

Let me discuss the only two things that I wasn't happy about first:
* I was expecting a travel case and none was included
* I called their customer support to inquire how many contacts were on the audio jack since the picture only shows 3 gold contacts but my Blackberry needs 4. I was assured by the customer services representative that the J3M had 3 gold contacts but worked as a mic and stereo headphones. That's just not possible with 3 gold contacts because you need seperate connections for the right speaker, left speaker, mic and ground -- a total of 4 gold contacts.

I decided to risk it and sure enough the audio connector had 4 gold contacts (unlike the picture in the advertisment). I reported the photo error of the audio jack to Amazon but my request was declined. I hope that the photo will be corrected by JLabs but rest assured there are 4 gold rings on the audio jack and it works perfectly with my Blackberry and any other phone taking a 3.5mm (1/8") audio jack.

I broke in the headphones over 4 days playing random music at medium volume for 6 hours a day. These were an upgrade from my original JBuds so I wasn't sure what to expect. The high end sounds were crisp in combination with good midrange and a strong base. In every category the J3Ms out-perfomed every other 10mm ear buds I own -- Hands down the absolute best sound overall in this size. For the best sound, I recommend the Rockford Fosgate PP15mm Punch Plugs In-Ear Headphones (Black).

The sound was reproduced so well that for the first time I was able to notice the difference in WMA and MP3 files recorded at lower bit-rates. Now that's impressive!

Another thing I noticed right away was the instant reduction in ambient background noise. The J3Ms do a much better job reducing background noise than the other models. We've all seen those people holding their hands over one ear while they try and hear through the other one. The J3Ms almost completely eliminate that problem in the noisiest environments. I was talking on the phone as a train came into the station and neither me nor my caller had a problem carrying on our conversation. The construction is top-notch and the assortment of earpieces in several sizes is sure to adapt to almost every ear size.

All my callers have said the mic quality is good but they said I sounded "distant". At first I found myself holding the mic near my mouth but quickly realized that it wasn't necessary. I have numerous bluetooth headsets that all have the same problem: They cover one ear only and have no ambient noise reduction because they fit over-the-ear instead of in-the-ear like the J3Ms. The J3M has two noise-reducing speakers and a built-in mic that is closer to your mouth than any bluetooth headset. I added my own clip from an old set of ear buds.

If I only had a case, my life would be complete...

The stiff plastic used in the cord's construction is a bit noisier than other ear buds. I use a cord-keeper that reduces the amount of loose cord to a minimum resulting in less cord noise.

Let me tell you, I am a person that has been looking for a premium set of ear buds for my iphone for a while. I've tried the Radius Atomic Bass, the in-ear Bose headphones, and even the Dr. Dre Beats Tour. Then I came across jlabs j3m's. They match if not best every pair that i mentioned. They are not only designed well and pretty durable, they have sound quality that matches the big dogs. Anybody that reviews this and says the bass or lows/highs do not perform well, it must be their player or they do not have them on right. At under 40 dollars, this deal really can't be beat. Jlabs has seriously made a great product here. Easily 5 stars, I highly recommenced these.

First of all, I am not an audiophile, just a regular user. I bought these headphones as an upgrade over the Apple headphones that came with my iPhone. I read many reviews, and these seemed like the best headphones for the cost, so I went ahead and gave them a shot. At first, the sound quality was subpar. My music sounded really metallic. I did some research and went through the JLab website to use their burn in sounds, and the sound quality definitely improved. However, after less than a month of using these headphones, one of the ear pieces detached. Not just the ear piece itself, but the entire cord from where the cords come together came off. It's like if you imagine a "Y" without one of the arms. Fortunately, the side that stayed on is the one with the microphone, so I can still use that while driving I guess. But these are useless now as headphones. Like I said before, I am a normal user. I used these on the subway, in my car, at work, and while snowboarding.
Pros:
*Great microphone. Everyone could hear me clearly on the other end.
*Anti-Tangle cord is amazing and works really well.
*Sound quality improves after burn-in.

Cons:
*Not durable at all. (See description above)
*Inability to raise or lower volume with the headphones. I have a greater appreciation for the apple headphones now.
*None of the earpieces fit my ears particularly well. These headphones would not stay in place unless I "wrapped" them around my ear.

Bottom Line: Sound is not very good upon first purchase, but gets better after burn-in. But the durability level of these headphones is "0". I will probably try a pair of SkullCandy's next.

Pros:
1. These buds sound great, very crisp sound and great bass
2. Very sleek looking, made with quality materials
3. The pause/next track button and microphone on these work PERFECT for iPhones and I would assume iTouches and probably iPods. This is the main reason that I bought these headphones and I am very pleased with that accessory.

Cons:
1. They don't stay in your ears! The microphone and pause button component is just too heavy and it pulls the buds out of my ears with any movement or if they catch on anything. Running with these is out of the question. If you're not moving and have tight fitting buds then they might work fine.

Suggestion: Buy separate bud covers that are foam. The plastic buds that are provided are very slippery and don't fit (at least my ears) well.

I bought the original JBuds several years ago. I was happy with that purchase. The sound quality was decent and they were EXTREMELY comfortable. I would leave them in all day while I studied with no problem. I recently got a new iPod Touch and wanted a pair of good headphones with a microphone and I saw that JLabs made these new ones.

Right out of the package these feel quality built and solid. I am no audiophile but I think the sound quality on these is good (make sure you burn them in as recommended). I saw other reviewers complaining about no bass and sounding tinny. I found these to be well balanced with good bass response. You really have to shove these into your ears for them to sound good. The microphone seems to work well too with good quality sound.

I only have two complaints. One, the cord is a little too short for me. It works fine for my iPod but when I have it plugged into my computer it is too short. Two, I wish it had volume control like the Apple earphones. Other than that I am happy with my purchase.

Side note: I had ordered mine when it was mislabeled on Amazon to come with a carrying case. I contacted JLabs and they sent me a case of my choice. Talk about great customer service!