Introduction
The Creative Sound Blaster Jam is a budget-friendly wireless headset that promises an immersive audio experience without breaking the bank. In this review, we’ll explore its design, performance, and overall value for money.
Design and Build Quality
- Lightweight Build: The Sound Blaster Jam is really light, only 83 grams. It’s super comfortable for long use.
- Easy to Carry: This headset can fold up, making it easy to carry around. It fits into small spaces, perfect for when you’re on the move.
- Simple Controls: The controls on the ear are easy to use. You can easily adjust the volume and playback functions.
Wireless Connectivity
- Equipped with Bluetooth 4.1 technology, the Sound Blaster Jam offers a reliable wireless connection, minimizing audio lag and ensuring a seamless listening experience.
- With up to 12 hours of battery life on a single charge, this headset is perfect for long commutes, workouts, or gaming sessions.
Audio Performance
- The headset delivers clear and balanced sound, making it suitable for various audio genres, from music to podcasts.
- Decent Bass: While not overpowering, the bass is present and adds a satisfying depth to the audio experience.
- Noise Isolation: The on-ear design provides adequate noise isolation, immersing you in your audio without external distractions.
Comfort and Fit
- Adjustable Headband: The adjustable headband ensures a comfortable and secure fit for users of different head sizes.
- Soft Ear Cushions: The plush ear cushions contribute to a comfortable wearing experience, even during prolonged use.
Pros
- Affordable: The Sound Blaster Jam offers impressive audio quality at an affordable price point, making it an excellent value for budget-conscious consumers.
- Portable: Its lightweight and foldable design make it easy to take on the go, perfect for those who are always on the move.
- Long Battery Life: With a battery life of up to 12 hours, you won’t have to worry about constantly recharging the headset.
Cons
- Limited Controls: The basic on-ear controls might feel restrictive for users who prefer more advanced features.
- Plastic Build: The all-plastic construction, while contributing to its lightness, may raise concerns about long-term durability.
Conclusion
In summary, the Creative Sound Blaster Jam stands out for being affordable, easy to carry around, and providing decent audio. Although it doesn’t have all the fancy features of more expensive models, it offers great bang for your buck, making it a good option for budget-conscious people looking for a reliable wireless headset.
Ahzuri –
I’ve been looking for a simple pair of Bluetooth headphones to suit my needs for a long while. I have Tourette’s so I can’t wear earbuds because they just fall out when I tick and twitch. I’m Autistic with auditory sensory issues so I can’t use just anything. If a video is even a tad out of sync with the audio, or the pitch is too high or low, it greatly upsets me. I also have plates in my left temple so I can’t wear big bulky headphones because they apply too much pressure on that spot. I wear glasses, too.
I’m very surprised that I found a pair of headphones that suit my extremely specific needs and were affordable. I’ve tried many of the “name brands”, and paid much more, but with no luck. Either they didn’t fit well for me or the audio latency was too high for watching videos. When the listing says that it syncs the audio to the video and brings the latency down to a negligible amount, they weren’t kidding!
I was very skeptic when I first put them on after syncing them to my PC (Windows 10) but was immediately excited when I turned on a YouTube video, it was all in sync, and sounded great. I was so excited that I made my spouse put them on so she could see how well they worked.
Tourette’s check: they don’t move or fall off when I tick. Firm hold but not so firm that they’re uncomfortable or press against the plates in my head.
Autism check: fantastically synced audio to video with good sound quality. The highs and lows are in good balance and don’t feel like they’re overpowering in either direction. Even with my auditory sensitivities, I can use them without feeling sensory overload. They work great for when I’m gaming, too. Nothing worse than audio being slightly out of sync while you’re trying to 360 no-scope a 14 year old in CoD as they talk about banging your mom.
I’d say the only drawback would be the earmuff foam. It would be nice if it was a little more cushiony but I already knew what I was getting into when I purchased them. They’re not uncomfortable at all but they aren’t noise canceling, due to the design, so keep that in mind if that’s something you need. They don’t claim to be, though, so can’t fault them for that.
Still comfortable enough that I can wear them with my glasses just fine. They’re very light weight so no neck fatigue over longer periods of time like you’d get with bulky headsets. Perfect for someone like myself who needs to wear something over their ears practically all day. If it’s an issue, you could cut out a piece of cloth, from some old pajama pants or something, and put it inside the foam muff to add a little extra padding.
I can’t weigh in on the quality of the microphone because I don’t use them to talk. Gonna have to take the leap of faith on that one for yourself. The range on them is lovely, though. I can walk around my house without connectivity issues. I can’t go too far outside while synced to my PC but that’s expected of all Bluetooth devices. That said, I can still go work in my garage and basement without any problems.
No one ever really talks about if a product may be good for people with very specific needs or disabilities. I hope this review helps anyone who may have, or knows someone with, similar issues.
Amazon Kunde –
Vorweg: Ohne AptX LL kommt nicht infrage. Daher hab ich nur welche mit diesem Codec probiert. Latenz verdirbt Videostreaming total (Reines Audiostreaming würde gehen, aber das mach ich kaum.)
Der CREATIVE Blaster Jam V2 ist einfach großartig und allen teureren (ich nenne sie nicht) überlegen. Mit dem AptX LL Transmitter, der per USB an meinem PC und per Lichtleiter an meinem Fernseher hängt, arbeitet er perfekt zusammen.
Die Lautstärketasten machen, was sie sollen (das tun sie nicht an jedem Headset, und viele haben nicht mal welche), der Sitz auf meinem Megaschädel ist super (Ersatzauflagen sind natürlich dabei), und den Akku bring ich nicht an seine Grenze (ich lauf viele Stunden damit rum und häng das Headset über Nacht an).
“Langlebigkeit” konnte ich noch nicht beurteilen.
Oscar C. –
Tienen muy buena calidad de audio, hay quien dirá que “Le faltan bajos” pero eso es a causa de que Sony y otras marcas nos tienen malacostumbrados con audífonos que son más bajos que otra cosa. El perfil de sonido de los Sound Blaster Jam V2 es bastante plano, cuida que todas las frecuencias estén representadas en justa medida sin molestarse entre ellas y para les amantes de los bajos siempre puedes activar la función de Bass Boost con tocar el botón correspondiente.
En cuanto a construcción son muuuy ligeros una vez que te los pones realmente dejas de notarlos, son de plástico de buena calidad y se sienten sólidos pero igual sigue siendo plástico así que es mejor tener cuidado con ellos. Algo que me pareció muy bien es el que optaran por almohadillas de esponja fácilmente reemplazables (el paquete viene con unas de repuesto) son muy cómodas, suaves y dejan respirar al oído, a diferencia de la tendencia actual de poner vynil o materiales similares que hacen que todo sude.
La conexión con los dispositivos es totalmente instantánea y cuando conectas dos a la vez puedes saltar de uno a otro sin problemas. Funciona perfecto en Android, iOS y Linux. Con Windows 10 da algunos problemas, pero eso es culpa de la pésima gestión Bluetooth que tiene el sistema con cualquier cosa que no sean los Surface Headphones.
Su talón de Aquiles es el aislamiento, el diseño ON EAR que no permite gran cosa de aislamiento, así que en un entorno muy ruidoso tendrás que subir el volumen. La cancelación de ruido es solo para llamadas, no tienen cancelación activa de ruido.
Ron –
I bought this because it was very light weight, had “flat” not cupped ear pads and was what I was looking for in an all day simultaneous multi connect use between my laptop and cell phone. The sound is very good and the mics have a clear pick up when on calls. Noise cancellation is great that way too. I need to be able to hear what’s going on around me but not let the person I’m speaking to hear the sounds in my environment.
Now for the issue. The audio does not continuously work with the laptop even if it is only connected to the laptop. It stays connected but the audio drops out frequently. I have to click on a volume control to get it back. This is a known problem from the manufacturer with no resolution available. However it doesn’t do that with my tablet or other devices that I use. I haven’t tried it with Zoom meetings as they are too important to chance the loss of audio even for a few seconds but I’m guessing it would do the same thing.
Pairing and connecting is easy. I have a tendency to turn blue tooth off on my phone when I need to concentrate on something I’m reviewing and then back on when I’m done. It took a little while to figure it out but it connects back up easily without have to turn off and on or pair again.
Overall it’s a very good headset and if you like a true flat foamed “ON EAR” headset this is what I would recommend. Hope all that helps.
Jon –
These headphones have among the best low latency out there. No lag between audio and video. They’re lightweight so they’re not bothersome to have on your head all day. Soft padding for sensitive ears and crystal clear sound for those who like their music sounding refine. They have a battery life which is amazingly 12 hrs. The only downside I can think of is there is no padding on the band which may cause them go slip off you head. Oh, and if you use these to drift off into sleep, try sleeping on your left as the play/pause on the right side of the headset is very sensitive. I would have preferred if it was not placed there.
Ayush –
Bought this after my version 1 gave up after years of use. Pretty similar to version 1, significant differences are in codecs and multi point connectivity. I love how lightweight it is, you sometimes forget you’re wearing it.
Sound is better than v1 but not significantly better, very good compared to other headphones. Multipoint connection is useful, but controls could have been better, tapping the button will switch connection and double tapping does not switch back.
If not for this it would be 10/10 right now it’s 9/10
Amazon Customer –
I used a Koss PortaPro for years and switched to these headphones after a cat ate the cord. It is well known that PortaPro headphones sound very good, especially considering their crazy low price. So, Jam had big shoes to fill in terms of sound quality and cost. So far I’m liking it a lot.
First, the headphones sound pretty good with different types of music. Right away I noticed that cymbals were more noticeable compared to PortaPro. I think PortaPro is more accurate in that sense, but it’s not a dealbreaker or anything for me. Actually it’s kind of nice for some rock and jazz songs, because I like cymbals a lot.
In terms of ergonomics, they feel pretty comfortable. PortaPro’s used to cause discomfort on extended use; sometimes I had to stop listening to music because my ears would hurt. No such problem with these headphones. In terms of design, they look fine even though they look weird on my head because of the big arch the band makes. I don’t really care about looks that much as long as it’s not offensively bad. One complaint is that the headphones are completely made of plastic, which is a downgrade from PortaPro’s metal and plastic design.
I always preferred on-ear phones to in-ear or over-ear ones. In-ear headphones cause more bacteria to grow in ears and I don’t find them comfortable. Over-ear phones cause my ears to overheat quickly. The worst part of both styles for me is that they completely block outside sound. I know that most people actually like that, but I feel very uncomfortable if I don’t hear what’s happening around me. On-ear headphones are a perfect match for me for that reason, as well as because of their comfort. The cups are bigger than that of PortaPro, but that doesn’t mean they block outside sound more than PortaPro. Cushions are soft and feel nice on ear.
The headphones are fairly easy to use, although I had to read the user manual to figure out how to turn it off, which is not very intuitive. You have to press the big button on the right side for 4 seconds. All of the buttons except bass boost have multiple functions. The big button can pause/resume what’s playing, or can answer/reject an incoming call. If I remember correctly, if you press and hold on it for about 2 seconds it goes into pair mode (by the way, they support pairing with two devices which is a handy feature). Volume up/down buttons double as next/previous buttons; you just need to press and hold for 1-2 seconds. That’s one of the downsides of these headphones, because if you want to increase or decrease the volume quickly that won’t really happen as you have to press on the buttons many times. I would prefer if the volume kept increasing/decreasing on long press instead of changing the song.
These are the first pair of Bluetooth headphones I have owned. So far it has been a pleasant experience. It’s nice being able to listen to music walking around without carrying my phone. It also comes very handy for doing phone calls while washing the dishes or doing similar chores. I live in a medium-size single-bedroom apartment, and didn’t have any connection problems. I experienced a few seconds of lost audio when I was outside, but it only happened when I put my hand in the pocket where I carried my phone. My hand must have blocked the phone signal. Apart from that, everything seems to work fine.
I haven’t really tried them with my computer, but they were detected correctly as headphones on a Linux machine while charging. Interestingly, there were two listings for them in sound settings: one for digital audio, one for analog. I guess that makes sense since I can use them over bluetooth, which would be digital, or I can use them over the charging cable, which would be analog. I missing feature I would love to have is the ability to use them with standard 3.5mm audio cable. Unfortunately, if you run out of battery on the go, you have no way to listen to music. Unless you carry a portable charger, I guess. However, it may be possible to connect them to a phone using usb otg and listen to music when the battery is dead, which is something I am going to try. I don’t know if the phone will be able to send the audio signal through the usb cable, or just charge the phone (so that I can still use bluetooth); but it would be great if it worked.
Battery life seems to be good. I’m on my first charge, and I have been listening to it for 5-6 hours or more. I haven’t heard the low battery sound yet. I wish there was a way to check how much battery was left through the phone or computer. All you get is, you get a sound notification (and change in led color) if it’s down to 15%, and you can tell when it’s fully charged by looking at the led light.
Overall, I’m happy with these headphones. You get a lot of bang for your buck; it’s very hard to match them at this price range. Another pair I checked out that were $70 at BestBuy were Skullcandy Grind headphones which received lots of praise by professional reviewers. I had the chance to test them myself. They sounded very good, maybe even better than the Jam, but they blocked outside noise even though they were on-ear headphones. They also used leather (fake leather, I’m guessing) for the cups, which I think must be the worst material to use, causing sweating and discomfort. Jam’s regular soft cushions are much better.
Maurizio Finazzi –
Al contrario di molte cuffie bluetooth di questa tipologia è molto leggera e preme poco sulle orecchie, permettendo ascolti prolungati senza sofferenze.
Il suono è ottimo e ben equilibrato in tutta la gamma di frequenze, la batteria dura veramente molto.
Il fatto che prema poco sulle orecchie fa si che isoli meno dai rumori esterni; la cosa può piacere o meno, dipende dai gusti personali.