The Jaybird X4 Earphones are my fifth pair of Jaybird in-ear airbuds and will definitely be my last. I had two pairs of the Jaybird X3, both of which were troublesome, had poor to non-existent bluetooth connectivity and just stopped working after less than 3 months. After that experience I bought some other earbuds, and finally decided to come back to Jaybird and try the Freedom’s. They lasted one day after I couldn’t get them to fit in my ear. Another break and more earphones tried, I decided to give them one more chance and forked out for the Jaybird X4. Another big mistake, they lasted a few weeks before the battery just drained after a few minutes and wouldn’t stop charging. I took them in to get replaced and the replacement pair are doing weird things.
Why do I keep persisting with Jaybird? Apart from being bloody stupid, the Jaybirds, in general, have the best sound and fit (not the Freedom’s) of any waterproof, running/sport in ear wireless earbud I’ve tried, and I’ve tried about 8 different other pairs. Note I use these for running and living in Hong Kong where in the summer you start sweating as soon as you go outdoors, so they need to be sweatproof and preferably waterproof.
If they didn’t sound so good and the X3 and X4’s didnt’ fit so good,and I could find another pair of decent earbuds for running, I’d happily leave the Jaybird X4 earbuds alone and never buy another pair of Jaybird earbuds in my life. I bought a couple of pair of MPow Flame’s which are around USD$25 (a fraction of the price of the Jaybird X4 and they fit ok, a bit clunky, but the sound was crap compared to the Jaybird X4. One pair crapped out after a few weeks and MPow refunded my money which was good of them, no questions asked.
My current Jaybird X4 earbuds, which are less than a month old, have major connection issues, once paired, the keep unpairing and have to be reset with the app removed and then several tries may or may not pair them again. The battery also drains quickly, but not all the time. I can charge them to full battery and they can last a few hours, or sometimes they’ll last a few minutes. The problem is you can’t replicate it but one thing is for sure, every other time I turn them on, they need to be re-paired to my Google Pixel 3. Have a search and look deeper at that reviews and the comments on the Jaybird X4 Community forum and you’ll see it populated with other people complaining about the connectivity and build quality of these in-ear earbuds.
Yes, they get good reviews, but the problem with 99% of these reviews is the reviewers try them out once in the office, or at home, or at best, take them for one run, and then seem to think that is enough to share a full review of the product. This is not only valid for earbuds, but pretty much any tech product on YouTube or tech websites. Very seldom are they tested over any period of time, which is what a real world review should be – not some self-absorbed YouTuber taking them for a 100 meter run down the road and claiming they are the best running earbuds in the world.
For noise cancelling, I use the Bose QC20 in-ear earphones, which I prefer to the over the ear versions and think they have better noise cancelling at least on airplanes, which the main place I use them. Anyway, for running, whether traveling or not, stay away from the Jaybird X4 or any Jaybird product. Yes, the sound and fit are excellent, but after a while, more than likely, based on my 5 pairs of Jaybird earbuds I’ve purchased, they are going to fail on you.
Bit of an Update: I recently started wearing them over the ear, because the round cord management thing kept slipping off, basically if you get any sweat on it, it will render it useless as it slips down and the cord bounces. The problem is, over the ear, the Bluetooth is shit, turn your head just a bit and it cuts out and this was the original problem with the Jaybirds X3.
Not only that, but I can now no longer turn them off, instead, holding the power button down initiates the redial function. These are all what go towards making the Jaybirds X4 Garbage in a box and unusable. Save yourself the money and go and buy yourself anything but these pieces of absolute crap.
For now, for me, I’m going back to the Plantronics which are way cheaper, don’t sound as good, but fit fine and last much, much longer.
UPDATE: After a few emails going and forth with Jaybird in the USA, they agreed to send me a new pair, so it has to be said their customer service was pretty good. Note that their official Hong Kong Service Center just ignored repeated emails and were hopeless. I still can’t the original pair to work and have bought some Plantronics Backbeat Fit 3100, which don’t sound anywhere near as good because they don’t stick in your ear so much but they have’t crapped out on me so far. Not sure if I’ll risk using the replacement pair Jaybird sent me, and might end up giving them away as a present. They’re probably okay if you don’t sweat as much as I do and running everyday they’re waterproofness is tested.
