Thank you to SOL REPUBLIC for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this in-ear headphones review upon and for providing an additional product for our contest prize. All opinions expressed are my own.
If you have read anything I have written on this blog then you already know I love my SOL REPUBLIC products. I own the Master Tracks and the Track HD Anthems and love them both, however, I cannot always use a big set of headphones. Sometimes I need something more discreet like earbud style headphones. For those occasions I have a very nice pair of Monster Lil’ Jams. My Lil’ Jams are $100 earbuds, a big sum of money in my opinion for earbuds, but well worth it if you appreciate great sounding music.
When I was given the opportunity to try SOL REPUBLIC Jax earbuds I had mixed feelings. I am a diehard SOL REPUBLIC fan, but the Jax are priced like entry level earbuds at $39.99. Can $40 earbuds be as nice as my $100 earbuds?
For a fair comparison, I will tell you a little bit about my Monster Lil’ Jams first. The Lil’ Jams are all machined billet steel. They have a heft to them and are clearly of fine quality. They sound great and have nice and soft silicon plugs. The Lil’ Jams are exactly what I would expect for a set of $100 earbuds.
So how well do the SOL REPUBLIC $40 Jax stand up to the $100 Lil’ Jams by Monster? They stood up very well.
I am not going to pretend that the all-plastic Jax are as impressive to hold and look at as the machined billet Lil’ Jams are, because they aren't. That's not to say they aren't good looking and sleek. Plus, appearance is also not what is important about a set of earbuds: It is the performance that counts.
The Jax sounded fantastic (as I expected them to, being a giant fan of SOL REPUBLIC’s sound). They sound at least as good as the $100 Lil’ Jams which is no small feat in my opinion. The Jax also come with a thick and grippy no-tangle cord like their big brothers, Master Tracks and Track HD’s, do. You would think for $100, Monster would figure out a way to keep the cord from tangling. The Jax also comes with a set of buttons on the cord to control your music or your call if you are using them with a phone. They are in fact the same controls that are on the $200 Master Tracks. Impressive.
Ironically, the fact that they are all plastic makes them a great deal more comfortable to wear for prolonged listening than the metal Lil’ Jams. I love the feel of the machined steel on my Lil’ Jams, but I need to be honest and state they get tiresome and uncomfortable to wear because of their weight. I guess sometimes plastic is better than metal!
The Jax come with an assortment of silicon ear plugs to fit any ear size, some may even fit a young child. The mid-sized set were perfect for my ears.
The Jax are light and comfortable to wear and sound at least as good as my far more expensive set of earbuds. I think at $39.99 you simply cannot go wrong with the Jax. I cannot imagine how great SOL REPUBLIC's more expensive earbuds are if this is what they are putting out there this affordably!
For the third time SOL REPUBLIC has won my business and delivered an amazing product at a more than competitive price. Visit www.solrepublic.com to learn more about the Jax in-ear headphones and the wide array of other SOL REPUBLIC high definition headphones.
Good luck in the drawing!
This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. A random number drawing will be held shortly after the contest closing. The winner will be announced here and will be contacted via email. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new number will be drawn.