It seems like just about every gadget I use these days is wireless so it feels somewhat silly to be plugging in wired headphones just to listen to music. The wire gets in the way, and feels like a relic of the past. I don’t need a long wire strung between my head and my pocket after all. Having spent some time with the Jabra Move wireless headphones lately, I don’t think I’ll ever have to suffer this struggle again thankfully. These headphones seem like just what I needed to keep enjoying my music with great comfort and audio quality without those pesky wires getting in the way.
Wireless headphones have been around for a while but it has always been a bit of a challenge to find a pair that fit the right balance between quality, and price. If you wanted anything half way decent, you often needed a flexible budget. These Jabra Move wireless headphones represent a new era where you can enjoy fantastic quality without having to reconsider your budget at all. In fact many people spend a lot more for wired headphones that don’t have comparable comfort, sound, and build quality.
Taking a broad look at the overall design of this hardware, you might be forgiven for expecting someone somewhat average given the price point these headphones are available at, but this model has a distinctive, and well-designed look and feel. The headband is nicely cushions with a dirt resistant fabric covering that feels solidly implemented. It isn’t loose or cheap at all, so it should continue looking good for quite some time without showing and of the usual signs of wear.
The endpoints of the headband are capped in metal, giving way to flexible brackets for the earpieces. Each earpiece is labelled to indicate left and right respectively, with a subtle initial on the inside of the cup. The cups themselves have minimal yet comfortable padding with a leatherette material. All of the electronics are completely integrated, and subtle so you won’t have to even think about it. The right earpiece sports a microUSB port for charging the headset’s battery, and a power switch that does double duty as a Bluetooth pairing switch with corresponding LED lights tastefully inlaid on either side. On the left earpiece you’ll find a volume rocker with a central multifunction button for Bluetooth control like call answer, and music pausing. You’ll also find a 3.5mm jack on the left cup so you can enjoy wired listening if you ever want to save on battery power.
While these headphones don’t collapse for storage and portability, like many others tend to, they are still lightweight, flexible, and compact enough that I have no qualms about their portability. They are not bulky whatsoever, and in fact are so compact and streamlines, that I think they rival the portability of many folding headphones on shelves today. It’s easy enough to chuck them into your bag and call it a day, where most of the wired headphones I’ve used (even the collapsible models) require a bit more attention to stow. In terms of adjustment the headphones don’t ratchet but there is a firm sliding action between the headband and the earpiece brackets that is sturdy enough to not feel loose at all, but free-moving enough to make adjustments effortless.
I definitely appreciate the minimal elegance of these headphones. They keep things looking and feeling simple. The multifunctional volume rocker is a nice try, but it isn’t quite ideal. It works fine for volume but trying to use it to pause your music or adjust the volume can result in a misclick and you’ll find yourself skipping to the next track instead. I’m sure practice can give you a better feel for it, and I’m not sure I’d opt for a more complicated button layout instead, it still feels like this multifunctional button solution could use a little more refining to perfect it. My other minor complaint is that it can take a little getting used to in order to effortlessly control playback and volume with your left hand. It isn’t that the controls are poorly positioned or overly complicated but when reaching up for controls you can’t see with your left hand, it would be great to have more of a tactile differentiation between the buttons so you could feel your way around without any real thought.
I was particularly impressed with how comfortable these headphones are. I only had to adjust them once for fit, and it was very easy – the headphones never slipped out of where I had set them either. Once they were on, they were extremely comfortable. The headband wasn’t too stiff or tight. The earpieces has just the right amount of padding. Somehow these headphones felt more comfortable for an extended wear than my much more expensive wired headphones. Of course using these headphones over Bluetooth only added to the comfort, especially when being active – I loved these for working out for example, since they let me just rest my phone on the side and work out without worrying about getting tangled up in any wires or having to worry about my phone.
In terms of performance, these headphones did a decent job of noise cancellation. They’re not quite on par with some other big over-ear noise cancelling headphones, but they do still block out a decent amount of ambient noise. The sound quality provided by the 40mm drivers and digital signal processor (DSP) tech provide clearer audio than you might expect. It’s surprising just how full and rich these headphones sound with a vibrant soundscape.
These headphones are one of those wonderful surprises you can discover while browsing for the latest tech. They’re not particularly flashy, and you would never know it by the price, but somehow they manage to be one of the best headphones you can get on a budget – wireless or otherwise. The look good. They feel good. They sound good. They’re wallet friendly. It’s really tough to find a bad word to say about them and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to just about anybody with two ears and a Bluetooth device they want to listen to audio from. You can’t go wrong.
