JBL Synchros E30 Quick Review

We have a pair of headphones right here coming from JBL, and it’s called the Synchros E30 which is supposed to look great and sound great with the price tag that comes with it. It may be worth your attention, but is it worth buying?

JBL Synchros E30

Out of the box, the E30 doesn’t come with much. It has your usual guides, a detachable cable and the headphones. The cord is enough in length – enough to listen to music from your pocket with a little more allowance. It’s not flat sadly, but to brighten things up, one end is L-shaped and it doesn’t tangle easily. The last part of the cable story ends with the built-in remote / microphone, which works, falls where it should be, and has a nice click to it, but it’s nothing mind-blowing.

JBL Synchros E30

Panning the attention to the E30, we can easily say it’s made to be compact and easy to carry – the cups fold inward and upward, and the neck can extend a good distance. Also, despite its light construction, the build quality is solid & stunning indeed. We only have one gripe though, and it might break it for some (literally): the neck feels flimsy when extended and it gives out the impression that it can easily snap off. However, as long as you take good care of it, we think no problems will arise.

JBL Synchros E30

Once you wear the E30, you will begin to realize that in exchange for its compact size, JBL had to sacrifice comfort. Yes, the headphones fit, but not so perfectly because of its shape that’s less fitted towards the curvature of your face. I had to adjust it very often to make myself comfortable, and after long periods of having it on, I felt really irritated.

JBL Synchros E30

So how’s the sound of the Synchros E30? Well, the first thing I noticed about it was that it offers great distinction between left & right audio as I continuously played through several versions of Bohemian Rhapsody this week, but then once you start noticing the bad snares & cymbals, it’s hard to ignore. I didn’t appreciate any of the drum sounds except the bass for all the songs that I’ve listened to. Period. Almost the same thing could be said with the high-pitched piano sounds in songs like Elvis’ Jailhouse Rock. I also didn’t enjoy the guitars much in Maroon 5’s This Love, but for The 1975’s Pressure, it was decent at best – just like the voices.

JBL Synchros E30

To be honest, I didn’t notice the negative side immediately, and I think it’s due to to how well executed the lows are. Like I’ve said, I have been listening to a lot of Bohemian Rhapsody this week, and as you’d all know, after the intro, the music thickens with the entry of deep pianos that blew me away through the E30. Then, drums come in and it’s history. To add to injury, I had just added If I Stay’s soundtrack to my playlist which involved a lot of punk beats and guitar riffs. Ruined.

JBL Synchros E30

For the price of Php3,690, I think the JBL Synchros E30 is worth a look at only because it’s compact and stylish. It’s bassy, but the rest of the story isn’t just impressive overall. To top that, you won’t wear it for long periods of time anyway as it’s uncomfortable. The JBL Synchros E30 is good, but certainly not yet good enough.

What we liked about it:

  • Light, compact & elegant design
  • Deep lows
  • L-shaped 3.5mm jack
  • Cable doesn’t tangle easily

What we didn’t like about it:

  • Highs are hard to appreciate
  • Flimsy neck
  • Uncomfortable to wear

The post JBL Synchros E30 Quick Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

JBL Synchros S700 Headphone Review

Truly great-sounding headphones are a little hard to come by here at our HQ. For some weird reason, only the low-end and mid-ranged cans make its way to us which explains why we were quite delighted to know that JBL Philippines is lending us their new Synchros S700.

JBL Synchros S700

Before we delve deeper into this premium headphone, we cooked up a short unboxing and first impression video of the Synchros S700 to get your feet wet for the review.

JBL LiveStage DSP

One of the features that differentiate the S700 from other headphones is the in-built Digital Signal Processing unit called the JBL LiveStage. This fancy sound technology allows the S700 to produce clearer sound and wider soundstage.

By itself, the Synchros S700 is already capable of producing a pretty respectable sound output, but turning on the LiveStage clearly brings the quality up a notch.

Syncros S700

Unlike other headphones which have the same feature, the S700 doesn’t use an external battery. Instead, JBL’s in-house DSP gets power from the S700’s built-in battery which, according to the company, will give users 28-hours’ worth of juice on a single charge.

There are advantages of having a non-removable battery pack over using external batteries. But personally, I don’t mind swapping new set of batteries from time to time because I don’t have to worry about the longevity of the headphone’s pre-installed battery.

Noise Isolation/Cancellation

Surprisingly, JBL didn’t include a Noise Cancellation feature on the S700’s arsenal. Not that it made the headphone any less great, but it wouldn’t been nice if it had one since it already has a built-in battery to supply power for that kind of feature.

Syncros S700 philippines

But despite not having ANC, the S700 did a decent job of blocking out external noise because of its circumaural design. There’s also not a whole lot of sound leaking out of the headphone even at high volumes.

Sound Performance

It’s been a while since a headphone for review gave my trusty ATH-M50 a good run for its money and for the record, the Synchros S700 did put up a really good fight when it comes down to producing superb sound quality.

In some areas, particularly in the bass section, the S700 even bested the legendary ATH-M50 when I did a side-by-side comparison of their sound signature. Even with the JBL LiveStage turned off, the S700 delivered some pretty powerful bass lines that are both full and well-defined.

JBL Synchros S700 philippines

But despite of the forceful bass delivered by its large 50mm drivers, the S700 did a decent job of maintaining the clarity of the mids and the warmness of the highs. Furthermore, even with the volumes at its peak, the highs remained crisp with only a hint of sibilance.
Another thing we noticed about the S700 is how easy it was for us to pick out every instrument in any given song. That’s how detailed and well balanced the sound output that we observed from the S700.

Test environment:

(24 hours of burn-in was done prior to the actual test)
Device: 5th Generation iPod Classic 60GB
Volume: 80%
Equalizer: Off
File format: Combination of .mp3 and ALAC (.m4a)
Track bitrate: 256Kbps and above

Tracks:
• Song for the Suspect – Franco (Best)
• Easy Skanking – Bob Marley and The Wailers (Good)
• Mottaka – Cheese/Queso (Best)
• If I Could Teach The World (Good)
• Addicted – Amy Winehouse (Best)
• Alapaap – Eraserheads (Best)
• Sweet Leaf – Black Sabbath (Good)
• Day ‘N Nite – Kid Cudi (Best)
• Young, Wild and Free – Snoop Dogg/Whiz Khalifa (Good)
• Mmm Sarap – Kamikazee (Best)

Although the S700 is mainly intended to be used with the LiveStage turned on, I prefer using it without the JBL’s proprietary DSP. While it’s true that the LiveStage brings out richer sound output and wider soundstage, but it’s sometimes come at the cost of noticeable distortion even at 50% volume.

Conclusion

Of all the headphones I’ve reviewed in my short tenure here at YugaTech, I have to say that the JBL Synchros S700 is one of the best; if not the best closed-back headphones I’ve had the privilege of listening to. I was so impressed with the quality coming out of its 50mm drivers, not to mention it’s got a nice metal build and a sick design to go along with its outstanding sound output.

S700 headphones philippines

Of course, the S700 is not a perfect set of cans. It still has a few shortcomings like the short and rather flimsy cables, non-foldable ear cups and somewhat limited headband extension. However, these minor missteps are easily overshadowed by the S700’s great attributes, making it a serious contender in the USD300+ price point.

The JBL Synchros S700 is available locally at JBL Acoustical Space (Cyberzone, SM Megamall), JBL Sound Gallery (Bonifacio High Street) and JBL Digital Dreams (SM North Edsa) and is currently being retailed for Php18,600.

What we liked about it:
* Sturdy build
* Kick-ass design
* Built-in DSP (JBL LiveStage)
* Rich Bass, balanced sound output
* Cable with In-Line Microphone and Volume rocker

What we didn’t like about it:
* Audio is a bit too short and slender
* Limited headband extension
* DSP tends to add slight distortion
* Rather constricted soundstage without the DSP

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