Jabra ROX Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Earbuds review

The Jabra ROX Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Earbuds are Jabra’s higher-end sporty offerings that are meant to be in the same class and compete with products like the BlueBuds X, which holds a special place in my heart.

To start with the selling points, it’s small, lightweight, battery life is good, and the Dolby sound actually sounds pretty good. For those who are tired of playing the Bluetooth pairing game (looking at you root users), it’s got NFC for quick and easy pairing.

This is one of the few headsets I’ve had that calling didn’t feel awkward on, although this may have nothing to do with the headsets and more that I felt less like a crazy person, as you can see the earbuds pretty plainly. Unfortunately, that’s also the thing I don’t like about them.

These got a lot longer use cycle than a normal review product (nine months now), partly because they got loaned to a friend who used them to death, or at least to the point that one of the earbuds would only work if you held the cable taut.

Over the life of the product, the battery was strong; n0 amount of dirt, rain, or grime managed to impede the sound. However, that one earbud did have a loose connection after loaning it to a friend. Not seeing any complaints about this problem online, and they do have a warranty, so my guess is this would not be a factor for most.

The fit was good, but it wasn’t the most comfortable I’ve ever run across. It took some effort with my ears to prevent the earbuds from flopping up and down and making an annoying booming sound in my ear. Usually, this meant I had to use the little clip to pull them taught. Your head and ears will vary from mine, of course. What happened with my experience was I kept struggling to get the earbud in far enough.

One of the neat features that the Jabra ROX brought to the table (at least in my world) was the ability to snap the earbuds together with a little magnet. That was cool until that magnet started waking devices in my duffel bag.

I was never particularly fond of the software included with the ROX. It sounds ok, but I like my DSPs baked in.

The hand controls, I’ll admit, I’m probably to blame for, but I didn’t feel what I was going for.  The thing feels like a nearly solid block, at least when I’m exercising and have a lot of blood flowing to my hands.

Overall, they’re a good sounding headset for Bluetooth. I liked the call quality, but it may vary from device to device, as I’m seeing complaints. The max volume seemed a little low, although the sound was very rich, and several months after release the price still hasn’t dropped, which seems odd. I guess they have their spot.

Jabra ROX specs

• Bluetooth 4.0, AVRCP
• NFC auto pairing
• Omnidirectional noise filtering standard mic with mute
• 5.5 hours talk time, 6.0 hours music, 432 hour standby
• MicroUSB charging
• 0.67 ounces
• Ear gels in small, medium, large

Wrap-up

While they have more nifty features and sometimes sounded better than my old favorite, they’re not my favorite. Good, but the price point is about a third too high, in my opinion. Same for my favorite set. If you want the name and the quality build and support of Jabra however, they’re good.

Totally subjective commentary is that they sounded better than any wireless, but didn’t quite fit right, weren’t loud enough, I didn’t like the look.

So I’ll leave the review with I liked them, I liked them quite a bit actually, but there are better for me.

The Jabra ROX Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Earbuds are available for $129 from Amazon.

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